Yesterday and Today Vol. 1 documents the Country Gentlemen in live performance in 1973, capturing the Washington, D.C. quartet during the middle period of their long career as one of the most influential progressive bluegrass bands of the postwar era. The group — built around founder Charlie Waller's warm baritone and a succession of instrumentalists and tenor singers — had spent the 1960s expanding bluegrass vocabulary to include folk revival material, country songs, and original compositions, and by the early 1970s they were performing for audiences that overlapped substantially with the college folk circuit. "I Never Will Marry," drawn from the Anglo-American ballad tradition, illustrates the band's ability to move between genre touchstones with naturalness and ease. The live setting suits the Gentlemen well; the audience rapport is palpable, and the informal energy of the performances captures something about the band that studio recordings sometimes understate.
Tracklist
- 1 Christmas Time Back Home 3:10
- 2 Heavenward Bound 2:18
- 3 I Am Weary (Let Me Rest) alt version 2:39
- 4 Sad And Lonesome Day 2:34
- 5 Bluebirds Are Singing 2:25
- 6 The White Rose 2:36
- 7 The Gentleman Is Blue 3:37
- 8 Philadelphia Lawyer alt version 2:46
- 9 Spanish Two-Step 2:36
- 10 Bringing Mary Home alt version 3:01
- 11 The Convict And The Rose 2:40
- 12 Banks of the Ohio alt version 4:12
- 13 Down Where the River Bends alt version 3:03
- 14 Battle Hymn of the Republic alt version 2:46
- 15 This World's No Place To Live 2:50
- 16 Uncle Joe 2:59
- 17 Northbound 2:17
- 18 Let The Light Shine Down 1:55
- 19 Girl from the North Country alt version 4:20
- 20 Cold Wind A Blowing 2:15
- 21 Jingle Bells 1:26
- 22 Silent Night 1:52
- 23 We Three Kings 1:50
- 24 Blue Bell 2:29
- 25 Baby Blue alt version 3:27
- 26 Matterhorn alt version 2:20
- 27 Dark as a Dungeon alt version 2:47
- 28 Big Bruce 2:49
- 29 When They Ring Those Golden Bells alt version 2:59
- 30 Buffalo Girls 2:07
- 31 Beautiful Life alt version 2:43
- 32 I’m Working on a Road alt version 2:47
- 33 A Border Affair 3:21
- 34 Johnny Reb 2:35
- 35 Many a Mile alt version 2:33
- 36 Amelia Earhart 2:33
- 37 Lord I’m Coming Home alt version 2:47
- 38 The Traveler 3:13
- 39 Silver Bell 1:58
- 40 Theme From Exodus 2:48
- 41 Love and Wealth alt version 2:33
- 42 He Was A Friend Of Mine 3:01
- 43 Daybreak in Dixie alt version 2:07
- 44 Some Old Day alt version 2:31
- 45 Raggy Mountain Breakdown 2:09
- 46 Banana Boat Song 2:42
- 47 Goin’ to the Races alt version 2:20
- 48 Waiting For The Boys To Come Home 2:26
- 49 Darling Little Joe 2:41
- 50 El Dedo 2:58
- 51 Blue Yodel #4 alt version
- 52 Get in Line Brother alt version
- 53 Tom Dooley alt version
