More Memories

T.D. Hanshew, a friend whom I see regularly at Dr. No's, read an earlier post about "Precious Memories" and the country/gospel/bluegrass music that was a part of my youth, so he dropped off a gift: a copy of Dust on the Bible, a collection of earnest folk/bluegrass/country versions of various gospel songs performed by the Bad Livers. With one exception, I had heard every song many times in my younger years, and even knew the lyrics to some of them well enough to sing along. The recordings are simple and plain, unrefined and honest. I like it a lot, and I thank T.D. for thinking of me with this. If you ever grew up with or learned to appreciate this sort of unadorned country/gospel, then you'll like this recording a lot. (One person who heard it commented that it sounded like an outtake from the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and I can see her point; it does have that stark intensity of purpose and sound.)

I'm growing to appreciate bluegrass more and more. There are probably 250-300 bluegrass songs among the 13,600 that occupy my iPod currently, and the number is gradually growing.