The Banjo Album

With the current resurgence in interest in "Americana" courtesy of "O Brother Where Art Thou" it's perhaps a good time to re-examine a unique sideways look at the genre by one of it's most celebrated exponents.....Douglas Dillard. Having left his family group The Dillards, perhaps the most famous exponents of the Ozark style, Douglas became a sessionman in LA, on everything from old friend Glen Campbell's "Gentle On My Mind" through The Monkees and The Byrds. Douglas and co. attack Bluegrass in a manner somewhere between the not-yet-existing punk rock and the devilish Ozark mountain musicians of his boyhood....breaking through the strict stylistic guidelines of this pre-"Newgrass" period, Douglas employs both the droning tonalities of psychedelic rock and the high crazy sounds of traditional mountain music to produce an explosive sound which rivals the best of the genre...and perhaps is the best of the genre.