It started as early as 1966, when Earl Scruggs convinced his partner, Lester Flatt, to record some songs outside of the bluegrass tradition. Among them were some Bobby Bare cuts: "Passing Through," "Shut Your Face, I'm Talking to Your Head," "Before You Die," and "Take Me Home to Mama." In the same year there was the song that Ralph Stanley would make his signature, Waylon Jennings' "Man of Constant Sorrow." In 1967 it was Bob Dylan's "Girl from the North Country," and in 1968 it was Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," produced by Bob Johnston, Dylan's producer. And in 1969, amid the ringing electric guitars of Randy Scruggs, Charlie McCoy's harmonica, Charlie Daniels' rhythm guitar, and others bluegrass "innovations," it was over. Arguably the most famous duo in the history of bluegrass -- eclipsing even the profile of the music's founders, Bill Monroe (their former employer) and Ralph Stanley in the early '60s -- Flatt & Scruggs had a bitter parting of ways that would not be mended until Flatt was on his deathbed ten years later. This Bear Family set compiles the aforementioned tracks and five and a half more CDs, including Flatt's last live date, all recorded for RCA between 1969 and 1978. Flatt, by far the more traditional of the two men, and ten years Scruggs' senior, went to record with Mac Wiseman, Josh Graves, Marty Stuart, and a host of other traditional musicians -- including Bill Monroe -- on over ten albums' worth of material both original and from the bluegrass canon. None of it matches the majesty of Flatt & Scruggs at their peak -- and neither does Scruggs' -- but it is all worthwhile as a way of looking at how bluegrass music survived a particularly tumultuous era. Certainly, collectors will find the most use for these recordings, but their appeal cannot be denied because Flatt was the most original singer in the history of the music and remains so. His voice was far deeper than most, and his phrasing reflected the same mountains h...
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