Artist: Douglas Dillard
Release: The Banjo Album 
Released: 1969
Label: 2004-Rural Rhythm
Catalog#: 1022
Format: FLAC / Lossless
Country: USA
Style: bluegrass,folk

Tracks (Original LP running order):
1. Train 4500 (4:12)
2. Turkey Knob (1:47)
3. Hard Times (2:06)
4. Home Sweet Home (2:01)
5. Foggy Mountain Breakdown (3:08)
6. Jamboree (1:46)
7. Clinch Mountain Backstep (2:19)
8. Bully Of The Town (1:45)
9. Bells Of St. Mary (2:18)
10. Banjolina (1:50)
11. With Care From Someone (6:27)

Bonus tracks (from Rural Rhythm CD reissue):
12. Runaway Country (4:08)
13. Cumberland Gap (1:16)
14. Dear Old Dixie (2:03)
15. Back Up & Push (1:24)
16. Dixie Breakdown (1:21)
17. Old Joe Clark (2:49)

The Banjo Album is first and foremost an album of traditional bluegrass played by musicians firmly rooted in the work of pioneers like Flatt & Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, and Bill Monroe. These same musicians, however, are all top-notch, second-generation players influenced by the rock scene. Consequently, Doug Dillard and crew manage to breathe genuine new life into many standards without sacrificing the integrity of the originals. In fact, the musicians not only play ferociously, but often completely reinterpret the old chestnuts, occasionally making them sound even better. In many cases, Dillard employs droning harmonic tonalities characteristic of Indian music and Indian-influenced psychedelic rock guitar. The record also features atypical bluegrass instruments such as harpsichord, harmonica, drums, dembek, and tablas. Rather than coming off as gimmicky, though, the use of exotic instrumentation serves to add exciting new textures and moods to music which, during this pre-"newgrass" period, rarely deviated from very strict stylistic guidelines. Plus, nearly every performance here is simply an all-out jam, with Dillard playing particularly explosively. Special mention should be made of his fantastic version of "Clinch Mountain Backstep," which shows a confidence, boldness and energy that rivals even the definitive version by Clarence White's Kentucky Colonels. [Rural Rhythm Records issued an expanded edition in 2004 that includes five additional tracks.]