One of the earliest recordings on the County label was a 1965 vinyl LP of Texas fiddle tunes by a few of the giants of a style that had never really been documented before. Most of the tunes were known by fiddlers around the country, but artists like Benny Thomasson, Vernon Solomon, Bartow Riley and others were not really eager to commit their work to wax, preferring to guard their highly ornamented variations for use in various fiddle contests which were extremely popular in Texas at the time. It was Charlie Faurot who first recorded these and others, and he has edited and added to the influential original LP issue with this great disc, (plus a full Benny Thomasson CD already out (COUNTY-2737, $ 13.99), and a Solomon Family tribute on his own OLD BLUE label (OLD BLUE-701, $ 13.99)). Tunes here, like BRILLIANCY, WAYNESBORO REEL, ACE OF SPADES, SUNNYSIDE, KILLIE McCRANKIE and others (24 in all) are stunning examples of this art. Most of the fiddlers are accompanied only with guitar. Wonderful documentation of a great tradition.
