True Bluegrass Guitar is assembled from the huge catalogs of the Rebel and County labels and reads like a Who’s Who of bluegrass guitar picking. Included are IBMA Hall of Fame member Tony Rice, Colby Kilby, a 14-year veteran of Ricky Skaggs’s Kentucky Thunder, James Alan Shelton who logged twenty years of service in Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys. and David Grier, a three-time winner of the IBMA award for Guitar Player of the Year. Also included here are those who are known for other talents but who also excel on the guitar: Kenny Baker, Larry Sparks and Charlie Waller. With nineteen tracks and an exemplary set of A-List pickers True Bluegrass Guitar is sure to please.
"This pair of compilations from the six decades of the Rebel catalog assembled by County Sales founder Dave Freeman proves as outstanding as one would anticipate. The comprehensiveness combined with Dave’s astute choices of lesser known players and pieces shape the character of these albums. Although one can point out the omissions, such as Doc Watson and Bobby Osborne, who did not record anything for Rebel, and Del and Ronnie McCoury, who did, those who do appear outnumber them. The collections significantly bring to the fore the playing of Jerry Stuart, Dempsey Young, and Herschel Sizemore on mandolin and James Alan Shelton, Charlie Waller, and Kenny Baker on guitar. Highly recommended." - Art Menius
