Search - Jim Eanes :: Your Old Standby

1950s Starday Sides Essential For Traditional Bluegrass Fans

Todd A. Gracyk | Petaluma, CA USA | 01/10/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Smilin' Jim Eanes is a pioneer of bluegrass music. In the 1940s he performed with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys as well as Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and the Foggy Mountain Boys. In the late 1940s Eanes began a successful solo career."Your Old Standby" is a 2 CD set containing Eanes' complete Starday output from the mid 1950s to the early 1960s.Bluegrass banjo legend Allen Shelton was a member of Eanes' Shenandoah Valley Boys during this period and his work here is simply outstanding.Eanes was a wonderful vocalist and a great songwriter who continued to record into the 1990s. I've had the opportunity to hear many of Eanes' recordings and I consider his 1950s Starday sides his very best (although a few Decca cuts from the early 1950s compare quite favorably)."