Search - Reno & Smiley :: Reno & Smiley - 16 Greatest Hits

The epitome of traditional bluegrass greatness

Daniel Jolley | Shelby, North Carolina USA | 10/06/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Reno & Smiley, like the much more famous Flatt & Scruggs, are true pioneers in traditional bluegrass; they are, in my opinion, the greatest bluegrass performers to ever live. Choosing sixteen of their (thankfully) large number of songs for special treatment in the form of a greatest hits collection is a job and a half. It is also a job in which you can hardly go wrong because each Reno & Smiley song I have ever heard is good enough to qualify for the tag of greatness. While the sixteen songs collected here on this collection are not the sixteen I would have chosen myself, they do represent two of the three types of bluegrass at which Reno & Smiley excelled: traditional country bluegrass songs and intense instrumentals. I think their greatest songs are their Southern gospel recordings, so I would encourage you to look elsewhere for samples of those.I Know You're Married (But I Love You Still) is really the song that made me a Reno & Smiley fan, so I'm gratified to see it leading off this greatest hits album. It is joined by such other standout recordings as I Wouldn't Change You If I Could, Don't Let Your Sweet Love Die, Let's Live For Tonight, and Maybe You Will Change Your Mind. The great instrumentals found here, songs such as Charlotte Breakdown, Reno Ride, Choking the Strings, and Banjo Riff will have you wondering how Reno & Smiley managed to keep their hands from flying right off their arms as they really go to town on the banjo and guitar. If you don't know Reno & Smiley (and unfortunately, many do not these days), you really don't know bluegrass; these guys are the best of the best, and this collection affords you a great opportunity to hear bluegrass history as it was being made back in the 1950s."