Tweet

Album Details

• Artist: Hobart Smith
• Album: Blue Ridge Legacy
• Label: Rounder
• Year of Release: 2001
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2003-03-29

Hobart Smith may ring a bell with anyone interested in the roots of classic folk music. Hobart is Texas Gladden’s brother who is a multi-instrumentalist who shows a diverse style of Bluegrass and Folk musical styles. Legendary music archivist Alan Lomax has kept both Hobart and Texas alive with his many compilations of classic folk music. Blue Ridge Legacy is his attempt to bring a justifiable spotlight on a very talented musician. Hobart was a forceful and powerful singer, like his sister, and was a master guitarist, fiddler, banjoist, and pianist who can be heard playing and singing on this spellbounding compilation. Smith had a unique way of “rapping� on the banjo as he is playing. You can hear many examples of this on Blue Ridge Legacy. Lomax has done a fine job of pulling tracks from Hobart’s entire career including the first recordings he did for the Library of Congress in 1942 to the 1960’s Southern Journey recordings. As most of these recordings have all but disappeared, Blue Ridge Legacy will serve as an important document to an important folk musician. Hobart Smith is indeed a folk master.

User Reviews and Comments

Log In or Register to Rate Albums