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Black, White and Bluegrass by Allerton & Alton (CD, 2010)

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Price:

AU $12.74

(inclusive of GST)

ApproximatelyS$ 10.73

+ $15.26 shipping

Estimated delivery Fri, 24 Oct - Mon, 3 Nov

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30 days return. Buyer pays for return shipping. If you use an eBay shipping label, it will be deducted from your refund amount.

Condition:

Very Good

About this product

Product Identifiers

Record LabelBear Family Records (Germany)

UPC4000127165596

eBay Product ID (ePID)2321227171

Product Key Features

Release Year2010

FormatCD

GenreCountry

StyleBluegrass

ArtistAllerton & Alton

Release TitleBlack, White and Bluegrass

Additional Product Features

Country/Region of ManufactureGermany

Number of Discs1

ReviewsUncut (p.88) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[R]aw mountain music underpinned by smart fingerpicking." Record Collector (magazine) (p.86) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his CD has a weighty pyramid of social and cultural history balanced on its brittle surface....[A] feel-good disc..."

Additional informationAn oddity in bluegrass history, the duo of Allerton Hawkes and Alton Myers defied almost every country music convention of the `40s. They were an old-fashioned string band hailing not from Appalachia but from Maine, never a hotbed of country-picking, but more importantly, they were an interracial duo at a time and in a genre where such acts were uncommon. The African American Myers was on guitar while Hawkes played mandolin, the two singing close harmonies on a songbook consisting of folk standards, tunes from Flatt & Scruggs, the Carter Family, Ernest Tubb, and Hank Thompson. Allerton & Alton, their full names chosen for their stage name as it had a stronger ring, didn't play much outside of their region, and they didn't cut singles in a studio, so Bear Family's excavation of radio sessions for their 2010 disc Black, White & Bluegrass is rather remarkable. Previous to this, Allerton & Alton were talked about but rarely, if ever, heard, so this gives life to their small-scale legend, proving that the duo was quite a capable close harmony unit and pickers. If their backstory wasn't quite so unique, the music itself might not gather much attention: it's merely solid, straight-ahead stuff, notable not for its virtuosity, but rather its warmth, Allerton & Alton sounding like a pair of friends trading licks at home. The duo wound up splitting when they were both drafted into the Korean War, Hawkes pursuing a professional musical career to greater effect than Myers, but the music they made in the `40s stands: it's tied to the time yet stands outside of it, by two unwitting pioneers that wanted nothing more than to carry on a tradition. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine