Strong archival and historic interest graces this gem of a vinyl side, but the music of the Hollow Rock String Band is dandy as well. The recording was originally released in 1968 on a label called Kanawha that songwriter and political activist Sy Kahn was running out of Dayton, OH. Though the area roughly defined as Appalachia extends to the so-called "two-hour city," it is much more than two hours driving to Durham, NC, the home base not only for the Hollow Rock String Band but for a subsequent collaboration involving banjoist Tommy Thompson, the Red Clay Ramblers. This recording is one of the earliest involving a member of the latter group; it is also a showcase for the late-'60s playing of Alan Jabbour on fiddle and Bertram Levy on mandolin, men whose fine musical contributions have continued through later decades alongside distinguished careers in anthropology and urology respectively. The quartet is rounded out by guitarist Bobbie Thompson, unfortunately like her banjo-picking and playwriting husband no longer a physical presence in Durham. Fifteen instrumental pieces make up this documentation of what these musicians were interested in presenting as a kind of calling card during this early stage of their careers. Regardless of any professional aspirations, this was an ongoing research project into historical music from a variety of sources, not only Appalachian folk but traditional themes from the British isles and selections from the quirky world of 19th century minstrel music. Pundits at the time liked to draw a distinction between the playing of "real" old-timey groups and young groups whose membership did not come from rural backgrounds. In retrospect, the eclectic nature of the research conducted by the young generation, regardless of what their daddies did, was not just a major difference between them and the supposedly more authentic models from the past. Eventually this type of repertoire -- a bit of this, a bit of that, globetrotting and digging up gold all the time -- became the norm for folk musicians, not a scholarly aberration. Changeups in the instrumental assembly, detailed simply in Tommy Thompson's excellent liner notes, are not the only aspect keeping the sound from becoming mundane. The sound of these instruments develops familiarity in any and all combinations as the song list unfolds, moving from a lively Dinah to a wallowing Hog-Eyed Man to an incendiary Devil on a Stump. This in turn smooths the edges as the performers change continents in their sourcing. Like many a hollow rock, this one is full of crystal radiating an energy that has subsided not one iota over the years. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi

1		Kitchen Girl
2		Clog
3		Waltz
4		Dinah
5		Richmond Cotillon
6		Hog-Eyed Man
7		Medley
8		Jawbones
9		Betty Likens
10		Cabin Creek
11		Folding Down the Sheets
12		Money Musk
13		Devil on a Stump
14		Over the Waterfall
15		Fiddler's Drunk and the Fun's All Over