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Songs:
36 tunes on the CD - highlights are:

Lonesome Road Blues
Daley's Reel
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Say Old Man, Can You Play The Fiddle
Angeline the Baker
Forked Deer
Katy Hill
Chicken Reel
Leather Britches
Cripple Creek
Liberty
Grey Eagle
Snowflake Reel
...and many more

Copper Creek CCCD-0175
Copper Creek Records
P.O. Box 3161
Roanoke, VA 24015
@1999

Personnel:
Carroll Best - banjo
Kenny Baker, Tommy Hunter, Mack Snoderly and Laurie Lewis - fiddles
Danny Johnson, Dudley Connell, Mike Rivers, Mack Snoderly and Calvin Parham - guitars

For those keeping track of the other reviews, this is another stellar collection of songs by a master of the instrument. Carroll Best (1931-1997) was a pioneer of the melodic banjo style which he learned from his parents. He was a farmer in North Carolina and it is only recently that his work has been recognized. Best's melodic style has also been called "fiddle style banjo" and many of the tunes in this collection of 36 are fiddle dance tunes. The tunes were part of a 1982 album "Carroll Best String Band," a Masters of the Banjo tour in 1994, and sessions with Josh Graves and Kenny Baker.

The songs are all played in band settings and while Carroll's banjo work is sparkling and flowing, it never crowds the other musicians and there are many fine solos on guitar and fiddle throughout the collection. Some of the fiddlers featured on the songs are Kenny Baker, Tommy Hunter, Mack Snoderly and Laurie Lewis. Guitarists are Danny Johnson, Dudley Connell, Mike Rivers, Mack Snoderly and Calvin Parham. The music flows like a mountain stream and while "banjo Muzak" may be a contradiction in terms, I enjoyed having this CD play while I was doing household chores - it made everything move along more quickly.