Every serious record collector in the world, as well as lovers of the early days of recorded music, know the name Bear Family Records. The German label has developed a well-deserved reputation for their box sets and reissues, marked by sterling fidelity in their remastered audio, as well as the deep archival information and photographs featured in accompanying printed materials.
Few serious bluegrass fans are without a few of the Bear Family collections, encompassing historic artists like Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Carl Story, Charlie Monroe, The Osborne Brothers, Jimmy Martin, and many others. If only for the digital remastering of these classic sides, these efforts would be a bargain, but with the additional materials, no bluegrass library is complete without them.
One of their latest, The Rich-R-Tone Folk Star Story, is a masterpiece, a 12-CD set that includes all existing recordings released by two of the more iconic Appalachian labels, operating from 1946 to 1954. Many people know them for being the first home of The Stanley Brothers, but the two companies, both founded and run by James Stanton, released so much more.
The set includes 307 tracks, with several cuts from The Stanley Brothers, plus music from The Blue Mountain Boys, Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper, The Sauceman Brothers, Jim Hall & His Radio Rangers, The Bailey Brothers, Buffalo Johnson, the Happy Gospel Singers, The Bassett Quartet, Moon Mullins, Jim Eanes, Pee Wee Lambert, and a few dozen others.
Some of these were well-known touring artists following WWII, played on the radio throughout the southeast, while others had a more regional market in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky.
As always, the CDs sound great, but the real hero here is the coffee-table-sized hard cover book that comes in the box. Written by Ted Olson of the ETSU Appalachian Studies program, and Matteo Ringressi of the Italian bluegrass band, Truffle Valley Boys. They have assembled an extremely-detailed discography for both Rich-R-Tone and Folk Star, including release dates, presented several different ways (please date, session, and alphabetical).
The oversized book runs to 142 numbered pages, with a wealth of photos from the period covered, likewise retouched and edited for optimal clarity.
I can’t say enough about this collection. Its price of just under $250 is well justified, given all that is included.
The Rich-R-Tone Folk Star Story box set from Bear Family Records can be ordered online.
