NORMAN BLAKE "Whiskey Before Breakfast" LP NM/NM Shrink ROUNDER Reissue

$

28

Norman Blake Biography by Mark Deming

Back Home in Sulphur Springs

A celebrated instrumentalist who has worked with legendary figures in country, bluegrass, and folk (including Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, and Robert Plant), Norman Blake is best known as a flatpicking guitarist, though he's also proficient on other stringed instruments, including mandolin, Dobro, and fiddle. Steeped in traditional styles, Blake is renowned for his clean, unpretentious picking, emphasizing melody over technical flash, and he earned a sterling reputation as a sideman and studio musician before stepping forward as a solo artist with 1972's influential Back Home in Sulphur Springs. A frequent collaborator with his spouse Nancy Blake, Blake has also recorded with other icons of acoustic music, including Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Tony Rice, and Tut Taylor. As interest in Blake's work grew in the 2000s, he continued to record, producing late career gems like 2021's Day by Day and 2024's Pilgrimage to Rising Fawn.

Norman Blake was born on March 10, 1938 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and spent most of his childhood in Sulphur Springs, Alabama. As a youngster, he developed a taste for old-time country and folk music, especially the work of Roy Acuff, the Carter Family, and Bill Monroe. He learned to play guitar when he was 12 years old, and within a few years he added mandolin, fiddle, and dobro to his repertoire. When he was 16, Blake dropped out of school so he could play music professionally, joining the Dixieland Drifters as a mandolinist in 1954; the group soon debuted on Tennessee Barn Dance, a radio show based in Knoxville. After two years, he left the band and became a member of the Lonesome Travelers, who were led by banjoist Bob Johnson. By the end of the '50s, the Lonesome Travelers had added a second banjoist, Walter Forbes, and had made two records for RCA. Although he joined Hylo Brown & the Timberliners in 1959, Blake continued to perform with Johnson. The following year, he also became a member of June Carter's touring band.

Twelve Shades of Bluegrass

In 1961, Blake was drafted into the Army, and was stationed in Panama. While in the service, he was a radio operator on the Panama Canal and formed a band called the Kobbe Mountaineers. The group became a popular attraction and was voted the best band in the Caribbean Command. In 1962, Blake recorded Twelve Shades of Bluegrass with the Lonesome Travelers while he was on leave. He was discharged from the Army the following year and moved to Nashville, where he joined Johnny Cash's band. That same year, he married Nancy Short and settled in Chattanooga. For the next few years, he played with Cash, both on recordings and concerts. In 1969, Bob Dylan hired Blake to play on his country-rock album Nashville Skyline, providing the guitarist with a whole new audience. That audience expanded even further when he became Cash's main guitarist on the singer's television show. Cash's program featured a wide array of musical guests, who were often impressed with Blake's talents. Kris Kristofferson asked Blake to join his touring band and Norman did so, playing both guitar and Dobro; he also played on several of Kristofferson's records. In addition, Blake played on several of Joan Baez's records, including her hit version of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."

Will the Circle Be Unbroken

Following his folk and country-rock experiments, Blake returned to his bluegrass roots in 1971 when he joined John Hartford's band Aeroplane, which also featured fiddler Vassar Clements. Aeroplane fell apart quickly, but Blake stayed with Hartford for a year and a half. (Blake would also join Clements for the sessions for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's acclaimed homage to country music's roots, 1972's Will the Circle Be Unbroken.)

Norman Blake & Tony Rice 2

In 1972, Norman recorded his first solo album, Back Home in Sulphur Springs, which began a long relationship with Rounder Records. This arrangement lasted through Blake's 1990 album Norman Blake & Tony Rice 2, a follow-up to his earlier collaboration with Rice. Most of Blake's output in the '90s was released on the equally venerable Shanachie label, beginning with 1992's Just Gimme Somethin' I'm Used To and extending to 2001's Flower from the Fields of Alabama. This coincided with a fruitful period for Blake as he began working with producer T-Bone Burnett, first on the soundtrack album he coordinated for the hit film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, released in 2000. When the record became a surprise multi-platinum success, Burnett arranged a tour that brought together many of the artists who appeared on the soundtrack, with Blake as one of the accompanists. The tour produced a live album, 2001's Down from the Mountain: O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and Burnett would turn to Blake for many of his roots-oriented projects over the next several years, including 2002's self-titled effort from Ralph Stanley, 2003's Cold Mountain (Original Soundtrack), and 2007's Raising Sand by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss.

Meeting on Southern Soil

In 2002, Blake went into the studio with fiddler/mandolin player Peter Ostroushko to record 2002's collaborative effort Meeting on Southern Soil. 2004's The Morning Glory Ramblers was the first of three albums Norman & Nancy Blake would record for Dualtone, followed by 2006's Back Home in Sulfur Springs and 2007's Shacktown Road (which also included Dobro virtuoso Tut Taylor). Norman and Nancy were also part of the ensemble for the 2009 release Rising Fawn Gathering, a blend of Southern and Celtic influences that also included the Boys of the Lough and James & Rachel Bryan. In 2010, Blake debuted the Plectrafone Records label, an offshoot of Western Jubilee Recording, with the album Green Light on the Southern, a set of low-key performances in the old-timey manner. He followed a similar template for 2015's Wood, Wire and Words, and was joined by Nancy Blake for 2016's Brushwood: Songs and Stories. Plectrafone and Western Jubilee went into a partnership with one of America's most prestigious labels of American roots music, Smithsonian Folkways, to issue 2021's Day by Day, a set of songs Blake recorded live in his own home studio. For 2024's Pilgrimage to Rising Fawn, John Carter Cash, an esteemed record producer and son of Blake's former collaborator Johnny Cash, brought the recording rig from his Cash Cabin Studio and installed it at Norman and Nancy's home, where they held a number of sessions over the course of a year. The project included guest appearances from Jamie Hartford, Jamey Johnson, Jerry Douglas, and Carlene Carter.

Whiskey Before Breakfast Review by Jim Smith

Blake's best album, and one of the finest bluegrass albums of the '70s. "Church St. Blues" and "Slow Train Through Georgia" are great originals that demonstrate Blake's natural ease with a sung ballad, while the fabulous medleys "Sleepy Eyed Joe/Indian Creek" and "Fiddler's Dram/Whiskey Before Breakfast" show off the graceful flat-picking that made him famous. All told, there have been many albums in the folk idiom featuring many a guitar virtuoso, but very few achieve such a mix of relaxed subtlety and eye-popping virtuosity, and Whiskey Before Breakfast will perhaps stand as the greatest achievement by this master picker.

Norman Blake (2) – Whiskey Before Breakfast

Norman Blake (2) - Whiskey Before Breakfast album cover

More images

Label:

Rounder Records – 0063

Format:

Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue

Country:

US

Released:

Genre:

Folk, World, & Country

Style:

Bluegrass

A1 Hand Me Down My Walking Cane

Written-By [Uncredited] – Traditional

A2 Under The Double Eagle

Written-By [Uncredited] – Traditional

A3 Six White Horses

Written-By [Uncredited] – Traditional

A4 Salt River

Written-By [Uncredited] – Traditional

A5 Old Grey Mare

Written-By [Uncredited] – Traditional

A6 Down At Milow's House

Written-By – Norman Blake (2)

A7 Sleepy Eyed Joe / Indian Creek

Written-By [Uncredited] – Traditional

B1 Arkansas Traveler

Written-By [Uncredited] – Traditional

B2 The Girl I Left In Sunny Tennessee

Written-By [Uncredited] – Traditional

B3 The Minstrel Boy To The War Has Gone / The Ash Grove

Written-By [Uncredited] – Traditional

B4 Church St. Blues

Written-By – Norman Blake (2)

B5 Macon Rag

Written-By – Norman Blake (2)

B6 Fiddler's Dram / Whiskey Before Breakfast

Written-By [Uncredited] – Traditional

B7 Slow Train Through Georgia

Written-By – Norman Blake (2)

Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Rounder Records Corp.

Pressed By – Wakefield Manufacturing – 27619

Recorded At – Starday-King Studios

Design – Douglas Parker

Engineer – Sundance (14)

Guitar – Norman Blake (2)

Guitar [2nd Guitar] – Charlie Collins (3)

Liner Notes – Nancy Blake

Photography By – JD Sloan

Vocals [Uncredited] – Norman Blake (2)

Ⓟ 1976 Rounder Records Corp.

1980's Reissue with same cover as original

Matrix / Runout (A-side runout, mostly etched): (ᵛᵛ)27619 0063-1 RE-1

Matrix / Runout (B-side runout, mostly etched): (ᵛᵛ)27619 ROUNDER-0063-2 LE-1

GOLDMINE GRADING

MINT ---- It should appear to be perfect. No scuffs or scratches, blotches or stains, labels or writing, tears or splits. Mint means perfect.

NEAR MINT ---- Otherwise mint but has one or two tiny inconsequential flaws that do not affect play. Covers should be close to perfect with minor signs of wear or age just becoming evident: slight ring-wear, minor denting to a corner, or writing on the cover should all be noted properly.

VERY GOOD PLUS ---- The record has been handled and played infrequently or very carefully. Not too far from Spices Review by Ron Wynn

Guitarist Pierre Bensusan's fifth album on the Dadgad label continued his expansion into brisker, more adventurous music. While there were still laid-back, impressionistic and light songs, Bensusan played with more intensity, stretching out on guitar and going beyond restating the melody and adding teasing, nimble voicings. On "Presqu'ile," "Les Voiles Catalanes" and "Montsegur," his riffs had bite and edge. Where most of his other albums were almost totally atmospheric, with rhythm either implied or almost missing, this CD had a pronounced Afro-Latin and African tinge at times, due to percussionist Denis Benharrosh. This was Bensusan's most effective and complete album among the five available on Rounder.perfect. On a disc, there may be light paper scuffs from sliding in and out of a sleeve or the vinyl or some of the original luster may be lost. A slight scratch that did not affect play would be acceptably VG+ for most collectors.

VERY GOOD ---- Record displays visible signs of handling and playing, such as loss of vinyl luster, light surface scratches, groove wear and spindle trails. Some audible surface noise, but should not overwhelm the musical experience. Usually a cover is VG when one or two of these problems are evident: ring wear, seam splits, bent corners, loss of gloss, stains, etc.

GOOD ---- Well played with little luster and significant surface noise. Despite defects, record should still play all the way through without skipping. Several cover flaws will be apparent, but should not obliterate the artwork.