Joe Meadows - Portrait Of A Fiddler

(Old Homestead OHS-90036) 1974

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This is a decent album of fiddle tunes by Ralph 'Joe' Meadows, with the added bonus of backing by Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers, who Joe was with at the time.

As with his earlier Rejoins Bluegrass With The Goins Brothers... LP, the album kicks off with Orange Blossom Special, which Joe first recorded with The Stanley Brothers in 1955.

'Bluegrass Unlimited' in their Dec 1974 review hit the nail on the head when they said: "...this new set with Larry Sparks' group shows that Meadows has really hit his stride. Don't get me wrong - his style is not of the rapid-fire, daredevil school of virtuosity. He manages to be impressive at moderate tempos by use of complex fingering (when necessary) and a clean, sure tone which keeps a consistent quality throughout this instrument's entire range. The selection of tunes is good, with a sound combination of obscurities, non-overworked oldies and a few good originals. Backing by the Larry Sparks group is unobtrusive but rhythmically solid. I know there's a lot of good fiddle albums around, but if even if you already own a lot of them, this one's too good to miss."

Backing on the album is mostly provided by Dave Evans, Wendy Miller, Larry Sparks, Art Wydner and Joe McKinney on second guitar. Orange Blossom Special features Nolan Faulkner on mandolin and James Miller on second guitar. Ms. MacLeod's Reel also sees Ted Harley sitting in on bass.

My copy of this one has quite a lot of surface noise with small pitting evident in the vinyl.

• Ralph 'Joe' Meadows: fiddle
• Dave Evans: banjo
• Nolan Faulkner: mandolin(a)
• Joe McKinney: 2nd guitar(b)
• James Miller: 2nd guitar (a)
• Wendy Miller: mandolin
• Larry Sparks: guitar
• Art Wydner: bass
• Ted Harley: bass (c)

NB: (a) on Orange Blossom Special. (b) second guitar on most selections. (c) bass on Ms. MacLeod's Reel

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