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Appalachian Swing!

The Kentucky Colonels

Initial release : April 1964

World Pacific 1821

Later releases of this classic bluegrass instrumental album have a brief note on the cover by Garcia.

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album cover

Tracks

  • Clinch Mountain Backstep (Jones / Stanley)
  • Nine Pound Hammer (Travis)
  • Listen to the Mockingbird (Hawthorne / Public Domain)
  • Wild Bill Jones (Traditional)
  • Billy in the Lowground (Traditional)
  • Lee Highway Blues (Public Domain / Smith)
  • I Am a Pilgrim (Marton / Public Domain)
  • The Prisoner's Song (Massey)
  • Sally Goodin (Traditional)
  • Faded Love (Wills)
  • John Henry (Traditional)
  • Flat Fork (Ray)
The track sequence has altered with different releases of the album. That given above is as on the Rounder CD release of the Appalachian Swing in 1993.

A 1974 United Artists re-release under a different title, The Kentucky Colonels, included two extra tracks;

  • That's What You Get From Loving Me
  • The Ballad Of Farmer Brown
Musicians

  • Roland White - mandolin, guitar (on Faded Love)
  • Clarence White - guitar
  • Billy Ray - banjo
  • Roger Bush - bass, banjo (lead banjo on Wild Bill Jones)
  • Bobby Slone - fiddle, bass
  • Leroy Mack - dobro
Credits

  • Original LP
  • Audio - Richard Bock
  • Recorded at World-Pacific Studios, Hollywood, CA
  • Photography - Philip Melnick
  • Cover Design - Woody Woodward

  • CD reissue
  • Reissue Producer - Ken Irwin
  • Remixing, Mastering - Dr. Toby Mountain
  • Liner Notes - Tom Skinker, Chris Skinker, Jerry Garcia
Notes

Garcia contributes a short note about Clarence White, that is printed on the rear of the CD release of this album. This contribution was not on the original release of album. A date for the introduction of the note onto releases of the album will be added here when known. The note is as follows;

Clarence was important in my life both as a friend and as a player. He brought a kind of swing - a rhythmic openness - to bluegrass, and a unique syncopation. His feel has been incorporated by a lot of other players, but nobody has ever quite gotten the open quality of his rhythm. Clarence had wonderful control over the guitar. He's the first guy I heard who really knocked me out. - Jerry Garcia Guitar Player
Garcia can be heard on another Kentucky Colonels album, the archive live album Livin' In The Past, introducing the band on stage. The CD liner notes for that album give some background information about Garcia's connection with the Kentucky Colonels and therefore a reason for him introducing the band live;
During the lifespan of the Kentucky Colonels, they made some long and lasting friends and Jerry Garcia was one of them. Jerry and Sandy Rothman traveled with the Colonels in the Summer of 1964. This stage introduction of the band came at a concert put together by Brooks Adams Otis and marked the Colonels last appearance in the Bay Area.
The introduction by Garcia on Livin' In The Past was recorded at the Comedia Theatre, Palo Alto on November 15, 1964. He says;
I'd like to introduce from the Newport Folk Music Festival and the Monterey Folk Music Festival and from the Ash Grove and various other places around the country, the best young bluegrass band in America, The Kentucky Colonels.
Reissues

Reissued on LP in 1974 in the UK as The Kentucky Colonels, United Artists 29514 with two additional songs.

Reissued on CD by Rounder CD-SS-31

Related releases

An longer version of the notes by Garcia can be found in the CD booklet of;

Garcia can be heard introducing the Kentucky Colonels live on stage on; The Kentucky Colonels released two albums during there brief original existence, between 1963 and 1965;
  • New Sound of Bluegrass, 1963, Briar International 109
  • Appalachian Swing!, 1964, World Pacific 1821
Subsequently a number of live and archive releases have appeared, including;
  • The Kentucky Colonels 1965-1966, 1976, Rounder 0070
  • Livin' In The Past, The Kentucky Colonels, 1976, Sierra/Briar BT 7202
  • The Kentucky Colonels With Scotty Stoneman: Live in LA (1965 performance), 1978, Sierra/Briar SBR 4206
  • The Kentucky Colonels 1966, 1978, Shiloh SLP 4084
  • The Kentucky Colonels featuring Clarence White, 1980, Rounder 0098
  • The Kentucky Colonels On Stage (1964 and 1965 performances), 1984, Rounder R0199
  • Long Journey Home (1964 performance) , 1991, Vanguard

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