The Superpickers w/ Allison Krauss
1989-04-11
The Birchmere Theater
Alexandria, Virginia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Source: Beyer M201s > SONY D5 > MASTER CASSETTES (Maxell MX90) > VHS HiFi(MaxellXL120); Taped by Med
Transfer: JVC HRS9911 > Gold Plated Monster Cables > M-Audio Audiophile 2496 > Sound Forge 8 PCM44.1/16bit (no processing) > CD Wave > Flac: Transferred by Dub Irie 2006-07-09

Total Time: 2:36:28
2 CDs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lineup:

Tony Rice - Guitar-Vocals
Sam Bush - Mandolin-Fiddle-Vocals
Bela Fleck - Banjo
Jerry Douglas - Dobro
Mark Shatz - Upright Bass

with special guest...
Allison Krauss - Vocals-Fiddle

Setlist:

Disk 1

01 - Nine Pound Hammer
02 - Cold On The Shoulder
03 - Natchez Trace 
04 - Blue Railroad Train 
05 - Ralph's Banjo Special (Sam)
06 - Cry, Cry Darling (Allison)
07 - Intros
08 - I Wonder Where You Are Tonight 
09 - Little Sadie (Tony)
10 - Up Around The Bend
11 - Talking
12 - Home From The Forest
13 - Sunny Side Of The Mountain
14 - Talking
15 - Down In The Swamp (Bela)
16 - Wayfaring Stranger (Tony)
17 - John Hardy
18 - A New Day (Jerry Solo "Medley")
19 - Spain (Jerry and Bela)
20 - Talking

Disk 1 Time: 78:51

Disk 2

21 - Jump Cricket Jump (Mark and Allison)
22 - White Water
23 - Clapping/Talking
24 - Ginseng Sullivan (Tony)
25 - The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn (Allsion)
26 - Emphysema Two-Step (Jerry)
27 - Talking
28 - Fare Thee Well
29 - Sally Goodin (Allison, Bela)
30 - Message To The Other Side (Allison)
31 - Poor Richard's Bues (Sam)
32 - Tuning
33 - Mollie and Tenbrooks
34 - Slipstream (Bela)
35 - Baby Why You Been Gone So Long
36 - Talking
37 - The Lights of Home
38 - Me and My Guitar (Tony - 15 mins!)

Disk 2 Time: 77:37

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a monster of a show....a super crispy recording from one of the greatest acoustic music venues ever - The Birchmere. Tony Rice is superb both vocally and on the guitar...and you can't ever go wrong with Sam, Bela and Jerry! Allison Krauss, probably all of 17 years old at the time who played with the Tony Rice Unit through the previous year, adds a new dimension and foreshadows her Grammy winning greatness in this early-in-her-career recording.

This 1st Gen AUD generally sounds as good as an SBD to me - the differences would be the clapping (unusually loud between some of the songs), and input-level jockeying between songs in an effort to mute applause. As a result, some level variances exist from the source recording that I did not mess with digitally. It is frankly better to leave it alone, IMO.

Overall this sounds amazing...

If you like bluegrass at all, this show is highly recommended. - Dub Irie