Thanks to the Ancient Egyptians recording the events of their people, archaeologists are able get a glimpse as to how life was like 3,000 years ago. Fast forward to fifty years ago: two up-and-coming Bluegrass artists decide to record their experimental rehearsal sessions, organically and casually. Much like the Egyptian hieroglyphics, these tapes take us to a moment frozen in time – before Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard became the Bluegrass pioneers they were destined to be. Now, thanks to Gerrard’s recent discovery of the tapes, the world is able to listen to these important and historical recordings with the release of Sing Me Back Home: The DC Tapes, 1965-1969 available now via Free Dirt Records.
With music that inspired some of music’s best including Emmylou Harris, The Judds and Bob Dylan, Dickens and Gerrard created a merger of music from Gerrard’s roots in Seattle and Dickens’ in West Virginia and other pockets across our nation. The duo first crossed paths in Baltimore and D.C., and once a kinship was formed, there was no stopping history. The ladies gathered at Gerrard’s house, shared and reworked songs, and put their sessions to tape via a reel-to-reel. Those raw recordings, which includes background noise from family, perfectly captures the purity of the moment that the two gurus intertwined, and in time perfected, their crafts.
Only one of the 19 tracks has been released commercially by Dickens and Gerrard, making this unearthed collection a true previously-hidden gem. Classics from The Everly Brothers, The Carter Family, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard and more fill the tracklist.
Sing Me Back Home: The DC Tapes, 1965-1969 is available for purchase and streaming here.
Sing Me Back Home: The DC Tapes, 1965-1969 Track Listing:
2. Tell Me That You Love Me (2:33)
3. Seven Year Blues (2:04)
4. Cannonball Blues (2:09)
5. This Little Light of Mine (1:57)
6. James Alley Blues (4:23)
7. Little Darling Pal of Mine (2:26)
8. Are You All Alone (2:08)
9. No One to Welcome Me Home (2:57)
10. Let Me Fall (2:03)
11. Will You Miss Me (3:11)
12. No Telephone in Heaven (2:39)
13. I’ll Wash Your Love from My Heart (1:48)
14. Hard Time Blues (3:03)
15. Why Not Confess (2:02)
16. Bound to Ride (1:37)
17. Sing Me Back Home (3:25)
18. The First Whippoorwill (Bonus Track) (2:26)
19. In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad) (Bonus Track) (2:56)