Classic old-timey music at its best. Delmore learned music from their mother, grew up working the family crops, and were influenced by the blues singing of African-American field hands. Between 1932, when they joined WSM radio in Nashville, and Rabon's death in 1952, the Delmores became Grand Ole Opry stars, wrote over 1,000 songs, made many records, toured frequently, influenced countless other performers, and worked regularly for 13 radio stations. As time progressed, their stints at the stations became shorter and shorter due to their excessive drinking. The Delmore Brothers' close harmonizing is filled with poignancy and sadness, and many of their best songs from the 1933 to 1940 era, which are included on this disc, are about unrequited love, rambling, restlessness, escaping hard times, and yearning for good times gone by.
Many tracks carry a bluesy feel.
Instrumentation is simply two guitars, with Rabon frequently picking a mean lead, and a fiddler joins in a few times. This is a penetrating, moving, well-chosen set from one of America's leading duos of any genre. Sound restoration is good and informative notes accompany both highly recommended discs. Macon and the Delmores deserve no less. By himself, overdubbing ethnic percussion and vocals, Hakmoun has recreated traditional Moroccan Gnawan music that is perfectly and purely alive today.