Category Archives: Peter Rowan

Various Artists – Wilkesboro, NC (04/24-26/92)

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Merle Watson Memorial Bluegrass Festival
April 24-26, 1992
Wilkes Community College, Wilkesboro NC

Download FLAC: Google Drive

Partial compilation – 2021 transcription from “Pickin’ For Merle”

  • The source was mid-90s cable TV broadcasts of “Pickin’ for Merle” recorded to 5 cassette masters by 3 people – XLII and IIS made on generic consumer decks.
  • One source tape has an additional cassette generation. This material is tracks 52-66 below.
  • Transferred in the early/mid 2010s via Onkyo cassette deck and Audacity, then parked for awhile in hopes the VHS would surface.
  • Mastering and setlist in early 2021 by TRH aka Mr. Completely.

See below for notes and lineup details.

Setlist:

  1. Tony Rice All-Stars – Freeborn Man
  2. Peter Rowan & the Nashville Bluegrass Band w/Jerry Douglas – Midnight Moonlight
  3. various – chit chat 1
  4. Tony Rice Allstars – Nine Pound Hammer
  5. Tony Rice Allstars – Cold on the Shoulder
  6. Tony Rice Allstars – Whitewater
  7. Tony Rice Allstars – Molly and Tenbrooks
  8. Doc Watson & Ricky Skaggs – Foggy Mountain Top
  9. Skaggs & Rice – Where the Soul of Man Never Dies
  10. Skaggs & Rice – More Pretty Girls Than One
  11. Del McCoury Band w/ David Grisman – Fanny Hill
  12. Del McCoury Band w/ David Grisman – Randy Lynn Rag
  13. Del McCoury Band w/ David Grisman – I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue-Eyes
  14. Tony Rice Unit – The Dusty Miller
  15. Tony Rice Unit w/Peter Rowan – White Dove
  16. Tony Rice Unit – Sally Goodin
  17. David Grisman Quintet – Dawg’s Rag
  18. David Grisman Quintet – Assanhado
  19. David Grisman Quintet – Grateful Dawg
  20. David Grisman Quintet – Dawgmatism
  21. David Grisman Quintet – Telluride
  22. Tim & Mollie O’Brien & The O’Boys – Liar
  23. Tim & Mollie O’Brien & The O’Boys – Dream of a Miner’s Child
  24. Tim & Mollie O’Brien & The O’Boys – Oh Darling
  25. Tim & Mollie O’Brien & The O’Boys – Shut the Door
  26. Tim & Mollie O’Brien & THe O’Boys w/Jerry Douglas – Hold to a Dream
  27. Doc Watson & Ricky Skaggs – What is a Home Without Love?
  28. Doc Watson & Ricky Skaggs – Nine Pound Hammer
  29. various – Chit chat 2
  30. Del McCoury Band w/David Grisman – Home is Where the Heart Is
  31. Del McCoury Band w/David Grisman – Long Journey Home
  32. Del McCoury Band w/David Grisman – Rain & Snow
  33. Del McCoury Band w/David Grisman – Rawhide
  34. Doc Watson & Friends – Blue Ridge Mountain Home
  35. Doc Watson, David Grisman and Alan O’Bryant – What Does the Deep Sea Say?
  36. Doc Watson, David Grisman and Friends – Blue Moon of Kentucky
  37. Roy Bookbinder – Rev. Gary Davis story, Hesitation Blues/Old Time Religion
  38. Peter Rowan – Dust Bowl Children
  39. Peter Rowan w/Jerry Douglas – On the Wings of Horses
  40. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones – Bonnie & Slyde
  41. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones – Celtic Medley
  42. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones – Flight of the Cosmic Hippo
  43. Peter Rowan & the Nashville Bluegrass Band – High Lonesome Sound
  44. Seldom Scene – Pickaway
  45. Seldom Scene – Carolina Star
  46. Seldom Scene – House of the Rising Sun/Walk Don’t Run
  47. Laurie Lewis & Grant Street – Singing Bird
  48. Laurie Lewis & Grant Street – I’m Gonna Be the Wind
  49. Various – Chit chat 4 – about Doc
  50. Doc Watson – Milk Cow Blues
  51. Doc Watson w/Gove Scrivenor – Sugar Babe
  52. Doc Watson – Peach Pickin’ Time in Georgia
  53. Doc Watson – Black Mountain Rag
  54. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – I’ve Been Looking
  55. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Baby’s Got A Hold On Me
  56. Ricky Skaggs Allstars w/Doc Watson – Riding That Midnight Train
  57. Ricky Skaggs Allstars w/Del McCoury – I Feel The Blues Moving In
  58. Roy Bookbinder – Mississippi Blues
  59. Carl Jackson and John Starling w/the Nash Ramblers – New Delhi Freight
  60. Carl Jackson and John Starling w/the Nash Ramblers – Lonesome Dove
  61. Carl Jackson and John Starling w/the Nash Ramblers – Silence Says it All
  62. Carl Jackson and John Starling w/the Nash Ramblers – Hold Your Horses
  63. Carl Jackson and John Starling w/the Nash Ramblers – For Cryin’ Out Loud
  64. Carl Jackson and John Starling w/the Nash Ramblers – I Could Cry
  65. Carl Jackson and John Starling w/the Nash Ramblers – Long Time Gone
  66. Emmylou Harris, Carl Jackson and John Starling w/the Nash Ramblers – Satan’s Jewel Crown
  67. Doc Watson All-Stars – Docabilly Medley
  68. Riders in the Sky – Here Comes the Santa Fe
  69. Maura O’Connell – Trouble in the Fields
  70. Doc Watson All-Stars – Fireball Mail
  71. Sam Bush & the Nash Ramblers – Crossroads > Sailin’ Shoes
  72. Laurie Lewis & Grant Street – Texas Bluebonnets
  73. Tony Rice Unit – Shadows
  74. David Grisman Quintet – Rattlesnake
  75. Emmylou Harris & the Nash Ramblers w/Doc Watson – I’ll Fly Away
  76. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Mr Bojangles (start cut)
  77. Peter Rowan & the Nashville Bluegrass Band – Walls of Time
  78. Doc Watson All-Stars – Shake, Rattle & Roll

Notes:

  • “Pickin’ For Merle” was a documentary shot at the 1992 Merle Watson Memorial Bluegrass Festival, then informally and now officially known as MerleFest.
  • The documentary aired in (I believe) 8-ish 1-hour segments through the 1990s on PBS stations.
  • VHS tapes of the entire series were offered as donor rewards. A few artists, including Tony Rice, sold their sets separately.
  • Apparently dubs of some of the video episodes have been traded but none have yet surfaced in public digital circulation aside from fragments on YouTube.
  • Several years ago I contacted MerleFest representatives to see about getting the series released again as a fundraiser. They were interested, but there are technical hurdles with the tapes. It’s still possible.
  • This set of audio cassettes represents about half of the material.
  • I don’t know which days most of the sets are from so I didn’t try to guess.
  • You will encounter various hisses, buzzes, brief discontinuities and other assorted analog artifacts. It’s fine though. It could be cleaned up more but hopefully the VHS will surface.
  • I decided not to change the running order to gather out-of-sequence sets since they aren’t complete anyway. This is the order in which they aired within each PFM episode.
  • Across the tapes approximately 15 or so performances were repeated. Obviously, I included the better sounding ones.
  • Raw transfer WAV files available upon request.
  • I was lucky enough to attend this MerleFest and a couple of others around it. A classic scene.
  • There is also a well circulated SBD recording of the Midnight Jam from this year which I highly recommend.
  • Thanks to Mitchell Wittenberg for setlist and lineup help.
  • Yes, that’s a lot of notes, but no one made you read them all.
  • Dedicated to the memories of Doc Watson and Tony Rice.


  • Backing Band/Allstar Group Lineups (in order of first appearance – guests and headliners are noted in the Artist tag and above, with some overlap)
  • Tony Rice Allstars: Tony Rice-guitar, vocals, Bela Fleck-banjo, Jerry Douglas-Dobro, Sam Bush-mandolin, vocals, Stuart Duncan-fiddle, Mark Schatz-bass
  • Nashville Bluegrass Band: Pat Enright-guitar, vocals, Alan O’Bryant-vocals (and ?), Roland White-mandolin, Stuart Duncan-fiddle, Gene Libbea-bass
  • Del McCoury Band: Del McCoury-guitar, vocals, Ronnie McCoury-mandolin, vocals, Rob McCoury-banjo, Jason Carter-fiddle, Mike Bub-bass
  • Tony Rice Unit: Tony Rice-guitar, vocals, Wyatt Rice-guitar, Jimmy Gaudreau-mandolin, vocals, Rickie Simpkins-fiddle, Mark Schatz-bass
  • David Grisman Quintet: David Grisman-mandolin, Enrique Coria-guitar, Joe Craven-percussion, fiddle, mandolin, Matt Eakle-flute, Jim Kerwin-bass
  • Tim & Mollie O’Brien and The O’Boys: Tim O’Brien – mandolin, guitar, vocals, Mollie O’Brien-vocals, Scott Nygaard-guitar, Mark Schatz-bass
  • Doc Watson & Friends: uncertain, the “Friends” may be the Nashville Bluegrass Band (above)
  • Bela Fleck & the Flecktones: Bela Fleck-banjo, Victor Wooten-bass, Future Man-midi controller, Howard Levy-piano, harmonica
  • Seldom Scene: John Duffey-mandolin, vocals, John Starling-guitar, vocals, Ben Eldridge-banjo, vocals, Mike Auldridge-Dobro, vocals, Tom Gray-bass, vocals
  • Laurie Lewis & Grant Street: Laurie Lewis-fiddle, vocals, Tom Rozum-mandolin, fiddle, vocals, Peter McLaughlin-guitar, Craig Smith-banjo, Cary Black-bass
  • Doc Watson: Doc Watson-guitar, harmonica, vocals, Jack Lawrence-guitar, T. Michael Coleman-bass, Bob Hill-piano (on some tracks)
  • Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: uncertain lineup here. Maybe Jeff Hanna-guitar, vocals, Jimmie Fadden-drums, harmonica, vocals, Jimmy Ibbotson-bass, vocals, Bob Carpenter-keyboards, vocals, Josh Leo-guitar
  • Ricky Skaggs Allstars: Ricky Skaggs-mandolin, vocals, Tony Rice-guitar, vocals, Mark O’Connor-fiddle, Jerry Douglas-Dobro, David Grisman-mandolin, Unknown-banjo, Unknown-bass
  • The Nash Ramblers: Sam Bush-mandolin, fiddle, Larry Atamanuik-drums, Jon Randall-guitar, Roy Huskey, Jr. -bass, Al Perkins-Dobro
  • Doc Watson Allstars: Doc Watson-guitar, vocals, Jack Lawrence-guitar, T. Michael Coleman-bass; Jack Williams-piano (t67, t78); Mark O’Connor-fiddle, Jerry Douglas-dobro (t70, t78); Tim O’Brien-mandolin, Roland White-mandolin, Bela Fleck-banjo (t70)
  • Riders in the Sky: Douglas B. Green (“Ranger Doug”)-guitar, vocals, Woody Paul Chrisman (“Woody Paul”)-fiddle, vocals, Fred LaBour (“Too Slim”)-bass, vocals
  • Kathy Mattea – Kathy Mattea-vocals, guitar, unknown band lineup

Steve Earle – San Francisco, CA (01/17/96)

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Steve Earle & The Train Band
Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA
17th January 1996

Download FLAC: Amazon Drive

01 Mystery Train Part II
02 Hometown Blues
03 The Devil’s Right Hand
04 Tom Ames’ Prayer
05 Angel is the Devil
06 Sometimes She Forgets
07 You Know the Rest
08 Goodbye
09 Now She’s Gone
10 My Old Friend the Blues
11 Someday
12 South Nashville Blues
13 Little Rock ‘n’ Roller
14 Regular Guy

01 Ellis Unit One
02 I Ain’t Ever Satisfied
03 Rivers of Babylon (Dowe/McNaughton)
04 Nothin’ Without You
05 When Will We be Married? (Trad.)
06 Ruby Ridge (Rowan) *
07 Land Of The Navajo (Rowan) *
08 Happy Birthday (Trad.) *
09 I’m Looking Through You (Lennon/McCartney)
10 White Freight Liner Blues (Van Zandt)
11 Northern Winds (Blake)/ Ben McCulloch
12 Copperhead Road
13 Fearless Heart
14 Guitar Town
15 Down the Road

  • w/ Peter Rowan on lead vocals

Train band:
Peter Rowan
Norman Blake
Roy Husky Jr.

lineage unknown

Old & In The Way – Warrenton, VA (06/08/73)

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Old & In the Way
Lake Whippoorwill
Warrenton, VA
6/8/73

Download FLAC: Amazon Drive

This is flac encoded & tagged version of shnid: 20681
8th Annual Warrenton Bluegrass Folk Festival

MAC (Taped by Jerry Moore, Sony 126 w/ built-in mic, right
in front of stage) > ? > transfer (Dave Tamarkin) >
digital cleanup (Peter G.) > CD.
**info file updated 8/2004, had been listed as “Unknown Aud”**

1. Instrumental
2. On and On
3. The Willow Garden
4. Mule Skinner Blues
5. Land Of The Navajo
6. ‘Til The End Of The World Rolls ‘Round
7. No It Ain’t (1)
8. Lost (1?)

Notes:
(1) with Tex Logan on fiddle

Old & In the Way – Boston, MA (06/05/73)

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Old & In The Way
5 June 1973
The Orpheum Theatre
Boston, MA

Download FLAC: Amazon Drive

Jon Scher intro
Old & in the Way Breakdown
Tragic Romance
The Willow Garden
Going to the Races
Muleskinner Blues
‘Til the End of the World Rolls ‘Round
Instrumental
Land of the Navajo
band intros
Pig in a Pen
Lonesome L.A. Cowboy
Hard Hearted
Panama Red
Wild Horses
Fanny Hill
The Hobo Song
High Lonesome Sound
Down Where the River Bends
Love Please Come Home
Lost
Knockin’ on Your Door
crowd
White Dove
Blue Mule
pre-encore tuning
How Mountain Girls Can Love
Mississippi Moon
Orange Blossom Special

Peter Rowan – vocals, guitar
Jerry Garcia – vocals, banjo
David Grisman – vocals, mandolin
Vassar Clements – fiddle
John Kahn – bass

notes:
Late Show
This was Vassar Clements’ first show with this band, replacing Richard Greene.
despite any previous claims, allsoundz states flatly that there was only one show, not two.
Doug Sahm opened the show and played a full set. Part of that tape survives and will be seeded here soon.

Source 1:

This is a tagged version of shnid: 83303
Mono cassette audience recording by allsoundz using a mic of now
forgotten manufacture and a Sony cassette recorder, model number, also long forgotten.
Transferred by allsoundz from the master non-dolbyized cassettes.
Tascam 122MKIII>Numark 20 Band Equalizer>HHB CDR 830
Tracked and slight editing in CD Wave

cdr>eac(secure mode)>flac(level 6) by carville 14 March 2007

Source 2:

This is flac encoded & tagged version of shnid: 11889
Recordings: AUD – MA?>?>D>CD

Source 3:

Source: This is a composite edit of AUD ID’s 11889 & 83303. Thanks to the tapers!
http://db.etree.org/shn/11889
http://db.etree.org/shn/83303

Transfer: SHN & FLAC > TLH > WavMerge > Wavelab > CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC 1644 tagged.

Show notes: This is Vassar’s first gig with OAITW, and Jerry’s first performance at
the Boston Orpheum (of 20). Allsoundz – the taper of the 83303 source – states that
there was only one show (not early and late as previously listed) and that Doug Sahm
was the opening act. Allsoundz also recalled there was possibly a set-break somewhere
but this is not evident from the tapes; it appears the show might have been one long
set with a three-song encore.

Composite notes: For this show, both sources had pros & cons, and it appeared that the
show could benefit from a composite that joined the two together. Allsoundz tape 83303
has the benefit of being complete and with known lineage, but was recorded farther back
resulting in a more distant recording, with a lot of thumping near the mic. And, while
11889 is incomplete and with unknown number of tape generations, it was recorded closer,
delivering a nice aural picture of the concert. The 11889 taper appears to have been
a lot closer to the stage, perhaps with the mic right on the stage, as the between-song
banter from Spud and the boys can be heard clearly. 11889 was chosen for the bulk of the
show, with 83303 providing patches and the final part that was missing from 11889.

Allsoundz states that his tape is mono. It also appears that the 11889 original recording
was mono, as the Wav’s are identical, albeit having been shifted out of phase, probably
from the few generations of re-recording. For both sources, DC-offsets were removed, left
and right channels were manually aligned, then each source was merged to mono for editing.
Both sources were apparently running slow; 83303 between 40 & 50 cents, and 11889 between
75 & 85 cents. Each source was speed-adjusted as best as possible given the difficulties
of dealing with these old tapes. It’s probably not exact, but it’s pretty close…

Lots of small edits were done to soften mic-bumps, attenuate clapping, repair drop-outs,
etc. Small FLAC size due to mono WAV data. Patches from 83303 added as follows: Willow
Garden 3:18 > 3:19, Lonesome L.A. Cowboy 4:29 > Hard Hearted 0:49, crowd end of Love
Please Come Home 2:39 > Lost 0:06, crowd end of Lost 3:38 > Knockin’ on Your Door 0:18,
and crowd end of Knockin’ on Your Door 3:04 > thru to end of the show. Enjoy! (Aug 2014)

Peter Rowan – Randolph, VT (11/11/11)

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Peter Rowan with The Traveling McCourys – Bill Monroe Tribute
Chandler Music Hall
Randolph, Vermont
November 11. 2011 ñ Friday

Download FLAC: Amazon Drive
Download MP3: Mediafire

Soundboard: XLR Stereo Patch > Korg MR-1 DFF 1 Bit/2.8 mhz

Mastered at [24/96] in WaveLab 6.0 with iZotope Ozone 5.0 dithered to 16/44.1

Peter Rowan – Guitar
Rob McCoury – Banjo
Ronnie McCoury – Mandolin
Jason Carter ñ Fiddle
Alan Bartram ñ Bass

** 16 Bit **

1st Set:

1.Introduction Becky McMeekin
2.Watermelon Hangin’ On The Vine
3.True Life Blues
4.On And On
5.Little Girl And The Dreadful Snake
6.Jason tells his story about Bill…
7.Jerusalem Ridge
8.Uncle Pen
9.Robbie tells his story about Bill…
10.Why Did You Wander
11.When The Golden Leaves Begin To Fall
12.Cryin’ Holy Unto My Lord
13.Pete talks about Bill learning the Blues…
14.Bluegrass Stomp
15.Alan talks about missing seeing Bill…
16.Kentucky Waltz
17.Katie Hill

Time: 56:05

2nd Set:

1.Long Journey Home
2.Footprints In The Snow
3.Will You Be Lovin’ Another Man
4.Stiing Alone In The Moonlight
5.Rob’s story about Bill’s Strength…
6.Cheyenne
7.The Walls Of Time
8.Blue Moon Of Kentucky
9.A Beautiful Life
10.Molly & Tembrooks
11.Body And Soul
12.I Hear A Sweet Voice A Calling
13.Thanks to all…
14.Muleskinner Blues
15.crowd
Encore:
16.On My Way To The Old Home
17.Rawhide

Time: 61:13

wow! fantastic recording of an all star line up paying tribute to the Father of Bluegrass with many of his most beloved songs.

posted by Rauol Duke

Donna The Buffalo – St. Petersburg, FL (05/04/01)

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Donna the Buffalo
05/04/01
Jannus Landing
St. Petersburg, FL

Download FLAC: Amazon Drive

 

Set I
Zydeco *
Cuckoo Bird *
Dust Bowl Children *
Fetch Wood Carry Water *
Pulling the Devil By the Tail *
Land of the Navajo *
Set II
In This Life
Tides of Time
Positive Friction
Ancient Arms
Funky Side
Lonesome for You
No Place Like the Right Time
Conscious Evolution ->
3rd Stone From the Sun ->
Conscious Evolution
Soileau Zydeco
Sailing
40 Days and 40 Nights
Staring Back at Me (Come Alive)
Family Picture

—-encores—-
No Woman, No Cry *
Midnight Moonlight *
Cold Rain and Snow *
Standing Room Only
How Long Must I Endure

Comment
* with Peter Rowan

 

Hey, I’m back. We had a great time in Europe, but I am oh so glad to be home. I’ve started uploading shows again, but I’ll likely be a bit slow about it for a bit as we recover from jetlag, and make all the adjustments of being here.

I’ve posted Donna the Buffalo before, so I won’t say much about them, except that if you have never heard them before, give them a try. They really are quite brilliant, and this is a fun show featuring bluegrass stalwart Peter Rowan.