Flatt & Scruggs - Town and Country / Changin' Times

Town and Country / Changin' Times  Two Albums on One CD)

By Flatt and Scruggs

Very Good Condition

These Two late-'60s releases-23 tracks including their famous theme from Bonnie & Clyde, Foggy Mountain Breakdown , plus This Land Is Your Land; Houston; Take Me Back to Tulsa , and more.

A Review:

To cut to the chase, there is NOT a weak song on this CD. Purists will disagree and it was Earl Scruggs' desire to cover newer music such as Bob Dylan that eventually resulted in the breakup of the bluegrass dynamic duo.

The CD starts traditional enough with the remake of Foggy Mountain Breakdown. It quickly takes a twist with covers of Memphis and Kansas City. Memphis is certainly not a bluegrass song and even Buck Owens had some tall explaining to do when he said it was a rockabilly tune, a sub-genre of country music.

They go on to cover label-mate Johnny Cash on Jackson and then their interpretation of Detroit City. Detroit City is the stand-out song on the first part of the CD for me.

The 2nd part of the CD, the Changin' Times LP, is where it really gets interesting. I don't know if you would call it folk-grass or what but it's good. I understand Lester Flatt wanted to stay traditional but I'm sure Dylan felt honored to have such a duo cover his music (even if they were over 30!). I just fail to see how purists can find fault with this music.

Listening to this album makes you want more. I would love to hear their interpretations of Reverend Mr. Black or Puff, The Magic Dragon for instance. I think they would've waxed eloquent on PPM's song, Lemon Tree even.