Some good songs here, particularly "I'll Be Home Someday" and the important "Keep On The Firing Line" (with A.P.'s great, woe-full bass line), but the real knock-out is "50 Miles Of Elbow Room", courtesy of Sara's travels to California; its unusual melody line had me humming it for days afterwards. One of the nice pleasures of revisiting these collections is discovering subtleties not apparent on a couple of listens: Maybelle's continuing development as a guitarist and her harmony work behind Sara is, at times, remarkable (the two may not have been sisters, but they sure blended together like it; sadly, fittingly; many decades later they passed away within three months of each other), Sara's magnetism was always intact and her unchanging center was not only the core of the group but a base for future country ideals (including Johnny Cash). And A.P.'s drive and unprecedented ability to come up with new material kept the basic themes fresh and everlasting (and his marvelously quirky "bassin'in" fit beautifully into the three-part harmony, too.) All in all, the great American group - well, until The Band came along to take it a step further - lovingly enshrined in this superb 9-volume series for you. Help keep the circle unbroken and learn in return: these recordings are a must to comprehending country music.
