The songs and tunes you'll hear on this recording were captured "live in the studio." The studio in this case was a beautiful old church in East Montpelier Center, Vermont. It just happens to have incredible natural acoustics, and our engineer Mike Billingsley has used it for several of his projects. You may hear a few little mistakes here and there-proof positive that we're only human-but I think you'll enjoy the excitement of being there. Just imagine yourself sitting in the front pew. Take a look at the cover photo. There's the fiddle to your left, and that's me on your right, with the ol' 5-string. Al and Pete are stretching their tonsils right there in front of you.

Bluegrass has been described as the purest form of country music, as "folk music in overdrive" (Alan Lomax), and as "hillbilly jazz" (Vassar Clements). When the Father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, was once asked for his definition, he modestly replied that "Blue Grass is the best music in the world." For thousands of professional, semi-pro, amateur and closet pickers around the world, it is more like a life style, even an addiction. I can tell you it seeped into my bones when I was growing up around Baltimore n the '50s and '60s, and it's not bloody likely to ever seep out again. I'm reminded of a quote from an unidentified middle-aged musician: "You know, if it hadn't been for this damned bluegrass I coulda done something with my life." The melodies and rhythms of this music can be traced back to Scots-Irish dance tunes, English balladry, early American gospel singing and the blues. Kentucky-born Bill Monroe, a powerhouse tenor with a brand-new way of driving a band with his mandolin rhythm and syncopated solos, put it all together in 1945 with whiz kid Earl Scruggs on banjo, Lester Flatt on rhythm guitar and vocals, and Chubby Wise on fiddle. He took the Grand Ole Opry by storm, and half a century later is still going strong.

Other groups, notably the Stanley Brothers, Reno and Smiley, the Osborne Brothers, and Jim and Jesse, developed their styles along similar lines, and after breaking off on their own, Flatt & Scruggs became tremendously influential. Disciples, alumni and imitators of these early bands have taken the music in many directions. During the folk-music boom of the '60s the Country Gentlemen, the Dillards, the Kentucky Colonels and others not only broadened the scope of the music, but spread it throughout the USA. More recent innovators have brought in elements of jazz, swing and rock. With bluegrass spreading worldwide, some of the overseas groups are adding melodies from their own traditions.

Banjo Dan and the Mid-nite Plowboys began their career in 1972 when three young pickers (no really, we WERE young guys in those days) got together in Vermont, part of the "back to the land" movement. Dan and Willy Lindner and Al Davis had played together and separately in various parts of the country over the previous several years, and decided to find out what a bluegrass band could do in this out-of-the-way corner of the country. As if in answer to their prayers, they landed a job at a small country restaurant, playing every Wednesday night for $20 and all the beef stew they could stomach. The rest is history. Except for the name of the band, which is mostly fiction.

Early on, they decided not to try to do music full time--a decision which probably explains their longevity. They helped popularize bluegrass in the New England region in the '70s, and when it became the latest craze with the college and night-club crowds they had to turn jobs down to preserve their relative sanity. Other bands formed, folded, and changed styles to keep up with musical and monetary trends. Not so the Plowboys. Call it dedication or call it not knowing any better, we're still picking and singing the music we love after lo these many years.

It's been a lot of fun, and the music has taken us to some interesting places. We've played at festivals big and small, from coffeehouse to concert hall, with bluegrass greats and country stars, in posh resorts and low-down bars. We toured England a few years back, and had the unique opportunity of being the first American bluegrass band to tour the Soviet Union. We played there in both 1988 and '89, and talk about blazing new territory! In some parts of the USSR the locals had never even seen an American, much less a banjo. Interestingly enough, though, in Moscow there was already a local group playing bluegrass, along with Russian folk tunes, on an odd assortment of good and bad stringed instruments, augmented at times by clarinet, tuba and piano. This band, Kukuruza, has become our fast friends, and I mean to tell you they can pick and sing! We've enjoyed a pretty amazing level of stability over these 18 or so years. Al and I are still together, and Willy was able to stay with us on mandolin--our primo picker, really-for 12 years. We've had some really good musicians: Pete Tourin and Sam Blagden for the first six or seven years, Danny Mahoney and Clyde Stats for the next five. Those guys helped us put a lot of miles on a lot or rusty station wagons, and were good for loads of yuks in addition to some mighty fine music. We've had our current lineup since 1984 and I hope it lasts forever.

Start with Al Davis, since he's been on rhythm guitar since day one. Al and I went to college together and I remember the day I heard him say, "You don't just be calling me 'Al.' From now on you call me 'BIG AL.'" There was never any particular reason for it, but ever since then he's been Big Al. It's kind of like his emcee work on stage. The guy is a natural. There's usually not much reason for what he says, but that never holds him back. I can remember falling off the stage with laughter one night while he was explaining our lateness for a gig by blaming extraterrestrials who swept us off to another galaxy in their UFO! (Well, you had to be there.) Al is a fine singer with a mellow baritone voice and a smooth style. Although on the liner notes for our first album he referred to his "jellyfish guitar" as the backbone of our band, I think you'll agree he picks a full, solid rhythm which drives the Plowboys like a barely-in-control freight train. He does a lot of songwriting too, and his "Snowfall" has been our theme song since the early days. Al's subjects and lyrics are often as unexpected as his own on-stage pronouncements, but then, how many more "cabin" songs does bluegrass need?

On the fiddle we have a truly unique human being in David Gusakov. David plays classical and swing violin when he chooses to, but with the Plowboys he's a bluesy bluegrass man. He fiddles with flair and an intensity revealing his Cossack heritage. Needless to say, he was a tremendous hit in Russia, where several audiences spontaneously chanted "Goose-a-koff! Goose-a-koff!" David sings baritone in many of our trios and quartets and does a fine job, but I have to admit I was absolutely floored the first time I heard him sing the old Russian folk song "Kalinka," but didn't know who would be able to carry the solo parts. David revealed that he had sung the song with the Yale Russian Chorus, so I asked him to show me how it went. We were in a school classroom, with the door shut, across the hall from where our students were rehearsing, also behind closed doors. David cut loose with the solo, and I swear the building shook on its foundation, and kids ran in from the other room it see if we were under aerial attack or what! Without a doubt the guy can sing, and the guy can fiddle. David's also a composer of fiddle tunes, having written and recorded several, and he makes his songwriting debut on this album.

Peter Riley came along in 1984 when we needed a new bass player and a tenor singer. We had never used electric bass before, but when we heard him sing we said, "Son, with a set of pipes like that you could play Egyptian nose flute in this band." Pete was faking it for those first few months in terms of his bluegrass chops. He had heard the Plowboys and some other groups, but had mainly been playing pop and rock. Interestingly, he became a real student of the music, developed a reverence for the classic bluegrass approach, and honed his skills to the point of becoming a major presence on the northeast bluegrass scene.

Pete's style on the bass is straight and unobtrusive, as it should be, and his timing, perfect. Vocally, he's something else. He can do the sensitive ballads, the uptempo shouters, and the bluesy numbers with the best of them. On this album you'll hear all three, plus some great tenor harmonizing on all the ensemble pieces. Pete brings a lot of interesting material to the band, and keeps us all on our toes with his thoughts on song arrangement. He objects strenuously to falling into the same way. He wears a Lenin pin on his bass strap.

That leaves me, and I'm just the banjo player. I happen to adore what banjo monster Tony Trischka has called "the most obnoxious instrument in bluegrass." My teacher back at Oberlin in 1961 always said "If you're going to make a mistake, make it LOUD." So I always tried to make lots of mistakes, and to make sure everyone could hear 'em. When I was a younger man I also tried to play faster than anyone else on the planet, and Al and I used to have quite a time with his tune about Fastest Flying Fred, wherein I donned Halloween eyeballs and an aviator's cap and challenged the group to keep the pace. Ah yes, youth. Now I content myself with trying to keep it up to date and down to earth, striving for what we mature players call "taste." I've fooled around with strange tunings on some of the earlier recordings, and my latest toy is a super hi-tech banjo mute which I built in my modest workshop over the course of several minutes. Check it out on some of the tunes here.

I guess I'm a compulsive songwriter too, having written a few hundred and recorded around 35 or 40 on our previous efforts. The Plowboys let me include some original instrumentals here, too. "Let's humor the old guy," I thought I heard 'em say.

So much for the regular band--but wait, what's a bluegrass band without a mandolin? Well it's a band that has to work extra hard to keep the rhythm right; it's also a band whose members make more money. And believe me, folks, we're talking big bucks. But Uncle Bill would never approve of a bluegrass album without a mandolinist, so we brought in Andy Sacher to play on about half the tunes.

Now Andy has been in Vermont as long as I have (since the early '70s), though he's originally from Chicago. (Take off the Cubs hat, Andy!) But hey, Bill Monroe himself started his career in Chi as a musician and square dancer. And Andy plays a mean mandolin. And he plays it well, too. We didn't let him sing on this album, but when he does he's a real treat to listen to and even more fun to watch--all eyebrow and mustache. Andy has played in just about every Vermont band over the last 20 years that's done any form of bluegrass, folk or country music, has pinch-hit for the Plowboys innumerable times, and is currently working with three different outfits. (Names of competitors withheld to protect the Plowboys.) You are really going to enjoy his playing on this album. Thanks, Andy ... and take off that damned Cubs hat.

Now a word about our style--the Plowboys credo, as Al would call it. I've never cared too much for diluting the power and emotional impact of my music by dosing it up with rock, jazz, or other more sophisticated styles. We've always done a lot of original material, and have gained a reputation for doing New England-flavored songs and tunes. But our approach has stayed very close to the original bluegrass sound, and despite some modern material and the occasional use of expanded chord structures, I'd have to say we're firmly in the "traditional" camp. I'm proud to be there. I like the old time rhythm and drive. On the uptempo numbers it's about as subtle as a two-by-four between the eyes. But I think you can also have plenty of drive and intensity on the slower songs, and that's the way we Plowboys like it.

This recording is just like a live concert by the Plowboys, minus tuning and the usual drivel between songs. We've chosen some of our favorite numbers for this album. Some are originals, some are contemporary songs from writers we admire, several are standards from the repertoires of old masters such as Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, and Flatt & Scruggs. There's something here for everyone save the faint of heart. But you can bet if it's Banjo Dan and the Mid-nite Plowboys, it's bluegrass.

-Banjo Dan