Hart Valley Drifters / Folk Time
Album: Folk Time   Collection:Country
Artist:Hart Valley Drifters   Added:Nov 2016
Label:Ato Records  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2016-11-09 Pull Date: 2017-01-11 Charts: Country/Bluegrass
Week Ending: Jan 8 Jan 1 Dec 25 Dec 11 Dec 4 Nov 27 Nov 20 Nov 13
Airplays: 1 2 1 3 3 1 2 1

Recent Airplay
1. Feb 18, 2019: Emergency Crew for PACC
Think Of What You've Done, Clinch Mountain Backstep
4. Feb 21, 2017: Emergency Crew - For Kamla
Roving Gambler, Band Introductions
2. Aug 20, 2018: Everything A to Z Week 144
Sitting On Top Of The World
5. Jan 13, 2017: Road Trip
Sitting On Top Of The World
3. Dec 22, 2017: Emergency Crew
Sitting On Top Of The World
6. Jan 06, 2017: Emergency Crew for The Intercept/The Pocket
Sitting On Top Of The World, Nine Pound Hammer

Album Review
DJ McGriddle
Reviewed 2016-11-08
FOLK/BLUEGRASS. You can read the story of many an aspiring artist honing their early craft on the shoulders of giants. For Jerry Garcia and the Hart Valley Drifters, that story begins on the Stanford campus with this record of folk songs made in 1962 in KZSU’s very own Studio A. These young artists (Nelson was 19, Garcia 20, Hunter 21) bring discipline and talent to a set of standard folk numbers. Garcia manages the banjo despite lacking his ax-shorn middle plucking finger, while Nelson demonstrates considerable early skill on guitar. For Garcia, a comparison to Old & in the Way reveals that he had not yet in ‘62 addressed the stylistic use of dynamics--in voice or in string. I would mark this as his largest improvement from this performance; one can tell that his impressive drive had little room to improve from this time with the Hart Valley Drifters. It seems that the group was most comfortable at a standard tempo that pervades most of the recording. I also hear an exceptional loyalty to Flatt & Scruggs. NO FCC issues.


1. (1:13) KZSU Announcer introduces each of the band members
2. (3:46) Upbeat rendition. Garcia breaks out several times to show his banjo prowess.
3. (1:29) Instrumental. Upbeat. Bit more of a jam. Wonderful display of talent in solos with hints of non-traditional experimentation. Take a listen to what Garcia does with Scruggs’s banjo licks!
4. (2:16) Upbeat. Feels hurried. Less clappable than the Old and in the Way version. This early version also reveals less-developed use of stylistic dynamics.
5. (2:10) Bringing this record’s upward push to the beat of this old gospel classic. Focus is more on instrumentation than on vocals.
6. (2:00) Breaks taken by all but Hunter. Slightly slower than Flatt & Scruggs, but no less impressive.
7. (2:42) A traditional number performed at fast tempo here. Hunter demands more attention for the bass than you might hear from others, such as The Tony Rice Unit.
8. (2:19) Standard take on a standard number.
9. (1:18) Garcia and Nelson trading solos. Garcia chooses to be far more melodic than Ralph Stanley would have it, lending strong complement to Nelson’s picking.
10. (2:42) A little slower. Vocals are not in key. Not even Garcia seems in his element.
11. (1:25) Faster. Phenomenal performances by Garcia and Nelson. Seriously rivals Flatt & Scruggs. Instrumental.
12. (3:09) A lonesome, medium-speed waltz. Hunter holds a strong bass. Performed like Flatt & Scruggs.
13. (2:44) Frankel is out of tune, adding an almost comical touch.
14. (1:39) Slower than Doc Watson.
15. (4:12) Garcia showing less stylistic vocal loyalty to old time than he did on a June ‘62 recording with Sleepy Hollow Stompers.
16. (3:54) Slower. A more swung rendition with a lighter tone than the Dock Boggs classic.
17. (3:37) Noticeably slower, looser, and more somber than Doc Watson’s versions.

Track Listing
1. Band Introductions   9. Clinch Mountain Backstep
2. Roving Gambler   10. Think Of What You've Done
3. Ground Speed   11. Cripple Creek
4. Pig In A Pen   12. All The Good Times Have Past And Gone
5. Standing In The Need Of Prayer   13. Billy Grimes, The Rover
6. Flint Hill Special   14. Paddy On The Turnpike (Boys, My Money's All Gone)
7. Nine Pound Hammer   15. Run Mountain
8. Handsome Molly   16. Sugar Baby
  17. Sitting On Top Of The World