Press Archive - Blue Sky Boys - Bluegrass Unlimited
Bill Malone has provided useful brief histories for each one. Foreshadowing bluegrass, the Blue Sky Boys were among those who kept older songs and styles flourishing in the 1930s. Sharing a musical mindset with the Mainers and Monroes, Bill and Earl plowed, sustained, and nourished the ground that made the bluegrass revolution possible a few years later. Each brother saw extensive service in World War II before resuming their careers in 1946. Though they could have turned to bluegrass. the Bolicks wisely chose instead to further polish the style they first brought to records in 1936. What did evolve was their ensemble sound, enhanced by the brothers' mature voices. With the addition of fiddle and bass to their postwar records. Bill's mandolin could expand interior harmonies and add further depth to the music.
Bill Malone has provided useful brief histories for each one. Foreshadowing bluegrass, the Blue Sky Boys were among those who kept older songs and styles flourishing in the 1930s. Sharing a musical mindset with the Mainers and Monroes, Bill and Earl plowed, sustained, and nourished the ground that made the bluegrass revolution possible a few years later. Each brother saw extensive service in World War II before resuming their careers in 1946. Though they could have turned to bluegrass. the Bolicks wisely chose instead to further polish the style they first brought to records in 1936. What did evolve was their ensemble sound, enhanced by the brothers' mature voices. With the addition of fiddle and bass to their postwar records. Bill's mandolin could expand interior harmonies and add further depth to the music.
Press Archive - Blue Sky Boys - No Depression
Maybe a handful of acts from country music's den age of close harmony singing belong in the pantheon of great brother duos, most nota-bly the Monroes and the Delmores (and maybe the Sheltons). The two siblings who produced the most sublime harmonies of all, though, were Bill and Earl Bolick, a.k.a. the Blue Sky Boys, the children of devout textile workers from Hickory, North Carolina. (The Louvin Brothers didn't come along till after the second world war, by which time the era of classic duo singing had passed, giving way to solo crooners such as Red Foley and Eddy Arnold, honky-tonkers such as Hank Williams and Webb Pierce, and bluegrassers such as the Stanley Brothers and Monroe's Blue Grass Boys.) The Bolicks sang all manner of material, from broadside ballads to centuries-old Anglo-Celtic folk songs to the sacred numbers they learned as boys in church.
Maybe a handful of acts from country music's den age of close harmony singing belong in the pantheon of great brother duos, most nota-bly the Monroes and the Delmores (and maybe the Sheltons). The two siblings who produced the most sublime harmonies of all, though, were Bill and Earl Bolick, a.k.a. the Blue Sky Boys, the children of devout textile workers from Hickory, North Carolina. (The Louvin Brothers didn't come along till after the second world war, by which time the era of classic duo singing had passed, giving way to solo crooners such as Red Foley and Eddy Arnold, honky-tonkers such as Hank Williams and Webb Pierce, and bluegrassers such as the Stanley Brothers and Monroe's Blue Grass Boys.) The Bolicks sang all manner of material, from broadside ballads to centuries-old Anglo-Celtic folk songs to the sacred numbers they learned as boys in church.
Press Archive - Blue Sky Boys - Blues & Rhytm Magazine
The five CDs are complemented by a 76 page, 'LP sized', hardback book, which is loaded with photographs supporting a dual biography. complete lyric transcriptions (not really necessary for fluent English speakers as the Boys' vocals are perfectly clear) and a comprehensive discography. The sound quality is really splendid and I can only re-iterate my plea about supporting the labels that do the actual restoration work that others so often just rip off. Before you point out that not many people can afford a Rolls Royce ... I concur and hope that Bear Family will produce a more generally accessible single or double CD of tracks carefully selected to produce a balanced overview for the benefit of all those still subsidising their offspring, on the dole, living off grants or otherwise struggling to feed a CD habit in these Modern Times.
Keith Briggs
The five CDs are complemented by a 76 page, 'LP sized', hardback book, which is loaded with photographs supporting a dual biography. complete lyric transcriptions (not really necessary for fluent English speakers as the Boys' vocals are perfectly clear) and a comprehensive discography. The sound quality is really splendid and I can only re-iterate my plea about supporting the labels that do the actual restoration work that others so often just rip off. Before you point out that not many people can afford a Rolls Royce ... I concur and hope that Bear Family will produce a more generally accessible single or double CD of tracks carefully selected to produce a balanced overview for the benefit of all those still subsidising their offspring, on the dole, living off grants or otherwise struggling to feed a CD habit in these Modern Times.
Keith Briggs