John Hartford

Thirty years after the Aereo-Plain album kick-started the progressive bluegrass (aka newgrass) movement, Rounder treats fans to an awesome collection of outtakes, demos and fiery studio jams. Hartford apparently recorded enough material for two albums, which makes sense: nothing here is second-rate, even though tracks like "Blame It on Joan" and an alternate version of "The Vamp from Back in the Goodle Days" contain a lot of open seams. Regardless, the latter track wails with a wicked fiddle drone.