First, a note that I’m starting my brief Midwest tour tomorrow, Saturday, May 2, in St. Louis, followed by Thursday in Kansas City, Saturday, May 9 in Urbana, Sunday in Bloomington IN, and finally two Dylan oriented shows, Wednesday the 13th in Chicago and Friday the 15th in Louisville. Please spread the word — full info at https://elijahwald.com/2026concertdates.html

And on to the music:

I don’t remember where, when, or how I picked up the first New Folks LP, but I listened to it a lot. It may even have been my introduction to bluegrass, thanks to the Greenbriar Boys. I’m guessing it’s what prompted me to buy their Ragged But Right album, which gave me several of my early showstoppers and has a special place in my personal pantheon.

That album was foundational for me because the Greenbriars put no limits on the material they could play. They recorded bluegrass standards, old-time country, modern singer-songwriter compositions (they were the first to record Mike Nesmith’s “Different Drum”), old pop songs, new pop songs, some original instrumentals… I’ve already done posts on “Ragged, But Right” and “Roll On, John,” and I’ll be posting “The Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me” pretty soon. (I should also check if I still remember “Different Drum.”)

Along with the Greenbriars, the New Folks LP was my introduction to Jackie Washington (a.k.a. Jack Landron, now a longtime friend) and Hedy West, who should be much better remembered. (It also had five tracks by David Gude, but I have to admit I rarely listened to them.) The Greenbriars had five tracks, all pretty basic bluegrass, including a dazzling version of Bill Monroe’s instrumental, “Rawhide,” which may have convinced me I’d never play mandolin.

I fell instantly in love with this one, both because it’s a fun song — I file it alongside “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms,” which, come to think of it, also had Ralph Rinzler playing mandolin on the version that caught my attention — and because I imagined the name being spelled Katie Klein and thought if it as one of the few (only?) bluegrass songs about a nice Jewish girl.

I just went back and listened to the Greenbriars’ version, and find that in the second verse they sing that if they were a little bird they’d build their nest “in some tall yonder tree” rather than in their “sweet Katy’s breast,” so I didn’t get that from them. I didn’t make it up; it’s in other versions of that verse, if not other versions of this song. (I just found it in a version of “Free Little Bird,” which is pretty similar.) As for the third verse, I think I made it up to go with the second, but if anyone recognizes it from elsewhere, that wouldn’t surprise me.

As I wrote in the liner notes to my lone LP, more than forty years ago, I’ve never been a huge bluegrass fan but I liked the Greenbriar Boys just fine. They had great taste in songs, John Herald was a terrific singer, Bob Yellin was one of the more interesting banjo players, and… I’m not actually making a case, just describing a personal reaction from back when I was thirteen or fourteen, and paying tribute to a trio that turned me on to a lot of fun material.