SIGNED U.S. SENATOR ROBERT BYRD Mountain Fiddler LP

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Jul 2, 2010 Sold Date

Jun 28, 2010 Start Date

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SIGNED ~ U.S. SENATOR ROBERT BYRD Mountain Fiddler LP!!

U.S. SENATOR ROBERT BYRD “MOUNTAIN FIDDLER” Don't miss out on owning a piece of history. This is a RARE album released in 1978 on County Records ( COUNTY 769). The record is still in the plastic but not sealed this may have been played once and is in a NEAR MINT "NEVER TO HAVE BEEN PLAYED" condition. YouTube Links offer a chance to listen to this LP Album, and see more about Senator Byrd's amazing life! --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs60zpHk1ao
--> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcaUJ1JgaWc
--> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYHs_gho5cY Senator Robert Byrd

The Honorable senior Senator from the state of West Virginia, Robert C. Byrd, had a second career as a fiddler. Byrd, born in 1917, had played in various square dance bands from his teens, and once he entered politics, he used his fiddling skills to attract attention and win votes. The man once known as "Fiddlin' Bob Byrd" was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1952 and the Senate in 1958, but he never lost his interest in making music.
In 1978, when Byrd was Majority Leader in the Senate, he found time to record an album called U.S. Senator Robert Byrd: Mountain Fiddler (County, 1978). Byrd was accompanied by Country Gentlemen Doyle Lawson, James Bailey, and Spider Gilliam. Most of the LP consists of old-timey mountain music. Coincidentally, Byrd covers "Don't Let Your Sweet Love Die," a Zeke Manners song that later appeared on Chris Hillman's Morning Sky (Sugar Hill, 1982). Byrd and friends also perform "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," a song to which Hillman and Roger McGuinn contribute backing vocals on Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Vol. Two (Universal/MCA, 1989).
There is an official Senator Robert Byrd Homepage. LINER NOTES: "Most Americans know Robert Byrd as the distinguished Majority Leader of the United States Senate. But those who have had the opportunity to hear him play and sing know that he is also a distinguished musician. On this record for the first time he shares that art with a wider public. Senator Byrd's music is part and parcel of the cultural landscape in the West Virginia countryside where he grew up. Thus, though he is self-taught, it must be added that he had many models to emulate. Chief among them was the late Clark Kessinger, whose early 78-rpm records of West Virginia fiddle tunes inspired the young Robert Byrd. The same community of appreciation for old-time country music in the state made it possible for Seanator Byrd to play and sing at homecomings, public gatherings, and on the campaign trail throughout his career. His music, in short, touches a deep responsive chord in his fellow West Virginians. The selections on this record are all "country music," but they represent different categories and different sources. There are the classic fiddle tunes of the old frontier, well represented by Forked Deer, and Durang's Hornpipe; the frolic tunes with playful verses, like Cripple Creek and Cumberland Gap, which resonate with the spirit and energy of the Southern Uplands; the traditional lyric songs like Roving Gambler and There's More Pretty Girls Than One; the modern country pieces like Come Sundown She'll Be Gone; and the hymns and gospel songs like Will The Circle Be Unbroken. All these songs and tunes constitute an art that evokes the traditional life of the American countryside. It is a tribute to Robert Byrd that he has continued to treasure and preserve that art, and a tribute to the art itself that it has proved so well worth preserving. -- Alan Jabbour, Director, American Folklife Cemter"

The album contains the following :

1. RED BIRD

2. TURKEY IN THE STRAW

3. THERE'S MORE PRETTY GIRLS THAN ONE

4. CRIPPLE CREEK

5. FORKED DEER

6. DON'T LET YOUR SWEET LOVE DIE

7. CUMBERLAND GAP

8. RYE WHISKEY

9. DURANG'S HORNPIPE

10. ROVING GAMBLER

11. OLD JOE CLARK