Though this album was released in 1965, Kentucky singer/banjo man Holcomb plays tunes that reach back to—and sometimes even predate—the earliest days of country and folk. His rough-edged tenor is a master marksman’s bullet tearing straight into the heart of old spirituals (“A Village Churchyard”), traditional folk (“Darling Corey”), and string-band tunes (“Free Little Bird”). Whether those plaintive, almost mournful pipes are accompanied by Holcomb’s own butt-kicking banjo picking or he’s delivering soul-piercing a cappella tunes, the album’s title is borne out in no uncertain terms.
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