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Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #59 Sept-Oct 2005

Clark Kessinger

Last Fiddle Album (Triagle Far)

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After enjoying an early heyday in the late 1920s, old-time fiddler Clark Kessinger re-emerged in the ’60s to broad acclaim. The reason for the excitement was an amazing combination of technique and fire apparent in his music. Kessinger’s bowing and intonation were impeccable, while his sense of adventure and improvisation took time-honored melodies where no other fiddler dared to tread. This short set captures Kessinger live in 1968 at Union Grove, North Carolina (with regular accompanists Gene Meade on guitar and Gene Parker on three-finger banjo), as he rips and glides his way through a dozen popular breakdowns and waltzes. He laughs, he grunts, he sings, he fiddles like the devil on Saturday night. Other Kessinger recordings might serve as a more proper introduction to the music of one of the pre-eminent fiddlers of the 20th century, but this nice collection reveals him at his most eloquent and spontaneous.

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Originally Featured in Issue #59 Sept-Oct 2005

Cover of Issue #59 Sept-Oct 2005

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