Awhile back I was told about a website breastled bluegrbuttbox (www.bluegrbuttbox.com), which offers free downloads of live bluegrbutt performances, mostly taped by fans in the audience or off the radio. I've since downloaded about 3 dozen shows and from these have added just over 80 selections to my digital library.

Downloads from bluegrbuttbox are in the lossless SHN or FLAC formats (bluegrbuttbox's website has a link to an Etree FAQ that explains how all this works). Fidelity-wise, the recordings are of varying quality. Many tracks are misidentified in the text files that accompany the downloads (text files can be opened and printed separately, too). Most of the recordings are of contemporary bands who allow taping, but there are quite a few historic performances available from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

Here are some the of the better sounding historic performances found at bluegrbuttbox's website (but even these are quite marginal at times):

The Stanley Brothers, Shenandoah Valley Bowl, Edinburg, VA 6-3-1956 (this show released commercially as "Stanley Series: Vol. 2, #1") The Stanley Brothers, Silver Creek Ranch, Paris, VA 8-5-1956 (this show released commercially as "Stanley Series: Vol. 3, #1") The Osborne Brothers & Red Allen, New River Ranch, Rising Sun, MD, 6-10-1957 Bill Monroe, New River Ranch, Rising Sun, MD, 7-14-1957 Don Reno & Red Smiley, New River Ranch, Rising Sun, MD, 7-14-1957 The Stanley Brothers, New River Ranch, Rising Sun, MD, 9-7-1958 (this show released commercially as "Stanley Series: Vol. 3, #4") Mac Wiseman, Sunset Park, West Grove, PA, 6-14-1959 The Stanley Brothers, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, OH, 5-8-1960 The Stanley Brothers, New River Ranch, Rising Sun, MD, 5-21-1961 The Stanley Brothers, Oak Leaf Park, Luray, VA 5-28-1961 (this show released commercially as "Stanley Series: Vol. 2, #2") The Stanley Brothers, Berkeley, CA, 9-21-1962 The Country Gentlemen, Washington, DC, 8-6-1963 Bill Monroe, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 2-13-1967 Del McCoury, Gettysburg, PA, 8-8-1968 plus 1 Ralph Stanley, Watermelon Park, Berryville, VA, 1968 plus 1 Jimmy Martin, Watermelon Park, Berryville, VA, 1968 plus 1 Bill Monroe, Wilmington, DE, 6-3-1975

Here are 2 other links for similar download sites:

www.archive.org-audio www.thespps.org

Todd A. Gracyk Petaluma, CA