Video Premiere: Jack Bunch - Cowboy Special

Some of you may recall our interview with Dan Torigoe, who founded Dolceola Recordings in 2010 and whose mission is to record community-based music using analogue recording gear. He uses an Ampex 601, which is a portable, analogue, reel-to-reel made between the 1950s-60s and a beautiful vintage ribbon microphone – the RCA-77DX, which has been described as one of the most iconic microphones ever to grace this earth. It’s the same gear that Alan Lomax used for his field recordings back in the ‘50s & ’60s. They’ve recorded the likes of Lee Sexton, George Gibson, R.L. Boyce, Betty Smith, Clyde Davenport, Jimmy Duck Holmes, Duwayne Burnside, David Kimbrough Jr., Robert Kimbrough Sr. and many others. We’ve also reviewed some label releases, including Gee’s Bend Quilters – Boykin, Alabama: Sacred Spirituals of Gee’s Bend and Just Behind the Creek: Field Recording at Kickin’ It on the Creek 2019.

August 30th sees the release of another great album – Not A Flower On Dogwood Flats: The Music Of Jack Bunch & Laurel County, a collection of 15 field recordings made by the late great multi-instrumentalist in Kentucky (Jack Bunch passed away in 2021).

These intimate performances were recorded at his home in London, Kentucky, between 2017 and 2019. The album captures the musical tradition of Laurel County, which had been represented by many legends like Pete Steele, B.F. Shelton, Big Andy Whittaker, and Jack’s uncle, Henry Bunch. Jack Bunch was one of the few who inherited these hidden treasures to this generation. In this record, he played his uncle Henry’s showpieces such as “Shortenin’ Bread” and “Not A Flower on Dogwood Flats”, as well as Jack’s own compositions “Little Dog Branch” and “Cowboy Special”.

“Cowboy Special” is the album’s first single and video. As we’ve come to expect from Dolceola’s impeccable tastes, it’s magical and timeless.

Talking about Jack Bunch and the new album, George Gibson, a renowned banjo master & historian, said, “Jack Bunch was the most talented multi-instrumentalist of his time in East Kentucky. We are fortunate that he preserved his Uncle Henry’s music and that his music is also being reserved.”

“This album embodies everything Jack lived for – to tell stories and play traditional Kentucky music for those who wanted to listen,” says Garrett Hedrick, Jack’s bandmate in his later years. “The recordings you hear in this album are sounds that have echoed in the hills of Laurel County for generations. It’s wonderful to see them preserved in their true, raw form – just as Jack would have wanted.”