PURE COUNTRY: THE LEON KAGARISE ARCHIVES, 1961-1971 > by Eddie Dean

This coffee-table book illuminates a time when country artists played anywhere-including Sunset Park in Pennsylvania and New River Ranch in Maryland, two tiny, open-air venues close to the Mason-Dixon Line in areas as rustic as the “hollers” many of those artists hailed from.Label: PROCESS
[Rating: 3 stars]

This coffee-table book illuminates a time when country artists played anywhere-including Sunset Park in Pennsylvania and New River Ranch in Maryland, two tiny, open-air venues close to the Mason-Dixon Line in areas as rustic as the “hollers” many of those artists hailed from. Baltimore hi-fi repairman Leon Kagarise became fascinated with the scene and religiously attended shows, which he documented in color slides (and on tape) starting in the late ‘50s. Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner, George Jones, Bill Monroe… the tallest titans of bluegrass and country appear in these simple, yet remarkable photos. It’s a shame Eddie Dean’s narrative isn’t as impressive. His descriptions are bizarrely over-dramatized, but Kagarise’s lively stories about the artists are far more entertaining-and often as revealing as the unguarded images he managed to capture both on and offstage.