If you can afford it (ebay has some relatively good deals), the new 10-disc complete recordings of Dave Macon on Bear Family is essential (of course, JSP has already bootlegged it and put out the first 5 discs). There's 9 CDs, then 1 DVD of a Grand Ole Opry movie which is pure fluff (with somewhat leftist politics, strange for a GOO film) but has an amazing performance by Macon (and also Roy Acuff and others) that will change the way you hear his recordings (it would be like getting to see a performance of Patton, guitar flipping and all). The remastering by Chris King is excellent throughout. This set includes prewar, postwar recordings, plus air checks and radio performances for the GOO. The accompanying book is brilliant, including countless photographs of Macon throughout his life, and a full biography and session notes by Charles Wolfe. Complete lyrics are also included, very helpful if you're like me and can't figure out what he's saying half the time. If you're familiar with other Bear Family sets, you know what a good job they do. This is the most well done set I have by them, with the possible exception of the Carter Family set they did, although the Carter's later performances are fairly boring. Anyway, there's been a major paucity of available Macon recordings on CD, and this set is more than any Macon fan could have hoped for.
