I met Sandy only once, and we talked about Uncle Dave Macon, particularly how he'd turned a mishmash of old time songs into recordings, and how important that those recordings had been. It was like I was chatting with an old neighbor, or maybe a favorite uncle.

Much later, it occurred to me that he had a lot in common with Uncle Dave--first, because they were both central, seminal figures in their respective areas of music--known and listened to by everyone that came after. Second, because they took a kind of live music and managed to turn it in to recorded music that stood on it's own.

The fact is, the music industry in general never really knew how to create folk/traditional records that captured the essence of the music, or that reflected the great gifts of the performers. We had to "listen through" a lot--records tended to be either"So and so "Live" at the Whatchamacallit" or "So and So" has a Swinging Hootenanny".

The Folk-Legacy catalog is truly a thing of wonder, because "It's all good". He had a vision of how folk music should sound on vinyl, and knew how to realize that vision. In that way, he was as much of a genius as any of the big name music producers. More so,
even, because they tended to have big budgets and rooms full of equipment, and expensive help. He often had little more than splicing tape and a razor.

There are others here who can talk about how he did what he did, and I hope that they will. I've been listening to, and loving, the music since I was a kid. He tapped into a spring that continues to give us a gift that is fresh, pure, and essential, even now that he is gone.