Seamus,

They are among my favourites too. I regard them as similar to groups like Seldom Scene and the Country Gentlemen - they had elements of bluegrass, played bluegrass, but drew also on wider sources. Other contemporaneous groups - the Johnson Mountain Boys, Joe Val and the New England Bluegrass Boys, Tasty Licks etc - kept more closely to the Monroe-Stanleys-F&S model.

--Stewie.