You Can’t Beat the Classics is a compact-disc (CD) collection of twenty-two distinctive settings of oldtime music classics and rarities from Appalachia and beyond. It is performed by three artists: Alan Jabbour on fiddle, Ken Perlman on clawhammer banjo, and Jim Watson on guitar and vocals. Classic tunes are inherently worthwhile musically, or they would not have become classics. Certain tunes also seemed worth revisiting because fresh versions might stir up renewed interest. We hope that the musicality of our settings stirs fresh enthusiasm for these grand old classics. For good measure, we’ve also included a number of wonderful tunes never released before.

Alan Jabbour says, "Ken Perlman and I have been playing music together for fifteen years, and ten years ago we released a CD of fiddle-banjo duets, Southern Summits. You Can’t Beat the Classics sounds more “band-like” thanks to a third musician, Jim Watson, who joined me on the second Hollow Rock String Band LP in the early 1970s and occasionally has played with Ken and me in recent years. We hope our threesome brings a fresh sound to this posy of classics and rarities. As always, we owe special tribute to the musicians from whom we learned our tunes. Our debt is first to Henry Reed of Glen Lyn, Virginia, my main fiddle mentor and an extraordinary source for the old 19th-century Virginia-West Virginia repertory. Other splendid fiddlers like Burl Hammons, Doc White, Snake Chapman, and John R. Griffin contributed tunes as well; we thank all who generously shared their music."