Category Archives: Bluegrass

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“The Back Forty” by Marty Raybon & Full Circle

Marty Raybon & Full Circle
The Back Forty
Rural Rhythm Records
4 stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

Many people in front of a microphone just sing. Marty Raybon emotes. There’s something about his voice that tugs your emotions the way he wants them to go, happy or sad. He started in bluegrass then made it big in country leading the band Shenandoah before coming back to bluegrass. I was suspect of his initial return—as many in the bluegrass community were of the wave of country stars who all of a sudden discovered their inner Jimmy Martin—especially since many of the songs on that CD were remakes of Shenandoah hits, but he’s stayed committed to bluegrass, not just looking for a place to peddle some CDs because country radio has frozen him out.

His personal appearances are just as good as his CDs. He avoids useless chatter and sings his heart out for the crowd. I recently saw him perform several of the songs off this CD. One goes back a few decades for a giant hit for Webb Pierce; “Slowly (I’m Falling)” is a classic love song and Raybon speeds up his version (in comparison to Pierce’s), giving it a happy feel more than heartfelt emotion. For emotion plus gospel you need to hear “Look For Me (For I Will Be There Too)” composed by Rusty Goodman.

After you’ve been there ten thousand years, a million, maybe two

Look for me for I will be there, too

If you tie belief in heaven with love here today, those words will touch your heart.

Raybon also shows us he can write. Numbers that he co-wrote include “That Janie Baker,” a fast-moving number with drive—the bluegrass combination everyone strives for—and “Mountain Love,” another lively song that kicks off with a banjo-fiddle melody. “A Little More Sawdust On The Floor” is a call for us to take some time out of our busy lives to enjoy life while we can, while he goes down the road of having messed up his life and now about to pay the cost in “The Big Burnsville Jail.”

He reaches out to country music again for a 1977 number one song from Charley Pride, “She’s Just An Old Love Turned Memory.” Another song from the past is “The Late Night Cry of the Whippoorwill,” released in the ’80s by the Virginia Squires, a group that included Sammy Shelor and Mark Newton. Songs of loneliness and lost love are perfect for Raybon’s expressive voice. Still another country broken heart song is “Hurt Me All The Time,” a 1998 song from Joe Diffie.

This is another solid performance from Raybon, a mixture of country-turned-bluegrass, songs that are fun and songs that touch the heart. As Raybon begins his fortieth year as an entertainer, he shows he is getting stronger as time goes by.

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“Brothers of the Highway” by Dailey & Vincent

Dailey & Vincent
Brothers of the Highway
Rounder Records
5 stars (out of 5)

By Aaron Keith Harris

Dailey & Vincent started at the top with their 2008 self-titled debut, and their string of great recordings continues with Brothers of the Highway, an 11-track mix of familiar old-school tunes, a couple of original compositions from Dailey, and a few guest star pickers to occasionally supplement the regular lineup of Dailey on guitar, Darrin Vincent on bass, Jeff Parker on mandolin, Jessie Baker on banjo, and B.J. Cherryholmes on fiddle.

“Steel Drivin’ Man,” a new take on an old topic penned by Dailey and featuring Bryan Sutton on guitar and Andy Leftwich on fiddle, is a dream for bluegrass deejays in search of a new track to kick things off with. It’s really fast, has lots of dynamic range, and carries the soaring Osborne Brothers-style harmonies that Dailey & Vincent has perfected, making it one of the duo’s very best recorded tracks.

“Back to Jackson County” is Dailey’s other new song on another familiar bluegrass theme—longing for home. It’s fresh and fun, avoiding the false sentiment that often make these songs fail with Dailey’s sunny personality buoyed by the lively band.

The well-known country/bluegrass material—including Bill Monroe’s mournful “Close By,” Wilma Lee Cooper’s break-up tune “Tomorrow I’ll Be Gone,” Pete Goble and Leroy Drumm’s rustically nostalgic “Back to Hancock County”—is perfect for a group that specializes in making the classics sound modern without watering them down.

Two covers are especially inspired: Porter Wagoner’s “Howdy Neighbor Howdy,” which perfectly meshes with the group’s genial presence on stage and in studio, and “When I Stop Dreaming,” the best-loved Louvin Brothers duet that I can say—without blaspheming—is every bit as good as the original. Not better, but just as good. No kidding.

Gospel aficionados will be pleased by “Won’t it Be Wonderful There,” another seamless blend of the bluegrass and Southern gospel styles, with the group’s remarkable bass singer Christian Davis in full effect.

“Where Have You Been,” written by Kathy Mattea, is the sort of tear-jerking acoustic ballad that I just don’t care for no matter who writes or sings them, but hearing Dailey shifting styles and backed by a string section was interesting enough for me to not deduct points.

Which brings me to the title track, a truck driving song previously recorded by George Strait. It has all the features of “Steel Drivin’ Man” but with what I immediately thought was the best song about truck driving I’d ever heard (I hadn’t heard Strait’s version, but my grandfather was a longtime truck driver, and I just realized am typing this review in the exact spot in the room in which he died a few years ago).

No use me describing this remarkable song—and album—any more, just get it and hit the road with the best bluegrass band going blasting through your open windows.

DV

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“On the Edge” by Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen

Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen
On The Edge
Compass Records
4 stars (out of 5)

By Donald Teplyske

I first became aware of Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen upon the release of their debut self-titled album a few years ago. What caught my attention was their performance of John Stewart’s “July, You’re a Woman;” while the song had been recorded by other bluegrass bands, their inspired interpretation of this seldom-recorded song caused me to keep track of the band’s progress, and inspired me to delve deeper to discover a very enjoyable recording.

Solivan, a well-respected chef and mandolinist based in the D.C. area, returns with an album on Compass Records. With banjoist Mike Munford the sole holdover from the last album, Solivan and co-producer Brett Truitt maintain the band’s core musical philosophy: staying true to the music’s heart and soul while injecting a contemporary swagger born of diverse influence.

On The Edge doesn’t let up, not even when it slows down. A good example of this is the album’s first two songs. While “I Fell Short” is a spirited and ferocious kick-off, “Gone” takes a step or two back from the edge, allowing its intensity to smoulder; it is within this type of song that Solivan shines as a vocalist.

Danny Booth, who some will recognize from his time in the Kathy Kallick Band, offers harmony vocals while laying down the deep end. The native of Alaska also takes center stage to perform his own “Wild Unknown” with Solivan.

Youthful Chris Luquette produces sweet guitar licks all through the recording; especially notable is his work within “The Letter,” an interpretation of the Boxtops’ staple. Solivan may not match the desperation Alex Chilton conveyed on “The Letter”, but one can’t argue that Dirty Kitchen make the song their own.

Mike Munford, on the 5-string, demonstrates that he is pivotal to the band’s success. While apparent throughout the recording, Munford comes to the fore on his own “M80″ and the album’s other instrumental, the disc closing “Bedrock.” Yabba Dabba Do!, indeed.

Each song has something positive to offer, but the final vocal track “No Chance” may be the finest; everything comes together within this four-minute slice featuring extended, focused breaks and a convincing, first-person confessional.

Perennial Dobro Player of the Year Rob Ickes appears on four tracks, while Tim O’Brien contributes tenor to “On the Edge of Letting Go,” his vocal aura is so palpable as to favorably color the performance.  Listening without liner notes, I found myself thinking, “That sounds like a Tim O’Brien song.”

Solivan’s cousin Megan McCormick also sings on two tracks, including on her own “Gone,” co-written with Tami Hinesh. Solivan also contributes violin on select tracks.

On The Edge is evidence that Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen are at the fore of bands showing the potential to lay claim to the top-rank within the modern bluegrass generation.

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“Hammer Down” by the SteelDrivers

The SteelDrivers
Hammer Down
Rounder Records
4 stars (out of 5)

By Aaron Keith Harris

Bluegrass music is a hard soundscape in which to try and do something new. Synthesized in 1946 by Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, and friends, it is still a young musical style, but its unwritten rules and widely practiced traditions have made rare the bands that spring fully formed on the scene with a radically new sound that still deserves the label bluegrass.

A collective of Nashville pickers and singers, the SteelDrivers did that in 2008, integrating the sounds and swagger of outlaw country and blues-rock (though not straight blues, that’s a challenge still waiting to be met) into the bluegrass sound without adding extraneous instrumentation or needlessly complicated arrangements.

They perfected their recorded style with 2010‘s Reckless, which was released with the word that it marked the end of Chris Stapleton’s run with the band, leaving many wondering if the group could retain its power without the wild, gritty soul that the truly gifted lead singer gave the band.

But word soon got out that replacement Gary Nichols was every bit the singer Stapleton was, and Hammer Down confirms it for those who’ve missed the SteelDrivers live shows. Indeed, though after a couple of listens through good headphones I’ve decided that Nichols’ voice is just a tinge smoother than Stapleton’s, I did a few double takes when playing it in the car the first couple of times—the edges are plenty rough enough to leave a mark.

Tammy Rogers’ presence with harmony vocals that are feminine without being soft makes Nichols sound that much stronger, and her fiddle grabs the blue notes and the ancient tones alike. Richard Bailey (banjo), Mike Fleming (bass), and Brent Truitt (mandolin) resist what must be a strong temptation to bash and shred their way through these songs as strongly as Nichols sings them, instead they ride a tasteful swing that make for a wider dynamic range than you realize the first time through.

The ten songs that clock in at 35 minutes are all good, being a bit more varied in subject and arrangement than those on either previous project. The album-closing “When I’m Gone” is a sunnier song that suggests this great band will continue to grow without leaving behind the approach that sets them apart.

 

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“Grace Notes” by Carl Jackson

Carl Jackson
Grace Notes
Voxhall Records
4½ stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

Carl Jackson is a man of many talents. He’s a songwriter (Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver’s classic “Little Mountain Church House,” for one), a singer, and a multi-instrumentalist. He started his professional career on the banjo playing for Jim & Jesse, and, after a couple of short interludes, joined Glen Campbell’s band for a twelve-year run. He has played as a session player with many great artists, a list far too long to reproduce here.

Grace Notes was a labor of love for him. In the introduction he tells us that many people close to him had urged him to make this CD for years. He is the only musician and the only vocals are a short explanation preceding each track. Listen and you’ll pick up tidbits of history that only some can own, such as how he played his mid-1800′s Martin Parlor guitar (the image is an example, not the actual guitar) on the Grammy-winning recording “How’s The World Treating You” by Alison Krauss and James Taylor. You can bet I’ll be listening closer next time I hear that song.

You won’t hear any unfamiliar songs: “Life’s Railway To Heaven,” “Amazing Grace,” “When We All Get To Heaven.” What you will hear is absolutely beautiful guitar renditions of gospel numbers.

I expect the people that listen to this will fall into three groups: those who just listen to and enjoy the music, paying little attention to the commentary; those who can hear the different tonal qualities of the guitars but don’t really care; and those who will spend hours appreciating the differences between a 1940 Martin D-18 and a 1929 Martin 00-21. The first group, especially, may be bothered by the hand squeaks that can be plainly heard. Those are just part of playing a guitar but you don’t hear them on an electric, since your recording element is isolated, and they are often disguised in acoustic music by the other instruments and vocals – but listen close and you’ll hear them. On a solo acoustic recording, one that I suspect was mic’d close and hot, there is no escaping them.

It’s hard to pick a favorite from this collection, but I especially like “Life’s Railway To Heaven,” played on a metal body 1932 National Duolian. That old guitar has some great bass tones. The one number I don’t much like is “I’ll Fly Away.” The finger-picking style he chose for this track obscures the melody line and he repeats an odd finger roll several times throughout the song. But that’s a minor distraction from an otherwise good recording.

It’s hard to imagine a CD like this having wide commercial appeal in today’s marketplace, but if you enjoy the guitar and gospel, music then you need to hear this CD.

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“Reborn” by Mark Newton & Steve Thomas

Mark Newton & Steve Thomas
Reborn
Pinecastle Records
3 stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

Mark Newton is no stranger to the national bluegrass scene and has received multiple IBMA nominations for his work. Steve Thomas has been a professional musician for over two decades, touring with prominent names like Del McCoury and, on the country music side, Brooks & Dunn and Lorrie Morgan (to name just two). He was a founding member of the Lonesome River Band.

They have now joined together, along with bassist Matt Wallace (Audie Blaylock & Redline), as a touring band. Reborn is their first CD and it may set the tone for the music they want to play.

I don’t belong to the “if it ain’t got a banjo, it ain’t bluegrass” crowd but, still, I find myself missing the danged thing if it never shows up on a CD (or stage show). Five of the seven tracks are banjoless and on some tracks, even though Scott Vestal is listed as the banjo player, they must have not found the switch on his microphone. “Painted Lady” was written by Willis Ramsey, a name you may not recognize but if you happened to listen to rock ‘n’ roll in the ’70′s you may remember Captain & Tennile’s song “Muskrat Love.” That’s a re-name of Ramsey’s “Muskrat Candlelight.” “Painted Lady” is more country than bluegrass and you have to listen very closely to hear stray notes from Vestal’s banjo until the band takes a break at the 1:46 mark and then his break is so laconic – as is the mandolin break – that you wonder why they bothered.

They include songs that have a clear bluegrass pedigree such as “The Girl I Left In Sunny Tennessee” (Bill Clifton, Charlie Poole) but even Poole’s version, recorded over eight decades ago, has more drive than this one. The Newton-Thomas version is more like back porch picking after a big supper and Rickie Skaggs’ clawhammer break is desultory. This is a stylistic choice and it doesn’t make for bad listening, but I find myself on edge waiting for them to break loose with some drive until I finally settle back with another glass of lemonade and a cardboard church fan. If you compare Connie Smith’s version of “If It Ain’t Love” with the one on this CD you’ll wonder where the same feeling is.

They do come alive on “Nobody’s Business,” a number recorded under several titles by a variety of artists including Mississippi John Hurt (1928) to Larry Sparks (1980). Vestal, an excellent banjo player, gets to kick it off and you hear a number with some drive. It’s not that all tracks need to be hard-driving bluegrass. They nail Buffy Saint-Marie’s “Pineywood Hills,” delivering the lonely sound the song demands. They take a bluesy approach to the Delmore Brothers’ “Blue Railroad Train”—more laid-back than Doc Watson’s or Tony Rice’s versions but still good—and I quite like their version of “Kentucky Waltz.”

A pleasant enough listen for a sleepy summer afternoon, but one leaving me wishing the boys had put more oomph into it.

 

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“Feller & Hill and the Bluegrass Buckaroos” by Feller & Hill

Feller & Hill
Feller & Hill and the Bluegrass Buckaroos
Blue Hill Records
4 stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

Southern Indiana has produced some excellent bluegrass musicians. Michael Cleveland and Ron Stewart hail from southern Indiana and then there’s Milan. Milan High School won the Indiana state basketball championship against Muncie Central High School in 1954, the victory being significant as Milan was the smallest town to win a state championship in the United States at that time (and still the smallest in Indiana to do so). The 1986 film Hoosiers is based on the story of the 1954 Milan team.

But bluegrassers know about Milan for another reason, because that’s the home territory of the Holt brothers of the Boys From Indiana. The original group included Aubrey and Jerry Holt, along with their uncle Harley Gabbard. Later Tommy Holt joined the group. Aubrey now appears on the road with his son and Tony’s group, the Wildwood Valley Boys.

Tom Feller is one of the clan, too, son of Judy Holt Feller and cousin to Tony. Tom was filling in on bass for WVB at the same time that Chris Hill (Gerald Evans and Paradise, Karl Shiflett, James King Band) was in the band. Both have enjoyed varied careers in music and have now become partners. Appearing on their debut CD as their Bluegrass Buckaroos (though it isn’t clear how many of them are really band members) are Brian Blaylock (lead guitar, Dobro), Cody Jones (bass vocals), the aformentioned Michael Cleveland and Steve Thomas (J D Crowe) on fiddle, and Glenn Gibson (Dale Ann Bradley, Marty Raybon) also on Dobro. Feller plays the acoustic and pedal steel guitars, mandolin, bass and sings various parts while Hill plays the banjo and sings various parts. As you would expect, the musicianship of this group is excellent.

They offer a great combination of classic bluegrass and some classic country. Many songs cross the boundary between the two genre so many times that you can’t pin them to one or the other. “Big Blue Roses” (Tom T and Dixie Hall) has a walking bass line and has a pure classic country sound. Along with Buck Owens’ hit, “Together Again,” you can hear some Don Rich in Hill’s voice, a reminder of Rich’s untimely loss that staggered Buck Owens’ career. (From Wikipedia: In a late 1990s interview, Owens said, “He was like a brother, a son, and a best friend. Something I never said before, maybe I couldn’t, but I think my music life ended when he died. Oh yeah, I carried on and I existed, but the real joy and love, the real lightning and thunder is gone forever.”)

Tom Holt wrote three of their songs. “Will Heaven Be Like Kentucky” is a Boys From Indiana number and the likeness of Feller’s voice to Aubrey’s and Tony’s voices is remarkable. “Lost Love” is a slow song that highlights a great tenor line on the chorus while “Those Old Things” will touch a chord with those of us that have a few decades of living behind us.

Who I am is gravel roads,

Pocket knives and fishin’ poles

And balin’ hay on a summer afternoon

Microwaves just can’t replace

Those hot biscuits mama made

Yes, it’s those old things that make me who I am

Yep, that about says it.

“Wasted Words” (written by Don Gibson, a hit for Ray Price) is another borrowed country song that they do well and they don’t forget gospel music. “My Lord Keeps a Record” is a well known Carl Story song that they sing to minimal accompaniment, while they move right along on the Inspirations’ “Is That Footsteps That I Hear, ” a fabulous southern gospel number.

They use new material, Mark Brinkman’s hobo story “The Old Kentucky Man,” and old material like the Delmore Brothers’ “Southern Moon” and the well used “Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar,” but they’ll touch a lot of heartstrings with a written by Judy Feller, “What Will You Bid For My Old John Deere.” You can feel the heartbreak as an old farmer watches as all his dear possessions go on the auction block.

If you’re a fan of the classic sounds of bluegrass, you won’t waste a penny when you buy this CD.

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“Roads Well Traveled” by Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver

Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Roads Well Traveled
Mountain Home Music Company
2 stars (out of 5)

By Aaron Keith Harris

If this CD had arrived in the mail with no cover or promo sheet, I would have had no inkling this is a Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver project until the sixth track, which features the unparalleled bandleader singing lead on “Dobro Joe,” a bouncy  bluegrass tune that’s essentially an update, on a different instrument, of Jim & Jesse’s “Fiddlin’ Will,” which closes this 11-song, 37-minute effort. Those two cuts, along with the expertly picked “By the Waters of the Clinch,” a Lawson original mandolin instrumental, are indeed about all the Doyle you’ll get here.

The rest is, if I am reading the liner notes correctly, songs sung by Mike Rogers and Corey Hensley—I listened to this all the way through three times and can’t tell the difference—backed by a featureless mix of bluegrass, Southern gospel, and contemporary country arrangements.

The songs are standard Nashville, which is to say they contain lots of little details with which the listener is supposed to identify—such as graduating from Ohio state, enjoying the taste of tomatoes and cornbread, and pride in one’s ability to change a flat tire—but do not allow for any emotion to be conveyed or felt.

Special opprobrium must be heaped on “Say Hello to Heaven,” a lachrymose tale about a man prayerfully trying to forgive a drunk driver who killed a family member (or members, I can’t stand to go back and listen long enough to find out). There may be a songwriter alive who could make something worthwhile out of that scenario, but we know Lewis N. Hyatt is not that songwriter.

There may be some people who could enjoy this disk—it is smoothly executed with good harmony singing—but having one of the true greats, and great gentlemen, of American acoustic music spend his time and ours on something that bears so little of his genius is frustrating.

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“The Story of the Day That I Died” by Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice

Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice
The Story of the Day That I Died
Rebel Records
4 stars (out of 5)

By Aaron Keith Harris

There’s something about Junior Sisk’s voice that makes it perfect for bluegrass. It’s got the ragged edge of a Blue Ridge mountain top, and he balances emotion and restraint like few of his fellows in country or bluegrass.

That means that he kicks the heck out of straight-up, hard-driving numbers like the McCoury-esqe “High in the Mountains” (with banjo man Jason Davis giving Rob a run for his money), the whimsically sadistic “Old Bicycle Chain,” the nostalgic “Good to See the Home Place Once Again” (check out Billy Hawks’ greasy fiddle break), and “Drinking at the Water Hole,” an anthem for those of us in southwest Ohio with roots in the Commonwealth across the river.

There’s plenty more packed into this 12-track, 36-minute project, most notably the title track, which Sisk puts across with the pain and humor required for a tale of a creative way to get back at your cheating wife. “The Story of the Day That I Died,” written by Ashby Frank, could easily pass for a long lost Tom T. Hall track and is a sure contender for song of the year at the various bluegrass awards.

One of the best vocals of Sisk’s career is “If the Bottle Was a Bible,” his wounded vocal getting every drop of meaning from the rich lyrics co-written by Ronnie Bowman. There’s more hard emotion on “A House Where a Home Used to Be,” which favorably recalls both George Jones’ “The Grand Tour” and Longview’s “Lonesome Old Home.” And speaking of Longview, Joe Mullins brings his incomparable banjo picking and tenor voice to an old-school duet of “Lover’s Quarrel.”

Mandolinist Chris Davis leads on the contemporary gospel of “Prayers Go Up,” and bassist Josh Tomlin steps out front on “Another Lonely Day,” adding a slightly more mainstream tinge to a well-produced album that’s puntcuated by a kickin’ run through the traditional banjo instrumental “Jesse James” and “Walking in Good Company,” a gospel co-write between Sisk and his father, Harry Sr. that could have been written 50 years ago.

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“It’s Just a Road” by the Boxcars

The Boxcars
It’s Just A Road
Mountain Home Records
5 stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

Have you read and heard the arguments about what is bluegrass (or country, or southern gospel, or whatever) and what isn’t? Despite all attempts at definition (including “it ain’t bluegrass without a banjo”) the most persuasive argument is sometimes, “I know it when I hear it.” Some CDs and some bands may leave you scratching your head because the music is enjoyable but it has to be hammered just a bit to fit into the bluegrass niche you’ve formed in your mind.

If you’re comfortable with the likes of Flatt & Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Larry Sparks, and Jimmy Martin, to just name four, in the “yeah, that’s bluegrass” category, then you’ll not be disappointed (or prompted to disturb your hair follicles) when you listen to the Boxcars. They have just a little experience in the music: Ron Stewart is a multi-instrumentalist who has played with many stars, including JD Crowe; John Bowman started with Doyle Lawson then played with Alison Krauss and the Isaacs; Adam Steffey also played with Krauss and the Isaacs, and has recorded and performed with a long list of country and bluegrass stars plus being named mandolin player of the year nine times by the IBMA; Harold Nixon was part of Crowe’s New South for six years and plays a fantastic bass (watch this break!); and Keith Garrett was part of Blue Moon Rising. He is a singing definition of bluegrass and is making his mark as a composer.

Even great pickers and singers like this band can go astray without good material. That’s not an issue on this CD. The title cut is from the pen of Garrett as well as “Cornelia,” a blues-infused, swinging number about a heartbreaker that should be sung around campfires at every festival. Nixon takes a break on the doghouse bass that will have audiences applauding everywhere they play. Garrett also co-wrote “Caryville.” Bluegrass lovers love dark songs and one line from this song should be enough for you to buy this CD: “I don’t think God lives in Caryville.”

According to the band’s website, they went into the studio with no plan for the recording. Plan or not, they managed to reach back through the years for some great songs. When the Carter Family recorded “I’m Leaving You This Lonesome Song” (listen to a bit of it) it moved along at a good pace, but The Boxcars shred the landscape with it, leaving no doubt about their instrumental prowess. Another from the Carter Family is the “Coal Miner’s Blues” and they take a Hank Williams’ ballad, “Never Again (Will I Knock On Your Door),” and supercharge it.

Ron Stewart’s no slouch as a songwriter, either. “The Devil Held The Gun” is a dark song about love gone wrong while “Skillet Head Derailed” (wouldn’t you love to know where that title came from) is an instrumental that will be copied by many regional bands.

From the happy “You Took All The Ramblin’ Out Of Me” to “Trouble In Mind,” an oft-recorded (Eddy Arnold to Janis Joplin, Tennessee Ernie Ford to Jerry Lee Lewis/Willie Nelson/Merle Haggard/Keith Richards) blues standard from 1924, recorded here as uptempo swing, they take you on a bluegrass roller coaster. Your only question when it’s over is, can I ride again?