Category Archives: Rural Rhythm Records

by

“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.

61kqR1M-DTL._SX300_

About these ads
by

“God Didn’t Choose Sides: Civil War True Stories about Real People, Volume 1″ by Various Artists

God Didn’t Choose Sides: Civil War True Stories about Real People, Volume 1
Various Artists
Rural Rhythm Records
4½ stars (out of 5)

By Aaron Keith Harris

The Civil War, or, as it’s more properly called, the War Between the States, has been the subject of several great bluegrass songs—”Legend of the Rebel Solider” by the Country Gentlemen, “Last Day at Gettysburg” by Larry Sparks, and “He Walked All the Way Home” by Blue Highway” come to mind—and this 13-track, 45-minute effort from Rural Rhythm Records adds to the list in a refreshing way.

On God Didn’t Choose Sides, executive producer Sam Passamano II employs a strong lineup of singers, musicians, and songwriters to create a dozen original songs (the album-closing hymn “There is a Fountain,” which gets a gentle, yet majestic reading from the Gap Creek Quartet, is the exception) about actual people who played a part, willingly or not, in a truly horrific war.

Paula Breedlove, Mark Brinkman, and Mike Evans, working in different combinations, share most of the writing credits, with Brad Davis, Ray Edwards, Terry Foust, Steve Gulley, and Tim Stafford also pitching in.

The product is some fine original tunes that offer neither the shallow cant that lionizes the politically motivated Lincoln and the butchers he employed as generals, nor romantic notions of the South, which was controlled by slaveholding oligarchs—the one percenters of the South, if you will—who allowed their blessed homeland to be attacked because they put their private interests ahead of it.

One of the best vocals on the disc, unsurprisingly, comes from Dale Ann Bradley on “Christmas in Savannah,” a tale of a group of Union soldiers from “General Sherman’s line” who brought yuletide provisions with mules dressed as reindeer to the residents of the besieged town. It’s a nice story that shows that even in the worst circumstances people find ways to be kind, but there’s no mention of the fact that Savannah was the lone city that General Sherman, one of America’s most shameful war criminals, didn’t put to the torch on his sadistic march across a defenseless south at the behest of Lincoln and Grant.

I know pointing out things like that aren’t the point of this project, but a little true contrast now and then between the actions of politicians and generals on one hand and ordinary folk on the other can only enhance the esteem we have for the latter.

There are a couple of songs that do that to some degree by pointing out the inhumane treatment of prisoners on both sides—the brooding “Providence Spring” from Tim Stafford and the deceptively soothing ghost story “The Lady in Gray” from Ronnie Bowman.

There are also stories of individuals doing the best to act bravely and honorably in situations where such actions seldom come to a good end: “I’m Almost Home” from Steve Gulley whose delivery embodies the snuffed-out joy of a soldier who leads one last charge only to die on the front steps of the home he had left to go fighting, Russell Moore bringing his sentimental tenor to “A Picture of Three Children” clutched in the hand of a dead solider, the Lonesome River Band performing “The Legend of Jennie Wade” in which three friends try to communicate over hundreds of miles to no avail, and Bradley Walker’s voice singing of one man’s “Last Day at Vicksburg” with stentorian richness.

We meet some other great characters too: the feisty “Old John Burns” from Ricky Wasson & Dwight McCall who turn in one of the ‘grassier cuts included here, Carrie Hassler’s melancholy “Carrie’s Graveyard Book” about a woman who honored the dead to an extent far beyond anyone could have asked her to do, and Dave Adkins’ soulful story of “The River Man” who risked his life repeatedly to help slaves cross the Ohio River.

My favorite track from this fine collection is “Rebel Hart,” from Brad Gulley, son of Steve Gulley and lead singer for Cumberland River. The upbeat track about a 16-year-old Virginia girl who used her feminine wiles and incredible courage to inflict improbable injury after injury on those who had invaded her country cries out for a movie version.

Before “There is a Fountain” closes things out, elder statesman Marty Raybon offers the title track with his characteristic humility, reminding us that the God of the Bible who was worshiped by those victimized could never  have ordained an unnecessary war fought for political reasons that killed as many as 750,000 people. One wishes that a nation that had survived such an ordeal would have learned its most obvious lesson.

by

“This is My Crowd” by the Marksmen Quartet

Marksmen Quartet
This Is My Crowd
Rural Rhythm Records
4 stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

The Marksmen Quartet has been around professional music for four decades. Some of that time was spent more closely aligned with the southern gospel scene and most of their songs on this CD would fit well in southern gospel. In bluegrass a close contemporary is Paul Williams and the Victory Trio.

Dr. Earle Wheeler formed the Marksmen after some senior members from his first group, the Gospel Hearts, retired. For twenty-one years the group, with several different members but always anchored by Wheeler, worked the gospel circuit before making a segue to bluegrass gospel in the early 1980s. They are currently a five-member group with Wheeler doing vocals, Davey Waller (vocals, mandolin and guitar), Darrin Chambers (vocals, bass, guitar and dobro), Mark Wheeler (Earle’s son; vocals, lead guitar and banjo) and Mark Autry (vocals, bass, guitar). They are joined on the CD by other musicians including Bryan McDowell

There is a mixture of songs on the CD. One of the most suprising may be “Reuben.” It shows off the picking skills of the band and guests but seems odd to be included on an all-gospel album. The same can be said of “The Mule Song” which has a little in common with gospel music. (Trying to track down the origin of this song, I’m reminded—and showing my age—of Death Valley Days and the 20-mule team the sponsor showed hauling borax out of the desert. There seems to be forty or more versions of something called “The Mule Song,”) “Rock of Ages,” on the other hand, is as traditional as they come, presented in a minimalist arrangement, just a singer and guitar plus some background harmony. This is as good and effective an arrangement of this old song that I’ve heard.

“Matthew 24″ is a Cliff Waldron song. The vocals here don’t blend as well as on “Rock of Ages” but there’s still that good, traditional gospel sound. They reach for the heartstrings with “Don’t Take Your Life (Take Mine),” about a man ready to commit suicide until he hears Jesus say, “don’t take your life, take mine.” While some people may dismiss a song like this as maudlin, others will tell how it represents their own life’s story. That makes a good song, one that touches life’s stories.

“The Vail Is Gone” will meet any standard for a gospel number while “The Upper Room” is a down-to-earth story of a man recovering from a bout of drinking, listening to a preacher talk about the upper room where Jesus visited while he and others sit in the Upper Room Mission Home. Another song about life with which too many can identify. Another of those is “Last Saturday Night,” the story of a man on the wrong path who was saved in the jail last Saturday night, too late for this life but not life eternal:

He lived in the darkness now he walks in the light

Saved in his cell last Saturday night,

Saved in the jail last Saturday night

Open the gates, let him come in

Heaven is waiting, the chair’s not the end

Live in the darkness, now he enters the light

Steps into heaven, what a beautiful sight

He’ll be in heaven next Saturday night

I have a friend who is part of a prison ministry. Songs like this touch a nerve.

If you like bluegrass gospel done the traditional way, you’ll enjoy this CD.

by

“Hard Country” by Audie Blaylock & Redline

Audie Blaylock and Redline
Hard Country
Rural Rhythm Records
4½ stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

Audie Blaylock is one of many graduates from Jimmy Martin’s school of music. Martin, never one to mince words, must have been impressed by young Blaylock (who joined the Sunny Mountain Boys at age 19) because they were together for nine years. You can’t play them too fast or hard for Blaylock’s rhythm guitar playing and he has a bluegrass singer’s voice: some edge, uncultured (no Jim Nabors’ crooning here) but dead-on with each note.

“Hard Country” is meant to showcase the close relationship between bluegrass and what many call “real” country. Singers have chosen many songs supposedly of one genre and released them to fans on the other side and, if you listen close, you can hear elements of both genre in these songs. “A Real Good Way To Lose” has a fast tempo with the bass driving the song and underlined by Blaylock’s tenor voice. It sets the bar of musicianship high, something bluegrass fans simply expect. Band members Patrick McAvinue (fiddle/vocals) and Russ Carson (banjo) are both young and new to the bluegrass road, but they make their mark with this CD. Jesse Brock (mandolin; the Night Drivers, Lynn Morris and Dale Ann Bradley bands, Flamekeeper and a host of other stars) is recognized as one of the great mandolin players on the current bluegrass scene. Rounding out the recording group is Jason Moore ( Mountain Heart; James King), a great young bass player.

“14 Days” and “On the Road” are truck drivers’ songs with that distinct bluegrass beat, the bass pushing them along until you can almost feel your pulse jump to keep time. These numbers prove the point that there’s a difference between speed and drive. People outside bluegrass often think it’s all about breakneck speed but, while speed is sometimes an element, drive is most important. Another number with lots of drive is a Harley Allen number, “A Natural Thing” but the other Allen number is a slow ballad. Blaylock is known for his hard driving bluegrass but he does just as well with a heartstrings song like “Home Is Where The Heart Is.” The line “home is where the heart is and that’s why I leave it there” is one people should listen to—it would sure save a lot of heartache in the world and maybe a fewer songs about sitting at the bar and drinking my blues away. This song also has some beautiful harmony singing.

Speaking of heartache songs, the Louvin Brothers did some great ones. Ira Louvin co-wrote “Stormy Horizons” and it was recorded by, among others, Jim & Jesse. Another old number with a good arrangement here is “Philadelphia Lawyer.” This one has been recorded by a long list of artists on both sides of the bluegrass/country fence (I remember a Jim Reeves version) and Redline does it justice on this CD.

“A Grandmother’s Love” tugs at your heartstrings, especially if you’re a grandparent:

A grandmother’s love is greater than gold

She prays for her children with heart, mind and soul

Her heart can’t be measured, can’t be bought or sold

‘Cause a grandmother’s love is greater than gold

Blaylock can write as well as he sings.

Audie Blaylock has the credentials, the voice, the music and he keeps putting out CDs worth the money to own. This is one of them.

by

“New Bluegrass & Old Heartaches” by Bobby Osborne & the Rocky Top X-Press

Bobby Osborne & the Rocky Top X-Press
New Bluegrass & Old Heartaches
Rural Rhythm Records
4.5 stars (out of 5)

By Donald Teplyske

Bluegrass takes care of its legends, if only in praise. We hold up the champions of the music as icons and revere their every word. When they walk by, we pause and fall silent. To the broader entertainment business, they may be mere footnotes within the histories of WSM, the Grand Ole Opry, WWVA, and hillbilly music. Within the bluegrass community, the names Sonny and Bobby are as recognizable as Waylon and Willie.

When Sonny set aside his banjo several years ago, his elder brother Bobby was provided the opportunity to carry on the Osborne sound. Since 2005, he has done so with every bit of the precision and flair he brought to his first 55 years in the music. Now well past 60 years as a bluegrass music professional, Bobby Osborne shows no signs of slowing down.

His most recent album, and his fifth since 2006′s Try a Little Kindness, is New Bluegrass & Old Heartaches. And boy, is it a good one!

The first thing one may notice while listening to this rather brief album is the timbre of Bobby Osborne’s voice. The vocal nuance and flexibility he has always brought to his music remains. His approach to a song is as distinctive as ever. Listening to “Heartache Looking for a Home” one would swear that it is a performance from the Seventies. It sounds so recognizable and is of such quality that it appears to be of that now classic era. (It should seem familiar, as Bobby and Sonny recorded the song for MCA before Charlie Sizemore used it as the title track for his under-heralded album last year.)

Still, it is obvious that Bobby isn’t the 37 year-old youngster who recorded “Rocky Top” in 1968. His vocal chords aren’t quite as elastic as they once were, but one accepts this with the same realism that—at some point—one greets each day.

Another song from the catalog of the Brothers O is “Muddy Waters,” the often recorded Phil Rosenthal song. I’ve never been fortunate to hear the Osborne’s 1974 take of the song, but I can’t imagine it being more intense than the version here. An old Jake Landers song “The Old Oak Tree” is given a beautiful refreshing, while another Landers song “I’m Going Back to the Mountain” kicks off the album in fine style; like “Muddy Waters,” this is a song the Osbornes recorded in May, 1974 but which wasn’t released by the label.

“The Last Bridge You’ll Burn” is a song Bobby Jr. (Boj) found within his father’s archives. How a song this good could be misplaced is beyond me—if I ever write anything half this good, you can be sure it won’t be sitting in a dusty closet!

The vocal arrangements are largely trios with Boj most often singing the baritone and Glen Duncan the low tenor. The musicianship is impressive with Bobby taking care of the mandolin (listen to his picking on “Low and Lonely” and prepare to be impressed) while Duncan handles the fiddle and Boj the bass. Joe Miller contributes some very nice guitar while Mike Toppins is featured on the six(!)-string banjo.

I purchased New Bluegrass & Old Heartaches shortly after it was released this past May, and was pleased when the album was assigned to me this month. It is an album that deserves considered listening, and while not perfect in every aspect one overlooks minor faults within the bounty that is another stellar recording from a bluegrass legend.

by

“New Day Dawning” by the Roys

The Roys
New Day Dawning
Rural Rhythm Records
4 stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

New Day Dawning, the new CD by brother-sister duo the Roys, has an easy feel to it. The songs are well written, the musicians are excellent, but the songs are more gentle, have a softer feel than the fine-grit sandpaper of, say, a Darrell Webb CD. That’s not bad, just different. They crack the mold with one hard driving song, “Still Standing.” Written by them (one or the other is a co-writer on every song), it’s a song about overcoming adversity. Sung by Elaine, it’s a wake-up after the two tracks that precede it.

Close relatives singing together often means great harmony and the Roys won’t disappoint you. Adding a third harmony voice is something they might consider to give their sound more variety.

They use a great selection of musicians to back them on the CD. Andy Leftwich (Kentucky Thunder) plays mandolin and fiddle, Randy Kohrs plays Dobro, Cody Kilby (Kentucky Thunder) on guitar, Mark Fain (Kentucky Thunder) adds bass and Justin Moses (Kentucky Thunder) is on banjo. While percussion in bluegrass is sometimes controversial, but hardly novel, it does seem more people are using it and they have Steve Brewster adding percussion on some numbers. Rounding out the group is Jeff Taylor (Time Jumpers) on accordion on two numbers and Luke Skaggs (Ricky’s son) playing baritone guitar on one song.

“My Living Scrapbook” is a song we can all take to heart.

My living scrapbook are the pages of my life

The years keep rolling but the moments are frozen in time

The older we get the more we appreciate the truth of that. Their title song is upbeat in tempo and message, talking about the things in life that get you down but things can turn around and a new day dawns. This fits well with their general theme of a positive outlook on life.

“Daddy To Me” is a poignant song, my favorite on the CD. It’s the story of a man who has died and his family and friends are gathered to remember him. We hear about the man from different perspectives of friends and family but, to the singer, this was his daddy. Listeners of any age can appreciate the song but I think being able to look back through your own years and losses brings a different outlook for songs like this. That’s also true of “Grandpa’s Barn.” Images of a rusty tractor, an old calendar, bits and pieces and memories … I know the song evokes memories and images in my mind and shouldn’t a good song do just that?

There are only seven cuts on the CD but it is priced right and provides good listening. If you can survive without murder songs and the piney hills of old Kentucky, you should listen to the Roys.

by

“Chronology – Volume Two” by the Lonesome River Band

Lonesome River Band
Chronology – Volume Two
Rural Rhythm Records
4½ stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

The second volume of the chronology, representing LRB’s second decade in the business, has some strong picks from those years, as well as a new song.

The songs haven’t been just re-mastered, they’ve been re-recorded. That presents a challenge. As a band plays popular numbers over and over through the years they introduce changes, some subtle, some not. They may develop as players, may learn new licks, may just get bored with playing the same songs a hundred times. So when you decide to record the songs again, do you stick with the original version (more or less) or go with the way you’ve been playing it today? Gene Watson recently commented on this when he recorded a hits CD and he tried to stay true to the original versions which meant, he said, learning some songs all over again. LRB has followed that path, not trying to emulate the originals note for note (almost impossible since the band’s lineup has changed) but not straying too far from the originals. The result is a CD that longtime fans will enjoy and newer fans, who may not have the old versions, will want to grab.

The lineup for Volume 2 hasn’t changed from Volume 1, except guest Michael Cleveland is missing. Band leader Sammy Shelor is still picking banjo, while Brandon Rickman provides excellent guitar and vocals. Randy Jones plays mandolin and does a number of lead vocals including the new song, the Rickman-penned “Barely Beat The Daylight In,” a song you’re certain to hear if you catch one of their shows. Mike Hartgrove (IIIrd Tyme Out, Quicksilver) plays fiddle and Barry Reed is on bass and harmony vocals.

From One Step Forward (1996) Rickman sings “Flat Broke and Lonesome.” If you’re so inclined you can group voices into families and I’d put Rickman in the same vocal family as Dan Tyminski. When I hear either one of them sing my mind always pops up the bluegrass flag and I have to stop and listen.

Most bluegrass fans must love murder and love-gone-wrong songs becuase bluegrass music is replete with them. In 1998 (Finding The Way) Ronnie Bowman sang the lead on “Perfume, Powder and Lead” and Brandon Rickman’s 2012 version is dead-on.

I can’t believe what I have done

I killed them both with daddy’s gun

As their bodies lay entangled in our bed

He was the sheriff’s only son

To me she was the only one

I smell the perfume, the powder, and the lead

This song is BLUEGRASS.

From the same album is an about-face, a love song about “Sweet Sally Brown” sung by Randy Jones. From 2000 (Talkin’ To Myself) is an old Ralph Stanley / Curly Ray Cline number, “Dog Gone Shame,” that drives hard and fast. From the same album is another of my favorite LRB songs, “The Crime I Didn’t Do,” the story of a young man in the wrong place at the wrong time who pays the price for a crime he didn’t do.

Rounding out the eight song set is a pair of Harry Sisk, Jr. numbers from 1994′s Old Country Town CD, “The Game (I Can’t Win),” and the game is love and that has probably generated more songs in more genre than anything else. “Tears Are Blinding Me” is yet another classic story – the man who did his woman wrong, drinking and partying until she finds another man, another sad tale in the game of love. (Harry Sisk, Jr.? He’s better known to the bluegrass world as Junior Sisk.)

The only disappointments you may have is there are only eight songs and the CD insert is skimpy – both probably driven by cost factors.

The band made some great choices and everything about the music is first rate. This is a CD you should own.

by

“Stay Tuned” by Brand New Strings

Stay Tuned
Brand New Strings
Rural Rhythm Records
3½ stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

This new CD from Brand New Strings is another of a seemingly growing trend of offering fewer songs, this time at the same price (on their website, at least) as their first CD (with 13 numbers) and the Live At Bean Blossom and The All-Star Jam – Live at Graves Mountain CDs.

Brand New Strings, formed in 2008, includes Mike Ramsey (mandolin and vocals) and Stuart Wyrick (banjo and vocals). They were both with New Road and here the information is confusing. The New Road website looks like they are still members while the Brand New Srings website implies they are have left New Road for BNS. It’s probably the latter with the New Road website just not being maintained. Randall Massengill (Blue Moon Rising, New Road) plays guitar and contributes vocals and Preston Schmidt plays fiddle. Tony Mowell (bass), apparently borrowed from Blue Moon Rising, rounds out the ensemble. On selected tracks you’ll hear Brandon Bostic (resophonic guitar – Blue Moon Rising), Cory Meuchel (percussion) and experienced steel guitarist Paul Niehaus.

It’s almost rote, but they do an excellent job on the picking side and are good vocalists as well with well blended harmonies. “Other Side of Lonesome” is a barn burner to kick things off and is one of five songs composed by band members. One of the exceptions, “Mustang Minnie,” is an upbeat story song written by Marshall Warwick. (Warwick composed one of my favorite Larry Sparks numbers, “City Folks Call Us Poor.”) The other number from outside composers is “I Washed My Hands In Muddy Waters,” recorded by a long list of bands and performed by even more. BNS drives it hard on this cut.

Their one nod to gospel is “Behold The Lamb,” still another song they drive along (their trademark on this CD – drive the songs!). With all of their associations with New Road I’m surprised this is the only gospel number.

A good band and a good CD. I saw them at Bean Blossom when they taped their part of the Bill Monroe tribute. Given their sparse appearance schedule (at least what’s on their website) they may be yet another struggling bluegrass band, juggling jobs that support their families with music that’s their passion. I hope they make it because they’re worth seeing and hearing.

by

“The Distance” by Carrie Hassler


The Distance
Carrie Hassler
Rural Rhythm Records
4 stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

The last time I saw Carrie Hassler in concert she seemed to be intent on a bluegrass career along with her band, Hard Rain. But, things change. In May 2010 her management company, Hope River Entertainment, announced that “… beginning 2011, [Carrie] would take a little time off to focus on her family and pursue several exciting new possibilities in regards to her career.” and that the rest of 2010 she would be sans Hard Rain (who continued on as Still-House).

2012 finds her still without a band but a new CD. The Distance seems like an indication that she’s looking for more of a country music sound. The CD is labeled as country (when you play it in something like Media Player) and some reviewers are calling it country.

The list of session musicians is impressive. With no criticism intended, having great session musicians may mean you had the money to hire them (they record their tracks for overdubbing and move on to the next gig), or it may indicate support of the star of the CD, an intent to help (in this case) her music. Most of the time, at least in bluegrass (or quasi-bluegrass) it’s some mixture of both. Steve Gulley’s name is all over the CD (producer, co-engineer, co-mixer, harmony vocals, composer) and he’s a great one to have behind you. Other well known bluegrass names include Tim Stafford (guitar) [Blue Highway], Ron Stewart (banjo, fiddle) [The Boxcars], Mark Fain (bass), Alan Bibey (mandolin) [Grasstowne], Justin Moses (dobro, fiddle) [Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder] and Gulley’s new musical partner Dale Ann Bradley (vocals).
The presence of these bluegrass artisans makes a “pure country” label suspect.

But, on the pure country side is “Catch My Breath.” This is the kind of song that mainstream country music radio just won’t play these days. If you’re a fan of singers like Tammy Wynette and Dottie West, like I am, you’ll love it. When I hear a song like this it stops me in my tracks and passersby can hear me muttering, “now that’s country.”

“Luxury Liner,” the title song from Emmylou Harris’ 1977 #1 album, written by her friend and mentor Gram Parsons, is a fast paced number that plays well in either genre and here it’s banjo-backed bluegrass. “The Distance” is a quiet country ballad that tells the story of a woman who has to move on from a love affair and put distance between herself and her lover. It’s a good song that will touch a lot of hearts. “Eugene and Diane” (Carl Jackson) is another love song, sung by Carrie and Steve, but this time it’s unrequited love, two people who just don’t take the step towards each other that they should have.

The songs tend to be quiet and reflective rather than hard driving bluegrass, more country-like love (or unloved) songs with acoustic backing. “All I Have To Do Is Breathe” fits squarely in that category, a well written song by Gulley and Stafford, as does another Gulley song, “Keep Your Memory Warm.”

This CD follows the recent minor trend we’ve been noticing of being less than what most people consider a full album. There are eight songs and no instrumentals, a usual staple of bluegrass CDs but understandable when only session musicians are used. A smaller CD usually means a smaller price, and you can find this one for $9 to $11 and buy track-by-track on Amazon.

I like CDs and stage shows that move me from one state to another. Too many slow, sentimental songs and I get sleepy; too many breakneck banjo displays and I get worn out. I would enjoy another “Catch My Breath” or two on the CD. She does take me way down the sentimental path, though, with “Give My Love.” This is a story of a married couple, the wife passing first, and what they shared. It’s especially touching for me because it reminds me of my in-laws. They worked side-by-side on their farm for decades, a simple life, kind people. In his later years, Robert wasn’t comfortable going to sleep unless Ruth was there by his side, and just before he fell to sleep each night he touched her hand and said, “good night, old pal.” Two years ago we sat by his side as he faded away and her last words to him were “goodbye, old pal.” “Give My Love” is that kind of story.

by

“Life Goes On” by Musicians Against Childhood Cancer

Musicians Against Childhood Cancer
Life Goes On
Rural Rhythm Records
5 stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

Pages could be written about Life Goes On. The front cover tells us, “39 songs & 139 artists.” The two CDs are a musical experience, and one that shouldn’t be missed. These are live recordings made at the MACC festival. (For more on the story behind MACC, visit their website.)

Some cuts are by the artists who regularly perform them on stage. “Little John I Am” is by Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, now one of their standards. The same is true about “Hard Times,” a perennial favorite by the Grascals, just as “Forty Years Ago” is a great song from David Parmley & Continental Divide. The variety of performers is one of the great things about compilations.

But you also get to hear some ad hoc groups and that only adds to the experience. Old friends Paul Williams, Doyle Lawson and J. D. Crowe team up for “Paul’s Ministry,” a song often done by Williams and the Victory Trio. I’ve watched these three bluegrass icons perform together and it’s always a treat. Doyle also teams once again with Russell Moore, Jamie Dailey and Josh Swift for an a cappella version of “Beyond The Sunset For Me” and this is a great blending of voices.

If you like Dudley Connell, he pops up several times. Sally Connell (Dudley’s wife) sings lead, Dudley harmony on Johnny Cash’s “Give My Love To Rose,” accompanied by Adam Steffey, Marshall Willborn and Ron Stewart. Dudley sings lead on Muddy Waters’ “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” along with Randy Barnes and Randy Kohrs, and he also appears in a reincarnation of the Johnson Mountain Boys, along with JMB alumni Tom Adams and David McLaughlin, joined by Jessie Baker, Jesse Brock (on bass!) and Michael Cleveland to sing JMB’s “Goodbye To The Blues.”

This project is also a great illustration of the variety of music that can be heard on a bluegrass stage without sparking arguments (well, not many arguments, at least) about “what is bluegrass?” You have great gospel numbers like “Where The Soul Never Dies” (Josh Willams and Don Rigsby) and “Shouting Time In Heaven” (Kenny & Amanda Smith with Rhonda Vincent singing harmony) to mention just two. You get to hear excellent instrumentals and instrumentalists like Tony Rice and crew playing “Manzanita,” Lonesome River Band playing “Struttin’ To Ferrum” and Sierra Hull & Highway 111 on “Smashville.”

Bluegrass numbers (just listen to them) are pulled from country music: “Give My Love To Rose” (Johnny Cash) and “At The End of a Long Lonely Day” (Marty Robbins), “Tennessee Whiskey” (George Jones) and the heart-touching “Old Violin” (Johnny Paycheck). And don’t overlook “Fraulein,” Bobby Helms’ great hit. Blues? Sure. “I Got A Woman” (Ray Charles) and “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” (Muddy Waters). And there’s pop: “Please Come To Boston” (David Loggins). Of course, these songs have been hopping genre for years, but bluegrass fans seem especially sensitive to labeling.

You get to hear about a relationship with God (a beautiful rendition of “Precious Memories”), loneliness (“I Should Have Called”), the perils of drink (“He Died A Rounder At 21″), mother (“Memories of Mother”), unrequited love (“The Likes of Me,” “Rain and Snow”), secrets (“Forty Years Ago”), a vision of the end (“Old Violin”) and hope in times of sorrow (“Life Goes On” with a symphony of artists on the stage). You even get to pretend you’re at a Grateful Dead concert since “Nothing But A Whippoorwill” has a 3:20 jam lead-in.

Variety, the best musicians and the best singers, and a great cause. Every bluegrass fan should own these CDs.