"Bluegrass Cafe" playlist - 1/15/2012

Although the year is pretty young, today was the coldest day of 2012 in eastern CT.  To that end, it seemed like one of the proverbial "no-brainers" to kick off today's Bluegrass Cafe with a few tunes that echoed the cold outside the studios.  Maybe some songs with hot, sunny, balmy titles would have been better, but today, we stuck with the cold...

Happy 86th, Ray Price!

Following that, we jumped right into a tribute set to a Country Music Hall of Famer who probably ranks as my #1 favorite country singer of the 1950s -- Ray Price, who celebrated his 86th birthday on January 12th.  As with many classic country singers, a lot of Ray Price's music has been reinterpreted through the years and translated to BG, so it was very, very easy to choose five BG covers of Ray Price tunes, plus two more songs featuring the man himself.  If more of today's country music sounded like the classic 4/4 Ray Price shuffles of the 1950s, wouldn't country music be so much more "listenable?"  




The last time I was on the air (on New Year's Day), I filled the 3 hours of airtime with music released in 2011 that I'd really enjoyed.  Naturally, there were more than a couple of CDs I'd pulled before that show to play, but never got around to it over the course of the program.  Today, I got a second chance to play some of these favorites from 2011 that have been neglected on New Year's Day, so I didn't hesitate to play music by Shannon Slaughter, Eddie & Martha Adcock, the Expedition Show, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Larry Sparks, and Blue Highway.  

Merl Johnson can play both the
mandolin & fiddle quite well.

It's great to play music from earlier years, but it is a new year, and that means, there will likely be a bit of new BG music to play and share on the radio each week.  This time around, we played a song from a forthcoming 30-year anniversary CD from the Lonesome River Band and a mandolin instrumental from a Patuxent Music CD by Merl Johnson called, "Better Man."  Merl Johnson also plays the fiddle quite well, and currently, he's a featured member of Travers Chandler & Avery County.  

The record title doesn't say "Statler
Brothers," but the connection is still
there -- Statler Jimmy Fortune makes
an appearance on this CD.

There's also a brand-new CD this week from Dailey & Vincent -- "The Gospel Side Of Dailey & Vincent."  This CD (like D&V's last recording called, "Dailey & Vincent Sing The Statler Brothers") is only available through Cracker Barrel Old Country Store outlets throughout the country, and is not 100% straight-ahead BG music.  Instead, while there are some songs that are fairly Bluegrass-ish on the CD, there are also a few numbers which are definitely more country-sounding with lots of strings and percussion and different arrangements.  Throughout, though, the harmonies are pretty terrific with some duet vocals and a bunch of fine quartets (with Jeff Parker and Christian Davis rounding out the sound, just as they do in a live set from D&V).  




Hope you're having a fine 2012 so far.  Keep your resolution to listen to great BG on the radio next Sunday when Jim joins you in the BG Cafe, won't you?  




Have a good week - 
Amy




REQUESTS ARE RED.

• Katy Hill / Del McCoury Band / RockyGrass / Blue Planet
• Cold Wind / Joe Val & the New England Bluegrass Boys / Diamond Joe / Rounder
• Cold, Cold Love / Karl Shiflett & Big Country Show / In Full Color / Rebel
• Chilly Winds / Johnny Williams / Close Kin / Mountain Roads Recordings
• Cold, Icy Fingers / Lost & Found / It's About Time / Rebel
• Sweet Little Miss Blue Eyes / Ray Price / Collector's Choice / Harmony [Ray Price born, 1/12/1926]
• I'll Be There / Del McCoury Band / The Cold Hard Facts / Rounder
• Wasted Words / Johnson Mountain Boys / Live At The Birchmere / Rounder
• Move On In And Stay / Mickey Harris / Dog House Blues / MJH Records
• Crazy Arms / IIIrd Tyme Out / Puttin' New Roots Down / Rebel
• Heartaches By The Number / Jim & Jesse / Our Kind Of Country / Pinecastle
• I Can't Go Home Like This / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price / Columbia
• The Working Man / Shannon Slaughter / The Sideman Steps Out / Self-Produced
• This Morning At Nine / Eddie & Martha Adcock with Tom Gray / Many A Mile / Patuxent Music
• I'm Yours / Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper / Fired Up / Rounder
• If You've Got Something To Say / Blue Highway / Sounds Like Home / Rounder
• Let It Go / Missy Werner Band / Three Kinds Of Lonesome / Self-Produced
• Carolina Dreams / Lee Marcus / Grandpa's Pond / Self-Produced
• Let It Go / Wayne Taylor & Appaloosa / It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Day! / Self-Produced
• Carolina Dreams / Edgar Loudermilk / Roads Travelled / Mountain Fever Records
• I'll Stay Around / Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs / Selected Sides, 1950-1952 / JSP Records
• If That's The Way You Feel / Stanley Brothers / Selected Cuts, 1956-1959 / JSP Records
• Saints Go Marching In / Lilly Brothers & Don Stover / Bluegrass At The Roots, 1961 / Smithsonian Folkways
• Rocky Top / Osborne Brothers / High Lonesome / CMH
• You're Not A Drop In The Bucket / Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs / Selected Cuts, 1955-1959 / JSP Records
• There's Another Baby Waiting For Me Down The Line / Reno & Smiley / Early Years, 1951-1959 / Gusto [recorded 1/15/1952 for King Records]
• My Dixie Darlin' / Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum / The Oak And The Laurel / Rounder [Tom Rozum birthday, 1/21/1951]
• Hickory Holler's Tramp / Country Gentlemen / The Award Winning Country Gentlemen / Rebel [Charlie Waller birthday, 1/19/1935]
• Coat Of Many Colors / Lynn Morris Band / The Bramble And The Rose / Rounder [songwriter Dolly Parton born, 1/16/1946]
• Whippoorwill / Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out / Prime Tyme / Rural Rhythm
• Backroads And Little Towns / The Expedition Show / The Expedition Show / Mountain Fever Records
• Devil Woman / Spinney Brothers / Side By Side / Self-Produced
• Bring 'Em On Back / Larry Sparks / Almost Home / Rounder
• The Stanley Brothers / Travers Chandler & Avery Country / forthcoming CD / Mountain Fever Records
• Close The Door Lightly When You Go / Lonesome River Band / forthcoming CD / Rural Rhythm
• Arthur's March [music bed] / Tim Martin / Bluegrass Fiddle / Patuxent Music
• Tune For Leonard [music bed] / Tim Martin / Bluegrass Fiddle / Patuxent Music
• Lights Along The Riverside [music bed] / Tim Martin / Bluegrass Fiddle / Patuxent Music
• Farm Of Yesterday / Gibson Brothers / Ring The Bell / Compass Records
• Final Farewell / Chris Jones & the Night Drivers / New Cuts Of Bluegrass, Volume 4 / no label
• Things In Life / Darin & Brooke Aldridge / So Much In Between / Mountain Home
• Me And The Jukebox / Leon Morris / Thinking Today Of My Home / Patuxent Music
• Don't Throw Mama's Flowers Away / Danny Paisley & the Southern Grass / The Room Over Mine / Rounder
• Amandalyn / Merl Johnson / Better Man / Patuxent Music
• Living In The Kingdom Of God / Dailey & Vincent / The Gospel Side Of Dailey & Vincent  / Cracker Barrel
• God's Coloring Book / Country Gentlemen / Way Down Deep In My Soul / Sugar Hill
• Thankful For Each Day / Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice / The Heart of A Song / Rebel
• Love Lifted Me / Mountain Faith / Save Me / Mountain Home
• The Stone Was Rolled Away / NewTown / NewTown / Self-Produced
• It's So Hard To Stumble (When You're Down On Your Knees) / Lou Reid & Carolina / My Own Set Of Rules / Rural Rhythm
• You Must Come In At The Door / Doc Watson / The Best Of The Sugar Hill Years / Sugar Hill
• The Lighthouse / Gibson Brothers / Bona Fide / Sugar Hill
• Daddy Sang Bass / Dailey & Vincent / The Gospel Side Of Dailey & Vincent / Cracker Barrel
• Black Mountain Blues / Johnson Mountain Boys / Requests / Rounder