"Bluegrass Cafe" playlist - 8/4/2013

Sunday's show included several birthday tributes to country music stars of the past as well as a to a pair of Canadian brothers who currently doing pretty well for themselves on the various Bluegrass charts.  In the former category, we remembered the birthdays of the late Vern Gosdin (a/k/a "The Voice") who was born August 5, 1934.  Though he died in April 2009 at the age of 74, Gosdin is still regarded as one of the greatest country singers of all time, even though he started his musical life as a Bluegrass singer.  In tribute to Vern Gosdin, we played two Bluegrass songs on which he was featured, plus a tribute song written about him and recorded in recent years.

Another country singer who was born this week in the month of August was the Hall of Famer, Webb Pierce.  Pierce was born on August 8, 1921 (or, 1926, depending on your source), and with his tremendously big personality, keen business sense, flashy Nudie suits, and nasal-ish twang, he had a whole bunch of hit records in the 1950s and very early into the 1960s.  Many of Pierce's songs have been interpreted in the Bluegrass World, too, and we featured several of them on Sunday's show from several performers, including the Gibson Brothers, Rhonda Vincent, the Seldom Scene, Ricky Skaggs, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, the Johnson Mountain Boys, Crowe & McLaughlin, the Sidemen, and Webb Pierce himself.  

If you've listened to the Bluegrass Cafe over the last several years, you probably know we've grown very fond of Nova Scotia's Spinney Brothers.  Brothers Allan and Rick have been traveling extensively throughout Canada and the United States since deciding to pursue music full time a couple of years ago.  Their two Mountain Fever Records releases in 2012 and 2013 have produced songs that have reached the top position on both the Bluegrass Unlimited and Bluegrass Today song charts.  While the Spinneys have shared a lot of great musical experiences over the last couple of years, they also share a birthday, as they born one year to the day apart from each other:  Allan on August 5, 1965 and Rick on August 5, 1966.  To celebrate their joint birthdays, we heard a few songs from a couple of different records by the Spinneys.

Matt Nozzolio on Dobro played with the Bristol Boys
at Buttery Brook BG Festival, July 2005

It wasn't all about birthdays, though.  Five years ago this week, Matt Nozzolio, a fine Connecticut Bluegrass musician and veteran of several bands, died suddenly.  We remembered Matt with a few musical selections from his last band, the old country trio known as the Bristol Boys.  

As usual, there was a small portion of new-ish music to share on Sunday, too, from performers including Mountain Faith, Volume Five, Big Country Bluegrass, Mickey Galyean & Cullen's Bridge, Shannon & Heather Slaughter & County Clare, Don Rigsby, Sideline, and the Gibson Brothers.

Hope you enjoyed the show, and that you'll consider joining me on the air very soon...

Enjoy the week!

Amy


SONG / PERFORMER / ALBUM / LABEL    --    REQUESTS ARE RED.

• Katy Hill / Del McCoury Band / RockyGrass / Blue Planet
• Heavy Traffic Ahead / Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys / Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys / JSP Records
• Molly And Tenbrooks / Stanley Brothers / Select Songs, 1947-1949 / JSP Records
• You Don't Know My Mind / Jimmy Martin / Time-Life's Treasury Of Bluegrass / Time Life
• Wall Around Your Heart / Reno & Smiley / Early Years, 1951-1959 / Gusto
• Each Season Changes You / Osborne Brothers / Once More, Volumes I & II / Sugar Hill
• I'll Still Write Your Name In The Sand / Lilly Brothers & Don Stover / On The Radio, 1952-1953 / Rounder
• Poor Ellen Smith / Wilma Lee Cooper / O Sister 2 / Rounder
• Blue Yodel #4 / Dreadful Snakes / Snakes Alive! / Rounder
• Sweet Thang And Cisco / Lost & Found / A Ride In The Country / Rebel
• Foggy Mountain Chimes / Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs / Selected Cuts, 1952-1955 / JSP Records
• Wondering / Gibson Brothers / Spread Your Wings / Hay Holler
• Walking The Dog / Seldom Scene / Scene It All / Sugar Hill
• Pathway Of Teardrops / Rhonda Vincent / One Step Ahead / Rounder
• I Don't Care / Ricky Skaggs / Country Hits Bluegrass Style / Cracker Barrel
• Slowly / Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper / Fired Up / Rounder
• Don't Throw Your Life Away / Johnson Mountain Boys / Favorites / Rounder
• Why Baby Why / The Sidemen / Almost Live At The Station Inn / Red Clay Records
• More And More / Crowe & McLaughlin / Going Back / Rounder
• It's Been So Long / Webb Pierce / 20th Century Masters / MCA
• Fare Thee Well / The Hillmen / The Hillmen / Sugar Hill
• Way Down Deep / Ralph Stanley with Vern Gosdin / Clinch Mountain Country / Rebel
• Blame It On Vern / Charlie Sizemore Band / Good News / Rounder
• Grandpa's Way Of Life / Spinney Brothers / No Borders / Mountain Fever Records
• Blind Man / Spinney Brothers / If I Were Your Brother / Self-Produced
• I'm On The Battlefield / Mountain Faith / Battlefield / Pisgah Ridge
• See The Big Man Cry / Volume Five / Run / Mountain Fever Records
• The Little Girl And The Dreadful Snake / Big Country Bluegrass with Don Rigsby / Memories Of The Past / Rebel
• Bell Of The Ball / Mickey Galyean & Cullen's Bridge / Rollin' With Tradition / Self-Produced
• The Big Burnsville Jail / Marty Raybon & Full Circle / The Back Forty / Rural Rhythm
• Even Cowgirls Get The Blues / Heather & Shannon Slaughter & County Clare / One More Road / Self-Produced
• Medicine Springs / Don Rigsby / Doctor's Orders / Rebel
• Don't Let My Love Get In The Way / Sideline / Session 1 / Mountain Fever Records
• Silvertown Rag / Bristol Boys / All Aboard With The Bristol Boys / Self-Produced
• Railroad Boomer / Bristol Boys / All Aboard With The Bristol Boys / Self-Produced
• Colleen Malone / Hot Rize / Take It Home / Sugar Hill
• Hot Night In August / Gary Ferguson / I'm Really Leaving / Webco
• Wild Rose Of The Mountain / Cathy Fink, Laurie Lewis, Marcy Marxer, Molly Mason, Sally Van Meter / Blue Rose / Sugar Hill
• Summer When You First Loved Me / Lonesome River Band / Head On Into Heartache / Mountain Home
• Sadie's Got Her New Dress On / Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver / More Behind The Picture Than The Wall / Rounder
• Old Roman Soldier / Spinney Brothers / Memories / Mountain Fever Records
• My Eyes Shall Be On Canaan's Land / Terry Baucom with Doyle Lawson, Jimmy Haley, Lou Reid / In A Groove / John Boy & Billy
• Jesus On The Mainline / Dry Branch Fire Squad / Live At The Newburyport Firehouse / Rounder
• You Can Feel It In Your Soul / Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs / Selected Cuts, 1952-1955 / JSP Records
• Drifting Too Far From The Shore / BearTracks / BearTracks / AMT Records
• Oh What A Day / Barry Scott & Second Wind / In God's Time / Rebel
• Home On The River / Gibson Brothers / They Called It Music / Compass Records
• Blue Grass Twist / Johnson Mountain Boys / Requests / Rounder