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Fiddlin' Chubby Anthony With Big Timber Bluegrass - Love And Life

(Old Homestead OHS-90121) 1980

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This is another splendid bluegrass album by Chubby, although it wasn't released until shortly after his death in Feb 1980. In addition to Chubby's top-drawer fiddlin' credentials, it also showcases Chubby's skills as a songwriter^[1], vocalist and lead guitarist.

Love And Life was recorded at Central Sound Studios, Auburndale, Fl. in November 1978. The date and LP title are significant, as Chubby and his wife of 18 years were divorced on the 1st Dec 1978,^[2] and most of Chubby's original songs and the two covers are about failed relationships or loss.

The album opens with Dear One which is clearly autobiographical, with it's tale of growing apart from one you love; on Baby I'm Georgia Bound his 'suitcase is packed' and he's leaving; Flatt & Scruggs' Somehow Tonight continues the theme of losing the one you love; Foothills Of Home deals reflectively with the death of parents and 'leaving behind the things I love dearly'; Our Final Goodbye is another tear jerker about visiting the grave of the 'one I love who lays in the cold cold ground'; I've Tried So Hard asks 'why you left me here alone' and 'why you made me feel this way'; changing pace slightly Hold Back The Waters is about a catastrophic flood; Lost Without You is a primal bluegrass stomper, a bit similiar to Ralph's I'm Lonesome Without You and firmly in the Stanley style; If you haven't caught the theme yet I'm Leaving, I'm Going is unequivocal... and then there's Ralph and Peggy Stanley's If That's The Way You Feel...

There are also two instrumentals, which showcase Chubby's fiddle:- Brews Fiddle and Bairs Den.

As with a lot of the Old Homestead vinyl, sound quality ain't perfect, but for lovers of old-school bluegrass, this is definitely worth seeking out.

• Chubby Anthony: fiddle, lead guitar, lead vocal
• Russ 'Bill' Bailey: mandolin
• Jim Fee: banjo, baritone vocal
• Bill Lamarche: bass
• Bill Pruett: guitar, lead vocal

NB: On Hold Back The Waters personnel is: Chubby Anthony - fiddle, guitar, tenor vocal; Bill Hig - Banjo, baritone vocal; Ronnie Pert - guitar, bass, lead vocal; Russ 'Bill' Bailey - mandolin.

^{[1] Worth noting that he is co-credited on The Stanley's Highway Of Regret and in Gary B. Reid's 'The Music Of The Stanley Brothers' book (p. 95) claims partial credit for Suwannee River Hoedown.
[2] from searches on www.ancestry.co.uk - online family trees also show a Donald Lee Anthony divorced on 1st Dec 1978, remarrying on 12th Dec 1978 and divorced for a 2nd time on 12th Oct 1979... I'm not convinced the second marriage is the same Donald Lee Anthony, given the vitriol in the lyrics on this LP!}