Charlie Cline & The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers - Strictly Cline

(Atteiram API-1571) 1978

---

Recorded at Reid Enterprise Sound Studio in Hendersonville, Tennessee, this is a splendid traditional bluegrass LP with the 12 tracks alternating between vocal song and instrumentals.

The album features solid driving Scruggs-style banjo, multi-tracked fiddle and pleasant harmony vocals. The instrument mix is a bit muddy in places, but that's a relatively minor quibble. The use of a snare drum is also largely unintrusive, so don't let that put you off investigating this album.

Personnel is largely the same as on the previous LP Shalom (Peace), except for the addition of Mickey West on snare drum.

As with most of Charlie's albums he plays both mandolin and fiddle, and all but two of the tracks were either written by him or co-written with his wife Lee Cline.

The album kicks off with Don't Touch Me, a cheatin' song sung by Lee Cline from the perspective of the injured party. Usually songs of this nature have male lead vocals, so this reversal is quite refreshing. The track also has soaring overdubbed fiddle and a bouncy backup.

Next is Stampede, one of the stand-out cuts on the album which features Carl Story on rhythm guitar and Bill Millsaps on bass. This frenetic instrumental bears more than a passing resemblence to Bill Monroe's Get Up John, which Charlie helped to record in 1953. Charlie's mandolin / fiddle & Chuck's banjo really drive this one along.

The album continues throughout with the "song - instrumental - song" pattern.

Of the other instrumental tracks: Cotton Pickin' Breakdown is a Monroe-esque fiddle instrumental which takes it's name from the group Lee Cline led prior to meeting Charlie in Hawaii circa 1957. The Dobro break on this is a bit low in the mix, but otherwise it's a fine 'foot-tapping' tune; Liberty is the old fiddle tune with sweet multi-tracked fiddles and mandolin break by Charlie; Running Wild is an uptempo, mainly banjo, instrumental with fiddle & mandolin. The mix on this is not that great with the fiddle & mandolin being a bit low in the mix, but the performance is otherwise top notch; Rollin On is another uptempo instrumental with the Charlie's mandolin taking most of the breaks; and the final track, Swinging Grass, is another instrumental with a Western Swing feel. This is possibly a nod towards the influence of Arthur Smith who lived with the Clines for about a year circa 1941.

The other songs include Sweet Gentle Woman which is the only Gospel track on the album about Adam & Eve and beyond:

"And through generations, it's still God's plan,
to join a sweet gentle woman to the strength of her man,
Working, planning, praying some too,
And Jesus will bless us, we'll make it through".

The 3/4 time song features some sparse instrumentation with tasteful dobro.

All of the songs on the LP deal with relationships in one aspect of another: How Can You Do This To Me about a break-up of a relationship, slows down the pace with 3/4 timing and bluesy feel; Remembering When looks back on a long-lasting relationship, to a time when love was still in it's infancy. It has some fine lead vocal by Lee Cline and harmony vocal on the chorus by Charlie; If You're Ever Gonna Love Me is an unrequited love song with lead vocal by Charlie; and Chuck Carpenter's song Kisses Sweeter Than Candy has a bouncy feel, with harmony vocals on the chorus.

Ralph Stanley provides the liner notes to this one.

• Charlie Cline: fiddle, mandolin
• Lee Cline: bass, guitar
• Chuck Carpenter: banjo, dobro
• Mickey West: snare drum
• Ed Wilson: guitar
• Carl Story: guitar (*)
• Bill Millsaps: bs (*)

NB: (*) Guest musicans on Stampede.

Other artwork / related images: