Charlie Cline & The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers - For Crying Out Loud

(Atteiram API-CD-1683) 1992

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This is another decent trad-bluegrass album from the multi-talented Charlie Cline. Some of the vocals are a bit below par, but overall there's still quite a lot to enjoy from one of the musicians who had a hand in helping shape bluegrass in the '50s.

Recorded at Baker Sound Studio, Cullman, Alabama - 11 of the 15 tracks were either written by Charlie or co-written by him & his wife Lee Cline.

About 10 of the 15 tracks are 'new' originals. Highlights include the instrumental Big Warrior, which has an intro reminiscent of Bill Monroe's Cheyenne, a slightly melodic banjo break by Chuck Carpenter, and some fine fiddle & mandolin. Hints of Bill Monroe's sound is to be expected given Charlie recorded extensively with Monroe, including Bill's Cheyenne in 1955.

A lot of the new lyrics cover familiar bluegrass topics, for example:- This Old House - the abandoned old home place, which features a decent melody with 3-part harmony vocals; For Crying Out Loud - broken relationships/marriage, which has has some sweet overdubbed fiddles; and Loving You & Lonesome Without You - rejected love. (It should be noted that Lonesome Without You is not the same song as the Stanley Brothers song first recorded for Mercury 70217).

The album's sole Gospel number, He Lives, was co-written by Charlie and Lee Cline with harmony vocals and some driving banjo.

Of the three other instrumentals: Greenmeadow Waltz has sweet multi-tracked fiddle; Piney Ridge is an the energetic banjo/fiddle tune; and Bull City Rag which was written by the band's long-standing banjo player, Charles 'Chuck' Carpenter, has a neat call 'n' response between the banjo / fiddle & mandolin break.

Three cuts (Honky Tonk Blues, You Left Me To Cry and Paul Williams' My Brown Eyed Darling) are re-recordings of classic Lonesome Pine Fiddlers songs, which Charlie first recorded in the '50s. Inevitably, they lack the some of the youthful vigour of the originals, but they're still worth a listen.

The album also has competant versions of Flatt & Scruggs I'd Rather Be Alone and The Dixie Gentlemen's Will You Wait (For Me).

Instrumentally, Charlie's fiddle & mandolin, plus Chuck Carpenter strong Scruggs style banjo, make the album worth checking out.

• Charlie Cline: fiddle, mandolin, guitar, lead vocals
• Chuck Carpenter: banjo, mandolin, guitar, tenor vocals
• Bill Sandlin: guitar, baritone vocals
• Jarrod Rains: bass

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