Charlie Cline - And His Guitar

(Copper Creek C-0114) 1991

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Although known mostly for his fiddle work, Charlie Cline could play anything with strings. He picked banjo on some of the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers cuts in the '50s and on the 1951 session for King with Jimmy Martin / Bobby Osborne & Curly Ray Cline. His lead guitar work can be heard Used To Be and Brown County Breakdown from Bill Monroe's 15 Sep 1955 recordings. Most notably, however, it's Charlie's guitar work on The Stanley Brothers Hard Times which attracts greatest interest. One of five tracks they recorded in Nashville on 29 Aug 1954, the others being Harbor Of Love, Blue Moon Of Kentucky, Calling From Heaven and Close By. They all feature Charlie to some extent providing lead guitar fills, and this was the first time the Stanley Brothers used lead guitar, something which would become an important part of the 'Stanley sound' in the subsequent decades.

Charlie's picking on 'And His Guitar' is similar to the 'Merle Travis' style used on the Monroe & Stanley brothers recordings.

Recorded at The Root Cellar in Boaz, Alabama, the instrumental album features just guitar, bass & drums with occasional harmonica. Most of the tracks are originals with Scottish Breakdown being a version of the fiddle tune, which he first recorded on the Charlie Cline with The Warrior River Boys 1988 LP.

As with George Shuffler's cross-picking guitar releases, I expect this album will appeal more to guitar afficinados, than general bluegrass fans.

Four tracks from the cassette were also issued on the Various Artists - 'Goin' Up Copper Creek' 2xCD (Copper Creek CCCD-0112) 1991. This is easier to find, although you can also hear a rip of the cassette on youtube.

Many thanks to Gary B. Reid for the scan of the cassette artwork.

• Charlie Cline: guitar
• Ken 'Red' Marsh: harmonica
• Gary Waldrep: drums
• Stanley Wilemon: bass

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