Blue Sky Boys - Farm & Fun Time Favorites Vol. 2

(Copper Creek CCCD-0126) 1994

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The Blue Sky Boys were a popular brother-harmony group, with a finely tuned blend of harmony vocals & sparse backing. Comprised of Earl & Bill Bolick, they were active from 1935 - 1951, and subsequently performed / recorded occasionally until 1975. Ralph hit the nail on the head when he described them:-

"They had what they call a close-harmony style, a sound that only brothers could get. You could hear a lot of church in their singing. And there was a quiet grace in the way they blended their instruments with their voices. Like they was born to it. But any musician will tell you how hard it is to make it sound so easy... They had about the most perfect harmonies around. What Carter and me liked most was, you could understand every syllable of what they were singing. They never slurred their words; they had the best diction outside of a grammar class, and they always stayed true to the song and the story."^[1]

This release is one of six CDs which Copper Creek released in 1993/4 featuring Radio shows by the Blue Sky Boys. Two of the releases featured WCYB radio transcription discs, with Vol. 2 including eight tracks from 1949 with former CMB fiddler Leslie Keith.

Leslie joined the band after playing with the Stanley Brothers, and his stint with Curly King & the Tennessee Hilltoppers at WCYB.

Bill Bolick:- "When we hired him, we didn't even know he did a bull-whip act. We learned later he had presented it with the Stanley Brothers and Curly King's group. The main thing that surprised me about Leslie was his ability to do things without practice. He was also an excellent banjo player, using the old-time clawhammer style. Here again, he seldom practiced. He didn't have a five-string banjo of his own. When he played it, he used mine. He told me he could play the harmonica similar to Wayne Raney, but didn't own one. I bought him several cheap ones, and surprisingly, he could do selections like "The Fox Chase" and "Pan-American Blues" very well. I always felt his background playing was a bit rough for our type of music, but he was certainly gifted in many ways."^[2]

The material with Leslie includes:- Lonesome Road Blues a spotlight number for Leslie where he sings lead and fiddles while Earl & Bill provide backing; Take Me Back To Tennessee where Leslie plays the intro and three breaks; Going Round This World, Baby Mine with Leslie singing and playing clawhammer banjo; and Old Joe Clark which also features Leslie and Bill Bolick on lead vocals, with the fiddle also prominent. Compared to Grayson & Whitter the version of Short Life Of Trouble is rather restrained, with barely any fiddle audible. Likewise The Royal Telephone has very little fiddle backing, with the Bolick's trademark vocals / mandolin fills being dominant. The other two hymns Whispering Hope and This Evening Light don't seem to feature Leslie at all.

On the other 14 tracks, Curly Parker's fiddlin' style is a bit more polished than Leslie's, but the Bolick's pleasant harmony and gentle approach to songs is quite appealing. I'd guess that the Lilly Brothers were influenced by these guys!

In addition to these Radio transcription discs, Leslie Keith also played on the Blue Sky Boys 26 Mar 1950 RCA recording session in Nashville. Four tracks were cut including: There'll Be No Broken Hearts for Me, Where Our Darling Sleeps Tonight, The Unfinished Rug; and a version of Sunny Side of Life.^[2] I'm not sure when/where these tracks were first released, but three of them appear on the the 1975 LP The Blue Sky Boys (RCA Victor AXM 2 5525).

Anyone wanting more information on The Blue Sky Boys should check out the Bluegrass Unlimited article.

The tracks featuring Leslie have also been released as part of a 4 CD set / Digital Download by Patuxent records.

• Bill Bolick: mandolin, lead & tenor vocal
• Earl Bolick: guitar, lead & bass vocal
• Curly Parker: fiddle, lead vocals in the trios (a)
• Leslie Keith: fiddle, banjo, vocals (b)

NB: (a) tracks 1-14. (b) tracks 15-22.

Other artwork / related images:

[1] Ralph Stanley & Eddie Dean's book "Man of Constant Sorrow" p. 142
[2] Bluegrass Unlimited Sept 1981 - https://bluegrassunlimited.com/article/bill-and-earl-bolick-remember-the-blue-sky-boys/