Clinch Mountain Echo

CMB Birthdays this month:

04 Feb 1972 - Steve Sparkman. Harlan, Kentucky.

04 Feb 1906 - Art Wooten. Born 'Arthur James Wooten' in Alleghany, North Carolina.

11 Feb 1960 - Junior Blankenship. Born at the old Grundy Hospital, Grundy, Va.

25 Feb 1927 - Ralph Stanley. Born 'Ralph Edmund Stanley' in Big Spraddle Creek, near Stratton, McClure, Virginia.

29 Feb 1932 - Jim Williams. Born 'James Lee Williams' in Wythe County, Virginia.


In Memoriam:

05 Feb 1980 - Chubby Anthony. Gainesville, Alachua, Florida.

08 Feb 2003 - Ralph 'Joe' Meadows. Silver Spring, Montgomery County, Maryland.

08 Feb 1987 - Harold 'Red' Stanley. Fentress, Tennessee.


For the Official Ralph Stanley II and the Clinch Mountain Boys site, visit:

Ralph II ralph2.com

Spotlight on:-

On Radio Vol. 2
(County CO-781)


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Clinch Mountain Echo

Dewey Brown - Hard Times For A Fiddler

(Dew Bug DB-339) 2009


Hard Times For A Fiddler

Average Album Rating: 3
(Total votes 2)

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Dewey's second 'solo' album with the Clinch Mountain Boys, was mainly recorded 17th-18th November 2008 at Maggard Sound in Big Stone Gap Va. It's likely that this was the last session to feature Jack Cooke, as by that time Audey Ratliff had taken over bass duties at live shows,[1] and Audey played on the final album session on March 20th 2009 at Brown's Mobile Studio, Nashville, Tn.

The album features several compositions from Dewey, with six of his songs and three of his fiddle tunes. The remaining six cuts are fiddle tunes, including versions of Curly Ray's Lost Train (itself derived from Arthur Smith's Lost Train Blues); Leslie Keith's Black Mountain Blues; and other favourites. One lesser known number, It's Two O'Clock, is a particularly nice tune, which Benny Martin performed in the '50s with Flatt & Scruggs and which was also later cut by Mac Martin and The Dixie Travelers.

Of Dewey's songs, Hard Times Are Here features Dewey on lead vocals, with Ralph adding Harmony. The song seems to have often been used to open CMB shows in 2009[2] and is thematically similiar to Mountain Folks or Sharecroppers Son.

One of Dewey's fiddle tunes, Beaver Dam, has a Kenny Baker/Bill Monroe '70s Scottish bagpipe feel to it, somewhere between Monroe's Scotland and Jerusalem Ridge. Dewey's wife Leslie also adds to the atmosphere on this, with her 'clogging' adding a nice percussive touch.

The final cut, Near My God To Thee, is also quite unusual with Nathan Stanley repeatedely singing the title over and over, before a fiddle accompanied recitation from Ralph. It's sounds quite ethereal, but also a bit irritating too.

  • Dewey Brown: fiddle, vocals
  • Jack Cooke: bass (*)
  • James Alan Shelton: guitar, mandolin
  • Steve Sparkman: banjo
  • Dr. Ralph Stanley: vocal (**)

NB: (*) Audey Ratliff plays bass on Lost Train. (**) Ralph sings harmony vocal on Hard Times Are Here and recitation on Near My God To Thee. Del McCoury also sings harmony on the chorus' to Play The Lonesome Sound and Leslie Brown clogg's along to Beaver Dam.

 

Track:
Title:
Time:
Date:
Original Release:
A-1
Hard Times Are Here
01:58
17/18 Nov 2008
Hard Times For A Fiddler

Dewey Brown
  Ld Vcl / Fid Bs Gtr Bjo Hr Vcl    
  Dewey Brown
Jack Cooke
James Alan Shelton
Steve Sparkman
Dr. Ralph Stanley
   
A-2
Beaver Dam
01:50
17/18 Nov 2008
Hard Times For A Fiddler

Dewey Brown
  Fid Bs Gtr Bjo Clogging    
  Dewey Brown
Jack Cooke
James Alan Shelton
Steve Sparkman
Leslie Brown
   
A-3
Let Me In Your Heart
01:55
17/18 Nov 2008
Hard Times For A Fiddler

Dewey Brown
  Ld Vcl / Fid Bs Gtr Bjo      
  Dewey Brown
Jack Cooke
James Alan Shelton
Steve Sparkman
 
   
A-4
It's Two O'Clock
01:47
17/18 Nov 2008
Hard Times For A Fiddler

P.D.
  Fid Bs Gtr Bjo      
  Dewey Brown
Jack Cooke
James Alan Shelton
Steve Sparkman
 
   
A-5
Leslie's Home Away From Home
01:47
17/18 Nov 2008
Hard Times For A Fiddler

Dewey Brown
  Ld & Hr Vcls / Fid Bs Gtr Bjo      
  Dewey Brown
Jack Cooke
James Alan Shelton
Steve Sparkman
 
   
A-6
Brown's Breakdown
01:35
17/18 Nov 2008
Hard Times For A Fiddler

Dewey Brown
  Fid Bs Gtr Bjo      
  Dewey Brown
Jack Cooke
James Alan Shelton
Steve Sparkman
 
   
A-7
A Maiden's Love
04:03
17/18 Nov 2008
Hard Times For A Fiddler

Dewey Brown
  Fid Bs Gtr Bjo      
  Dewey Brown
Jack Cooke
James Alan Shelton
Steve Sparkman
 
   
A-8
Black Mountain Blues
02:07
17/18 Nov 2008
Hard Times For A Fiddler

Leslie Keith
  Fid Bs Gtr Bjo      
  Dewey Brown
Jack Cooke
James Alan Shelton
Steve Sparkman
 
   
A-9
Play The Lonesome Sound
02:48
17/18 Nov 2008
Hard Times For A Fiddler

Dewey Brown
  Ld Vcl / Fid Bs Gtr Bjo Hr Vcl    
  Dewey Brown
Jack Cooke
James Alan Shelton
Steve Sparkman
Del McCoury
   
A-10
Lost Train (Blues)
02:11
20 Mar 2009
Hard Times For A Fiddler

Arthur Smith
  Fid Bs Gtr Bjo      
  Dewey Brown
Audey Ratliff
James Alan Shelton
Steve Sparkman
 
   
A-11
Cherokee Shuffle
02:36
17/18 Nov 2008
Hard Times For A Fiddler

P.D.
  Fid Bs Gtr Bjo      
  Dewey Brown
Jack Cooke
James Alan Shelton
Steve Sparkman
 
   
A-12
Memories
02:31
17/18 Nov 2008
Hard Times For A Fiddler

Dewey Brown
  Ld Vcl / Fid Bs Gtr Bjo      
  Dewey Brown
Jack Cooke
James Alan Shelton
Steve Sparkman
 
   
A-13
Walking In My Sleep
02:13
17/18 Nov 2008
Hard Times For A Fiddler

P.D.
  Fid Bs Gtr Bjo      
  Dewey Brown
Jack Cooke
James Alan Shelton
Steve Sparkman
 
   
A-14
Lee Highway Blues
01:43
17/18 Nov 2008
Hard Times For A Fiddler

P.D.
  Fid Bs Gtr Bjo      
  Dewey Brown
Jack Cooke
James Alan Shelton
Steve Sparkman
 
   
A-15
Near My God To Thee
03:38
17/18 Nov 2008
Hard Times For A Fiddler

Dewey Brown
  Hr Vcl / Fid Bs Gtr Bjo Recitation Ld Vcl  
  Dewey Brown
Jack Cooke
James Alan Shelton
Steve Sparkman
Dr. Ralph Stanley
Nathan Stanley  
Other artwork / related images:
Rear Cover CD Tray CD Tray

[1] After about 39 years in the band, Jack had to step down for health reasons. Audey was drafted in for about 8 months and can be seen here on stage with the CMB's circa Oct. 2008: http://ratliffmandolins.com/ralphstanley.html
[2] All the 2009 show tapes I've heard feature Hard Times Are Hear, usually as the opening number:- Nelson Ledges Quarry Park, Nelson, Ohio, 6th Sept 2009, The Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, MN, 11th Sept 2009, Carnegie Hall, New York, 6th Oct 2009; Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, San Francisco, CA, 4th Oct 2009; and The Skipperdome, Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa, FL 6th Dec 2009.

For the Official Ralph Stanley II and the Clinch Mountain Boys site, visit:

Ralph II ralph2.com

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Down Where The River Bends
(Rebel SLP 1579)


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