Curly Ray Cline - The Working Man

And His Lonesome Pine Fiddle

(Jalyn JLP 126) 1970

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This album was recorded on 1st January 1970, and aside from The Braying Mule is a great but straight-forward fiddle album.

The Braying Mule features a tape of mules braying, which was recorded by Bill Grant and his wife at Medicine Springs, a few miles from Hugo, Ok. It also has a spoken introduction by Ralph. If there ever is a 'Best Of Curly Ray Cline' album, this track belongs on it!

Other highlights are Curly's Dan's Dream and Rockhouse... plus Chitlin' Cooking Time In Cheatum County which I presume Curly picked up from Fiddlin' Arthur Smith.^[1]

Although Jack Cooke had I think joined the CMB's by this point, John Wright's 'Traveling The High Way Home' book lists George Shuffler on the session.

I suspect that the 'blue' cover may be the first pressing. Copies with this colour cover are much harder to find that ones with the 'black' cover.

• Curly Ray Cline: fiddle
• Roy Lee Centers: guitar
• George Shuffler: bass
• Ralph Stanley: banjo

Other artwork / related images:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddlin'_Arthur_Smith