Larry Sparks - Sparklin' Bluegrass

(King Bluegrass KB-531) 1975.
Also issued in Japan (London LAX(KB)-6025) 1975.

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This is another decent album by Larry, perhaps most notable for inclusion of A Face In The Crowd which would become one of his 'signature' songs. Written by Dean St. Clair and Henry Smith from Haysi, Va, near the Stanley homeplace,^[1] the track has subsequently appeared on three of Larry's "Best Of..." albums, with another studio & four live versions also being released. It's also gone on to been recorded by numerous other bluegrass acts...

As far as I can tell this LP was recorded in the first half of 1975, with a review appearing in the Jul 1975 edition of 'Bluegrass Unlimited'. With Joe Meadows having left and Mike Lilly returning on banjo, the band sound reverts somewhat to that on their 1973 Ramblin' Bluegrass album. The combination of Sparks, Mike Lilly and Wendy Miller is hard to beat... their sound is cohesive, with a refined interplay of instruments & smooth vocal harmonies.

Only two tracks on the album are re-recordings with Osburn Thorpe's Too Late To Walk The Floor having been previously cut on Ramblin' Guitar and Larry & Bernice Sparks' folky Just Lovin' You on Ramblin' Bluegrass.

Larry's new song-writing credits are limited to No Chains which was co-written with Lydia Spall^[2] and the instrumental Lonesome Blues co-written with Mike Lilly. The latter is a quite catchy banjo / mandolin / guitar piece which was also issued as the flip side to a single with Smokey Mountain Memories (King Bluegrass KB-413) 1975, ahead of the LP release of You Could Have Called the following year.

Much of the album consists of Bluegrass standards with three tracks from Flatt & Scruggs canon - Pain In My Heart, Blue Ridge Cabin Home, and instrumental Cannonball Blues; plus Rock Heart(s) presumably via Jimmy Martin and a decent version of Rovin' Gambler, which sounds like it was influenced by the Stanley Brothers 1956 live recording. Jimmie Davis may also be the source for Albert E. Brumley's I Cannot Find The Way Alone.

The final track which is listed as He Is Willing To Save Your Soul Yet, with writer's credit as 'Ralph Stanley', is a Stanley Brothers number which they recorded on their penultimate recording session for King in Sept 1965 as He'll Save Your Soul Yet. The original is on their A Collection Of Original Gospel And Sacred Songs.

Two of the songs on the album were later re-recorded by Larry with A Face In The Crowd being re-cut on Kinda' Lonesome (1979); and Too Late To Walk The Floor getting a further airing on 40 with Don Rigsby & Chris Jones.

A chunk of the album was later re-issued by Rebel after they bought the King Bluegrass label, with He Is Willing To Save Your Soul Yet being included on The Testing Times (1983); and five tracks appearing on Dark Hollow (1982) - Rovin' Gambler, Cannonball Blues, Blue Ridge Cabin Home, Pain In My Heart and Too Late To Walk The Floor.

• Larry Sparks: guitar, lead vocal
• Mike Lilly: banjo, harmony vocal
• Wendy Miller: mandolin, harmony vocal
• Art Weidner: bass

Other artwork / related images:

[1] Bill Vernon's article on Larry Sparks, Apr 1983 'Bluegrass Unlimited'.
[2] Lydia seems to have had a couple of 45s with Henry Gooch. A country/rockabilly effort: Yellow Fraight / Eighteen Wheel Drivers (Breeze 537) 1975, and also it seems a bluegrass 45 on Jalyn.