Bill Napier, Larry Taylor & The Waterloo Bluegrass Boys - We Salute The Stanley Brothers

(Old Homestead OHS-80075) 1988

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This is a cassette only release that was recorded in 1986, but not released until 1988. Bill Napier was of course a former Clinch Mountain Boy who played with the Stanley Brothers in the late '50s and who not only wrote Daybreak In Dixie, but also played lead guitar on the early King & Starday sessions. After leaving the CMB's he joined up with Charlie Moore and had a successful career, but after they split in 1968 he was largely inactive in the music business.

Bill met Larry at a festival in Nashville, Michigan in 1980. After hearing Larry and the Waterloo Boys do their set, he sat in with a picking session. Afterwards they kept in touch and after a couple of years Larry approached Bill and they started recording together. According to a piece by Frank England in the Dec. 1987 edition of 'Bluegrass Unlimited' they had by that time recorded three albums and "more recording projects for Old Homestead (were) in the works". I'm unclear as to how many of the albums were released, but there were at least two cassette albums, which were reviewed in 'Bluegrass Unlimited' in Sept 1988. One consisted of original material 'Country Boy's Life' (Old Homestead OHS-80076), and the other was this Stanley Brothers tribute. Both were given a less than favourable write up.

Judging by the Stanley Brothers tribute cassette, the band were fairly decent instrumentally, but a bit rough vocally. Still this will be of interest to Bill Napier fans, and he does contribute a nice rendition of Daybreak In Dixie. Nowadays the cassette seems to be quite rare, but you can hear a rip of it on youtube.

• Bill Napier: guitar, mandolin tenor vocal
• Larry Taylor: mandolin, guitar
• Ricky Dan: banjo
• Frank England: bass
• Charlie Flannery: fiddle

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