Charlie Cline & The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers - Brushy Creek Bluegrass

(Old Homestead OHS-90139) 1981

---

Charlie's third album for Old Homestead is another fine effort with a mix of originals, old Lonesome Pine Fiddlers tracks, Bill Monroe classics and a couple of other 'covers'.

No personnel are listed on the LP, but from the photo it looks like Ed Wilson had returned on guitar, along with Billy Sandlin.

Chuck Carpenter's banjo is once again exemplary, and Charlie contributes some excellent fiddle & mandolin. It's a shame though that the album doesn't feature more of Lee Cline's songs, as she had a real knack with smart lyrics.

The album opens with Charlie's nostalgic The Cabin At The Foot Of The Hill, which has excellent multi-tracked bluesy fiddling, with Charlie singing lead on the verses & group harmony vocal on the choruses.

The instrumental title track Brushy Creek is named after the bluegrass festival which started in 1978 around the time when Charlie and Lee were starting to get back into bluegrass. It features the mandolin and banjo picking sections of the tune in unison, which is quite striking.

I Just Can't Stop Loving You co-written by Charlie & Lee Cline, is about the after effects of being dumped and features Charlie on lead vocal on the verses & group harmony on the chorus. Chuck also contributes some nifty Reno-esque banjo.

You Left Me To Cry and Dirty Dishes inevitably lack some of the energy compared to the original Lonesome Pine Fiddlers versions, but they're still worth a listen.

The version of Bill Monroe's classic Uncle Pen is also good, being patterned pretty close to the original. The other Bill Monroe song, On And On, which Charlie helped Bill record in 1954, also features some fine fiddle and banjo, but lacks the mandolin featured on the original 1954 version.

Righteous Pathway and I'll Have A New Life (aka I'll Have A New Body (I'll Have A New Life)) feature call & response gospel harmony vocals. The later also has a fine mandolin intro & break.

Lee Cline sings lead on One Day At A Time and on her own composition Lose My Mind, which opens with multi-tracked fiddle, and is a story of lost love.

Overall it's a decent enough album, though defintely not the bands best release.

Thanks to Rick Harkness for the photo line-up confirmation.

• Charlie Cline: fiddle, mandolin
• Lee Cline: bass
• Chuck Carpenter: banjo, dobro
• Ed Wilson: guitar
• Billy Sandlin: guitar

Other artwork / related images: