The Warrior River Boys - New Beginnings

(Rounder CD-0270) 1990

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The Warrior River Boys hit a new musical high point on their first CD for Rounder. Featuring top-drawer trad-bluegrass, it draws inspiration from Bill Monroe & his contemporaries, but with a finesse & 'authenticity' rarely matched in recent times.

The song selection is a mix of new songs and other older, relatively obscure, ones. Of the new material, Charlie Cline contributes I Don't Know What To Do and Mitch Scott wrote Lay My Burdens Down and Throne Of Grace. Bill Prickett (who provided Rocky Mountain Sweetheart on their Passin' Thru LP), also wrote You're That Certain Someone.

The older material is drawn from the Bailey Brothers (I Told The Stars About You); Flatt & Scruggs' (Right Before My Eyes); Reno & Smiley (My Mother's Bible); Roy Acuff (Midnight Train); Charlie Monroe (That's What I Like About You); and Bill Monroe (Farewell To Long Hollow).

The deep-catalogue Bill Monroe tune, Farewell To Long Hollow, was never recorded by him but had been previously cut in 1983 by Alabama fiddler James Bryan. On this track David Davis' mandolin work closely matches Monroe's style, and Gary Waldrep also plays a great 'Bill Keith' type melodic banjo break.

Instrumentation throughout the album is tight, with the interplay between mandolin, banjo & fiddle being a masterclass in backup / musical fills. Gary Waldrep's banjo is mainly in 3-finger style, with That's What I Like About You being performed clawhammer/frailing.

Charlie Cline's I Don't Know What To Do has a high nasal vocal à la Monroe, with bouncy rhythm and swingin' fiddle. You're That Certain Someone has some sweet double-tracked fiddle; and Charlie's fiddling is also quite prominent on Right Before My Eyes and Old Love Letters.

Vocally, the band are also in good form with a mix of vocal solo's (You're That Certain Someone), duets (My Mother's Bible, I Told The Stars About You & Right Before My Eyes), and multi-harmony. The final two tracks for example, Lay My Burdens Down and Thrones Of Grace, have fine 3-4 part harmony singing, with Thrones... also featuring Earl Scruggs type guitar fills.

Lyrically, the version of Old Love Letters is closer to the Jim Reeves / Porter Wagoner recordings, than the Stanley Brothers. Curiously the liner notes credit the song to 'Stanley - Bence' as per the King 5415 / In Person releases, which Gary Reid explained in his Music Of The Stanley Brothers book, as an error made by King records. The song credit on the CD rear sleeve however is correct, showing the songwriter as Johnny Bond.

Production on the album was by Ken Irwin, and it was recorded by the late Bill VornDick at Martin Recording Studio in Nashville, Tn.

• Charlie Cline: fiddle
• David Davis: mandolin
• Jarrod Rains: bass
• Mitch Scott: guitar
• Gary Waldrep: banjo

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