Larry Sparks - The Rock I Stand On

(Rebel REB-CD-1710) 1994.

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Larry's third Gospel album for the Rebel label was recorded at River Tracks studio in Louisa, Kentucky and features a basic four-piece line-up without dobro or fiddle.

The material is decent enough, but lacks any particular stand-out tracks.

On offer are five 'new' songs with two by Emma Smith - The Rock I Stand On & Memories; two by Bill Castle - Tell 'Em About Jesus & Mama's Songs; and one by Jim Eanes - My Lord.

Also featured are two songs from Blue Sky Boys radio transcriptions: An Empty Mansion and Where Shall I Be; and two old Gospel standards - I'm On My Way To Canaan's Land & The Old Rugged Cross, both of which are presented as splendid instrumentals. (Versions of An Empty Mansion by the Stanley Brothers can be found on In Memory Of Carter Stanley: "An Empty Mansion" and Bluegrass Gospel Favorites).

The remaining three tracks are all re-workings on earlier songs with Osburn Thorpe's Green Pastures In The Sky previously cut on Larry's New Gospel Songs (1971), Pickin' And Singin' (1975), and It's Never Too Late (1980). He would later record the song for a fifth time on New Moon Over My Shoulder (2019).

Thank You Lord likewise was previously cut on Bluegrass Old And New (1972) and Thank You Lord (1976).

The anthemic Jesus Is The Rock, co-written by Larry Sparks and his sister Bernice, was likewise previously cut on Where The Sweet Waters Flow 1973/4.

• Larry Sparks: guitar, mandolin, vocals
• Carl Berggren: mandolin
• Barry Crabtree: banjo
• Jeff Brown: bass

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