Larry Sparks - New Moon Over My Shoulder

(Rebel REB-CD-1870) 19 Jul 2019.

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This was Larry's first new album in five years and marked his 50th anniversary of his solo career after leaving the CMBs in 1969. Needless to say - It's a lovely recording with some fine material on offer.

All of Larry's albums exude taste & quality, whether it be in the song selection & arrangements, or the performances with Larry's soulful vocal delivery & sterling lead guitar and choice back-up.

Familiar cuts include: the catchy Down In Union County, which kicks off the album and is given a Monroe treatment with slick twin fiddling from Michael Feegan and Ron Stewart... quite different to Roy Acuff's old-time original; Peacock Rag - a fine version of Arthur Smith's fiddle tune, which Curly Ray Cline & Leslie Keith both also cut in 1974; I Only Exist which Larry recorded 50 years earlier with Ralph on his 1969 Hills Of Home LP, with Ron Stewart's banjo closely approximating Ralph; and the stripped down version of Green Pastures In The Sky with Larry's guitar / soulful vocal only accompanied by bass. Simply wonderful. This track was first recorded by Larry on his 1971 New Gospel Songs LP. Curiously the CD here gives the songwriting credit as "Traditional, arr. Larry Sparks" rather than Osburn Thorpe.

Larry also breathes new life into a couple of obscure songs: I Was Wrong which was originally released by Judy Canova & the Riders Of The Purple Sage in 1947; and the title cut, There's A New Moon Over My Shoulder which was recorded by Jimmie Davis (1944), Gene Autry (1945) and Tex Ritter (1948).

As far as I can tell, the remainder of the album with the exception of New Highway is new material.

Take Me Back To West Virginia was issued as a digital single to help promote the album; Larry: "The song Take Me Back To West Virginia was pitched to me by Daniel Crabtree, a very fine songwriter out of Nashville, Tennessee. I saw a picture in the words and knew right away it was a real true life story. I could envision every line in the song and knew it would fit my style of singing. It was a picture that needed to be painted".^[1]

Gary Gene Ferguson's I'm Really Leaving appeared on his 1995 album of the same name, along with Last Day At Gettysburg, which Larry had cut to good effect on Blue Mountain Memories (1996). Also co-written by Gary Gene Ferguson and Irish songwriter Shane Sulivan, is Henry Hill, a Civil War ballad.

Things Will Get Better is quite a light-hearted catchy number by James R. Satterwhite.

Annie's Boy by Dee Gaskin / Bill Castle, is a cradle-to-the-grave ballad about a Mother's love for her son.

New Highway which Larry first recorded on his 1997 Gospel CD New Highway, is the only track that I dislike, owing to the disparaging lyrics.

To promote the album Rebel released a video with Larry talking about his time with Ralph/Stanley brothers & his long solo career which can be found on youtube.

The CD comes in a 3-fold digipak.

• Larry Sparks: guitar, lead & harmony vocals
• Jeff Clair: mandolin
• Michael Feagan: fiddle
• Matthew Madden: bass
• Ron Stewart: banjo, second fiddle
• Evan Wilson: mandolin, harmony vocal

Other artwork / related images:

[1] https://bluegrasstoday.com/track-premiere-take-me-back-to-west-virginia-from-larry-sparks/