Curly Ray Cline - My Little Home In West Virginia

(Rebel SLP 1515) 1972

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This album was recorded on 13th October 1972, at Roy Homer's basement studio. It's another fine effort, although perhaps not quite as diverse as it's predecesor (They Cut Down The Old Pine Tree).

Ten of the twelve cuts are fiddle instrumentals, with Flem Jones and Take Me Back To Tennessee featuring Curly on lead vocals.

Flem Jones, named after Curly's father in law, became one of Curly's most popular songs, and live versions can be found on the Live At The Smithsonian and Classic Stanley CDs. The song was also mentioned in Bluegrass Unlimited's 'General Store' (Jan. 1973), saying:- "song of the year honors this year may go to Curly Ray Cline whose 'Flem Jones' vocal on his latest Rebel LP has had everybody talking. It is a self-portrait of Curly's family, hometown and even his dogs. Ralph Stanley, who made the song up to kid Curly Ray, never even dreamed that Curly would even remember it, really got fooled when Curly showed up at the recording studio all set to record it."

Take Me Back To Tennessee borrows the melody from Careless Love. "You can pass my door, you can pass my gate, but you sure can't pass my 38..."

Lost Train Blues was one of many numbers Curly played from the repertoire of Arthur Smith and as Lost Train the band had previously recorded it for Brand New Country Songs.

Like They Cut Down The Old Pine Tree, each side of the LP also ends with a Gospel tune.

The album is the only recording to feature Mike Johnson on lead guitar. His tenure as a CMB was short-lived with Bluegrass Unlimited's "General Notes" section announcing his arrival in the Nov. 72 edition, and departure in the Dec. 72 edition. In John Wright's "Songs And Stories" booklet, Curly Ray said of the album: "For the next, Dick Freeland gave me the idea on that one. He said he had a lot of requests for the 'Little Home In West Virginia', and we titled the album that. That's where we had Mike Johnson go and make a picture of the old home place, where we was raised. He played guitar on it."

• Curly Ray Cline: fiddle, vocals
• Roy Lee Centers: guitar
• Jack Cooke: bass
• Ed Ferris: bass (*)
• Mike Johnson: lead guitar
• Ralph Stanley: banjo

NB:(*) Ed Ferris plays bass on My Little Home In West Virginia, Flem Jones and Take Me Back To Tennessee, when Jack Cooke was either playing tambourine or providing tenor vocals.

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