The Music Pages | August 2008


	Cat. No.: 6610578 Barcode: 0001166105782 Label: Decca Rounder CD Release Date: August			LONGVIEW \| Deep in the Mountains ARTISTS Longview TRACK LISTING Eating Out of Your Hand Weathered Grey Stone Room at the Top of the Stairs Don't Leave Me Alone Old Log Cabin Cotton Eyed Joe I'll Love Nobody but You Baptism of Jesse Taylor I'm Gonna Love You One More Time At the First Fall of Snow I Love You Yet Georgia Bound In 1994, Rounder founder Ken Irwin - to commemorate the label's 25th anniversary - assembled an all-star lineup for a performance at the Denton, North Carolina bluegrass festival. When Dudley Connell, Don Rigsby, and James King joined in three-part harmony on the Stanley Brothers 'The Angels Are Singing in Heaven Tonight', everyone involved realized they had touched on something very special. In December of 1995, the three singers joined with Joe Mullins, Glen Duncan, and Marshall Wilborn at the legendary Long View Farm studio in rural Massachusetts to create Longview. The love and respect these six men shared for the sound of classic bluegrass was immediately evident in the soulful performances captured on tape. Released in the fall of 1997, Longview quickly became recognized as a landmark recording of traditional bluegrass. Two songs from the album remained in the bluegrass top five throughout the summer of 1998, and the band ended their amazing debut year by bringing home Recorded Event of the Year and Song of the Year honors (for 'Lonesome Old Home') from the International Bluegrass Music Association. The overwhelming popular and critical success of the project led these six musicians to begin playing selected festival dates when they could fit them into their already very busy schedules (as members of the Lonesome River Band, the Seldom Scene, the James King Band, and the Lynn Morris Band). They returned to Long View in 1998 to record High Lonesome, which was released in June of 1999. High Lonesome was followed by 2002's Lessons in Stone for Rebel Records, after which the band took a hiatus before reforming, with the addition of several new members, to record Deep in the Mountains, available June 2008 Rounder/Decca. 'We all love playing together; that's the absolute truth of it', Don Rigsby explains. 'But we also all have other bands and commitments. That makes it much more intense; you play with more fervor when you know you're not going to have that many opportunities.'Deep in the Mountains' is marked by a depth of passion and commitment that has nothing to do with tempo or chops: this is first class mountain soul, a sound and a set of musical values held deeply by the members of Longview. That membership has evolved since the band last convened. Connell, Mullins, and Duncan have moved on, and Longview now includes legendary bandleader, banjo player, and singer J.D. Crowe, session ace Ron Stewart on fiddle, and Lou Reid (Seldom Scene, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Lou Reid & Carolina) on guitar and vocals. All the trademark elements of the Longview sound are well-represented; the towering three-part harmonies ('Don't Leave Me Alone', with a James King lead vocal); rollicking, classically styled bluegrass ('Eating out of Your Hand', featuring Reid); and haunting waltzes (Rigsby's soaring take on 'At the First Fall of Snow'). 'It's a different style Longview is doing, the older, folk-type stuff', Crowe explains. 'And I like that we're doing things none of the other bands are doing these days. You have to have a band sound, be a unit. Just like a baseball team, one man can't win it. And that's kind of what Longview is all about, I think, keeping that old traditional sound.' Deep in the Mountains displays an impressive coherence and clarity of purpose for a band that convenes only a few times a year. 'Over the years, we've just naturally grown fond of playing together, and gotten comfortable with each other,' says Rigsby. 'When I'm singing with James now, I'll sometimes know what he's going to do before he does. So I can do things with him I coudn't do before.' First formed on a whim, Longview now has a legacy of its own, which is proudly upheld with the release of Deep in the Mountains. RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 6610589 Barcode: 0001166105892 Label: Decca Rounder CD Release Date: August			DANNY PAISLEY \| The Room Over Mine ARTISTS Danny Paisley TRACK LISTING 1 Don't Throw Mama's Flowers Away 2 The Convict And The Rose 3 I'm Leaving Detroit 4 I Thought I Heard You Calling My Name 5 A Memory Of You 6 Sweet Potato Rag 7 I'm Comin' Back But I Don't Know When 8 Another Bridge To Burn 9 Raisin' Cane In Texas 10 The Room Over Mine 11 Backstep Sally Ann 12 At The End Of A Long Lonely Day 13 Drowning Sailor Raised to the strains of classic bluegrass, Dan Paisley and the Southern Grass learned the ropes first-hand as the sons (and eventually bandmates) of such beloved figures as Bob Paisley, Ted Lundy, and Donnie Eldreth. Honed over decades of playing festivals, honky-tonks, Legion halls, and everywhere in between, their sound proudly reflects the timeless bluegrass soul of their fathers - while imparting a razor's edge intensity all their own. Over the course of his apprenticeship, Danny Paisley's singing has become proud, fierce, hard-driving, spontaneous, and unafraid to take risks, and when combined with the Southern Grass's solid base in tradition, the result is a band and an album for the ages. "Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass generate the kind of energy and excitement that can only be found in the engine of a finely tuned sports car. The band is perhaps one of the greatest rhythm sections in bluegrass music. Riding the wave of this machine are Danny's vocals, soaring from powerhouse peaks to heart breaking whispers. I believe everything that Danny sings, and that to me is the mark of a truly gifted singer." -Dudley Connell "This is so good I don't know how to deal with it! Bluegrass music has been waiting for a record like this for a long, long time."-Alison Krauss RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 6610595 Barcode: 0001166105952 Label: Decca Rounder CD Release Date: August			JAMES KING Gardens in the Sky – The Bluegrass Gospel of James King ARTISTS James King TRACK LISTING 1. Will He Wait A Little Longer 2. The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn 3. I Just Steal Away and Pray 4. Daddy Doesn’t Pray Anymore* 5. Garden in the Sky 6. Jerusalem Tomorrow 7. It’s Hot Down Here* 8. Sweeter than the Flowers 9. Don’t Worry Mama* 10. The Touch of God’s Hand 11. These Old Pictures >br> 12. Just as the Sun Went Down 13. Message for Peace 14. Angels Are Singing (In Heaven Tonight) 15. The Prettiest Flowers Will Be Blooming* 16. Voice of My Savior 17. Will You Feel at Home* 18. Happy I’ll Be* * New Material James King remains one of the leading voices in traditional bluegrass, summoning timeless echoes of Appalachia with a voice that is equal parts urgent, yearning, and tender. Yet it is not King’s ability to evoke his musical heroes (Carter Stanley being foremost among them) that has made him the most celebrated mountain soul singer of his generation. Rather, King possesses a genius for applying the rugged strains of the music he loves to a wide array of songs, traditional and contemporary, reinforcing the relevance and power of classic bluegrass. Gardens in the Sky, to be released in June on Decca/ Rounder Records, is King’s first and only collection to date of all-gospel material. Producer Ken Irwin worked with King to add material recorded in early 2007 to supplement the already sumptuous set of songs drawn from King’s earlier albums with his own bands, the Rounder Paul Williams album that featured King, tracks from the out-of-print various-artists album The Stanley Tradition-Songs About Our Savior album and with Longview. The album boasts six new songs, among them the much-requested contemporary standout “Daddy Doesn’t Pray Anymore,” by Chris Stapleton of The SteelDrivers. While it’s difficult to believe anyone could take a Stanley classic like “Sweeter than the Flowers” and breathe freshness and originality into it, James King certainly does so. Just as King and this set of material are perfectly matched, so, too, are the utterly complementary bands and additional musicians. Adam Haynes’ fiddle on “Jerusalem Tomorrow” could scarcely be more hauntingly perfect; but instrumentalists and harmony singers alike, from Dan Tyminski to Rhonda Vincent, from Dudley Connell to longtime James King Band member Kevin Prater, to name but a few, all contribute essential and special musical elements to this remarkable set. This is the cream of the traditional bluegrass crop today. RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 6616117 Barcode: 0001166161172 Label: Decca Rounder CD Release Date: August			STEVE RILEY & THE MAMOU PLAYBOYS \|Best Of ARTISTS Steve Riley The Mamou Playboys TRACK LISTING Disc One 1. Tiens bon / Hold On* 2. Aux Natchitoches / In Natchitoches* 3. Menteur / Liar* 4. La Pointe aux Pins / Pine Point 5. Katherine 6. J’ai été-z-au bal / I Went to the Dance 7. Pointe aux Chênes / Oak Point 8. La Toussaint / All Saints’ Day 9. La danse de Mardi Gras / Mardi Gras Song 10. Ardoin Medley 11. Le souhait du veuf / Widower’s Wish 12. Between Eunice & Opelousas 13. Laisse-moi connaître / Let Me Know 14. Je suis pas un couillon / I’m Not a Fool 15. Allons danser / Let’s Dance 16. King Zydeco Disc Two 1. Lawrence Walker Medley 2. Paradis des musiciens / Musicians’ Paradise 3. Lovers’ Waltz 4. The Corner Post 5. Vini, Jilie / Come, Jilie 6. Bayou Noir/Back of Town Two-Step 7. La vie je croyais je voulais / The Life I Thought I Wanted 8. Jamais une autre chance / Never Another Chance 9. Bon rêve / Sweet Dream 10. Oh, Mam / Oh, Mom 11. Pays des étrangers / Land of Strangers 12. Les clefs de la prison / The Keys to the Prison 13. Evangeline Waltz Two-Step 14. Marie mouri / Marie Has Died 15. Zarico est pas salé / Zydeco Is Not Salty Previously unreleased new recording 20 YEARS OF GREAT CAJUN MUSIC* With their feet planted in a solid foundation of their own rich Cajun heritage and their gaze fixed firmly on the future, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys have set the standard for modern Cajun music over the last 20 years of recording together. On April 22, Rounder Records will release The Best of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, a 2-disc retrospective that also features three exciting new songs. Since their inception in 1988, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys have developed a unique, organic sound that exists a few dance steps beyond a seamless blend of Cajun, creole, zydeco, and swamp-pop styles. Their important contributions to Cajun music have earned them three Grammy® nominations, including one for their 2003 album Bon Rêve (Rounder). The Best of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys gathers favorite tracks from the first two decades of this important and influential contemporary Cajun band, while three new original songs prove to be pure Mamou Playboys – exploring new territory while keeping the home fires burning. RETURN TO THE TOP