Artists
Album Info
Release Date: 2017Label: Patuxent Music
"Please Come Back, Little Pal" -- originally recorded in 1938 by Roy Hall and his Blue Ridge Entertainers, a popular pre-bluegrass North Carolina band."Old Friend" -- written after the unexpected deaths of singer/guitarist Sid Campbell, an early hero, and Bill Workman, a member of the Rambling Ramblers, my first band.
"The Old Hometown" -- Lester Flatt once said it was his favorite of all the great songs he wrote.
"My Wish Come True" -- I hummed it for over six months until fellow Blue Grass Boy
Billy Joe Foster suggested the theme of wishing on a star.
"Take Me Home" -- a song about Bill Monroe, written in 1987 when it seemed his days were numbered. Naturally, he bounced back.
"When the Bees Are in the Hive" -- learned from a 1962 recording by Bill Monroe, who sang the first stanza only. The second stanza heard here comes from the 1904 sheet music.
"Won't You Come Home to Me?" -- probably the result of an unconscious calypso influence, instilled by the Kingston Trio and songs like "Jamaica Farewell."
"O-hio" -- written in the middle of the night during my first drive home from Nashville to Columbus, Ohio, my hometown.
"A Distant Land to Roam" -- originally recorded by the Carter Family in 1929, I heard Carl Story sing it in the 1970s and had to learn it.
"Black Jack Davy" -- first heard on a live recording by Bill Monroe, I changed its melody to suit me.
"She Looked a Lot Like You" -- a true song (all this stuff really happened), it's the only song I've written that doesn't have a rhyme.
"Willie Moore" -- originally recorded in 1927 by Burnett and Rutherford, I learned it from a recording by the Old Reliable String Band.
"It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over" -- former Blue Grass Boy Billy Rose composed the melody and recorded it on my answering machine one night while I was on the road.
"Lookin' Out a Window" -- written one lonely day in Nashville, looking out a window and realizing I was looking north toward home.
Tom Ewing Rosine, Kentucky
2016