Track Listing

1. Cold Hard Facts
2. Blue Darlin'
3. Smoking Gun
4. Love Is a Long Road
5. Henry Walker
6. Baltimore Johnny
7. Blackjack County Chains
8. Hard on My Heart
9. Snake in the House
10. First Time She Left
11. Loggin' Man
12. Member of the Blues
13. I'll Be There

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #144475 in Music
• Brand: Dell
• Released on: 1996-09-17
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.com
There's nothing soft or fuzzy about this aptly titled album; even without a drummer, the choppy mandolin and guitar chords propel the music forward relentlessly. Whether describing the murderous "Henry Walker" or a hard-working "Loggin' Man," Del McCoury sings in a roughened, high, lonesome tenor that scrubs all the sentimentality off such subjects. When he sings about marital infidelity on Robert Cray's "Smoking Gun" or Ronnie's title tune, Del lets the raw moment of realization cut through his voice. Even when he tackles Ray Price's honky-tonk "I'll Be There" or Tom Petty's folk-rock "Love Is a Long Road," Del gives them the starkness of an Appalachian culture where the rocky soil and dirt-road isolation leave little margin for error. --Geoffrey Himes

Customer Reviews

Hard-Driving Bluegrass
Now in his seventies, Del McCoury is one of the few surviving traditionalists from the Bill Monroe school of bluegrass featuring the trademark high lonesome vocal sound. In fact, in the mid-Sixties, McCoury served a stint with the father of bluegrass music as guitar player and lead vocalist in Monroe's Bluegrass Boys.

While McCoury takes a traditionalist's approach to bluegrass, his song selection certainly steps outside the box as shown by his covers of Robert Cray's "Smoking Gun" and Tom Petty's "Love Is a Long Road."

And you won't find a better collection of musicians in bluegrass music. Del's band includes sons Rob (banjo) and Ronnie (possibly the best mandolin player around), Jason Carter (fiddle), Mike Bub (bass) and the best Dobro player on the planet, Jerry Douglas. They all get a chance to shine on Ronnie's instrumental "Baltimore Jonny."

This is hard-driving bluegrass with standout tracks like "Hard on My Heart" and "Snake in the House" and will make a fine addition to your collection. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Get it and listen and listen and listen! IT'S THE BEST!
What is it about family singing and performing together? There is a spirit that enters the performance and pure joy and happiness comes rolling out of the speakers. That's what I feel when I listen to Del,Ronnie, and Rob and the rest of the band. The timing is perfect, the love of performing is very evident and it's evident why this band is the very best Bluegrass Band performing today! You can feel the emotion in each song especially the dark emotion of Henry Walker and Blackjack County Chains and the fun and excitement of Snake In The House. Every song tells a story in such a way you can see and feel every word and note. As you can see, I'm blown away by this band. Go buy it and you will be too.

This music gets in your blood
I find myself humming the tunes on this CD all the time.

This is the CD that introduced me to Del McCoury, recently, even though Gov. Zell Miller of Georgia proclaimed a Del McCoury day, some years ago, for Del's enormous contribution to bluegrass music.

Unfortunately for me, a buddy of mine has borrowed this CD from me and keeps "forgetting" return it. He's not forgetting, he loves the CD as I do and is just too cheap to buy one of his own.