GRAYSON COUNTY DAREDEVILS, STAGGERIN’ BLUES

GRAYSON COUNTY DAREDEVILS
STAGGERIN’ BLUES

Mountain Roads
MMR 1018

   Playing music with long-time friends is a bit like putting on gloves that fit perfectly. Jerry Correll and Tom Mylet have been playing together for more than forty years and, in this band, they are joined by Kyle Dean Smith plus family and friends for their first recording together. Jerry is known as the fiddler in the Wolfe Brothers String Band and for solo and other recordings. Tom and Kyle Dean switch off on banjo, guitar, and other instruments. Whatever the combination, they play 19 tunes and songs in tight arrangements. Four are original: “Ellie’s Waltz” and “Burley Smith’s Hornpipe” by Kyle Dean, the hard-driving “Yellow Jacket” by the late Garry Harrison, and “Friday Night In Town” by Canadian Brian Pickell.

The CD opens with “Bad Liquor” from Oklahoma fiddler Uncle Dick Hutchinson; Jerry’s fiddling is fluid and smooth and the tune has a rag feeling. The title-cut is also from Hutchinson. “Warfield” is from Perry Riley. In this tune, Jerry’s bowing has a controlled power and emphasis which is well-supported by Kyle Dean’s low-tuned banjo. They play their way through “Ellie’s Waltz,” “Gaston,” “Pretty Little Indian,” and “Ford’s One Step” before the first of three songs, “Little Brown Hand” from Albert Hash, Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith, and Jim Eanes and sung by Tom. The medley of “Old Dad” and “Miss McLeod’s Reel” features two banjos (one with Scruggs tuners) with no fiddle. Kyle Dean sings “Spring Of ’65.” There’s a great droning DDAD medley of J.P. Fraley’s “Cluckin’ Hen” with W. Stepp’s “Bonaparte’s Retreat.” The final vocal number is “Katy Cline” with Kyle Dean singing lead to the backup vocals of Jina Rosencrans and Donna Correll. The final three instrumentals are “Tom and Jerry,” “Old Sport,” and “Friday Night In Town.”

This is an excellent collection with lots of variety, and it deserves repeated listening. It comes with this reviewer’s highest recommendation. (Mountain Roads Recordings, 3192 Hwy. 421, Bristol, TN 37620, www.mountainroadsrecordings.com.)SAG