20 BLUEGRASS FAVORITES 2

Description

Rural Rhythm Records has done it again: They have enabled us to hear classic bluegrass as it was played in its heyday by history s important bluegrass artists in their prime by re-releasing the old recordings on compact disc. This project, recorded only a short time after Red Smiley had split from his partner Don Reno, shows how the big boys do it.Remembering a little bit of this very important era of bluegrass history, we recall that Red Smiley and Don Reno we partners in Don Reno, Red Smiley and The Tennessee Cuts from 1951-1964. While they were together, they created a distinctive sound and memorable songs which are now an important part of bluegrass history. At the time of the recording in 1967, with Red fronting his own Blue Grass Cut-Ups, we find that the band was a bit different than with Red and Don were together. Red no longer has Don Reno s writing skills from which he could draw material and we also find that Red s band was somewhat more traditional in its songs and presentation of bluegrass music. Indeed, Reno had written over 400 tunes in his career. The conventional tunes the Blue Grass Cut-Ups we re doing is represented on this recording when it originally came out as a vinyl LP record album. Here Red and his band do standards such as Ain t Nobody Gonna Miss Me When I m Gone , Take Me In The Lifeboat , I ll Be No Stranger There , A Beautiful Life and many others we, forty years later, can recite from memory. With this band, Red Smiley and Gene Burris did most of the lead singing: Tater Tate did much of the baritone and bass signing. Even though this band is a little different that the Tennessee Cut-Ups, it didn t suffer at all from an inferior sound or lesser musicians. With Tater Tate on fiddle, Billy Edwards on banjo and sounding very much like Reno, John Palmer on bass and Gene Burris (a.k.a. Gene Burrows) on mandolin and guitar, they were among the best bluegrass bands the late 1960 s had to offer. At the time Uncle Jim O Neal made this recording (produced by Lee Sutton in Canton, Ohio), the Blue Grass Cut-Ups had a regular show at WWVA. Uncle Jim O Neal met Tater Tate there at the station. Tater Tate remembered, When I met him, he came down to WWVA one night when I was on the Jamboree there. I talked quite a bit with him there. As a matter of fact, that was when I was still with Red Smiley. That was the only time; actually, I had met with Uncle Jim in person. He had a vast interest in the music: he really did. Red Smiley s career was coming to a close in 1969 when he left the band to retire from music. Herschel Sizemore came to the band, Jim Eanes was hired as their lead singer and they changed their name to the Shenandoah Cut-Ups. Later incarnations of this band included Wes Golding, Tom McKinney, and Udell McPeake. The Shenandoah Cut-Ups ceased operating when Tater joined Lester Flatt s band in 1977. But retirement didn t suite Red Smiley very well so he asked Don Reno and Bill Harrell (with whom Reno had now partnered), if he could join then when his health permitted. They of course , said yes and, according to Mr. Reno in his autobiography, The last two years and five months that Red worked with me and Bill Harrell were the happiest years we spent together. Red Smiley died January 2, 1972. Barry WillisMusicians:RED SMILEY Guitar, Lead VocalBILLY EDWARDS - BanjoCLARENCE TATER TATE Fiddle, VocalGENE BURRIS Mandolin, Guitar, VocalJOHN PALMER Acoustic Bass