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Bluegrass icon Peter Rowan and renowned cowboy singer
Don Edwards joined together to record High
Lonesome Cowboy: Appalachia To Abilene,
featuring 11 tracks of cowboy songs that have been given a
kind of bluegrass twist.
I recently met Don who told me, "We had talked
about it for many, many years and then finally we got
together last year. I was quite flattered by the fact that
Norman Bake and Tony Rice wanted to play on this record with
us." He sees this album as, "sort of like the old
Chisholm Trail meets Tin Pan Alley."
Don says, "It's where the older cowboy stuff came
into the recording era. It was kinda neat in the 20's &
30's and this is how this album feels. This is another
dimension of the music where the music was in that
time-period. We had a bunch of stuff and just started
rattling off songs…Pete singing a nine and a half minute
version of "Midnight On The
Stormy Deep". What was it originally…"The
Sailors Complaint Of His Unkind Wife Of Wapping" or
something like that. Then there was cowboy songs made from
that, the "Trail To Mexico",
you get "I'm Going To Leave Old
Texas Now", you get certain versions of
"Barbara Alan" and they are all the same tune….and
all these songs were based on it.
High Lonesome Cowboy is
an excellent album that revels in the romanticism and
excitement of a time long ago when the cowboy spent month
after month riding the weary trails tending the cattle and
relying on his horse. Take the voyage of discovery and ride
across the nostalgic trail yourself with "Take
Me Back To The Range" and "The
Old Chisholm Trail" to become the best damn
cowboy ever born.!!! Feel the companionship and the sadness
of long times on the roundup with "Buddies
In The Saddle" when the cowboy looses his trusty
friend. Leave loved ones behind as you pack your bedroll and
head out with "Goodbye Old Paint".
The musical talents of the likes of Tony Rice, Norman
Blake, and Billy & Bryn Bright combined with Peter Rowan
and Don Edwards' wistful vocals prove that there is still a
lot of mileage in these old songs. A great team who all to
easily weave their magic spell, take you back in time to the
roots of country music and live in the poetry of the soul,
overflowing with fully-fledged heroes and sidekicks. |
