Echoes of the Mountains – Dry Branch Fire Squad

Dry Branch Fire Squad - Echoes Of The MountainsRounder Records has announced the release date for the Dry Branch Fire Squad CD Echoes of the Mountains (Rounder 0574).

Consisting of 14 songs, the first all new studio album since Hand Hewn, released in 2001, Echoes of the Mountains will be available from January 27.

Whether the material is old or new, the Dry Branch Fire Squad has the ability to put its own stamp on each song. Nobody sounds like the band that has been in Ron Thomason’s custody since 1976, so it will be interesting to hear how Thomason (mandolin and vocals), Brian Aldridge (guitar, mandolin and vocals), Tom Boyd (banjo, Dobro and vocals) and Dan Russell (bass and guitar) handle songs like Echo Mountain, Rider On An Orphan Train and O Captain! My Captain!

Echo Mountain is, of course, a big fan favorite – a tear jerker, also – having been recorded by Cedar Hill about three years ago.

Ron Thomason offered this explanation for adding the song to the Dry Branch Fire Squad repertoire and subsequently recording it …….

“I felt that the song had not been done the way I thought that it should have been. I believe that I can present it as a metaphor for all folks who have friends of a different species, which I believe to be a great honour that is bestowed on all those folks by the separate species involved.”

Equally intriguing choices for this CD are the 1961 soul hit Bring It On Home To Me, written by Sam Cooke; the Carter Family’s Little Joe; Stormy Waters, a duet from Aldridge and Boyd; Seven Spanish Angels; a humorous ditty (You Got To Pray To The Lord) When You See Those Flying Saucers; and two songs that Thomason has been carrying around for a number of years, Up On The Divide and Grayson’s Train.

Celebrated fiddler Michael Cleveland also joins the band on two tracks.

At present there aren’t any audio samples at the Rounder website, but we will monitor the situation and advise you when they are available.

0 Comments
Leave a comment
Comments are open and unmoderated for our registered users, only your first comment will require approval before publication. Comments do not necessarily reflect the views of The Bluegrass Blog. Obscene, abusive, silly, or annoying remarks may be deleted, but the fact that particular comments remain on the site in no way constitutes an endorsement of their content by The Bluegrass Blog.

TrackBack URI

You must

  • Register
  • and Log in in to leave comments.

    New Dry Branch CD in January

    Rounder Records has set January 27, 2009 as the release date for Echoes Of The Mountains, the first studio release from Dry Branch Fire Squad since 2001. This project will also be the first with their current, and longest-running lineup: Ron Thomason (lead vocals and mandolin), Brian Aldridge (guitar,...

    Dry Branch audio samples online

    The 30th Anniversary compilation CD from The Dry Branch Fire Squad which Richard Thompson wrote about last month is due for release tomorrow (5/15). Carrying the appropriate title of 30th Anniversary Special, the CD contains 21 tracks taken from earlier releases over the course of the band's thirty...

    Dry Branch Fire Squad 30th Anniversary compilation

    Here's another post from our all-the-more regular correspondent, Richard Thompson. He writes from England, where he is also a longstanding contributor to British Bluegrass News, a quarterly print publication where he also briefly served as editor. Rounder Records will release a second anthology of...

    Haggard’s Bluegrass Album

    Before you folks criticize Merle Haggard's upcoming bluegrass album, think about some of the bluegrass entertainers who have put out great covers of Haggard tunes. They include the Osborne Bros, Blue Highway, the Dry Branch Fire Squad, Paul Adkins, the Lost and Found and the Seldom Scene. The bluegrass...

    The Lucy Opry – Memphis Area

    If you live in or around the Memphis, TN area - there is a once a month show there you should try see.  The Lucy Opry is in it's 40th year.  They book acts about once a month - 11 times a year anyway.  The performances are at the Bartett Performing Arts Center (Bartlett is a suburb of...

    Pacifically Bluegrass Show—Saturday Evening

    Hey Bluegrassers. There is a show tonight, 4/4, from 7-10pm est.  Pacifically Bluegrass plays the latest tunes that have been released as well as classics from the Fathers of Bluegrass. So if you have the opportunity and want to have some fun listening to some fine bluegrass than stop on by at the...

    Light In The Window II

    This column, containing brief reviews of recent CD releases by Richard Thompson, is published in the current (Spring 2009) edition of British Bluegrass News. As it is a lengthy piece, we have broken it into two parts, with the firt installment having run last Sunday. A series of rambles about CDs...

    Charlie Sizemore – Good News

    This post comes from our semi-regular correspondent, Richard F. Thompson. He writes from England, where he is also a longstanding contributor to British Bluegrass News, a quarterly print publication where he also briefly served as editor. Although the actual signing took place a few months ago, Rounder...

    Review: Joe Mullins And The Radio Ramblers – Tuned In

    Joe Mullins has enjoyed a very active career in bluegrass for over 25 years, beginning while still at high school when playing with his father, the highly esteemed Paul 'Moon' Mullins, in the Traditional Grass, then in the stellar band Longview. Since the turn of the century, he has worked on a couple...

    Longview – Deep In The Mountains

    Rounder Records has announced the release of a new CD from the two-time IBMA Award winning combination, Longview. It is a little over ten years since the debut release by the super group bearing the name Longview and with their first release they caused so much of a furor that two more followed in...

    Bill Evans String Summit makes CA debut

    Banjo player Bill Evans has worn a lot of hats over the years - as a teacher, writer, ethnomusicologist, IBMA board member, IBMM associate director, workshop leader and as a banjo player with Dry Branch Fire Squad. Next week, Bill launches his own all star band, Bill Evans String Summit, with three northern...

    Rounder to reissue Stanley-Sizemore tracks

    Can't You Hear the Mountains Calling is the title Rounder Records has given to a reissued Ralph Stanley CD that has risen from humble beginnings. It was originally released as Sixteen Years on cassette tape in 1985 on Stanley's Rivertracks label, intended for regional distribution, and then re-released...