Lost & Found will be this week’s feature on Track-By-Track, the new music program that runs on Bluegrass Junction, Sirius-XM’s all-bluegrass channel.

Host Kyle Cantrell will interview the members of the group about their new CD, Love, Lost and Found, in the midst of a complete play through of all 13 tracks.

As is always the case with Track-By-Track, the show will air a number of times over this coming week, starting with its initial broadcast tomorrow morning (4/22) at 11:00 a.m. Look for it also on Saturday (4/25), again at 11:00 a.m., and on Tuesday (4/28) at both 11:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. All times eastern.

Tune in Bluegrass Junction on Sirius track 14 and XM channel 65.

Living here in southwestern Virginia, the musical legacy of the Lost & Found is almost a palpable entity in the bluegrass community. Their 35 year career has influenced players, songwriters and performers worldwide, but their impact on the vibrant bluegrass scene near their home base in Ferrum, VA is especially deep and profound.

Many contemporary bluegrass fans think first of Lonesome River Band when southwest Virginia is mentioned, and rightly so. But before there was LRB, Lost & Found was schooling future Lonesome River boys in how distinctive, original bluegrass music was played. Sammy Shelor has long claimed original L&F banjoist Gene Parker was a primary mentor, and Ronnie Bowman spent time as a guitarist and lead singer with them before joining Lonesome River.

Lost & Found saw their greatest popularity in the 1980s, touring throughout the United States and turning out popular recordings along the way. The band launched in 1973 with Allen Mills on bass, Dempsey Young on mandolin, Roger Handy on guitar and Gene Parker on banjo. Over the years, a number of banjo pickers and guitarists/vocalists have come through the band, but Mills and Young managed to retain the band’s trademark style – a relaxed, easygoing sound with sparse accompaniment on simple, plainspoken songs, presented with wit and enthusiasm on stage.

Their new Rebel release, Love, Lost and Found, shows what a 35 year dedication to quality music and an enduring style can produce. It includes a number of songs that will be familiar to long time fans – staples of their live shows – and one reworked song from their debut 1975 album. It also serves as a testament to the artistry of Dempsey Young, who passed away in 2006, while this project was being recorded. He is featured on mandolin and vocals, along with Scott Napier, who has stepped into Young’s large and very impressive shoes.

Let me get the superlatives out of the way… This is a fabulous recording, one I can heartily recommend to anyone who appreciates bluegrass music. The song choices are universally strong, the performances spot on, and the elusive “feel” just right. It may not end up having the influence and impact of their groundbreaking early records, but it strikes me as their most polished and thoroughly satisfying album yet.

I spoke with Mills about the new CD, and he deflected all the praise for the way it turned out to his current band – Scottie Sparks on guitar and lead vocals, Ronald Smith and banjo, and Napier on mandolin.

“I can’t say enough about these guys who let me play with them. Their commitment to the sound that Gene and Dempsey and I started so long ago is humbling. These guys can play any way they want, and I don’t have to ask them to play a certain way.

There ain’t no hot dogs in our group – each man is an individual. I’m so thankful and so proud of these guys.” (more…)

The Friday (3/13) edition of Blue Plate Special on WDVX will include a performance by Lost & Found.

Their set is sure to include selections from their new Rebel project, Love Lost and Found, due for release on March 24. This CD is the first from the band since they lost founding member Dempsey Young, who died tragically in 2006.

The project was begun in 2003, with Dempsey’s mandolin on 7 of the 13 tracks. New mandolinist Scott Napier plays on the other tracks, and will be with them this afternoon on the radio, along with Allen Mills on bass and lead vocals, Scottie Sparks on guitar and vocals, and Ronald Smith on banjo.

Blue Plate Special airs at noon (EDT) from The Square Room in Knoxville, TN. WDVX broadcasts at 102.9 FM in Knoxville, and is carried online via a live audio stream.

Folk/old time power duo Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer will also perform, as will Town Mountain from Asheville, NC.

Lost and Found will have their new CD, Love, Lost and Found, released on Rebel Records on March 24. This will be their first CD in 7 years, and the first since the tragic loss of original mandolinist Dempsey Young in June of 2006.

The band had started this project in 2003 before Dempsey passed away, and it sat incomplete for some time while founding member Allen Mills contemplated the future of the group. When Scott Napier joined the group in 2007, Allen knew he had what he needed to finish the project and start the next chapter for his band, who have been playing heartfelt bluegrass for almost 30 years.

Love, Lost and Found has 13 tracks, six recorded with Dempsey on mandolin, and the remaining 7 with Scott.

Rebel has released a single, That’s What Country Folks Do, in advance of the CD’s street date, which should be popping up on bluegrass radio. It was written by Wanda Dalton, sister of the late bluegrass songwriter Randall Hylton. Many of our readers may have spoken with Wanda over the years, as she was the phone voice you heard when you placed orders from County Sales in Floyd, VA for many years.

Allen gave us some background on the song…

“Wanda has been a close friend of ours for over 20 years. She wrote the song about a neighbor (and friend), my wife Deb and I, and our grandson, Zacrye. Parts of the story are true and some of it is fiction. We do have a big front porch with rocking chairs, and we neighbors do stick together!

And Zacrye does call us Mamaw and Papa.

We recorded it in February and March 2008 with Scott Napier on mandolin.”

Here is an audio sample:

Listen now:

I asked Allen to tell us a bit about other songs they included on Love, Lost and Found.

“Letter Stained In Blue is a new song written by Dan Wells, from North Carolina.  It seems to be one that is gaining attention on our road shows.  Some of the lyrics are represented on the cover of the album, with the title being Love, Lost and Found. That song is a solo sung by Scottie Sparks, and includes Scott Napier’s mandolin playing as well.

By request, we re-recorded a song I had written for our first album, If Today Was The Last Day. We changed from the original key of D to G and this allowed me to sing lead. Scottie sang tenor and Ronald baritone on the chorus.”

We’ll be sure to speak with Allen again and get more details as the release date draws nigh. It will be great to have a new Lost and Found CD again.