Walking Down The Line – James Alan Shelton

James Alan Shelton - Walking Down The LineBack at the first of the month we told you about guitarist James Alan Shelton’s new CD, Walking Down The Line. We told you it would be released on the 22nd of this month, but it seems the release has been pushed back to June 19, 2007. James has the CD on his website for order at this time, but it won’t be available anywhere else until June 19.

I still couldn’t find any audio clips/previews of the tracks, but we do have the cover art now.

Here’s is some more information about the songs on the disc, from the press release.

The album’s title song is a Bob Dylan composition that has become much beloved in bluegrass circles. Then there are the hallowed folk tunes and parlor ballads that everybody knows (by sound if not always by title)‚Äî"Soldier’s Joy," "Fair And Tender Ladies," "Salt Creek" and "My Grandfather’s Clock." Here also is Stephen Foster’s wistful mid-19th century lament, "Hard Times Come Again No More."

Shelton dips into the Carter Family, Bill Monroe and Roy Acuff archives, respectively, for "Motherless Children," "Methodist Preacher" and "Fireball Mail." Moving forward on the calendar, he covers Roger Miller’s tenderly paternal "Old Toy Trains"; "Nashville Blues," from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s epochal Will The Circle Be Unbroken album; and Simon & Garfunkel’s majestically forlorn "Sounds Of Silence." Rounding out this treasury is the Tony Ellis homage, "Stephen," on which Shelton plays both lead guitar and banjo. In this age of rapid fire machine gun-like guitar players, Shelton’s melody oriented style of playing is a breath of fresh air.

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