We just heard from Alan Bibey that the new Grasstowne CD, The Other Side Of Town, is now available online.
This, their second recorded project for Pinecastle Records, won’t be officially released until October 6, but the band has pre-release copies for sale at their live shows, and on their web site.
Grasstowne was formed in December of 2006, and their debut album, The Road Headin’ Home, was recorded early in ’07. On The Other Side Of Town, you can hear not only the greater maturity from the band having performed together for more than two years, but also the more careful selection of new material that comes with having plenty of time to consider possible songs for inclusion.
The band includes Steve Gulley on guitar and vocals, Alan Bibey on mandolin and vocals, Phil Leadbetter on resonator guitar, Jason Davis on banjo and Dale Perry on bass. Stuart Duncan guests on fiddle.
Audio samples from the new CD should be up soon on the Grasstowne site, but in the meantime, here are a few tracks that really jumped out at me, along with a few words from Alan.
Hard Workin’ Man – “Wayne Winkle, with whom I played in BlueRidge a few years back, wrote this tune, and we knew it would be too much fun to play. Wayne’s such a great songwriter, singer and player.”
Hard Workin’ Man – Listen Now: [http://media.libsyn.com/media/thegrasscast/hard_workin_man.mp3]God Bless Mommy – “Wayne and Craig Market wrote this one together. Craig is another guy (just like Wayne) that just is just so talented in many areas. We appreciate these guys being such great friends, as well as agreeing to let us record a few of their songs. Every song they write is awesome.”
God Bless Mommy – Listen Now: [http://media.libsyn.com/media/thegrasscast/god_bless_mommy.mp3]
Pay Your Dues – “This is a tune I had in my head for a while and actually talked to Ronnie Bowman last year at IBMA about it and he seemed to like the very rough draft I had. So a couple months later I met up with him and my good friend Shawn Lane at Ronnie’s house, and they really brought it to life.”Pay Your Dues – Listen Now: [http://media.libsyn.com/media/thegrasscast/pay_your_dues.mp3]Laura Lie – “Craig Market and Wayne Winkle again… I think it was one of many great tunes I had played on of Craig’s up at Doobie Shea years ago that was never released… at least until now. I owe him a free round of golf for letting us cut this one! What a killer tune.”
Laura Lie – Listen Now: [http://media.libsyn.com/media/thegrasscast/laura_lie.mp3]
If you don’t expect to run into Grasstowne live before the new CD hits on October 6, you can pick up a copy online.
“We’ve decided to sell the CD’s for $14 with FREE shipping for internet sales from August 24 until October 6 (the street release date). We’ve recorded 14 tracks so that’s only $1 per song. That will save most folks at least $3 per order.
We know times are hard for a lot of our bluegrass family right now, and this is just a small way to say ‘Thanks for all the support through the years!’ “
It’s a good’n!
