EMG Records

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Eddie Sanders is something of a bluegrass veteran. A proficient guitarist, renowned songwriter, distinctive vocalist and former lead singer with the acclaimed Oklahoma-based Signal Mountain bluegrass band, he is no stranger to songs rooted in honesty and quiet urgency. With a knack for melody and sharp storytelling, and a crack studio band of top-class bluegrass musicians, he has created a terrific album of modern bluegrass and rootsy country. The record’s themes stem from Eddie’s personal experiences—small town farm country memories and life and living and getting on with it all—echoing the voices and struggles of his generation. This is an album with one foot planted firmly in Eddie’s home of McAlester, Oklahoma and the other in the unspoiled traditional country heartland of old Nashville. If albums can have feet, that is. Each track brings its own little piece of how country music used to be, in the days before screeching electric guitars, booming bass, thumping drums and when songs reflected real life—

the joys and heartbreak—with homespun lyricism.

Eddie co-wrote the dozen songs with various writers including co-producers Glen Duncan and Adam Englehardt and Shawn Camp, Will Jones and Jon Weisberger.

His soulful vocals are accompanied by such ace pickers as Ronnie McCoury, Aubrey Haynie, Tim Crouch, Scott Vestal, Cody Kilby, Rob Ickes and Dennis Crouch. He injects plenty of twang into his high and lonesome, shuffling opener That Kind Of Lonesome. This is the kind of sad country song that ol’ George Jones would’ve have relished. A Long Way From Forever reminds us that country music is best when it wears its heart on its sleeve and speaks in the straightforward language of the everyman. This has the narrator watching in despair as his wife leaves the homeplace for good. With Aubrey Haynie’s mournful fiddle he unfolds this sad tale of a farmer coping with his distraught children, inquisitive neighbours and his loss, with disbelief in his tear-filled eyes. A brisker beat propels Farm To Market Road, a toe-tapping tribute to small-town folks. Both touching and traditional, it provides enjoyment in a timeless fashion. Likewise, Life In the Country, shares reminisces of small-town rural America, conveying that familiar nostalgia for the days when folks didn’t know better, through a driving melody and soft harmonies that ebb and flow.

The wry I Ain’t Dead Yet is the kind of tongue-in-cheek song that Lester Flatt used to favour and it certainly caused me to chuckle. On An Old Oklahoma Road tells of the universal human fear of the unknown, as a desolate man pines over a departed lover, set to a sprightly bluegrass beat. The lightning-fast Like A Bad Outlaw should wow even the hardest-headed purists. Featuring fiddle, mandolin, banjo, lead acoustic guitar, and upright bass, all in subtle doses to produce an exhilarating background to his assertive vocal. Last Lonesome Pine, as the title suggests, is all about a tree. This particular evergreen is situated on the mountainside behind Eddie’s childhood home and with the bluesy mandolin-led treatment recalls Bill Monroe in his prime.

This album is Eddie Sanders’ best yet, and it goes to show the more you ignore him, the more noble and perfect his work becomes. Take my advice, without any hesitation, seek out this superb collection of outstanding songs and performances.

www.eddiesanders.com

March 2021