The Grascals – When I Get My Pay

The Grascals – When I Get My PayFast approaching their tenth year as a successful bluegrass band, The Grascals have just released their second album on the Mountain Home Music label, When I Get My Pay (MH 1485-2).

The CD features 13 songs and sees Kristin Scott Benson making her vocal debut on disc, with a strong presentation on Are You Up For Getting Down Tonight.

Dominating are several ballads, including Dirt Road, the afore-mentioned country pop-inclined Are You Up For Getting Down Tonight?, (When Your) Rock Turns To Stone, the nostalgic Bluegrass Melodies, It Won’t Break My Heart, and the reflective love song Silver Strands, written by Sharon Higgins, Billy Smith and Terry Smith.

On the up-tempo side are the driving Roll On, American Pickers, When I Get My Pay and Aubrey Holt’s Heading South.  

Throughout they give full vent to their excellent harmonies.

The Johnsons – Jamie and Susanne – contributed three songs; American Pickers – the theme song to the reality television series of the same title, and featured here with vocals from Dierks Bentley – Are You Up For Getting Down Tonight? and When I Fall In Love Again.  

Three other songs – (Two Boys on A) Dirt Road, (When Your) Rock Turns to Stone and It Won’t Break My Heart – are penned, in part, by the late Harley Allen

Closing the album is mandolin virtuoso Danny Roberts’ instrumental Five Miles to Milan. 

In addition to the band members –  Kristen Scott Benson (banjo and guitar), Jamie Johnson (guitar, lead and harmony vocals), Danny Roberts (mandolin), Terry Eldredge (guitar, lead and harmony vocals), Terry Smith (bass, harmony vocals) and the now-departed Jeremy Abshire (fiddle) – are Bentley, and Tony Creasman (percussion and drums) and Steve Turner (drums on American Pickers).

When I Get My Pay is modern day bluegrass at its best. Fans of theirs will be more than pleased with what they hear.

Here’s a look at the music video for the first single, American Pickers, featuring Antique Archaeology owner and American History TV show host Mike Wolfe.

Full track listing ….

When I Get My Pay, American Pickers, (Two Boys on A) Dirt Road, Are You Up For Getting Down Tonight?, When I Fall In Love Again, Rock Turns to Stone, Mr Fix It, Bluegrass Melodies, It Won’t Break My Heart, Roll On Big Mama, Silver Strands, Heading South and Five Miles to Milan.

Share this:

About the Author

Richard Thompson

Richard F. Thompson is a long-standing free-lance writer specialising in bluegrass music topics. A two-time Editor of British Bluegrass News, he has been seriously interested in bluegrass music since about 1970. As well as contributing to that magazine, he has, in the past 30 plus years, had articles published by Country Music World, International Country Music News, Country Music People, Bluegrass Unlimited, MoonShiner (the Japanese bluegrass music journal) and Bluegrass Europe. He wrote the annotated series I'm On My Way Back To Old Kentucky, a daily memorial to Bill Monroe that culminated with an acknowledgement of what would have been his 100th birthday, on September 13, 2011.