James Alan Shelton, stalwart guitarist with Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, has re-released a pair of his earlier instrumental Copper Creek albums on a single CD.
Both Road To Coeburn (1997) and Guitar Tracks (2000) offer straight ahead bluegrass arrangements of familiar songs, with a crack rhythm section. The new compilation, The Copper Creek Sessions, contains all 26 tracks from the two original CDs.
Songs included featured Stanley classics like Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem, East Virginia Blues and Tragic Romance, along with cuts from the Bill Monroe (Ashland Breakdown) and Jimmy Martin (Sunny Side Of The Mountain) catalogs. Fiddle favorites Angeline The Baker, Goin’ Up Caney, Lost Indian and Sugarfoot Rag also make an appearance.
James plays lead guitar throughout, with Ralph Stanley II on rhythm guitar, Steve Sparkman on banjo, James Price on fiddle, Adan Steffey and John Rigsby on mandolin, and Ben Isaacs and Barry Bales on bass.
You can see a complete track listing and order the CD for $15 from Shelton’s web site.
