The Grascals have been out of late in support of their current album, The Grascals & Friends – Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, which finds them teamed up with major country artists like Dolly Parton, Brad Paisely and Dierks Bentley. It was released in January of this year, and is a Cracker Barrel exclusive.
Never ones to let the grass grow under their feet, the band has announced plans to release another CD this year, this time in conjunction with one of America’s most beloved institutions. Dance Til Your Stockings Are Hot And Ravelin’ (A Tribute To The Music of the Andy Griffith Show) will be released digitally tomorrow (3/29), and on CD June 7.
The project is a collaboration between BluGrascal Records, Saguaro Road Records and Time Life. Selections from the show include favorites originally performed by The Dillards and The Kentucky Colonels like Dooley, Boil Them Cabbage Down, Stay All Night (Stay A Little Longer), Ol’ Joe Clark and Leaning On The Everlasting Arms. There is also an original song written with the show in mind, Boy, Giraffes Are Selfish, and the band’s theme song for Mayberry’s Finest prepared foods.
Grascals bass player Terry Smith is a long-time Andy Griffith Show fan, in the true ‘fanatic’ sense of the term.
“Me and Terry Eldredge are borderline experts on the show, and quote dialog back and forth on the bus. We even do a thing now on our shows where we get someone up from the audience to try and stump me and Terry on Andy Griffith trivia. They get a free CD if they do!
Phil Connelly with Mayberry’s Finest came to us about doing this record in honor of the 50 year celebration of the show. We loved the idea, especially after we got Andy’s personal blessing. He had heard the theme we did for Mayberry’s Finest, and liked our music.”
Terry said that after they had chosen most of the songs to record, Connelly suggested that they should write a new song to include as well, as their personal tribute to Andy.
“We based it off the episode Dogs, Dogs, Dogs where Opie finds a dog and wants to keep it. Then several more dogs follow him into the jail, until Andy and Barney send them all off.
Danny Roberts had written a couple of lines that were really cool, and we finished it off together. We just pulled random lines from the show and made them rhyme.
Andy had a piece in this episode where he was explaining to Opie that dogs take care of each other, so he needn’t worry about them outside by themselves, unlike giraffes who don’t. Barney’s response was ‘Boy… giraffes are selfish,’ and as soon as we added that line, I knew it had to be the title of the song!”
Look for Dance Til Your Stockings Are Hot And Ravelin’ tomorrow (3/29) in iTunes and wherever music downloads are sold.