Jim Lauderdale, The Po' Ramblin' Boys, and Del McCoury

Jim Lauderdale with The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys at The Station Inn – photo by Nancy Posey

Holy collaboration, Batman!

Jim Lauderdale has released a new album written and recorded with The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, along with a debut single featuring Del McCoury. The album is entitled Long and Lonesome Letting Go, and the single is the title track.

Since first hearing the Boys a few years ago, Lauderdale has been a fan of their music, and was pleased that they were up for creating some new music with him.

“Po Ramblin’ Boys just really speak to and resonate with me, I hear so much of the great traditional bluegrass sound in them, and it makes me so happy to see a younger band of their generation carrying the style forward so well. They’re all so great in what they all do, both individually and as a performing band. I’ve always been blown away by them, so I was just very excited that they were interested in collaborating with me.”

C.J. Lewandowski, mandolinist and bandleader for The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, says they couldn’t say yes fast enough.

“When he came to ask about making an album, we were seriously blown away. It was really validating — Jim Lauderdale calling us to do a bluegrass album. We must be doing something right.”

The new album contains a dozen new Lauderdale co-writes, half of them with Josh Rinkel, guitarist with Po’ Ramblin’ Boys. Other co-authors include Becky Buller, Joe Newberry, and Alex Leach. The title track, which you can hear below, was written with Bob Minner.

Jim said that the idea of asking Del to duet came from his collab partners.

“I felt like that song ought to kick off the record, and somebody in Po’ Ramblin’ Boys said, ‘You know, Del would sound great on this.’ Of course!

So we reached out and luckily he was available. It didn’t feel right to just have him on the chorus, so he and I switch off a few lines in the verses.

I’d never gotten to record with Del before, so that was a real treat.”

Have a listen…