Mississippi Queen drops for Circa Blue

Bell Buckle Productions has released a second single this week from Circa Blue, ahead of their next album Footprints In A Song, due to hit later this month.

This one is driving bluegrass number that reaches back to the late 1970s when a young Terry Baucom and Ricky Skaggs were tearing up the circuit with a group called Boone Creek. We only got a pair of albums from this bunch, which also included Jerry Douglas on reso-guitar, Wes Golding on guitar, and Steve Bryant on bass, but they were a force to be reckoned with during their brief tenure.

Mississippi Queen appeared on their second album, 1978’s One Way Track, and had been written and sung by Golding. Now Steve Harris and Circa Blue have resurrected the song, and re-recorded it in their own style. Steve’s voice is of a smoother variety than Wes’ gritty vocal, and he gives this one a very different flavor. It’s still a barnburner, though, and a great bluegrass song, as you can see in the accompanying video.

Valerie Smith at Bell Buckle applied her creative touch to the audio track with video images that help tell the story of the Mississippi Queen.

In addition to Harris on guitar and lead vocal, Circa Blue includes Jacob Bly on bass, Matt Hickman on banjo, and Ryan Mullins on mandolin. Guest artists on this track are Chris Sexton on fiddle and Gaven Largent on reso-guitar.

Footprints In A Song is due to be released on March 17, but radio programmers can get the two singles now from AirPlay Direct.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.