New from the Fiction Twins – My Favorite Songs

A decade on from his debut solo project, Toshio Watanabe will release a follow-up CD, The Fiction Twins Plus: My Favorite Songs (Red Clay Records RC-128), at the beginning of October (2022). 

In the liner notes Watanabe relates ….

“When I was a high school student in 1960s, I enjoyed recording with two tape-recorders to overdub and it was like a magic to me. After several decades, it is still a lot of fun to record.

Nowadays with digital equipment, it is easier to get good recordings. 

Fiction Twins do not really exist, and I am the one who sings and performs most of the songs and music in this album.

After the last Fiction Twins album, I wanted to try something with a banjo and a fiddle. So I started recording a little by little. The fiddle part was impossible for me to record without the help of my friends. Fortunately, I was able to get great help from Chris Sharp, Jan Johansson, Hiroyuki Momiyama, and Hsuen-Cheng Liao ‘Ryo.’

On one song, Kazumi Watanabe joined us in the chorus. It was her first recording experience to sing in English in front of a microphone. I think she did surprisingly well.

For the last song, I added a slightly older recording of Hideyuki Watanabe’s guitar, banjo, and vocal with Chris Sharp, Terry Eldridge, and the legendary Uncle Josh Graves.

Bluegrass music is constantly evolving. I hope that the first generation of bluegrass style will remain in a part of the current evolution. Current artists and musicians are like our children and grandchildren.

I hope you enjoy my favorite songs that I have chosen here.”

The CD consists of a wholesome 14 songs …  

Girl I Love Don’t Pay Me No Mind / Bummin’ An Old Freight Train How Will I Explain About You? / Knoxville Girl / On The Sea Of Galilee / Watson Blues / What Became Of That Beautiful Picture / Are You Tired Of Me My Darling? / The Bluebirds Singing are Singing for Me / Go Home / Rocky Run / The Cyclone Of Rye Cove / Don’t Forget Me / Mama Don’t Allow

Scheduled to be released on October 1, pre-orders are now accepted at Red Clay Records in Japan, while it is likely to be more-widely available later. 

Watanabe has a long history in bluegrass music stretching back well over 50 years, playing bass for Bluegrass 45; banjo in the Shaggy Mountain Boys; and mandolin with the Church Back Trio.

He is a Grammy-nominated producer and president of B.O.M. Service, Ltd, the umbrella organization for MoonShiner magazine and Red Clay Records. 

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.