40 Horse Mule has released another single from their upcoming full-length project.
The band is a collaboration between Nashville songwriter and banjo player, Bennie Boling, and Billy Troy, a multi-genre vocalist and producer in Omaha. Both have been in the industry most of their lives, with credentials as sidemen and frontmen in a number of different groups. Billy actually has a top level bluegrass pedigree, as he is the son of Josh Graves, pioneering reso-guitar artist who worked with Flatt & Scruggs during the group’s hey day.
This latest single is their arrangement of Papa Gene’s Blues, written and recorded by Mike Nesmith with The Monkees in 1966. For those too young to remember, The Monkees were initially a “made up” band, put together for a television show of the same name for NBC. It was quite popular with young audiences, performing and recording music selected for them by the show’s producers. But as they became well known, the group became determined to write their own music, and this song is an example of that.
It works quite well as a bluegrass number, and Troy’s vocals are especially impressive.
You can find Papa Gene’s Blues wherever you stream or download music online. Radio programmers can get the track from AirPlay Direct.
