It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Larry Cordle, the brilliant songwriter who brought such classics as Highway 40 Blues and Murder On Music Row to wide audiences.
Cord has been a bluegrass guy from the beginning, though, and it is in this realm that he has released his many albums with a boatload of memorable story songs. But there hasn’t been a record from Larry since 2007, when he released Took Down and Put Up on Lonesome Day Records.
A new album, Pud Marcum’s Hangin, is due on March 15. It will be the debut CD on Larry’s MightyCord Records, and all 13 songs are ones he has co-written.
The title track will serve as the album’s first single, which is going out to radio today via AirPlay Direct. It’s one Larry wrote with Connie Leigh, featuring Cord singing with Del McCoury. Charlie Cushman is on banjo, Steve Thomas on mandolin, Aubrey Haynie on fiddle, Clay Hess on guitar and Elio Giordano on bass.
Pud Marcum’s Hangin: [http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegrasscast/pud2.mp3]
In addition to Del, guest vocalists include Ronnie Bowman, Carl Jackson, Jerry Salley and Richard Sterban of the Oak Ridge Boys. The songs are arranged in a variety of settings, from stripped-down guitar accompaniment to full band, including piano and percussion.
Larry shared a few words about Pud Marcum’s Hangin.
“This is a collection of songs that has taken me 25 years to compile. All are new in that I have never recorded any of them before, and, while some have been written since my last disc, some are just things that I never got around to recording.
I co-wrote all the compositions on this project, something I have not done since 1992. They are, by and large, Appalachian stories, some funny, some tragic, some fact, some fiction, and all from the heart of my talented co-writers and me. I hope everyone finds something here that they can relate to and enjoy.”
Two other tracks are also available to radio on AirPlay Direct: Sometimes a Man Takes a Drink, cut by Trace Adkins in 2008, and Uncle Bob Got Religion.
For the rest, we’ll have to wait until March 15.
