The song, now a bluegrass standard, was written and initially recorded by Allen with the band on their first album in 1975, and helped cement their status as a group to be reckoned with at the time. It has also been memorably cut by Larry Sparks, Seldom Scene, Bluegrass Alliance, and many others.
Mitchell lives in Floyd, VA, not far from Mills in Ferrum, and after asking Allen’s blessing to record his song, Mike likewise invited Allen and his wife Deb to join them for the video shoot. It’s a great way to bring the whole thing full circle, as Mike recalls that when he first moved to southwestern Virginia some years ago, Allen was the first person to give him a gig.
With Mitchell on fiddle and lead vocals on the track, assistance came from Tray Wellington on banjo, Joey Mosley on guitar, Jake Mosley on mandolin, and Jason Moore on bass. Jesse Smathers and Jesse Brock added harmony vocals.
With homage to it’s writer, Mike presents the music video for his version of the song.
“Allen Mills is THE elder statesman of bluegrass music here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and I offer this cover of one of his classics, with respect and humility.”
The video was shot in Floyd County, VA and features Mike along with Melissa Gerth, James Robey, and Allen and Deb Mills.
Enjoy.
Mike’s Love of the Mountains is included on his latest album, Fathers and Sons, available now from popular download and streaming services online. Audio CDs can be ordered from the Turnberry Records web site.
Radio programmers will find the tracks at AirPlay Direct.
The Lost and Found have a new single releasing tomorrow on Mountain Fever Records. But wait, you may say… hasn’t that band been defunct for nearly a decade? Well… it’s a long story.
To get the skinny, we chatted with Allen Mills last week, founding member, bass player, and the voice of the band since they formed in 1973. From the mid-’70s, Lost and Found have been hometown heroes in and around Ferrum and Roanoke, VA, and a popular bluegrass touring and recording act all over the US and Canada. Their many albums are an important part of bluegrass history, with hits like Love of the Mountains, Leftover Biscuits, Struttin’ To Ferrum, Down on Sawmill Road, and Harvest Time solidly ensconced within the canon of our music.
They even survived the retirement of founding banjo picker Gene Parker and the passing of original mandolinist Dempsey Young, bringing in several new members to fill the gaps, but once Allen developed back problems that made touring difficult, there wasn’t much to be done.
When we caught up with him last week, our first question was how was he doing these days at 85 years of age..
“Well… I can’t run like I used to. Got a bad case of can’t do what I want, and don’t want what I can.”
Allen’s trademark sense of humor is clearly unburdened by age.
So how did new music from Lost and Found come to see the light of day?
“I figured back in 2013, while I was still mobile, we should see about getting something recorded, me and Sammy Shelor. I had traded him some time for work on his bus, so he said he would engineer the sessions up at Mark’s (Mountain Fever Studio).
We got in the studio and laid down six songs and an instrumental. After we tracked, I had to have a number of back surgeries so we sort of left it alone. My first was in 2002, and about 8 years later the problem recurred from collapsing in the bone. That led to additional surgeries in 2015 and ’16.”
It was recorded with the then current edition of the band – Scott Napier on mandolin, Ronald Smith on banjo, and Dan Wells on guitar.
“This was designed as a budget project, so I got my nephew Jason Moore in to play bass. He said he had always wanted to record with Lost and Found, and I’m glad he was able to do that before he died.
Not long ago, Mark Hodges at Mountain Fever asked me about what I was going to do with it, and he encouraged me to put it out. So Aaron Ramsey started going through the files and mixed it.”
This first single, Mountain Folks, drops on Friday, July 8. We asked Mills how he came upon the song.
“JC Poff up in Christiansburg sent me several songs, and Mountain Folks was one of them. I really like the chorus, but his verses kind of made fun of people up in the hills. So I rewrote the verses and used his chorus.”
Unsurprisingly, it sounds like vintage Lost and Found. Have a listen…
A seven song EP, which Allen suggests may be titled Lost and Found – Final Chapter, is expected from Mountain Fever later this year.
He shared a few words about some of the other tracks that will be included.
“I always loved Jim Eanes’ Old Standby, and I asked Ronald if he could mimic what Allen Shelton done on it. He did a fine job
Put It Off Until Tomorrow from Dolly Parton is another. We were just ganging around getting in tune backstage one day, and Scottie started singing it. We recorded it for Rebel but they didn’t use it on that last record we did for them. So that will end up on this new project. Dempsey’s on there as well playing mandolin, so that had to be before 2006.
We also cut Same Old Town that Skeets McDonald had out in 1961. I remember Paycheck sang harmony on that one.”
“It’s not too embarrassing… at least I hope not!,” Allen said with a laugh.
Unfortunately, there won’t be any live shows in support of the album.
“I have gotten to the point where I have to sit down on stage in order to sing, and these days I don’t feel like I could drive or carry my bass. Just don’t have the stamina to do it. My love of the music and the road and the people around it is still strong, but I can’t stand very long without getting a little wobbly. I just didn’t feel like I was pulling my weight.
The further you go the slower you get, but I’m thankful my memory has stayed with me pretty good. I went to California with Sideline a few years ago, took them on my bus. So many wonderful memories of my time in bluegrass. Running up and down steps to get on the bus, I just can’t do that anymore. I sold my bus to Barry Berrier. He’s using it for his family vacations.”
Mills couldn’t help but reminisce a bit talking about Lost and Found.
“I remember back in the ’60s, me and Gene had been playing around some when Dempsey came along. Back then he put every lick he knew into the first line of his solo, but as he matured, he learned that less is more and he became a terrific mandolin player.
I’m so grateful to all the people that booked us for 43 years, kept us burning up fuel, getting down the road. And all the folks that came up and talked to us at shows. So many memories.
I don’t regret a thing.”
We are all delighted that Allen had the foresight to record one last time before his health started to decline. He truly is among the coolest cats in bluegrass!
Everyone knows that our bluegrass community is a close knit affair, and that’s certainly true in southwestern Virginia as well as anywhere else. That goes a long way towards explaining how Zacrye Porter, a rising senior at Tunstall High School in Pittsylvania County, ended up taking Junior Sisk’s bus to his prom this year.
Of course Zacrye had an inside connection to make this happen. His grandfather is Allen Mills, famous in bluegrass circles for his many years leading Lost and Found. Junior has been taking his bus to Allen for maintenance for quite some time, as has Sammy Shelor with Lonesome River Band and anyone else with a tour bus ’round these parts. And his mom, Melody, has grown up around bluegrass since she was an infant, and knows Junior as a family friend.
Bluegrass is a huge part of both the Mills and Porter families, with Allen having met his wife, Deb, at the Bass Mountain Festival in North Carolina, lo those many years ago. Melody remembers going to shows with her dad throughout her childhood, and had Zacrye at festivals by the time he was five. As a youngster, Allen used to invite his grandson on stage while Lost and Found was performing, and he also accompanied his grandpa on trips with Lonesome River Band when Allen would help drive on long trips.
Now Tunstsall had cancelled their prom this year, as had most schools all over the country, while COVID restrictions were still in effect. But also like many others across the US, Tunstall parents got together to host a prom for the students on their own, wholly unaffiliated with the school. The families booked the Sutherlin Barn in nearby Sutherlin, VA, a large enough venue to accommodate a dance, and pulled out all the stops. Students and their dates walked a red carper with velour ropes into the building, and a professional photographer and a videographer were on hand.
Between the time that the parent-sponsored prom was announced and the event itself, Melody had the idea to see if they could borrow the bus from Junior, and have Johnathon Dillon serve as their driver for the prom. They all loved the idea, and Johnathon even wore a chauffeur’s outfit that evening. So while everyone was pulling up to the entrance on May 15, here comes Junior’s big Prevost bus, and Zacrye and his date, Kaylee Moser, a rising junior at Chatham High School, decamped and went inside.
Melody told us that the rules said “no limousines,” but they didn’t say anything about tour buses!
Zacrye tells us that the impact was just as you would expect.
“Everybody was amazed at how we were able to pull it off. Then I explained to them about my grandfather’s background, and they understood.
I wasn’t real big into going – maybe going for an hour and then leaving. But I ended up enjoying myself and had a great time. I encourage everyone to go to your prom if you can.
Since it was a parent thing, we didn’t have to wear masks. I got to see people I hadn’t seen in a while, and since we didn’t have in-person school this year, I got to meet people I had never seen before for real.”
Johnathon stayed in the bus for the whole time, and drove the couple back home after the dance. That is surely a night they will never forget.
Talking with Melody, she wondered why no one ever took her to prom on a bus. But back when she was in school, her dad’s bus would have been out with Lost and Found, wherever they were working.
Special thanks to Melody Porter for pulling together these photos from Zacrye and Kaylee’s big night. And hats off to Junior and Johnathon for making it happen.
The Lost and Found bass player and vocalist this past 42 years is resting comfortably at home recuperating from a second back surgery in the past 6 months. And at 78 years of age, Allen told us that he feels real good, the best he has in some time.
Apparently the spinal fusion surgery he underwent last July led to some additional nerve pressure, with compression above and below the area (L 3-5) which had been fused. Allen said that the pain had become so severe that he couldn’t walk comfortably without assistance, and regularly moved about with a pair of canes.
If you caught Lost and Found live last year you would have seen Mills sitting on a stool onstage, something he had never done in all his time touring with the group.
But he says that since his recent surgery in late January, the pain is gone and he can move about freely with confidence. The surgeon was able to alleviate the compression and since the bone graft from July has taken hold, he was able to remove the rods and screws that had been installed in his spine.
Allen said he is overjoyed to face life without the discomfort and uncertainty, and looks forward to being more active with the band again.
“It’s gratifying to me that the doctors can do so much. They have really gone above and beyond. My doctor wasn’t pleased with the results from the surgery in July, and was eager to get to the root of the problem.
This has renewed my attitude by 200% – I can sit down and think in a positive direction instead of wondering what I can and can’t do. We had been working on a limited basis, but we are taking on more work for this year.
In another six months I’ll be crawling around under the bus again!”
More good news for Lost and Found fans is the fact that the band is planning on finishing up the album project they started before Allen’s back problems flared up. They have seven songs already recorded, and Mills is eager to get back in the studio and finish things up.
Allen mentioned when we were talking that he had the hardware from the July surgery there at the house. I suggested selling it on eBay and he replied, “That’s what I was thinking! I’ll take the best offer I get.”
Allen Mills, founding member of the legendary Lost and Found, is recuperating in the hospital following back surgery yesterday. He had been experiencing some discomfort of late and had to bring his nephew, Jason Moore, along to play bass on some recent band shows.
He reports that the surgery went well, and that he hopes to be back home this Thursday.
Sammy Shelor, who visited Allen at the hospital yesterday afternoon, reported on Facebook that “Allen Mills is out of surgery, awake, and mean as ever!” Seems like a good sign.
With 8 weeks of scheduled time off for Lost and Found, Allen expects to be fit as a bass fiddle and ready to go by then.
He shared a word of gratitude for all the friends and fans who had reached out…
“Thanks to everyone for the prayers, kind comments, positive thoughts, shares, etc. We appreciate them!”
