For several years now, bluegrass lovers have watched country artist Mo Pitney’s casual forays into grass and thought, “I sure would love to hear him dedicated to that kind of sound.”
The winsome, talented vocalist grew up in bluegrass, playing in a family band with his dad and brother, but took the Nashville country route when the opportunity was presented, signing with Curb Records in 2014. Still his natural affinity for bluegrass, and his deep love for the music, has found him dipping a toe in those waters from time to time, most recently singing bass with Darrin & Brooke Aldridge on their delightful cut of Jordan with Ricky Skaggs.
It’s a similar sort of story with John Meyer, a skillful multi-instrumentalist and singer who also grew up in a family band with his siblings. The Meyer Band was something of a sensation when they were all in their teens, wowing audiences with their precision and soulful covers of bluegrass favorites. As a young adult, John took a gig supporting Jimmy Fortune of Statler Brothers fame, and put himself forward as a singer/songwriter, though the grass still flowed in his veins.
Being of a similar age, Mo and John’s paths crossed on the bluegrass scene, and the two became fast friends. YouTube has many examples of the two of them cutting on some grass with other young Nashville pickers, and their SPBGMA jams are the stuff of legend. But it was when they started writing together that the spark really exploded.
This week comes word that the two have a new album together as Pitney Meyer, with Curb Records, an all bluegrass project recorded live in the studio. The bulk of the songs were written by Mo and John, with only a single cover on the record.
Today their first single hits, one called That Sounds Lonesome, a Pitney Meyer original which, like the rest of this album, was tracked live to analog tape with no overdubs.
Mo said that they were determined to record this way, like the old days.
“It was all cut with a core band, five piece. Nate Burie was on mandolin and harmony vocal, Jenee Fleenor or Ivy Phillips on fiddle, and my brother Blake on bass. That comes down to the way we recorded, no overdubs, completely live.
The vinyl LP will never have been touched by a computer!”
The recordings were made inside a hand hewn 19th century log cabin once owned by Johnny Cash in Bon Aqua, TN. All the sessions were also captured in a two camera video shoot, so that a live studio video of each new single can be released before the album hits in 2025.
And so we have this first look at That Sounds Lonesome.
Speaking with John and Mo a few weeks ago, we got to talking about the fact that Curb Records, a major player since the 1960s in the music business, was to release an all bluegrass album like this. Some readers may recall that they had greenlit a cover of Old Home Place on Mo’s previous country project, and were very pleased with the reaction.
Mo said that they are fully on board, and excited to promote it.
“Working with Curb up to this point, they have been very open to the creative process. When I come with a great deal of heart to a process, they tend to go along with my instincts. Sierra and Rebecca in their A&R department were very open to this.
John is free to keep doing his singer/songwriter thing, and I’ll keep doing my country thing.”
And John said that a situation opened up for them to make a very powerful appeal to the label when artist Sam Hunt asked them to open for him at the Ryman Auditorium.
“Mo and I have been doing a few shows at the Station Inn, and we thought, ‘we need to invite them all down to the Station,’ but as it happened we got to invite them all down to the Ryman.”
Pitney Meyer is also planning to be touring heavily in support of the new album, both this year and next. Curb is planning to release new singles, with video, every eight weeks leading up to the album drop next year.
Mo tells us that the bluegrass thing will be his top priority.
“There will be other shows that are played, but I know that having this record come out, the biggest push will be playing festivals and shows with Pitney Meyer, both at bluegrass and country events.”
On tour Pitney Meyer will include much of the core group from the studio, with Mo on guitar, John on banjo, Nate Burie on mandolin, Blake Pitney on bass, and a rotating cast of fiddlers.
They will be performing primarily the music from the album, which draws heavily on their own compositions.
John ran down where those songs had derived.
“I think Mo and I wrote seven songs on the record, there’s a cover, Darryl Miller wrote two songs, and Mo wrote one with Darryl. Wyatt McCubbin wrote another, and Nate wrote one.”
The single for That Sounds Lonesome is available today from popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.
The full Pitney Meyer album, Cherokee Pioneer, is expected around mid-2025. Mo said that the title is a reference to a line in one of the lyrics.
“The album handles the difficulties of the American Indians and their dealings with the US government.”
Can’t wait to hear more.
