The Richest Man from Balsam Range

Balsam Range hasn’t had a song on the charts for several weeks. Must be time for a new single.

And just like that… voila!

The boys from Asheville are back indeed with a new release, The Richest Man, which shares the age old lesson that you can’t take it with you when you go. Kicking off with Marc Pruett’s driving banjo, it is picked up by Buddy Melton and his strong tenor voice telling us that the richest man in the graveyard went out the same way he came in.

Buddy says that this is what he hears in the song, written by Jim Beavers, Jimmy Yeary, Connie Harrington, and Connie Harrington.

Richest Man poses comparisons between material wealth and other kinds of abundance, challenging perceptions of what it means to be ‘the richest man in the graveyard.’

“Who has not thought about being the Richest Man? But what defines being rich? To have a life without regrets is easier said than done. The sacrifices made for gain can seldom be undone. The things lost and those won will only show with time. The old saying ‘You can’t take it with you’ comes to mind when I hear Richest Man, and the theme resonates throughout the song as it states ‘we’re all going out the same way that we came in…with nothing. So why in the world are we always worried about nothing, for nothing?’”

Their cut features a meter shift midway through that will throw off the dancers, but gives the track an interesting twist. See what you think.

Along with Pruett and Melton, Balsam Range is Caleb Smith on guitar, Darren Nicholson on mandolin, and Tim Surrett on bass.

The Richest Man from Mountain Home Music is available now wherever you stream or download music online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.