Hot on the heels of their recent bluegrass gospel album, Thankful & Blessed, Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers have dropped their first secular bluegrass single in two years with Time Adds Up (If You’re Lucky).
It’s a song about something we see more and more as we age, how time seems to just fly right by.
Mullins explained how the song came his way, and why its meaning hits so hard for him these days.
“I’m rarely satisfied with the status quo. And I love roots music that is bona fide. Well, I’ve used up most of my Latin vocabulary very quickly.
I didn’t know what Tempus Fugit meant until I got a wonderful new song from Tim Stafford and Missy Raines, both great artists, writers, and old friends. Missy and I were together with our bands at AmericanaFest in Nashville in 2024. I was chatting with her and said, ‘We’ve been doing this a long time,’ since we got acquainted in the 1980s, as we were both learning everything about the bluegrass community.
Missy said, ‘Yes, but we have heard so much great music and met so many wonderful people. And getting older isn’t a bad thing!’ Then she told me she and Tim had a song about the subject, Time Adds Up (If You’re Lucky). I had to hear it, and I loved it!
The lyrics were SO relatable for me at this phase of life. I’ve been on stage with a banjo, and on radio in some capacity since 1982. Now, over four decades later, I have my first grandchild, and she’s gorgeous, by the way!”
Recorded with The Radio Ramblers, we have Joe on banjo and lead vocal up at the top of his range, Adam McIntosh on guitar, Chris Davis on mandolin, Jason Barie on fiddle, and Zach Collier on bass. Chris and Adam sing harmony.
Check it out in this graphic art track.
Time Adds Up (If You’re Lucky) is available now from popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.
