Video Premiere: Ready For The Times To Get Better from Carolina Road

Pinecastle Records has a new music video this week for Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road, featuring one of the songs from their current project, Bill Monroe’s Ol’ Mandolin.

Like so much of their music, this one looks back to an earlier time with a remake of a country hit from Crystal Gayle called Ready For The Times To Get Better. First released more than 40 years ago, Jordan says that it conveys a message that resonates just as clearly today.

“I’m very excited about the release of the Ready for the Times video. The footage is real life situations that have happened during a really hard time in our present life. Ready for the Times to Get Better is the perfect song for the times. I’m so proud of our producer, Mickey Stroud, for producing and putting together a great video. Also to Melanie Wilson for photos of disaster events, and Donna Newton for photos of where I live, and where IBMA is held in downtown Raleigh, NC which was recently vandalized.”

Stroud picked up that same theme, saying that setting all these images to the track proved cathartic for him.

“Crystal Gayle released the big hit, Ready For The Times in 1976. While inflation was a problem, it was a relatively good year. Microsoft and Apple were formed, Nadia Comaneci scored the first perfect 10 in gymnastics and the first Rocky movie was released.

Contrast that year with the craziness of 2020, and the song becomes even more relevant, taking on a most impactful meaning. Lorraine Jordan realized that and re-released the song with a powerful video that utilizes story-telling images from a group of photographers with Unsplash.com, Donna Newton, and Melanie Wilson. Creating the video was a release of heartfelt emotions.”

With Lorraine on mandolin, Carolina Road is Ben Greene on banjo, Randy Graham and Allen Dyer on guitar, Matt Hooper on fiddle, and Kevin Lamm on bass.

Bill Monroe’s Ol’ Mandolin is widely available wherever you stream or download music online, and on CD directly from the band.

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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.