Banjo in the Hills: 16 Great Mountain Songs by All Star Artists (Starday SLP 104) is a sampler LP released in August 1959, with liner notes by Starday president Don Pierce. Its sixteen tracks come from eight acts and were recorded between 1956 and January 1959 in places ranging from RCA’s Nashville studios to radio stations in Bristol, Virginia (WCYB), Martinsville, Virginia (WHEE), and Monticello, Kentucky (WFLW).
Bill Clifton & the Dixie Mountain Boys have four tracks, among them “Flowers from the Hillside” and “Take Back the Heart,” both cut in November 1956 with Ralph Stanley on banjo. The Stanley Brothers have three, including the instrumental title tune, “Banjo in the Hills (Daybreak in Dixie),” recorded at RCA in November 1957 with Benny Martin and Howdy Forrester on fiddles and Roy Wiggins on steel guitar, and two 1958 radio-station recordings, “Gonna Paint the Town” and “That Happy Night.” Jim Eanes & the Shenandoah Valley Boys, Rusty York & Willard Hale and Carl Story & His Rambling Mountaineers have two each. Jim & Jesse & the Virginia Boys (“Hard Hearted”), the Country Gentlemen (the instrumental “Orange Blossom Fiddle,” with Bill Emerson on banjo) and the Kentucky Travelers (“Old Kentucky Hills”) have one apiece.
Story’s two tracks, “Life’s Evening Sun” and “Old Time Religion,” were recorded at WFLW on 29 January 1959 with Story on guitar, Chuck Henderson on banjo, Buster Moore on mandolin, Benny Sims on fiddle, and Bonnie Lee Moore and Lloyd Bell on bass and guitar.
Tracklist
- 1 Daddy Sang Bass 2:28
- 2 How Beautiful Heaven Must Be alt version 2:36
- 3 Cabin In Gloryland 2:04
- 4 Precious Memories alt version 2:49
- 5 Angel Band alt version 2:15
- 6 Tramp On The Street 3:25
- 7 Old Time Religion alt version 1:18
- 8 Shake My Mother's Hand For Me 2:42
- 9 He Will Set Your Fields On Fire alt version 2:33
- 10 Crying Holy Unto The Lord 2:44
- 11 He Set Me Free 2:17
- 12 Gone Home alt version 3:13
- 13 Unclouded Day 2:14
- 14 Beautiful Life alt version 2:43
