Blue Sparks is Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers in characteristic form — Sparks's plaintive baritone front and center, the band locked behind him in the spare, unhurried arrangements that have defined his work since he stepped out of Ralph Stanley's Clinch Mountain Boys in 1970. Sparks belongs to the lineage of singers — Stanley, Carter Stanley, Dave Evans — for whom bluegrass is essentially a vehicle for vocal expression, the instrumental architecture serving the song. His own deeply resonant guitar playing, with its distinctive bass-string runs, anchors the band. The material favors traditional bluegrass and country sources, the kind of repertoire Sparks has spent five decades curating and recording. Released in the heart of the small-label traditional-bluegrass scene of the 1980s, the album is one of many Sparks records that quietly built the case for him as the most consistent traditionalist singer of his generation.
Tracklist
- 1 Come Back Darling alt version 2:26
- 2 I Ain't Holding On Any Longer 3:04
- 3 Shoe Goes On The Other Foot 2:03
- 4 On The Old Plantation 2:43
- 5 Lonesome Ride 3:35
- 6 Brown-Eyed Darling 2:50
- 7 Imitation Of The Blues 2:58
- 8 Doin’ My Time alt version 3:27
- 9 When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again alt version 3:01
- 10 Walking On The Blue Ridge Mountains 2:15
- 11 Mommy, Please Stay Home With Me 3:26
- 12 Lonesome and Blue 2:05
