Bluegrass from the Gold Country was the Vern Williams Band’s first album for Rounder. It was recorded in 1980 at 1750 Arch Studios in Berkeley, California, and issued as an LP in 1981 (Rounder 0131). Vern Williams, born in Arkansas in 1930, played mandolin and sang lead; he had settled in Stockton, California, and from 1960 had worked in the duo Vern and Ray with the fiddler Ray Park. After that partnership ended in 1974 he formed the band that made this record, with his son Delbert Williams on guitar, Ed Neff on fiddle and Keith Little on banjo; Kevin Thompson played bass.
Williams leads most of the songs, among them “Cabin on a Mountain,” “Cowboy Jack,” “Down Among the Budded Roses,” “Old Black Joe” and “Clinch Mountain Home,” while Little sings lead on his own “’Til the Day I Die.” Rounder’s 1996 CD reissue (CD 0131) added ten tracks that had not been released before, among them “Oh Susannah,” “Old Kentucky Home,” “I’m Walking the Dog” and “You’d Better Get Right,” bringing the program to twenty-two songs.
Tracklist
- 1 Cabin on a Mountain alt version 2:54
- 2 Come Back to Me In My Dreams alt version 3:01
- 3 When Springtime Comes Again 2:50
- 4 Cowboy Jack 3:37
- 5 Til the Day I Die 2:33
- 6 Field of Flowers 2:40
- 7 Oh Susanna Source Recording 2:42
- 8 Down Among the Budded Roses Source Recording 3:34
- 9 Darling Nellie Across the Sea alt version 2:22
- 10 Old Home Town alt version 2:51
- 11 Old Kentucky Home 2:46
- 12 Clinch Mountain Home 4:19
- 13 Black Eyed Susie alt version 2:03
- 14 I’m Walking the Dog alt version 2:47
- 15 Foggy Mountain Top alt version 3:10
- 16 Who's Going Down to Town 2:10
- 17 Thinking of Home 2:48
- 18 Picture on the Wall 3:09
- 19 Old Black Joe 3:43
- 20 Arkansas Traveler alt version 3:04
- 21 You’d Better Get Right alt version 1:48
- 22 Old Folks at Home 4:12
