Carry Me Across the Mountain was Dan Tyminski’s first solo album, released in June 2000 by Doobie Shea Records (DS-CD-2002), about six months before the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? Tyminski was then the guitarist and mandolin player in Alison Krauss and Union Station, and had earlier been in the Lonesome River Band and a Vermont group, Green Mountain Bluegrass. It was recorded at Doobie Shea Studios in Boones Mill, Virginia, and produced by Tyminski and Tim Austin, with Gary Paczosa, Bil Vorndick and Austin among the engineers. Rounder reissued it in 2003.
The eleven tracks use several lineups. Union Station members appear on many of them, with Krauss singing harmony and playing fiddle on the title song, a John Pennell, Jeff White and Billy Smith composition on which Ron Block plays banjo, Jerry Douglas dobro, Adam Steffey mandolin and Barry Bales bass. “Tiny Broken Heart,” the Louvin Brothers song, has Krauss on tenor and Bales on bass vocal; “Sunny Side of the Mountain” has Tyminski singing alone over Steffey, Jim Mills on banjo, Aubrey Haynie on fiddle and Bales. On “I Dreamed of an Old Love Affair” Tyminski plays mandolin and sings with his brother Stan, who takes the lead, and Tony Rice plays guitar; Rice is also on “Praise the Lord,” by Ronnie Bowman and Tyminski.
Most of the songs are by contemporary bluegrass writers, among them Block (“Be Assured”), Bowman (“Please Dear Mommy”), Tim Stafford (“Think About You Every Day”) and Craig Market (“Faith Is a Mystery”). Tyminski wrote one, the instrumental “Greens Fees,” and co-wrote two others.
Tracklist
- 1 Carry Me Across the Mountain Source Recording 2:34
- 2 Stuck in the Middle of Nowhere 2:55
- 3 I Dreamed of an Old Love Affair Source Recording 2:50
- 4 Greens Fees 2:28
- 5 Think About You Every Day 2:43
- 6 Praise the Lord 2:55
- 7 Tiny Broken Heart Source Recording 2:54
- 8 Please Dear Mommy 5:07
- 9 Be Assured 2:42
- 10 Faith is a Mystery 2:46
- 11 Sunny Side of the Mountain Source Recording 3:22
