Drifter cover

Drifter

Volume Five

Album · 2016 · MFR 160624

Drifter (Mountain Fever MFR 160624) came out on 24 June 2016, the sixth album Volume Five made for Mountain Fever since forming in Mississippi in 2009. The band on it is Glen Harrell (fiddle, lead vocals), Harry Clark (mandolin), Patton Wages (banjo), Colby Laney (guitar) and Chris Williamson (bass), with Wages, Laney and Clark singing harmony. Aaron Ramsey produced, engineered and mixed the record with the band, and the CD credits give him the bass part on every track but “Scarecrow,” where Williamson plays. Jeff Partin, who had briefly been the band’s guitarist in 2013–14, adds dobro.

The twelve songs come mostly from outside writers. Mountain Fever issued the opener, Donna Ulisse and Marc Rossi’s “I Am a Drifter,” as an advance single in March 2016; Harrell said it caught his ear from the demo, sung by Jerry Salley, which opened with just a guitar. Ronnie Bowman and Jon Nite wrote “Because of You,” Damon Black “Tall Pines,” and Tom Botkin and Kevin Denney “Scarecrow.” Some come from inside the band’s circle: Laney wrote “Lucky Seven” and “Alaskan Gold,” Partin “Lonely Wind,” and the band’s original mandolinist, Jesse Daniel, “Ranching Man.”

At the 2017 IBMA awards Volume Five was named Emerging Artist of the Year, and “I Am a Drifter” won Song of the Year. Clark left the band in 2016 and was replaced by Jacob Burleson.

Tracklist

  1. 1 I Am A Drifter 3:15
  2. 2 Lonely Wind 4:17
  3. 3 95 Years 2:55
  4. 4 When I Go Away 4:16
  5. 5 Ranching Man 3:04
  6. 6 Because of You 3:08
  7. 7 Lucky Seven 2:39
  8. 8 Tall Pines alt version 2:44
  9. 9 Scarecrow 3:32
  10. 10 Alaskan Gold 2:32
  11. 11 Molly Dear 3:40
  12. 12 With My Gun 2:45

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