Empty Old Mailbox, released in 2000 on Sugar Hill (SUG-CD 3915), is mandolinist and tenor singer Don Rigsby's solo statement, recorded with an all-star Kentucky-bluegrass roster — J.D. Crowe and Sammy Shelor on banjo, Ron Stewart on banjo and fiddle, Jerry Douglas on Dobro, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Carl Jackson, Larry Sparks, Tim Stafford, and Tina Rigsby on harmony vocals, with Ben Isaacs on bass and Gabe Witcher adding fiddle. The set is high-lonesome traditional Kentucky bluegrass with Rigsby's piercing tenor up front against the heaviest possible session backing. The title track won SPBGMA Song of the Year in 2001. Rigsby was active at the time with Lonesome River Band and the Bluegrass Cardinals, and Empty Old Mailbox served as his calling card outside those band identities.
Tracklist
- 1 I Won't Be There 2:49
- 2 Bluestone Mountain 4:07
- 3 Empty Old Mail Box 3:02
- 4 Son Of A Gun 3:30
- 5 These Ole Blues Source Recording 2:44
- 6 Poor Little Rich Man 3:59
- 7 Dust To Dust 5:02
- 8 Louise 2:50
- 9 Don't Sell The Land 3:14
- 10 Bad Day In Akron 3:58
- 11 If I'd Had A Mother Like You 3:36
- 12 I Am A Little Scholar 2:48
- 13 Here I Am in Love Again alt version 2:41
- 14 Precious Love 2:51