Hand Hewn, released in 2001 on Rounder (0466), is Dry Branch Fire Squad's mountain-rooted set of traditional bluegrass and old-time, led as always by Ron Thomason on mandolin and lead vocals with hambone-style body percussion. The arrangements run the band's usual range, from full-quintet bluegrass to solo old-time banjo, with Suzanne Thomas, Charlie Leet, Mary Jo Leet, and Bobby Maynard rounding out the lineup. Thomason's hambone — feet-and-body percussion learned in childhood — drives a stripped-down "Papa's Billy Goat." The record is a typical Dry Branch document: equal parts repertoire revival and ethnographic argument, made by a band that for thirty years had positioned itself as the bluegrass world's most articulate defender of the old mountain forms.
Tracklist
- 1 Angeline the Baker alt version 4:28
- 2 I Saw A Man At The Close Of Day 3:37
- 3 I Can Go to Them 2:29
- 4 Nazeer, Nazeer 3:03
- 5 Atlanta Is Burning 4:08
- 6 Willye Brennan 5:26
- 7 While Roving On Last Winter's Night 3:20
- 8 Sailor's Return 4:00
- 9 Black Lung 2:32
- 10 The Cuckoo Is a Pretty Bird alt version 3:23
- 11 Two Coats alt version 3:41
- 12 Midnight, the Unconquered Outlaw 4:10
- 13 I'll Live Again 2:23
- 14 Papa's Billy Goat 2:28
- 15 Lonesome Road Blues alt version 2:28
