Hard Year Blues (Flying Fish FF 319, 1984) was Tim O’Brien’s first solo album, made while he was a member of Hot Rize, the Colorado band he had helped found in 1978. Hot Rize bandmates Pete Wernick (banjo), Nick Forster (bass) and Charles Sawtelle (guitar) play on several of the twelve tracks, which were recorded at Colorado Sound Recording in Denver, and O’Brien produced the record himself.
Four of the songs are his own: “Land’s End,” “The High Road,” the title song and “Queen of Hearts.” The rest range from the traditional “Twelve Gates to the City” and “Back Up and Push” and Curtis Stewart’s “Cabin in Gloryland” to Odell McLeod’s “Cora Is Gone” and Duke Ellington’s “Cottontail,” an instrumental on which Darol Anger plays fiddle and Pat Donohue guitar. O’Brien plays fiddle, mandolin and guitar throughout, and on “The High Road” he is the only musician.
Jerry Douglas plays dobro or lap steel on several tracks. Buck White plays piano on two songs and sings harmony on “Twelve Gates to the City” with Cheryl and Sharon White, who also sing harmony on “Cora Is Gone.” Mollie O’Brien sings harmony on “Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor.”
Tracklist
- 1 Good Deal Lucille 2:32
- 2 Cora is Gone alt version 3:29
- 3 Land’s End Source Recording 3:18
- 4 Cabin In Gloryland 2:58
- 5 The High Road Source Recording 2:50
- 6 Cottontail 3:59
- 7 Hard Year Blues 2:48
- 8 Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor 3:12
- 9 Evening 3:21
- 10 Back Up and Push alt version 3:27
- 11 Queen Of Hearts 3:40
- 12 Twelve Gates To The City 3:53
