Hillbilly Heartache cover

Hillbilly Heartache

Don Rigsby and Midnight Call

Album · 2006 · Rebel REB-CD 1818

Hillbilly Heartache was released by Rebel Records (REB-CD 1818) on 18 July 2006. It was Don Rigsby’s first recording as leader of his own band, Midnight Call, which takes its name from his 2003 solo album on Sugar Hill. Rigsby plays mandolin, with Shayne Bartley on guitar, Dale Vanderpool on banjo, Jesse Wells on fiddle and Robert Maynard on bass; the thirteen tracks were recorded at River Track Studio in Fort Gay, West Virginia.

Rigsby, a native of Isonville, Kentucky, had worked as a sideman for J. D. Crowe, spent the late 1990s and 2001 with the Lonesome River Band, been a driving force in the Longview projects, and formed Rock County with Glen Duncan before starting Midnight Call. The first three songs deal with mountain life: the title track, by Herb McCullough and Shawn Camp, echoes the alarm of a mine disaster; “Daddy Was a Moonshine Man,” by Jim Kelley, concerns economic necessity; and “These Golden Fields,” by Jeff Walter, is about growing food. Elsewhere the album includes Bill Monroe’s “Kentucky Waltz,” sung by Rigsby; the traditional fiddle tune “Forked Deer”; “Any Bar in Birmingham,” written by Kim Williams, Larry Shell and Tim Stafford; “Redbird,” by Jim Lauderdale and Shawn Camp; and “Old Green Chevrolet,” by Sandy Knipp.

Tracklist

  1. 1 Hillbilly Heartache 3:04
  2. 2 Daddy Was A Moonshine Man 3:34
  3. 3 These Golden Fields 4:05
  4. 4 Big Jim 2:04
  5. 5 He Loves To Hear You Shout 2:21
  6. 6 Kentucky Waltz alt version 3:36
  7. 7 Make God Laugh 2:46
  8. 8 Forked Deer alt version 2:56
  9. 9 Old Green Chevrolet 3:08
  10. 10 Any Bar In Birmingham 3:13
  11. 11 Redbird 2:12
  12. 12 Prisoner Of The Highway 2:47
  13. 13 I Am the Man Thomas alt version 1:56

Share Playlist