Homeland Harmony gathers Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys around the gospel material that ran alongside the brothers' secular work throughout their long career. The McReynolds brothers — Jim's tenor and Jesse's lower harmony, locked into the close family blend that defined their sound from the mid-1950s onward — bring their characteristic restraint to the form. Jesse's crosspicked mandolin, the technique he pioneered and made central to the duo's identity, threads through the arrangements without ever crowding the vocals. The repertoire draws on the older Southern gospel and shape-note tradition that shaped both brothers as boys in Coeburn, Virginia. The Virginia Boys keep the instrumental backing tight and unobtrusive, leaving room for the harmonies to carry the weight. Recorded during a period when the brothers were elder statesmen of the Grand Ole Opry, the album is a measured, dignified statement from one of bluegrass's longest-running duet partnerships.
Tracklist
- 1 Cotton Mill Man 2:52
- 2 Please Be My Love 2:11
- 3 Blue Ridge Mountain Blues alt version 3:21
- 4 Live and Let Live alt version 2:39
- 5 Careless Love, Goodbye 2:48
- 6 It's A Long, Long Way To The Top Of The World 2:54
- 7 Just One Of A Kind 2:25
- 8 Old Love Letters alt version 2:34
- 9 As Long As The Wind Blows 3:15
- 10 Wishful Thinking 2:55
- 11 I Heard the Bluebirds Sing alt version 2:33
- 12 Rocky Top alt version 2:40
- 13 Alone With You 2:25
- 14 Mansion On The Hill 2:30
- 15 Everybody's Reaching Out For Someone 2:05
- 16 I'm A Lonesome Fugitive 3:01
- 17 Wreck of the Number Nine alt version 2:17
- 18 (I'm Changing The Words To) My Love Song 2:45
- 19 Ashes of Love alt version 2:22
- 20 When You Want A Little Lovin' 2:36
- 21 The Best Dressed Beggar In Town 2:26
- 22 Don't Ever Take Your Love From Me 2:46
- 23 Sundown And Sorrow 2:54
- 24 'Mid The Green Fields Of Virginia 2:35
- 25 Somewhere My Love 3:11
- 26 Jesus Is The Key To The Kingdom 2:24
- 27 Little White Church alt version 2:46
- 28 The Family Bible alt version 3:03
- 29 Walking My Lord Up Calvary Hill 2:48
- 30 Truth on the Mountain 3:06
- 31 The Family Who Prays (Never Shall Part) 2:20
- 32 Wings of a Dove alt version 3:54
- 33 Matthew 24 2:36
- 34 Born Again 2:18
- 35 Two Thousand Years Ago 4:25
- 36 River of Jordon 2:05
- 37 How Great Thou Art alt version 3:12
- 38 Heaven 2:38
- 39 Over in the Gloryland 2:15
- 40 Life is Like a Mountain Railway alt version 3:28
- 41 There's a Light Guiding Me 2:29
- 42 An Old Account Settled 2:32
- 43 Wait A Little Longer Please Jesus 2:53
- 44 Everybody Will Be Happy Over There 2:33
- 45 Great Speckled Bird alt version 2:56
- 46 We Are Climbing 2:13
- 47 When He Reached Down His Hand For Me alt version 3:09
- 48 Something Got A Hold Of Me 2:15
- 49 Amazing Grace alt version 2:57
- 50 I'll Rear My Harvest In Heaven 2:09
- 51 Poison Love alt version 2:18
- 52 Take Me in a Lifeboat alt version
- 53 Valley of Peace alt version
