Hot Rize, the self-titled 1979 debut from the Colorado-based quartet, introduced one of the most significant traditional bluegrass groups of the revival era. Tim O'Brien, Charles Sawtelle, Pete Wernick, and Nick Forster brought academic respect for the tradition alongside performing fluency, a combination that would define their career. High on a Mountain and Nellie Kane became staples of their live repertoire, while Ninety Nine Years and One Dark Day and Midnight on the Highway showed a comfort with harder-edged material. Blue Night and Ain't I Been Good to You round out a debut that announced the group's intentions clearly: serious about the music, warm in delivery, and uninterested in the progressive departures that characterized some contemporaries. The record established the template Hot Rize would refine across subsequent releases.
Tracklist
- 1 Blue Night Source Recording 2:23
- 2 Empty Pocket Blues 2:21
- 3 Nellie Kane Source Recording 2:58
- 4 High on a Mountain Source Recording 3:06
- 5 Ain’t I Been Good to You Source Recording 2:21
- 6 Powwow The Indian Boy 3:06
- 7 Prayer Bells of Heaven alt version 2:57
- 8 This Here Bottle 2:41
- 9 Ninety Nine Years and One Dark Day Source Recording 3:08
- 10 Old Dan Tucker 1:21
- 11 Country Boy Rock and Roll alt version 2:07
- 12 Standing in the Need of Prayer alt version 2:40
- 13 Durham's Reel 3:07
- 14 Midnight on the Highway Source Recording 2:44
