In the Life cover

In the Life

Open Road

Album · 2004 · Rounder 11661 0542 2

In the Life (Rounder 11661-0542-2) came out on 4 May 2004. It is the second Rounder album by Open Road, the Colorado band led by Bradford Lee Folk (guitar, lead vocals) and Caleb Roberts (mandolin), and it followed their 2002 debut Cold Wind. Three of the five players were new: Keith Reed on banjo, Bobby Britt on fiddle and Eric Thorin on bass. Sally Van Meter produced for the second album in a row, and Roberts has credited her with helping on the song arrangements. The band recorded it in November 2003 at Notably Fine Audio in Denver.

The thirteen tracks run from the Louvin Brothers’ “Bald Knob, Arkansas” to Howard Harlan’s “Pick Me Up,” George Jones’s “One Is a Lonely Number” and several traditional pieces. Folk wrote three of the songs, “Southern Track,” “I’m Not Perfect” and “Sinkin’ Man,” and Reed contributed the banjo instrumental “Cheyenne Mountain Breakdown.” Roberts told Country Standard Time that the band went through a couple of dozen candidate songs before settling on the album’s program, and that two of the songs they recorded came from a day spent going through records with Rounder’s Ken Irwin.

In March 2005 Denver’s Westword named Open Road its Best Bluegrass Band, citing this album.

Tracklist

  1. 1 Bald Knob Arkansas alt version 2:56
  2. 2 What A Change One Day Can Make 4:09
  3. 3 Grey Eagle alt version 3:49
  4. 4 Pick Me Up 2:48
  5. 5 Mandy Jane 3:26
  6. 6 One Is a Lonely Number 3:37
  7. 7 Suwannee River Hoedown 4:18
  8. 8 Southern Track 2:58
  9. 9 I'm Not Perfect 2:57
  10. 10 Sinkin' Man 4:30
  11. 11 Cheyenne Mountain Breakdown 2:03
  12. 12 One Teardrop And One Step Away 3:36
  13. 13 Mountain Laurel alt version 2:11

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