John Deere Tractor, Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers' 2022 Rebel Records release, finds the veteran singer and guitarist working with the directness that has characterized his career since the late 1960s. The title track, a Sparks original, exemplifies his gift for writing in a traditional idiom without antiquarian posturing, grounding contemporary rural experience in the harmonic and lyric conventions of old bluegrass. Girl at the Crossroads Bar, Great High Mountain, Love of the Mountains, and Nobody's Business complete a set that covers devotional, romantic, and landscape themes with equal comfort. Sparks's voice, a reliable baritone with bluegrass grain, has deepened with age without losing its essential character. The album sustains the long argument of his career that hard-driving traditional bluegrass remains a living form.
Tracklist
- 1 John Deere Tractor Source Recording 4:28
- 2 Girl at the Crossroads Bar Source Recording 2:35
- 3 Hot sauce 2:22
- 4 I’d Rather Be Alone alt version 2:31
- 5 Great High Mountain Source Recording 3:13
- 6 Love of the Mountains Source Recording 2:58
- 7 Makin' believe 4:04
- 8 Nobody’s Business Source Recording 1:52
- 9 When I Lay My Burdens Down alt version 3:55
- 10 Carter’s Blues alt version 2:36