Old & in the Gray was released by Acoustic Disc on October 1, 2002 (ACD-51), as an HDCD, and produced by David Grisman. It brings three of the five members of Old & in the Way back together: Peter Rowan (guitar, vocals), David Grisman (mandolin, vocals) and Vassar Clements (fiddle). Jerry Garcia’s banjo part went to Herb Pedersen, who also sings and plays guitar, and Bryn Bright took the bass chair that had been John Kahn’s. According to Acoustic Disc, the reunion was sparked by a 1996 performance at Grisman’s Birthday Bash concert at the Warfield in San Francisco.
Old & in the Way had played about fifty shows in 1973, and its 1975 live album, recorded at the Boarding House in San Francisco, became one of the best-selling bluegrass albums of all time. Its 2002 successor has fourteen tracks, with all three principals singing on most of them. Peter Rowan wrote “Meadow Green” and “Rainmaker,” and Clements wrote the instrumental “Vassar’s Fiddle Rag.” The rest are drawn from songwriters of several kinds: John Hartford’s “Good Old Boys,” Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho & Lefty,” Carter Stanley’s “The Flood,” A. P. Carter’s “When the Springtime Comes Again,” Don Reno and Jim Davis’s “Barefoot Nellie,” Ira Louvin’s “Childish Love,” Bill Monroe’s “On the Old Kentucky Shore” and the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women.” Larry Cummings recorded it, and Craig Miller is credited as executive producer.
Tracklist
- 1 Goold Old Boys 4:55
- 2 Pancho & Lefty 5:12
- 3 Meadow Green 2:47
- 4 The Flood 4:04
- 5 Little Annie alt version 3:20
- 6 Barefoot Nellie alt version 2:25
- 7 Childish Love 3:19
- 8 Victim To The Tomb 4:26
- 9 Vassar's Fiddle Rag 3:08
- 10 Two Little Boys 3:55
- 11 On The Old Kentucky Shore 4:15
- 12 Honky Tonk Women 2:33
- 13 Let Those Brown Eyes Smile At Me 2:33
- 14 Rainmaker 3:56
