One Morning in May was the first album by Joe Val and the New England Bluegrass Boys, and the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame names it as Rounder Records’ first bluegrass album, released in 1971 as Rounder 0003. Val, born Joseph Valiante in Everett, Massachusetts, in 1926, played mandolin and sang tenor; for much of his early career his day job was repairing typewriters. In 1967 he and the guitarist Herb Applin formed the Old Time Bluegrass Singers, which grew to include Bob French on banjo and Bob Tidwell on bass and was later renamed for Val and the New England Bluegrass Boys.
That four-piece band made the album in March to May 1971, with Val on mandolin and Applin, French and Tidwell on guitar, banjo and bass. Hartley, Alward and Lyons Audiographics is credited as the recording studio. The tracks include “Live and Let Live,” “Dark Hollow,” “I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby” and the title song. Rounder’s 1996 CD reissue added three previously unissued tracks from the same sessions, among them “I Never Will Marry.” Val was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2018.
Tracklist
- 1 Comin' On Strong 2:56
- 2 What Can I Do 2:45
- 3 Live and Let Live alt version 3:07
- 4 Come Walk With Me 2:31
- 5 Do You Live What You Preach 2:44
- 6 I Never Will Marry alt version 2:53
- 7 Where the Old Red River Flows 2:47
- 8 Trials, Troubles, Tribulations 3:09
- 9 I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby alt version 2:20
- 10 One Morning in May 3:27
- 11 Dark Hollow alt version 2:12
- 12 Ginger Brandy 1:59
- 13 My Brother's Will 3:46
- 14 Sparkling Brown Eyes 3:06
- 15 The Little Paper Boy 3:13
- 16 You'll Be Rewarded Over There 2:26
