Ownself Blues (Patuxent Music CD-182, April 2009) is a collection of thirteen tunes and is described as Frank Wakefield’s first all-instrumental project. He wrote eleven of them. Ten are new original tunes, one is a new recording of his best-known composition, “New Camptown Races,” and the other two are his arrangements of classical pieces: Beethoven’s Theme and Variations in D, played as a duet for mandolin and guitar, and the Bourée from Bach’s Lute Suite in E minor. Tom Mindte of Patuxent Recordings in Maryland produced the album, and Dennis Satterlee wrote the liner notes.
Wakefield plays mandolin with Jordan Tice on lead guitar, Audie Blaylock on rhythm guitar, Mike Munford on banjo, Michael Cleveland on fiddle and Darrell Muller on bass. Taylor Baker adds a second mandolin on several tracks, Nate Leath plays fiddle on two, and Jessie Baker takes a banjo break on “New Camptown Races.” The track list is “Ownself Blues,” “Saratoga Ride,” “Flying Strings,” “This Is for Bill,” the Beethoven, “The Runaway Train,” “The Old Cat Sneezed,” “New Camptown Races,” the Bach, “Double Stoppin’ the Blues,” “Sabbatical,” “Rockville Special” and “Mandolin Solo #2.”
Wakefield, born in Emory Gap, Tennessee, in 1934, made his first record in the 1950s with Marvin Cobb and the Chain Mountain Boys, including “New Camptown Races.” He toured with Red Allen and the Kentuckians, played with the Greenbriar Boys in the mid-1960s and appeared with Ralph Stanley, and in the same decade began arranging classical pieces for bluegrass instruments.
Tracklist
- 1 Ownself Blues 6:01
- 2 Saratoga Ride 3:31
- 3 Flying Strings 5:11
- 4 This Is For Bill 4:04
- 5 Beethoven: Theme And Variations In D 6:19
- 6 The Runaway Train 2:29
- 7 The Old Cat Sneezed 3:25
- 8 New Camptown Races Source Recording 4:13
- 9 Bach: Bouree From Lute Suite In E Minor 5:29
- 10 Double Stoppin' The Blues 5:15
- 11 Sabbatical 6:39
- 12 Rockville Special 4:37
- 13 Mandolin Solo #2 6:53
