Requests was the Johnson Mountain Boys’ 1988 album for Rounder (0246). The band recorded it at Bias Recording in Springfield, Virginia, on 17 and 18 November 1986 and 13 and 14 January 1987, and the Johnson Mountain Boys themselves are the credited producers. The lineup was Dudley Connell on guitar, Tom Adams on banjo, David McLaughlin on mandolin, Eddie Stubbs on fiddle and Marshall Wilborn on bass; Adams and Wilborn had joined in 1986.
The twelve tracks range widely. Gospel is represented by “Standing in the Need of Prayer,” with Connell singing lead and the other three voices joining him, and by “Working on a Building,” credited to A. P. Carter. There are two instrumentals, Bill Monroe’s “Blue Grass Twist” and Leslie Keith’s “Black Mountain Blues.” Jimmie Rodgers’s “Blue Yodel #1 (T for Texas)” and Marty Robbins’s “Don’t Worry” come from the country side, and Connell sings Don Reno and Red Smiley’s “Unwanted Love.” David McLaughlin takes the lead on “I Could Change My Mind,” credited to Earl Taylor, and Eddie Stubbs sings Bill Anderson’s “I Don’t Love You Anymore.”
The band had announced in 1987 that it would disband after a farewell concert at the Old Schoolhouse in Lucketts, Virginia. That concert, on 20 February 1988, was recorded and released as the double album At the Old Schoolhouse, and Requests appeared the same year. The Johnson Mountain Boys were inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2020.
Tracklist
- 1 I Could Change My Mind Source Recording 1:48
- 2 Standing in the Need of Prayer Source Recording 2:35
- 3 Don't Worry 3:02
- 4 Black Eyed Suzie alt version 2:19
- 5 Cry Cry Darling alt version 3:14
- 6 Blue Grass Twist 3:06
- 7 Unwanted Love alt version 2:37
- 8 Working on a Building alt version 3:18
- 9 Blue Yodel #1 (T For Texas) 3:09
- 10 Cold And Windy Night 3:15
- 11 I Don't Love You Anymore 2:15
- 12 Black Mountain Blues 2:40
