Reunion is a Webco Records album by banjoist Bill Emerson, recorded in 1991 and released in 1992, with a different lead singer from his past bands on each song. Tony Rice is featured on “We’ll Meet Again Sweetheart” and “Old Salty Dog Blues,” Pete Goble on “The Gunfighter’s Lament,” Wayne Taylor on “My Smoky Mountain Home,” Bill Harrell on “On Whiskey Mountain,” Jimmy Martin on “The Last Song” and “It Takes One to Know One,” Red Allen on “Don’t Wake Me” and “I Don’t Know Why,” Charlie Waller on “Teach Your Children” and “High Lonesome,” and Cliff Waldron on “When We Look on His Face.” Emerson’s own note on the album says that lead singer-guitar players and banjo players are the heart of the music, and that this is what the record is about.
Several of the singers were old colleagues. Born in Washington, D.C., in 1938, Emerson put together the first Country Gentlemen lineup in 1957 with Waller, John Duffey and bassist Larry Lahey, joined Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys in the winter of 1961, worked with Red Allen, and recorded in the late 1960s as half of Emerson and Waldron for Rebel. He joined the U.S. Navy Band in 1973 and played in its Country Current ensemble until 1993. Wayne Taylor was a Country Current protege of his.
Webco, founded by Wayne Busbice, was a label Emerson and his son John took over in 1989; John ran it as Webco Records of Virginia from 1990 until its sale to Pinecastle in 1994. Reunion was nominated for the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Album of the Year.
Tracklist
- 1 We’ll Meet Again Sweetheart alt version 3:17
- 2 The Gunfighter's Lament 4:14
- 3 My Smoky Mountain Home 2:35
- 4 On Whiskey Mountain 2:23
- 5 The Last Song 2:47
- 6 Don't Wake Me 2:29
- 7 Teach Your Children alt version 2:25
- 8 It Takes One to Know One alt version 4:18
- 9 When We Look on His Face 2:19
- 10 High Lonesome 3:38
- 11 I Don't Know Why 2:38
- 12 Old Salty Dog Blues alt version 2:28
