Rural Delivery No. 1 was released by Verve/Folkways in September 1965, in mono as FV 9003 and in stereo as FVS 9003. Folkways later reissued it under its own number, FA 2496. By then the New Lost City Ramblers were Mike Seeger, John Cohen and Tracy Schwarz, who had replaced the founding member Tom Paley in 1962. Peter Bartok recorded and edited the album, and the three Ramblers wrote the notes.
There are eighteen tracks, and the three trade instruments and vocal parts from one to the next. On “Durham’s Bull” Seeger plays banjo, Schwarz plays fiddle and stomps his foot, and Cohen is credited with “straws.” On “Pretty Polly” Schwarz plays banjo and sings, and on “Twenty-One Years” Seeger sings lead on mandolin with Schwarz singing tenor. Two songs, “The Cyclone of Rye Cove” and “Gold Watch and Chain,” are credited to A. P. Carter. The album closes with Charlie Monroe’s “Rosa Lee McFall,” sung by Schwarz, who also plays lead guitar, with Seeger on mandolin and Cohen on backup guitar.
Tracklist
- 1 Rosa Lee McFall alt version
