Second Generation Bluegrass was recorded at the end of June 1971 at R. D. Homer’s studio in Clinton, Maryland, and issued the same year on Rebel (SLP-1504). Keith Whitley and Ricky Skaggs, both 16, had joined Ralph Stanley’s band the year before and had already made an album with Stanley for Jalyn in Dayton, Ohio, in January 1971. Here they are billed as the leaders: Whitley on guitar and Skaggs on mandolin, with Roy Lee Centers on banjo, Curly Ray Cline on fiddle and Jack Cooke on bass. Ralph Stanley himself is credited on banjo on “Daybreak in Dixie.”
Much of the repertoire comes from the Stanley Brothers’ records. “Memories of Mother” is credited to Ralph and Carter Stanley, “My Deceitful Heart” and “This Weary Heart You Stole Away” to Carter, and “Don’t Cheat in Our Home Town,” written by Ray Pennington and Roy Marcum, was recorded by the Stanley Brothers at King in Cincinnati on 17 September 1963. Skaggs would record it again in 1983 as the title song of his Epic album, and it became a number one country hit. “Poor Monroe” is credited to Centers, and Skaggs is credited as the writer of “Son of Hobart,” on which he plays fiddle.
Whitley, born in Ashland, Kentucky, moved to Nashville in 1983 and had number one country hits before his death in 1989.
Tracklist
- 1 Don’t Cheat in Our Hometown alt version 2:36
- 2 Dream of a Miner’s Child alt version 2:24
- 3 Memories of Mother alt version 2:56
- 4 Poor Monroe 2:28
- 5 Daybreak in Dixie alt version 2:07
- 6 All I Ever Loved Was You Source Recording 3:12
- 7 My Deceitful Heart alt version 2:17
- 8 Son Of Hobert 2:50
- 9 Sea Of Regret 2:52
- 10 Those Two Blue Eyes 2:01
- 11 Wildwood Flower Source Recording 3:04
- 12 This Weary Heart You Stole Away Source Recording 2:57
- 13 Gathering Flowers for the Master’s Bouquet alt version
