Sing Me a Bluegrass Song was released by Starday as SLP 249 in December 1963. Hylo Brown (Frank Brown Jr., 1922–2003) was born in Johnson County, Kentucky, and made his first records for Capitol on 7 November 1954. In 1957 he joined Flatt & Scruggs on their Martha White Mills shows, and he signed with Starday in 1961. His nickname dates from a radio show in Middletown, Ohio, where Smoky Ward could not remember his name and called him “Hi-Lo.”
The twelve tracks come from three sessions in Nashville. On 24 November 1962, at Starday Studios, Brown recorded “Bury the Bottle with Me” and the instrumental “Five Strings to Go” with Melvin Goins on guitar, Ray Goins on banjo, James W. Roberts on mandolin, Curly Ray Cline on fiddle and Ezra Cline on bass. Four more tracks, including “Hole in the Wall” and “Take a Look at That Rain,” both credited to Leon Payne, were cut on 5 March 1963, and six, including “Truck Driving Man” (credited to Terry Fell) and “Sad Prison Song,” followed on 3 June 1963 at Starday Sound Studios. Brown played guitar on those later sessions; the other musicians are not identified.
Brown died on 17 January 2003 and was inducted posthumously that year into the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America’s Preservation Hall of Greats.
Tracklist
- 1 Hills Of Georgia 2:11
- 2 Picture In The Wallet 2:50
- 3 Cabin in the Hills alt version 2:29
- 4 Prisoner’s Song alt version 2:43
- 5 Bring A Little Water, Sylvie 2:17
- 6 Roane County Prisoner 3:05
- 7 Cocaine Blues 2:52
- 8 Handsome Molly alt version 2:03
- 9 Footprints in the Snow alt version 2:39
- 10 Lovesick And Sorrow 2:28
- 11 Silent Partner 2:00
- 12 When The Bright Lights Grow Dim 2:34
- 13 Take A Look At That Rain 2:07
- 14 The Hole In The Wall 2:47
- 15 Sad Prison Song 2:23
- 16 Truck Driving Man alt version 2:06
