Spice of Life cover

Spice of Life

Don Reno, Bill Harrell and the Tennessee Cut-Ups

Album · 1975 · King Bluegrass KB 540

Spice of Life (King Bluegrass KB 540) came out in 1975 and is credited to Don Reno, Bill Harrell and the Tennessee Cut-Ups. Reno, the banjo player, had worked with Red Smiley in Reno and Smiley and the Tennessee Cutups from 1950; after Smiley’s retirement in 1964 he and the guitarist Bill Harrell formed Reno & Harrell, and Smiley rejoined them from 1969 until his death in 1972.

The album was recorded at Lemco Studios in Lexington, Kentucky, with Robert Trout as producer and Cecil Jones as engineer. Harrell plays guitar and sings lead, Reno plays banjo and sings tenor, Dale Reno plays mandolin, Buck Ryan plays fiddle and Ed Ferris plays bass. Reno is credited as writer of several tracks, among them the instrumental “Banjo Signal” and “Oak Grove Church.” Other songs include Mac Wiseman’s “Shackles and Chains,” “Unwanted Love” (credited to Reno, Leftwich and Smiley), and the fiddle tune “Gray Eagle Hornpipe.” Dale Reno, one of Don’s sons, also sings on “Blue Bird Singing.”

Tracklist

  1. 1 Everybody's something they're not 1:58
  2. 2 Unwanted Love alt version 2:55
  3. 3 Banjo Signal alt version 2:08
  4. 4 Shackles and Chains alt version 2:55
  5. 5 Blue bird singing 2:45
  6. 6 Oak Grove church 2:38
  7. 7 Two bricks short of a load 2:10
  8. 8 When the saints go marchin' in 2:05
  9. 9 Gray eagle hornpipe 1:50
  10. 10 You're no longer a sweetheart of mine 2:50

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