The Don Reno Story is a two-LP set released by CMH Records in 1976 (CMH 9003) and credited to Don Reno, Bill Harrell and the Tennessee Cut-Ups. It was recorded in 1976 at Arthur Smith Studios in Charlotte, North Carolina; Arthur Smith produced it, Chuck Owens and Hank Poole engineered, and Bill Vernon wrote the liner notes. Reno and the guitarist Bill Harrell had formed Reno & Harrell in 1964, after Red Smiley retired from Reno and Smiley and the Tennessee Cutups.
Reno plays banjo. Harrell plays guitar and sings lead, with Reno singing tenor on “Bringin’ in the Georgia Mail.” Reno’s son Dale plays mandolin, Buck Ryan fiddle and Ed Ferris bass, and Clay Smith and Arthur Smith add guitar, with Smith also on Dobro.
The twenty tracks include the instrumentals “Charlotte Breakdown,” “Little Rock Getaway,” “Reno Ride,” “Dixie Breakdown” and “Remington Ride,” gospel songs such as “The Lord’s Last Supper” and “I’m Using My Bible for a Roadmap,” and Reno’s own “Country Boy Rock ’n’ Roll.” That gospel song and “Don’t Let Your Sweet Love Die” were also among the hits of the Reno and Smiley years. Reno developed a two-finger “single-string” banjo style that let him play scales and fiddle tunes note for note.
Tracklist
- 1 Charlotte Breakdown 1:49
- 2 Just a Phone Call Will Do 3:03
- 3 Bringin’ in the Georgia Mail alt version 2:19
- 4 Little Rock Getaway alt version 2:46
- 5 The Lord's Last Supper 2:07
- 6 Using My Bible For a Roadmap alt version 2:55
- 7 Reno Ride 2:59
- 8 I'm the Talk of the Town 2:46
- 9 (I'm Gone) Long Gone 2:29
- 10 Gold Digger 1:51
- 11 Country Boy Rock and Roll alt version 2:31
- 12 I Know You’re Married alt version 2:14
- 13 Dixie Breakdown alt version 2:25
- 14 I Couldn't Win 2:25
- 15 He's Coming Back to Earth Again 2:18
- 16 Remington Ride 2:29
- 17 Don’t Let Your Sweet Love Die alt version 2:45
- 18 Trail of Sorrow alt version 2:42
- 19 Limehouse Blues alt version 1:20
- 20 My Mother's Bible 2:46
