Jerry Douglas organized the Earls of Leicester in 2013 to present the music of Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and their Foggy Mountain Boys, and this self-titled debut, produced by Douglas, came out on Rounder in September 2014. The name plays on the English city of Leicester, which is pronounced “Lester.” Douglas has said he first saw Flatt and Scruggs perform when he was about seven years old.
The lineup on the record is Douglas on Dobro, Shawn Camp on guitar, Charlie Cushman on banjo, Tim O’Brien on mandolin, Johnny Warren on fiddle and Barry Bales on bass. Warren is the son of Paul Warren, who fiddled with Flatt & Scruggs from 1954 until the partnership ended in 1969, and O’Brien took the mandolin parts and sang the harmony lines Curly Seckler had sung. The sessions were held at Ocean Way Nashville, Studio A, and the recording is dedicated to Seckler.
The fourteen tracks draw on writers well beyond Flatt and Scruggs themselves. “Dig a Hole in the Meadow” is credited to Flatt and Scruggs, “Dim Lights, Thick Smoke” to Joe and Rosa Lee Maphis with Max Fidler, “The Wandering Boy” to A. P., Sara and Maybelle Carter, and “Who Will Sing for Me” to Carter and Ralph Stanley; “Shuckin’ the Corn” is an instrumental. At the 2015 Grammy Awards the album won Best Bluegrass Album, with the Earls of Leicester and engineer and mixer Bil VornDick listed on the award.
Tracklist
- 1 Big Black Train alt version 2:47
- 2 Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down alt version 2:11
- 3 I’ll Go Stepping Too alt version 2:58
- 4 Shuckin’ the Corn Source Recording 2:06
- 5 Till the End of the World Rolls Round alt version 2:36
- 6 Dig a Hole in the Meadow alt version 2:22
- 7 Some Old Day alt version 3:43
- 8 I Won’t Be Hanging Around Source Recording 2:11
- 9 I Don’t Care Anymore alt version 2:37
- 10 On My Mind alt version 2:46
- 11 You’re Not A Drop In The Bucket 2:28
- 12 Dim Lights, Thick Smoke alt version 3:15
- 13 The Wandering Boy alt version 2:40
- 14 Who Will Sing for Me alt version 2:32
