The Magnificent Music Machine (Mercury SRM-1-1111, 1976) is the album Tom T. Hall made with a band of fiddles, banjos, mandolins and dobro. Jerry Kennedy produced it at U.S. Recording Studio in Nashville over three dates, 15 June and 13–14 July 1976, with a large cast: Charlie Collins, James E. Johnson and Ray Edenton on guitars; Kenny Baker, Johnny Gimble and Buddy Spicher on fiddles; J.D. Crowe and Bobby Thompson on banjo; Jodi Drumwright, Bill Monroe and Donna Stoneman on mandolin; Gene Bush on dobro; and Bob Moore and Henry Strzelecki on bass. The session sheets add a vocal chorus, and the album credits list Jimmy Martin among the singers.
Monroe’s mandolin is documented on his own “Molly and Tenbrooks,” cut on 13 July with Thompson on banjo, Baker and Spicher on fiddles and Buddy Harman on drums. Hall wrote five of the eleven songs, among them “Bluegrass Festival in the Sky” and “The Fastest Rabbit Dog in Carter County Today”; the others include John Prine’s “Paradise,” the traditional “Rank Stranger,” and the title song by his brother Hillman Hall.
The single was Tony Hazzard’s “Fox on the Run,” a British hit for Manfred Mann in 1969, backed with “Bluegrass Festival in the Sky” (Mercury 73850). It reached number 9 on the Billboard country chart, and the album peaked at number 11 on the country albums chart. Copper Creek reissued the album on CD in 2004.
Tracklist
- 1 Fox on the Run alt version 2:04
- 2 Paradise alt version 3:15
- 3 Mama's Got The Catfish Blues 2:10
- 4 Bluegrass Break Up 2:25
- 5 I Don't Want My Golden Slippers 2:47
- 6 Molly and Tenbrooks alt version 2:18
- 7 The Fastest Rabbit Dog In Carter County Today 2:09
- 8 I'll Never Do Better Than You 2:37
- 9 Magnificent Music Machine 2:16
- 10 Rank Stranger alt version 3:08
- 11 Bluegrass Festival In The Sky 2:23
