The Storyteller and the Banjoman is a 1982 Columbia album (FC 37953) by Earl Scruggs and Tom T. Hall, who was nicknamed “the Storyteller.” Scruggs had formed the Earl Scruggs Revue in 1969 with his sons Randy and Gary, retired from the road in 1980, and saw the Revue end in 1982, the year of this album. It was recorded at Scruggs Sound Studio in Nashville.
Hall sings on all eleven tracks. Scruggs plays banjo on most of them; Randy Scruggs plays guitar; Byron Berline plays fiddle; Jerry Douglas plays dobro; Paul Uhrig is on bass, Clyde Brooks on drums and Gene Sisk on electric piano. Gary Scruggs also plays harmonica on two tracks. Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell, the Oak Ridge Boys and Michael Card sing on some of the songs. Hall wrote “The Engineers Don’t Wave from the Trains Anymore” and “There Ain’t No Country Music on This Jukebox,” and shares credit with Scruggs on “A Lover’s Farewell.” The rest are drawn from elsewhere: Flatt and Scruggs’s “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms” and “Don’t This Road Look Rough and Rocky,” A. P. Carter’s “Lonesome Valley,” the Maphis song “Dim Lights, Thick Smoke,” and the Jagger and Richards song “No Expectations.” “There Ain’t No Country Music on This Jukebox” reached number 77 on the country chart and “Song of the South” number 72.
Tracklist
- 1 Song of the South 2:51
- 2 Shackles and Chains alt version 3:21
- 3 The Engineers Don’t Wave from the Trains Anymore Source Recording 2:30
- 4 Don’t This Road Look Rough and Rocky alt version 2:45
- 5 Lonesome Valley 3:00
- 6 Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms alt version 2:37
- 7 There Ain't No Country Music On This Juke Box 2:27
- 8 A Lover's Farewell 2:58
- 9 Don’t Give Your Heart to a Rambler alt version 3:01
- 10 Dim Lights, Thick Smoke alt version 3:52
- 11 No Expectations 3:36
