The Walls of Time, released on Sugar Hill in 1982, is among Peter Rowan's most fully realized bluegrass statements. Rowan had sung lead and played guitar for Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in the mid-1960s, and the album's title track — a song he and Monroe wrote together during those years — anchors the record as a return to that formative ground. Rowan gathered an exceptional cast around him, including Ricky Skaggs and Sam Bush, players who could meet the material's demands while honoring its roots. His voice, with its slightly weathered grain and folk-singer's phrasing, brings something personal to songs that might otherwise sound like straight homage. The album finds him fully at home in the idiom he absorbed at the source and never entirely left, balancing reverence for the tradition against the restless musical curiosity that defined the rest of his long career.
Tracklist
- 1 Roving Gambler alt version 2:49
- 2 Lone Pilgrim 3:03
- 3 Raglan Road (Dawning Of The Day) 3:50
- 4 Going Up On The Mountain 1:57
- 5 Casey's Last Ride 5:16
- 6 Old, Old House alt version 3:17
- 7 Hiroshima Mon Amour 3:44
- 8 Willow Garden alt version 2:54
- 9 Moonshiner Source Recording 3:03
- 10 Thirsty In The Rain 3:11
- 11 Walls of Time Source Recording 4:35
- 12 Plains Of Waterloo 7:21