Traditional Ties cover

Traditional Ties

Hot Rize

Album · 1985 · Sugar Hill SH 3748

Traditional Ties was Hot Rize’s first album for Sugar Hill, which issued it in 1985 as SH 3748; the band’s earlier records were on Flying Fish. The lineup is the same four players as on the debut: Tim O’Brien on mandolin and fiddle, Pete Wernick on banjo, Charles Sawtelle on guitar and Nick Forster on bass. It was recorded at Colorado Sound Recording in Denver.

O’Brien wrote “Hard Pressed” and “Walk the Way the Wind Blows” and co-wrote “Footsteps So Near” with Forster; Wernick and Frank Edmonson wrote the instrumental “Frank’s Blues.” Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs wrote “If I Should Wander Back Tonight,” and Ray Park wrote “Montana Cowboy.” The rest are traditional pieces, among them “Lost John,” “Hear Jerusalem Moan,” “Working on a Building” and “John Henry,” with Sawtelle credited for the arrangement of the fiddle tune “Leather Britches.”

O’Brien is the lead singer. Forster adds harmony on “Footsteps So Near” and “John Henry,” Forster and Wernick sing harmony on “Hear Jerusalem Moan,” and all four voices join on “Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning.”

Tracklist

  1. 1 Hard Pressed Source Recording Tim O’Brien · key B · 133 bpm 2:36
  2. 2 If I Should Wander Back Tonight Source Recording Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs · key A · 122 bpm 2:38
  3. 3 Walk the Way the Wind Blows Source Recording Tim O’Brien · key F · 60 bpm 3:38
  4. 4 Hear Jerusalem Moan Source Recording Traditional · key B · 109 bpm 2:54
  5. 5 Frank's Blues 2:37
  6. 6 Lost John Source Recording Traditional · key G · 131 bpm 2:32
  7. 7 Montana Cowboy alt version 2:43
  8. 8 Footsteps So Near 4:10
  9. 9 Leather Britches alt version 3:44
  10. 10 Working on a Building alt version 3:29
  11. 11 John Henry alt version 3:12
  12. 12 Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning Source Recording Traditional · key B · 102 bpm 2:46

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