Traveling Light was released in 1971 on Rebel Records (SLP-1500) by Cliff Waldron & the New Shades of Grass. It was recorded at Roy Homer & Associates in Clinton, Maryland. Waldron plays guitar and sings lead; Ben Eldridge is on banjo, Mike Auldridge on dobro and twelve-string guitar, Dave Auldridge on mandolin, Bill Poffinberger on fiddle and Ed Ferris on bass. On the vocal tracks Dave Auldridge sings tenor and Mike Auldridge baritone.
Waldron was born in Jolo, West Virginia, in 1941 and settled in the Washington, D.C., area in the early 1960s, where he worked with banjoist Bill Emerson as Emerson & Waldron. After Emerson rejoined the Country Gentlemen in 1970, Waldron formed the New Shades of Grass. Two of the players on this album, Mike Auldridge and Ben Eldridge, were also founding members of the Seldom Scene, which started in Bethesda, Maryland, the same year.
The twelve tracks mix country and folk-rock songs with bluegrass material. Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through the Night” opens the album. Merle Haggard is represented by “Silver Wings” and a second song, and Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” is here too. Carter Stanley’s “Nobody’s Love Is Like Mine” comes from the bluegrass repertoire, and Mike Auldridge contributed an original, “Rock Bottom.” Two of the twelve tracks are instrumentals, “Bill Cheetham” and “Red Apple Rag.”
Tracklist
- 1 Help Me Make It Through The Night 2:34
- 2 Then I'll Miss You 2:08
- 3 Falling Leaves 3:15
- 4 Rock Bottom 3:24
- 5 Silver Wings 2:55
- 6 Bill Cheetham 1:37
- 7 Ice Covered Birches 2:36
- 8 Nobody’s Love Is Like Mine alt version 2:26
- 9 Close The Door Lightly When You Go 2:46
- 10 Sunny Side Of Life 2:29
- 11 You Ain't Going Nowhere 3:20
- 12 Red Apple Rag 1:59
