Twenty Years of Grass, released in 2007 on Hay Holler (HH-CD 1379), came twenty years after Big Country Bluegrass formed on 7 January 1987, and it is the band’s tenth release for the Blacksburg, Virginia, label. The band is built around Tommy Sells on mandolin and his wife Teresa Sells on rhythm guitar. Lynwood Lunsford plays banjo and Alan Mastin bass, Jeff Michael plays lead and rhythm guitar and fiddle and sings lead on many tracks, and Billy Hawks adds fiddle on several. Johnny Williams sings on several tracks, leading two of them. The band produced the album with Wes Easter, who also engineered it, and it was recorded at Eastwood Studios in Cana, Virginia.
The album has sixteen tracks. Five are by Michael (“The Sinner’s Dream,” “Jealous Pride,” “Quarry Road,” “Alone Again Tonight” and “Pretty Little Woodpile”). The rest are covers, including Bill Monroe’s “Watermelon on the Vine” and “You’d Better Get Right,” Charlie Monroe’s “I’m Old Kentucky Bound” and “Walking with You in My Dreams,” and Doc Williams’s “Willie Roy (The Crippled Boy).” Vocal leads are shared among Michael, Teresa Sells, Williams and Tommy Sells, with Lunsford often singing the baritone part.
The band plays what many know as Galax- or Mount Airy-style bluegrass. It took its name from the title of a Jimmy Martin song, signed with Hay Holler in January 1997 and recorded for Mountain Roads in 2008 and later for Rebel Records.
Tracklist
- 1 Now I'm Going Home 2:41
- 2 If You Don't Have the Heart 2:43
- 3 The Sinner's Dream 4:10
- 4 Jealous Pride 3:30
- 5 I Just Want to Grow Old Lovin' You 2:22
- 6 Quarry Road 3:51
- 7 Alone Again Tonight 3:01
- 8 I'll Just Pretend 2:45
- 9 Watermelon on the Vine Source Recording 2:15
- 10 Willie Roy (The Crippled Boy) 3:36
- 11 I'm Old Kentucky Bound 3:01
- 12 Never Again alt version 2:07
- 13 Walking With You in My Dreams 3:21
- 14 Rollin' On 1:56
- 15 Pretty Little Woodpile 2:54
- 16 You’d Better Get Right (Little Darlin’) alt version 2:07
