Up in the High Country (Hay Holler HH-CD 1340, 1998) was Big Country Bluegrass’s second Hay Holler album, after the self-titled Big Country Bluegrass (1997). Tommy Sells and his wife Teresa formed the band in Troutdale, Virginia, on 7 January 1987. Larry Pennington, who agreed to play banjo when the band was formed, stayed with it for fifteen years.
The band on the album is Tommy Sells on mandolin, Teresa Sells on rhythm guitar, Pennington on banjo, Jeff Michael on fiddle and lead guitar, and Alan Mastin on bass, with Tommy Malboeuf credited on fiddle as well. Michael sings lead and tenor, Teresa Sells lead and harmony, and Pennington lead and baritone. It was recorded at Eastwood Studios in Cana, Virginia, produced by the band with Wes Easter, and mastered by David Glasser.
Most of the songs come from two writers. Roy McMillan wrote the title song, “Coal Mining Man,” “There Ain’t No Sun Shining in My World,” “Saturday Night at the Hoedown” and “I’d Face It Like a Man,” and co-wrote “Lone Grave on the Hill” with Michael. Michael wrote “Dreaming of the Hills,” “He Gave His Life,” “Why Must You Leave” and “I’m Going Back to Carolina,” as well as the instrumental “Reeves Waltz.” The other tracks are “Charlotte Breakdown,” credited to Bill Monroe and Tom Ewing and played as an instrumental, Jimmie Rodgers’s “Traveling Blues,” and Joe Stuart’s “A Lonesome Road to Travel.”
Tracklist
- 1 Up in the High Country 2:13
- 2 Coal Mining Man alt version 3:40
- 3 Lone Grave On the Hill 3:09
- 4 Charlotte Breakdown 2:17
- 5 There Ain't No Sun Shining in My World 3:34
- 6 Dreaming of the Hills 2:23
- 7 Traveling Blues 2:54
- 8 He Gave His Life 2:26
- 9 Why Must You Leave 3:00
- 10 A Lonesome Road to Travel alt version 3:31
- 11 Saturday Night At the Hoedown 2:32
- 12 Reeves Waltz 2:45
- 13 I'm Going Back to Carolina 2:46
- 14 I'd Face It Like a Man 3:10
- 15 Gonna Wash My Hands 2:21
