Variations (Rebel Records REB 1669) is a studio album from Mark Newton, Rickie Simpkins, Ronnie Simpkins, and Sammy Shelor — four Virginia-based traditional bluegrass musicians who assembled as an ensemble quartet to present the traditional and original bluegrass material that each had developed through their individual careers in the Appalachian acoustic community. Newton plays guitar and sings; Rickie Simpkins plays fiddle and mandolin; Ronnie Simpkins holds the bass; and Shelor plays banjo and sings. Rebel Records, the front Royal, Virginia label that had documented the traditional bluegrass sound across multiple decades, provided the natural home for a Virginia-rooted ensemble whose collective performing experience ran through the same regional tradition the label had always championed. The album presents the foursome's ensemble work with the directness and technical precision their individual reputations had established.
Tracklist
- 1 Tall dark stranger 2:29
- 2 Denver 3:39
- 3 No one to love me now 2:47
- 4 I'll be going to Heaven sometime 2:42
- 5 Late night cry of the whippoorwill 3:17
- 6 In the morning 2:53
- 7 Memories of home 3:33
- 8 I’ve Just Seen the Rock of Ages alt version 4:25
- 9 You're gonna miss me 3:09
