Eddy Raven With Carolina Road

Raven, born Edward Garvin Futch in Lafayette, Louisiana, began recording in 1962 and wrote songs in Nashville before making records of his own for ABC, Elektra, RCA, Universal and Capitol. His run of hits came between 1984 and 1990, when he had six number one singles on the Billboard country chart, the first of them “I Got Mexico” on RCA in 1984 and another “Bayou Boys” in 1989. Carolina Road, from Garner, North Carolina, is a traditional bluegrass band led by the mandolin player and singer Lorraine Jordan, recording mostly for Pinecastle; its 2012 album had brought in Tommy Long as lead singer and guitarist, with Ben Greene on banjo.

On All Grassed Up the band was Long on guitar, Greene on banjo, Jordan on mandolin, Goforth on fiddle, guitar and mandolin, and Jason Moore on bass, with Jordan and Goforth singing harmony behind Raven, and with Daniel Aldridge on mandolin on two tracks and Ken Berrier on lap steel on “Island.” The twelve songs go back across Raven’s career: “Thank God for Kids,” first issued on ABC in 1976; the Elektra singles “I Should Have Called” and “Who Do You Know in California” (1981); the RCA singles “I Got Mexico” (1984) and “Operator, Operator” (1985); and “Bayou Boys,” “Sooner or Later” and “Island,” released on Universal and Capitol in 1989 and 1990. Alongside them are the title song, “Too Wet to Plow,” “Good Morning Country Rain” and “Rollin’ in My Sweet Baby’s Arms.” Pinecastle released the album on 21 July 2017.