You’re Drifting Away

Monroe’s first recording was made at Castle Studio in the Tulane Hotel, Nashville, on 6 July 1951. Carter Stanley sang the lead and Monroe the tenor part; Rudy Lyle played banjo, Gordon Terry fiddle and Cedric Rainwater bass, and Lyle and Terry sang the other two parts of the quartet. Monroe played mandolin and Stanley guitar. Decca released it on 23 March 1953 as the A side of a single credited to Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Quartet, backed with “Walking in Jerusalem.”

Monroe himself returned to it on 17 July 1990 at Digital Recorders in Nashville, for Cryin’ Holy unto the Lord (MCA, 1991), with Ricky Skaggs singing lead. Other recordings include Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers (recorded 1971, issued on Old Homestead’s Thank You Lord, 1976), the Nashville Bluegrass Band on To Be His Child (Rounder, 1987) and Lost & Found on Hymn Time (Rebel, 1988). The Rice Brothers recorded it for their 1989 Rounder album The Rice Brothers, with Tony Rice, Wyatt Rice, Larry Rice, Ron Rice and Bill Emerson on banjo.