Across the Blue Ridge #156 - Cullen’s Bridge, and Remembering Bill Hicks

Old-time and bluegrass traditions run deep in the foothills and mountains of northwest North Carolina and southwest Virginia.  Mickey Galyean & Cullen's Bridge is an active bluegrass band from the region carrying the torch for the bluegrass sound.  It's named for one of the most highly respected bluegrass banjo pickers of the region – the late Cullen Galyean of Lowgap, NC, who was the father of bandleader Mickey Galyean.  The band's new album, Songs from the Blue Ridge, presents lots of new material, songs and tunes that are energetic, creative, yet clearly within the bluegrass idiom. 

Also this week, we remember Bill Hicks, a founding member of the famed Red Clay Ramblers and the Fuzzy Mountain String Band, both outgrowths of the old-time music revival that gathered steam starting in the mid-1960s.  Bill Hicks died recently at age 75.  We'll hear some of his music with the Ramblers and the Fuzzies. We'll also revisit his thoughts on his early career from his interview with ATBR host Paul Brown at Muddy Creek Music Hall in 2017.  Hicks was there with his group Craver, Hicks, Watson & Newberry.  You may also be interested in this excellent in-depth remembrance of Bill Hicks by Richard Thompson in Bluegrass Today.

We wrap up the show with a great selection of old-time and bluegrass songs and tunes including solo banjo, ballad singing, and gospel.

Playlist

1. Outback
   Mickey Galyean & Cullen's Bridge
   Songs From The Blue Ridge
   Rebel
    
2. The Convict & The Rose
   Mickey Galyean & Cullen's Bridge
   Songs From The Blue Ridge
   Rebel
    
3. John Henry
   Bobby Harrison & Cullen Galyean
   Let Me Fall - Old Time Bluegrass from the Virginia-North Carolina Border
   Folkways
    
4. Heaven's Light Is Shining On Me
   The Stanley Brothers & The Clinch Mountain Boys
   Old Time Camp Meeting Songs
   Gusto
    
5. The Blue Ridge Mountains
   Mickey Galyean & Cullen's Bridge
   Songs From The Blue Ridge
   Rebel
    
6. Sally Ann
   Cullen Galyean
   Let Me Fall - Old Time Bluegrass from the Virginia-North Carolina Border
   Folkways
    
7. Break 1 - Soldier's Joy
   Cullen Galyean
   Let Me Fall - Old Time Bluegrass from the Virginia-North Carolina Border
   Folkways
    
8. Piney Woods
   Bill Hicks
   The Fuzzy Mountain String Band
   Rounder
    
9. Snowbird On The Ashbank
   Fuzzy Mountain String Band
   The Fuzzy Mountain String Band
   Rounder
    
10. Interview - Bill Hicks
    Bill Hicks
    ATBR recording
     
11. Tying Ten Knots In The Devil's Tail
    Craver, Hicks, Watson & Newberry
    ATBR recording
     
12. The Telephone Girl
    Red Clay Ramblers
    Twisted Laurel
    Flying Fish
     
13. Flying Cloud Cotillion
    Red Clay Ramblers
    Twisted Laurel
    Flying Fish
     
14. The Falls Of Richmond
    Fuzzy Mountain String Band
    The Fuzzy Mountain String Band
    Rounder
     
15. Break 2 - Peter Francisco
    Fuzzy Mountain String Band
    The Fuzzy Mountain String Band
    Rounder
     
16. Things In Life
    Jerry Douglas
    Restless On The Farm
    Sugar Hill
     
17. Railroad
    The Bucking Mules
    Smoke Behind The Clouds
    The Bucking Mules
     
18. I'm Never To Marry
    Texas Gladden
    Texas Gladden
    Rounder
     
19. Josie-O
    Adam Hurt
    Earth Tones
    Ubiquitone
     
20. One More River
    Dale Ann Bradley
    Dale Ann Bradley
    Pinecastle
     
21. Hang On
    James Bryan & Carl Jones
    Two Pictures
    Martin Records