Mickey Newbury - Rusty Tracks [1977]

Newbury hooks up with Bobby Bare as a producer and puts out Rusty Tracks, a record full of pedal steel guitars, fiddles, cut time rhythms, and lyrical darkness.


01. Leavin' Kentucky
02. Makes Me Wonder If I Ever Said Goodbye
03. Bless Us All
04. Hand Me Another Of Those
05. People Are Talking
06. Tell Him Boys
07. Shenandoah (Arr. Mickey Newbury)
08. The Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)
09. Danny Boy
10. In The Pines (Arr. Mickey Newbury)


Credits:
Buddy Emmons (Guitar (Steel)), Buddy Emmons (Keyboards), Bobby Bare (Producer), Mickey Newbury (Guitar), Mickey Newbury (Vocals), Buddy Spicher (Fiddle), Lloyd Green (Guitar (Steel)), Laurie London (Percussion), Laurie London (Drums), Phil Baugh (Guitar), Bobby Wood (Keyboards), Larry Gatlin (Voices), Buzz Cason (Voices), Marilyn Hill Smith (Strings), Joseph Allen (Bass), Lea Jane Berinati (Voices), Hayword Bishop (Percussion), Hayword Bishop (Drums), Thomas Brannon (Voices), Johnny Christopher (Guitar), Bobby Emmons (Guitar (Steel)), Bobby Emmons (Keyboards), Rita Figlio (Voices), Janie Fricke (Voices), Don Gant (Voices), Ronnie Gant (Producer), Bobby Hardin (Voices), Yvonne Hodges (Voices), Jim Isbell (Percussion), Jim Isbell (Drums), Dave Kirby (Guitar), Wilfred Lehmann (Strings), Brent Maher (Engineer), David McKinley (Engineer), Terry McMillan (Harmonica), Ann Migliore (Strings), Alan Moore (Arranger), Alan Moore (Conductor), Alan Moore (Keyboards), Alan Moore (Voices), Farrell Morris (Percussion), Farrell Morris (Drums), Ron Oates (Keyboards), Al Pachucki (Engineer), Lynn Peterzell (Engineer), Tom Pick (Engineer), Kathryn Plummer (Strings), Norbert Putnam (Bass), Eberhard Ramm (Horn), Eberhard Ramm (French Horn), Cindy Reynolds (Harp), Billy Sanford (Guitar), Pamela Sixfin (Strings), Steven Maxwell Smith (Strings), Henry Strzelecki (Bass), Donald Teal, Jr. (Strings), Bobby Thompson (Banjo), Bobby Thompson (Guitar), Gary VanOsdale (Strings), David Vanderkooi (Strings), Bill Vandevort (Engineer), Duane West (Voices), Bergen White (Voices), Reggie Young (Guitar), John Allan Catching (Strings), Susie Galloway (Voices), Larrie Londin (Percussion), Larrie Londin (Drums), Bill Harris (Engineer), Frederick Edward Weatherly (Composer)





Newbury hooks up with Bobby Bare as a producer and puts out Rusty Tracks, a record full of pedal steel guitars, fiddles, cut time rhythms, and lyrical darkness, for his first album for ABC/Hickory. This concentration on one music and its classic themes and rougher-edged production proved to be as great as anything he had done since his early records. "Makes Me Wonder if I Ever Said Goodbye" answers in true loner fashion his early '70s classic "She Never Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye," and the whispering gospel prayer "Bless Us All" takes the darkness Newbury held so firmly in his grasp and opens it up for all of us to be a part of; it expresses our own longing and wish for fulfillment. But it's the close of the album that knocks the listener out of her chair. Mirroring his own "American Trilogy" of half a decade before, Newbury strings together -- once more without seams -- four pieces of classic Americana with breathtakingly gorgeous arrangements: "Shenandoah," "That Lucky Old Sun," "Danny Boy," and "In the Pines." On this set, the orchestra appears and Newbury's singing is as good as anybody's ever was. He doesn't merely sing these songs -- he is them, a part and parcel of the fabric of the notes themselves and what they represent. Just when Americans were trying to forget who they were by embracing European disco and punk rock as well as dumbed-down versions of both country and jazz, Newbury reveals -- much to his own commercial detriment -- who and what we are as a nation. There is no more stunning finish to a Newbury record -- maybe anybody's record. : ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide