Took Down and Put Up
Lonesome Day Records
www.lonesomeday.com
www.larrycordlecordle.com
We have been waiting for the release for quite sometime now. Listening to the single release Rough Around the Edges a single release on Prime Cuts of Bluegrass last year has kept us Cord Fans with a taste of wanting more from Larry Cordle and the Lonesome Standard Time. Took Down and Put Up 13 tremendous cut cd album has now arrived and I could write a book on all the music that Larry and the Band have brought to us in this wonderful look at a man, his music and his life.  If you didnt know what Larry Cordle was all about you will get and close look when you hear the tunes on this ne cd. He takes you on an adventurous trip through his life from childhood friends to the love of his family and his family roots in Kentucky.  He thrills you with  his feel for various genres of music which he embraces and folds into the music that is the root of his being, and that of course being Bluegrass music. Larry and the Lonesome Standard Time made up, of some of the best talent that an artist like Larry Cordle would want to surround himself with Mike Anglin, Booie Beach, Kristin Benson, Chris Davis, Kim Gardner all contributes enormously to this creative work of art.  From the start to the end, Larry Cordle has partnered with others who have penned great tunes over the years or included songs others that he holds in high regard such as Jim Rushing who Larry refers to as his mentor and is in his top five list of songwriters. Jim wrote the first song on the album I Cant Lose What I Never Had, which Booie Beach had recommend to him.  If you where listening to country music back in the early 90's you will remember it from the all girl country group Wild Rose.   Another of the tunes on the album that does not have the Larry Cordle name on it is The First Train Robbery I have been playing this on my show for a couple months now and thank the folks at Lonesome Day for getting me a pre-release for air play with my interview I did with Larry.  Written by the a Texas to California transplant like myself Chris Stuart, its a great tale of the olewest and the first train robbery.  Larry with his roots deep in  Kentucky told me on our visit a few months back that he wanted a coal miner tune on this album as a tribute to all those that we have lost over the last few years.  So, he team up with the great J.P. Pennington who has penned many a fine country song over the years, and they came up with Hole In The Ground where they write about the job being a dirty job but the money is clean. There is also a instrumental tune that the band does a grand job on Plum Sideways which Booie Beach teams up with Kim Howard Gardner to write. Thirteen songs all award winners sing about lies to old cheaters which you must have to have a good Bluegrass album. I mentioned at the beginning of this that Larry writes about friends during his childhood, he does that by including a tribute to Keith Whitley in Song For Keith Larry was his friend during his teen years.  And another song about his Oldest and longest friendship Don Smith The Hero of the Creek  who he regrets he could have finished and recorded before his long time friend passed away. I am drawn to is the very last one on the album A Visit with Uncle about the family cemetery that he and his family visit each thanksgiving. It reminds me of the trip I made to a family cemetery a few years back also in Kentucky. Thank you Larry for sharing this album with us, and also show a small part of your life, which as made you the fantastic musician and songwriter you are. Hope everyone head out a picks this CD up, it is truly one of a kind.