1. Wandering Boy (Out in the Cold World)
Among the very first recordings made by the Carter Family during the 1927 Bristol Sessions.  Sara Carter's singing continues to be inspiring to me, particularly on this song.

2. Little Glass of Wine
Written by the Stanley Brothers

3. Railroad Blues
Written by country blues guitarist Sam Mcgee.

4. Wild Goose Chase
From a 1929 recording by West Virginia fiddler, Clark Kessinger.

5. Let Us Be Lovers Again
From a 1937 recording by Bill and Charlie Monroe

6. No Never No
The song was described as an "old ballad" in the 1909 songbook Heart Songs. Alice Gerrard wrote the melody, taught it to us, and graciously gave us permission to record it.

7. Coming Up the Pike
From Springfield, Missouri fiddler and friend, Art Galbraith

8. My Old Cottage Home
I had the memory of the great Arkansas singer Almeda Riddle singing the chorus of this song in the back of my mind for a long time. I guess I had either heard her sing it live, or on a recording (as it turns out--Rounder 0017).  Finally, I found it on How Firm A Foundation (Arkansas Traditions 003), a tape she had made at the Ozark Folk Center in 1985, the year before she died.  On the tape she claimed that My Old Cottage Home was the very first song she had ever learned, at the age of four years.

9. Brown's Ferry Blues
Though the song is usually associated with the Delmore Brothers, we learned it from a 1934 recording by Sam and Kirk McGee.

10. Lonesome Polly Ann
Jim learned the tune from a tape of an old recording: Fiddle Tunes Ozark Style by Missouri fiddler Lonnie Robertson.

11. The Death of Edward Hawkins
It is unknown if Edward Hawkins himself actually wrote this song prior to his hanging for the murder of two men in Estill County, in east-central Kentucky in 1857.   While in prison, Hawkins did write a lengthy confession detailing his misadventures as a bigamist, thief and murderer.  The confession is excerpted in the notes to the recording Dr. Ginger Blue by Asa martin and the Cumberland Rangers; our source for the song.

12. Meet Me By the Moonlight
From the Stanley Brothers.  We added a verse from W. K. McNeil's collection Southern Mountain Folk Songs.

13. White Man
From R. P. Christeson's collection of midwestern fiddle tunes The Old Time Fiddler's Repertory, Volume II.  The tune is attributed to Bill Katon, a black fiddler from Calloway County, in central Missouri.

14. Shamus O'Brien
A waltz common among Missouri fiddlers, though I associate it mainly with Art Galbraith, probably because he taught us the tune.  I learned the words from Vance Rudolph's collection Ozark Folk Songs, and sang it many times with Art, who would never end a playing session (if I was present) without saying to me, "Sing Shamus."  According to Randolph, Shamus O'Brien was composed by William Shakespeare Hayes in 1867.  W. S. Hayes wrote hundreds of songs, including Nobody's Darling on Earth and Little Old Cabin in the Lane.

Notes by Kim Lansford

Kim Lansford:  Guitar and vocals
Jim Lansford:    Guitar, violin, mandolin, banjo, and vocals

Recorded at The Sound Farm,
Nixa, MO (Spring, 1997)
Engineer: Rick Davidson
Photography: Steve Betts
Design and Layout: Melanie Betts