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Ernie Thacker - The Chill Of Lonesome

(Crosscut CR-1145) 2001 / (Doobie Shea DS-CD 2004) 2002

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Together with The Hangman this CD is one of Ernie's finest, at least to my ears. By this point in his career, like Keith Whitley, Charlie Sizemore and Larry Sparks, Ernie had developed his own distinctive sound and his soulful vocals had matured and blossomed beyond the limitations of the CMB lead vocal role.

Recorded at Doubie Shea's studios the production/sound by Tim Austin and Dan Tyminski is perfect. Ernie had been on Doubie Shea's radar since helping to record the fine Stanley Tradition: Tribute To A Bluegrass Legacy and 'The Stanley Gospel Tradition: Songs About Our Savior' CD's, and the sound here is equally superb.

Rather than including Ernie's "Route 23" band, backing on this CD is provided by a stellar crew including Dan Tyminski, Ron Stewart, Adam Steffey and Ben Isaacs. The songwriting is similarly impressive with heavy hitters like Junior Sisk contributing to three numbers, plus Jerry Wiliamson, Ronnie Bowman and Don Rigsby. Just one track is a cover, an imaginative version of Bill Monroe's classic Highway Of Sorrow.

Two of the standout tracks, Little Piece Of Land and Momma Preached And Daddy Plowed reflect on family life, while Whiskey And Women is pure 'honky tonk' bluegrass, worthy of Charlie Moore. Ernie had previously recorded Whiskey And Women on his Backbone Job CD, but the newer version is a tad smoother and incorporates some tasteful dobro licks by Rob Ickes.

Other tracks like the title cut The Chill Of Loneseome, Your Own Brand Of Misery and Another Piece Of My Heart deal with relationships problems, and Old Barn harks back to a time when people took a sense of pride in craftmanship and helped their neighbours.

The album garnered a good review in the April 2003 edition of 'Bluegrass Unlimited', with Dick Spottswood commenting: "Every selection benefits from Thacker's fine voice and his strong yet understated delivery. The beautifully merging instrumental and vocal lines of such notables as Tyminski, Adam Steffey, Ronnie Bowman and Rob Ickes are just more to like about a very likeable CD".

My copy of this one is on the Crosscut label but other sources including the 'Bluegrass Unlimited' review use the Doobie Shea release details. I'm not sure which came first.