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The Goins Brothers - A Tribute To The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers

(Jessup MB-139) Dec 1973

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Recorded in Feb 1973 in Jackson Michigan, in the same session (I presume) as the Ralph "Joe" Meadows Rejoins Bluegrass With The Goins Brothers LP^[1].

The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers were one of the original bands that pre-dated the 'big-bang' of bluegrass, but were early adopters of the country bluegrass sound, with a stunning catalogue of recordings for Cozy/RCA Victor & later Starday labels. They'd become defunct in the early '60s, so missed out on the resurgence of interest in bluegrass and the burgeoning '70s festival scene. At the time this LP was recorded in 1973, only two sides of theirs had been reissued in the US, so there was potentially a decent demand for this 'tribute' LP, which included two of the long-standing 'Pine Fiddlers, Ray & Melvin Goins...

Nowadays you can pick up the original LPF recordings on CD, so the need for a 'tribute' is somewhat lessened. In particular, The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers - 'Windy Mountain' (Bear BCD-16351-AH) 1992, CD anthology of original Cozy/RCA Victor material is absolutely essential listening...

The original Lonesome Pine Fiddlers in 1938 consisted of brothers Curly Ray Cline (fiddle) and Ireland 'Lazy Ned' Cline (tenor banjo), Gordon Jennings (guitar) plus their older cousin Ezra Cline (bass). Ned was killed 1st August 1944 during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France & in Mike Paxton's liner notes the album is dedicated to his memory. By 1949 the group consisted of Bob Osborne (guitar), Larry Richardson (banjo), Ray Morgan (fiddle) and Ezra Cline (bass) & had made the transition to a bluegrass sound. In the summer of 1951 Bobby Osborne and Larry Richardson had moved on and Curly Ray & Charlie Cline both rejoined on fiddle/banjo, with Paul Williams on vocals. Charlie then went to play with Bill Monroe & Ray Goins was recruited. Other personnel changes took place, but the first session to feature Melvin Goins was in 1954, after Ezra had reformed the band with the Goins brothers and Curly Ray Cline.

The material chosen for the tribute record spans 1952-1962 with ten of the twelve tracks from the classic 1952-1954 period. Only I Walked To The River and Up The Country are from the later 1961-1963 tenure with Starday.

The Tribute album a more polished affair than the original LPF recordings, but just as enjoyable.

Interest in the band spawned a feature cover for The Goins on the May 1974 edition of 'Bluegrass Unlimited' and an article on the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers/Goins Brothers by Ivan Tribe.

• Melvin Goins: guitar
• Ray Goins: banjo
• Harley Gabbard: dobro
• Ralph "Joe" Meadows: fiddle
• Leslie Sturgill: bass

^{[1] Art Stamper was apparently first in line for the project. In the August 1983 feature in 'Bluegrass Unlimited' there's a quote from Art where he says:- "Melvin called me to play on an album in early 1973... I couldn't go, so Joe Meadows played. It was the 'Tribute to The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers' album on Jessup".}