Larry Sparks - The Last Suit You'll Wear

(McCoury Music MCM-0004) 2003.

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This album was the first to be recorded on the McCoury Music label by an artist other than the Del McCoury / Del McCoury Band. Several guests appear on the recording including J.D. Crowe, Stuart Duncan, Ron Stewart, Randy Kohrs, Don Rigsby, Hargus 'Pig' Robbins and Del McCoury. The CD was also co-produced by Don Rigsby and recorded at Skaggs Place Studio, Henderson, Tennessee.

With the regular Lonesome Ramblers (Jack Kincaid, Josh McMurray & Larry D. Sparks) augmented by the stellar guest list, the song arrangements are quite lush, but the CD doesn't sound over-produced. Songwriting is similarly diverse with nine compositions from a handful of songwriters, a couple from Larry Sparks, and a choice old nugget in the form of Ted Daffan's Texans 1941 ditty Those Blue Eyes Don't Sparkle Anymore (also feautured by Hank Snow on his radio show in the '50s).

Unusally for a Larry Sparks release, the album doesn't have any catchy radio-friendly songs which get lodged in your mind after a few listens. The songwriting however is strong, with tunes about love (Pretty Girls, Hand In Hand and For Your Love), the Christian faith (Lazarus And The Rich Man, Follow The Star), plus fairly typical efforts about The Old Coal Mine and Casualty Of War.

Larry's Larro is quite unusal being an uptempo Mexican inspired instrumental... and Goodbye Little Darlin' is a re-recording of Larry & his sister Bernice's song from Ramblin' Bluegrass.

The Last Suit You Wear a slow country track, with smart lyrics. It's one of three songs to feature Hargus 'Pig' Robbins, the acclaimed Nashville session musician on piano. (The others being Hand In Hand and For You Love)

Following on from 40 with it's guest collaborations, (usually a sign of a career on the wane) this album is a strong effeort and well worth picking up.

• Larry Sparks: guitar, lead & baritone vocals
• J.D. Crowe: banjo
• Stuart Duncan: fiddle
• Jack Kincaid: mandolin, tenor vocal
• Randy Kohrs: dobro
• Del McCoury: tenor vocal
• Josh McMurray: banjo
• Don Rigsby: mandolin, tenor & high baritone vocal
• Hargus 'Pig' Robbins: piano
• Larry D. Sparks: bass
• Ron Stewart: fiddle, banjo

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