Charlie Moore & Bill Napier - Spectacular Instrumentals

(King K-1014/KS-1014) 1967
Reissued in Japan (Gusto-Starday VIP-5071(M)) 1978.

---

This all-instrumental album was apparently recorded at King on 18 Nov 1964^[1] but wasn't released until nearly three years later in Oct 1967.^[2]

Backing musicians included three former CMB's: Henry Dockery, Jimmy Williams, and Paul 'Moon' Mullins. Jim Williams was responsible for recommending Bill Napier to the Stanley Brothers, and of course Bill was the first CMB to play lead guitar for the band (after Charlie Cline had played lead guitar on their Nashville 29 Aug 1954 session). According to Bill, the band hit upon using lead guitar when he was putting a new set of strings on Carter's guitar and began to pickout Bill Monroe's Rawhide.^[3]

Bill plays lead guitar on all six cuts on Side One and the first track on Side Two, with his banjo handy-work on the remaining five cuts. His guitar style is mainly 'mandolin' style flat-picking with some cross-picking/arpeggios.

Several tracks are rollicking up-tempo numbers with blistering guitar & fine fiddle work by Paul 'Moon' Mullins, but to my ear they also sound quite similar, lacking distinctive melodies or chord progressions.

Big Daddy's Blues is (I think) a re-working of the vocal track Big Daddy Of The Blues which was Moore & Napier's first 45 recording together (American 45-101) in Nov 1960. Or at least the melody sounds similar! (NB: The tune is unrelated to Curly Ray Cline's tune Big Daddy Blues from his 1971 LP They Cut Down The Old Pine Tree).

Steppin' High also has a boogie-woggie feel with a rare bass break included in amongst the fiddle/guitar work.

The style of the painting used on the cover is similar to one used on the 1967 Stanley Brothers compilation Sing The Best-Loved Sacred Songs Of Carter Stanley, with the heads of Moore & Napier, crudely cut and pasted from the LP sleeve for The Best Of Moore & Napier.

• Charlie Moore: guitar
• Bill Napier: banjo
• Henry Dockery: bass
• Jimmy Williams: mandolin
• Paul 'Moon' Mullins: fiddle

Other artwork / related images:

[1] Personnel and recording date given in the 'Thirty Years Ago This Month' section (p6) of the November 1994 edition of 'Bluegrass Unlimited'.
[2] 'Thirty Years Ago This Month' section (p6) of the October 1997 edition of 'Bluegrass Unlimited'.
[3] Bill was unsuccessful with his first audition in Bristol for the Stanley Brothers, but after a few months practice he joined the band. Ivan M. Tribe & John W. Morris - "Bill Napier: Creative Instrumentalist", p20-21 Jan 1980 edition of 'Bluegrass Unlimited'.