Charlie Moore & Bill Napier featuring Johnny Dacus - Tennessee Mountain Fiddle

(Old Homestead OHS-90067) 1981

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This is a fiddle album with Johnny Dacus being backed by Charlie Moore and the Dixie Partners. Bill Napier appears as one of four guitarists on the album, although there's little information on who plays on what track, other than a note that Billy Constable plays guitar on the first four songs. There are three lead guitar breaks on the LP with the one on Liberty presumably being by Billy Constable. The other two on John's Fiddle Blues and Gloryland March are I guess are by Bill Napier.

Johnny Dacus played with Moore & Napier on their 1966 LP Country Music Goes To Vietnam. He also played on some of Charlie Moore's mid-70s LPs on Old Homestead.

Ivan M. Tribe's liner notes on the rear sleeve give quite an extensive background to Johnny's musical career, which mentions him spending time with The Osborne Brothers & Jimmy Martin, although I don't believe he appears on any of their recordings.

The album is a decent enough fiddle LP, but nothing to really shout about, with the best work being the fast tracks like Devil's Dream and Liberty. Johnny switches to guitar for the comedy piece I've Been Framed, which is also quite amusing... His vocal drawl & sense of humour being similar to Chick Stripling.

Banjo work is part Scruggs / part Bill Keith style melodic picking.

• Johnny Dacus: fiddle (a)
• Billy Constable: guitar(b)
• Nolan Faulkner: mandolin
• Ben Green: banjo
• Charlie Moore: guitar
• Bill Napier: mandolin
• Charles Partin: bass
• Virgil Shouse: bass
• Tony Stubbs: 2nd guitar

NB: (a) guitar on Framed. (b) on the 1st four songs.

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