“McPeake logged seventy-plus years in the music business…. His credentials are certainly well-established and his love for the music is evident on this recording. May has played with McPeake over twenty years and is a veteran singer/songwriter and champion guitarist. Together, McPeake and May have collaborated to present their versions of songs and arrangements they both love. The tracks were recorded …just two months before McPeake’s 90th birthday. (Well done fellows!) …Included here are “Reuben’s Train,” “My Home’s Across The Blue Ridge Mountains,” and “Leather Britches,” among others…. “Grandpa’s Mule” is the only selection that isn’t an old chestnut. Written by Andy’s wife, Lauren, the song is about her Alabama grandfather’s infamous mule, Betsy… You’ll hear a little of “Flop-Eared Mule” in this one, which should probably bring a smile to your face. Aubrey Haynie adds fiddle work and Tim Dishman is on bass and harmony vocals. As the CD jacket indicates: ‘Heckuva good time!'”- BW, Bluegrass Unlimited
In honor of his dad, Herb, his uncles, Morty May and Phil Licht, and all the others who have served in our nation’s armed forces throughout history, Andy is offering free downloads of his song, My Dad, this Memorial Day.
Lauren (words): I wrote this lyric the first summer we lived in Tennessee, after we have been once through all the seasons. We had moved from Colorado at the end of the previous May with our then 2-year-old, and wild blackberries, which didn’t grow in the part of Colorado where we had lived, were a revelation to us. (So were chiggers, but that’s another story entirely!) Every bit of this song is true: Blackberry picking with our kid and our old black dog became a part of our summers, and blackberry jam became a part of our winters.
Andy (music): When Lauren first showed me this lyric, she asked if I could work in a break using a bit of the old fiddle tune, Blackberry Blossom when I scored it. I worked with it a bit and realized that the structure of her lyric fit Blackberry Blossom perfectly – it just needed a “b part.” Lauren re-worked one of her verses into a b part/chorus and I based the entire melody on Blackberry Blossom – including working in the break that Lauren has asked for.
Several years later, my buddy, Tabby Crabb, made a music video of this song for us. (Below)
Americana and Country Music radio stations across the nation are continuing to play Room for Roots as we head into 2017. “Woman in the Wings” spent 2 weeks at #2 and 8 weeks in the top 10 on Roots Music Report’s Americana Country Song Chart and reached #16 on their overall Country Song Chart. Another original song, “Life’s a Gig,” reached #24…
