The hard driving yet refreshingly modern bluegrass band The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys are pleased to release the final single “Take My Ashes to the River” from their forthcoming album, Never Slow Down, which is avail everywhere on Friday via Smithsonian Folkways. The song was written by Massachusetts-based folk songwriter Mark Erelli, and “the arrangement complements the subject matter with the female voice of our fiddler Laura Orshaw echoing the sick and dying woman’s last wishes to her partner,” says bandleader and mandolinist, C.J. Lewandowski. Erelli, most known for his collaborative work with powerhouse country songwriter Lori McKenna, has proven his ability to shapeshift his wordsmithing into a variety of genres, bluegrass being no exception. The song’s arrangement is yet another example of the band’s unique ability to keep the genre relevant to today’s audience while still being steeped in its past, musically speaking.
“Take My Ashes to the River” is the second single featuring fiddler Laura Orshaw as an official band member. “The song has the feel and lyrical imagery you’d expect from a murder ballad, but when you listen close to the story, it’s actually a complex tale of forbidden love that endured to the very end, when the husband carried out his wife’s final wish,” says Orshaw.
Previously, JamBase premiered the album’s second single “Ramblin’ Woman,” which finds Orshaw stepping up to the center microphone on bluegrass legend Hazel Dickens’ classic tune. In singing the refrain of “Ramblin’ Woman,” Orshaw channel’s Dickens’ inflections with lively energy, standing toe to toe with her male bandmates’ musicianship, leading the charge for women in bluegrass as Hazel did.
Fans can hear “Take My Ashes to the River” now at this link, check out the previously-released track “The Blues Are Close At Hand” right here, and pre-order or pre-save Never Slow Down ahead of its March 25th release via Smithsonian Folkways at this link.
In signing with Smithsonian Folkways, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys have become a part of a nearly century-long legacy of musical celebration and preservation as they join the ranks of the previously mentioned Hazel Dicken, Alice Gerrard, Del McCoury, Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers, Norman Blake, Lead Belly, Doc Watson, Clarence Ashley, and many other innovators of previous eras of bluegrass that have material in the label’s fabled catalog. The band’s nerdom for the genre knows no end, metaphorically or geographically speaking, as Lewandowski went as far as Greece to purchase a mandolin 2 serial numbers away from the instrument Bill Monroe played. He recounted the journey with Fretboard Journal earlier this month, click here to listen.
The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys are gearing up for their next, unwritten phase with an album release tour and spring festival engagements right around the corner (a full list of tour dates can be found below), and carrying bluegrass into the future will always be their number one focus. “The beauty of bluegrass music is not just the tradition of it, but also its constant evolution,” Lewandowski says. “No matter what we do, we’re always going to be honoring something in some kind of way. And that’s because it’s just what we like to do—it’s part of every one of us in this band.”
Never Slow Down Tracklist:
Missing Her Has Never Slowed Me Down
Where Grass Don’t Grow
Lonesome
The Blues Are Close at Hand
When Are You Gonna Tell Me?
Take My Ashes to the River
Little Glass of Wine
Ramblin’ Woman
Woke Up With Tears in My Eyes
Mason’s Lament
Old Time Angels
Catch The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys On Tour:
Apr. 9 – Bristol, VA – Bristol Spring Bluegrass Festival
Apt. 21 – Bowling Green, KY – Lost River Sessions
Apr. 23 – Oakboro, NC – Big Lick Bluegrass Festival
Apr. 30 – Floyd, VA – Floyd Country Store
May 4 – Branson, MO – Silver Dollar City
May 5 – Branson, MO – Silver Dollar City
May 6 – Webster, KY – The Randall Barn
May 7 – Cincinnati, OH – Appalachian Festival
May 26 – McClure, VA – Dr. Ralph Stanley’s Hills of Home Bluegrass Festival
A full list of tour dates as well as ticket information can be found at theporamblinboys.com.
