Artist:The Bluegrass Album Band
Song:Cheyenne
Album:The Bluegrass Compact Disc
Here's a supergroup with some of the most badass musicians on the planet and it was formed by accident. Then they recorded and toured for fifteen years. I just find that terms like supergroup are tossed around way too liberally. But this band is a supergroup. The year was 1980. Banjoist J.D. Crowe was gathering musicians to record an album for singer and guitarist Tony Rice. Musicians were J.D. Crowe on banjo, Doyle Lawson on mandolin, Bobby Hicks on fiddle and Todd Phillips on bass. This 1981 album of bluegrass standards was called The Bluegrass Album. Rounder released it and announced that on future albums, they would be called The Bluegrass Album Band. Rice was credited as producer on all the albums. And they were numbered as Vol. 2, Vol. 3 etc. One major addition to the band on the 1983 album Vol. 3 was Jerry Douglas on dobro. Cheyenne is from the 1984 album Vol. 4. Hicks wrote Cheyenne when he was in Bill Monroe's band. This comp was released in 1986 and it's available on CD. I think that at the time, Rice told Rounder that Vol. 4 would be the band's final album. When The Bluegrass Album Band reformed in 1989, Hicks and Phillips were replaced by Vassar Clements on fiddle and Mark Schultz on bass. That can happen as these guys are very busy. Hicks and Phillips returned for the 1996 album Vol. 6. That's the last time The Bluegrass Album Band recorded. But they did reunite for a 2013 show. Bluegrass fans need to check them out. Here's The Bluegrass Album Band performing Cheyenne on an episode of Nashville Now.
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