Larry Sparks - Coldest Part Of Winter
Product Information
Track List: Coldest Part Of Winter
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- Leavin' MeDownload & Buy
- You Ain't LivedDownload & Buy
- This Old RoadDownload & Buy
- Winter In MiamiDownload & Buy
- Parkway BluesDownload & Buy
- Let's Turn Back The ClockDownload & Buy
- Kentucky MoonDownload & Buy
- He Walked All The Way HomeDownload & Buy
- Our Old HomeDownload & Buy
- Shenanooah MoonDownload & Buy
- Soldier's JoyDownload & Buy
- Lord, Show Me The WayDownload & Buy
More Larry Sparks CDs and Albums
Album Details: Coldest Part Of Winter
- Release Date:
- 02/18/2003
- Label:
- Rebel Records
- UPC:
- 032511178626
User Reviews: Coldest Part Of Winter
-
Fine new bluegrass with very traditionally-based messages
, August 10, 2003Reviewer:
Joe Ross - See all Joe Ross's reviews
read all (1) user reviews for Coldest Part Of Winter
Pro Reviews: Coldest Part Of Winter
| EXPERT RATING: From AMG Reviews It seems apt to release Larry Sparks' The Coldest Part of Winter in the middle of February. It's also an interesting coincidence that the Virginia-based Rebel released the album during the 2002-2003 season, one of the coldest Southern winters in recent history. One imagines a certain comforting warmth, however, in a new album by one of bluegrass' most steady hands. Listeners will not find anything radically different on Sparks' latest outing, and that is as it should be. Instead, listeners will find what they've come to expect: fine picking, vibrant vocals, and a lyrical emphasis on the values of the past. Mandolinist Scott Napier, banjoist Josh McMurray, bassist Matthew Madden, and fiddler Michael Cleveland join Sparks for a dozen traditionally based songs/instrumentals. Most of these pieces, like "Leavin' Me" and "This Old Road," only run for two to three minutes, meaning that the emphasis is placed on the songs themselves and that the instrumental accompaniment primarily works to underline the songs. This leaves Sparks' voice, which is as fine and steady as always, front and center on lovely pieces like "Winter in Miami" and "Let's Turn Back the Clock." For Southerners and traditional bluegrass lovers suffering from cabin fever, The Coldest Part of Winter should provide just the right tonic. - Ronnie D. Lankford Jr., All Music Guide |
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Larry Sparks Biography
Larry Sparks has said that he's the youngest old-timer around, and the self-description is an apt one. Emerging from the Stanley Brothers' Clinch Mountain Boys band, Sparks carried on with the sounds created by bluegrass music's first generation. His...Full Larry Sparks Biography
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-- ©2008 All Media Guide, LLC
album's first seven tracks. The supercharged "Leavin' Me" opens the album in the same lonesome way that Sparks kicks off many of his live shows. Another penned by Warwick, "You Ain't Lived," is a nostalgic look at the joys of country life. "Winter in Miami" has a country bounce, provides the inspiration for the album's title, and tells us that "the coldest part of winter is good-bye." Old love letters, crickets chirping, the moon shining, the smell of honeysuckle, and stars twinkling recall the simple things of love in "Let's Turn Back the Clock." Bill Monroe would have been proud of Napier's instrumental composition, "Parkway Blues." Sparks' flatpicking kicks off "This Old Road," a David Norris song of a rambler returning home. Norris' "He Walked All the Way Home" is a ballad of a Civil War soldier returning home to start his life again, and Norris' "Our Old Home" has a familiar bluegrass theme with its testament to the hard work of a farming family and encroaching development. The album closes with a Sparks original, "Lord, Show Me The Way," a drifter's plea for direction to the beautiful home "somewhere beyond the sky." Sparks and his band have another winner with this album that also showcases two-time IBMA fiddler of the year Cleveland, as well as some fine new bluegrass songs that convey some very traditional messages. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now) ...