An Old Song, A Definitive Performance

Junior Sisk, solo, displaying the effortless vocal technique and pure mountain soul that inspired IBMA voters to name him Male Vocalist of the Year. This is an old song and often-covered, but I don’t think I’ve heard anyone ever do it better. This is “He Died a Rounder At Twenty-One”.

Obsessing over this performance lately: Junior Sisk's soulful, melismatic vocal; Joey Cox's lean, mean banjo fills; the bluesy trio harmonies, the cinematic fiddle playing -- it all adds up to some perfect bluegrass.

But there's much more going on here than music. I notice that, when the townsfolk search through "plans and deeds and records", they find that the railroad doesn't have the right-of-way at all. If the titular character -- or his father -- had known that, a life might have been saved.

So, this is what happens when ignorance and brute force take the place of information and education -- not that that's relevant these days. :-(

This is BlueRidge, featuring Junior Sisk, with "Shotgun".

Junior Sisk (that’s him in the vest) joins a band that’s been getting a lot of traction lately – Jeff Brown and Still Lonesome.

The tune is a Ralph Stanley classic, and everybody digs down deep to wring every last ounce of emotion from it. Just listen to those mandolin and fiddle breaks, and imagine how close to home this comes for Mr. Sisk. He sings this thing like somebody broke up with him just before he hit the stage.

This is “All I Ever Loved Was You”.

I don’t hear enough Junior Sisk.

He’s one of the few singers who brings the raw, soulful quality of bluegrass music’s first generation, forward into the 21st century.

Both Bill Monroe and Doc Watson recorded this one back in the day. Here’s Junior Sisk, paying tribute with “Highway Of Sorrow”.

If you want proof that beauty is not synonymous with perfection, just listen to this ragged-but-right vocal by Junior Sisk.

A lot of people will resist the sentiment expressed in these lyrics, and that’s probably a healthy thing. Most of us only have the experience of relating to other people – no better and no worse than we are. If we promise ourselves this way to other folks, regardless of relationship, we open ourselves up to abuse of all kinds. If we promise ourselves this way to corporations, groups, ideologies, or nations, genocide is almost a given.

The tragic, scary thing is that, more often than not, when people promise themselves this way to other folks, to corporations, groups, ideologies, or nations, they believe they are promising themselves to God. It’s no easy task to tell one from the other; one has to tread carefully every damn day.

Maybe that’s what Jesus meant when he commanded his followers to take the narrow way.

This is Junior Sisk & Rambler’s Choice with, “The Lowest Valley”.

Junior Sisk, Joe Mullins, and Don Rigsby cover The Stanley Brothers. The quality of the video is less than stellar, but these vocalists are the cream of the bluegrass crop.

Junior and Joe have been touring to support their tribute to the pioneers of the genre, “Hall of Fame Bluegrass”. With Rigsby’s able assistance, they do the Stanleys proud on “White Dove”.