New Essex Bluegrass Band

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New Essex Bluegrass Band CD

CD cover Our first CD, Hot Off The Press is now available, containing 18 of our favourite tracks. You can listen to samples of some of the tracks by downloading this file. You can obtain copies from us at one of our gigs, or email Greg Smith on our contact page. The CD is £10 plus £1.50 p+p in the UK.

This CD has been more than a year in the making and contains a mixture of the songs that the New Essex Bluegrass band have played since they were founded, plus some more recently learned material. The CD tracks are:

Cold Wind, True Life Blues, I'll Take The Blame, Solid Rock, Pretending I Don't Care, Remington Ride, The Angels Rejoiced Last Night, That's How I Can Count On You, All I Ever Loved Was You, Till The Day I Die, The Lonesome River, I Cried Again, Lonesome Moonlight Waltz, Hello City Limits, Satan's Choir, How Long Have I Been Waiting For You, Hot Off The Press, Zion's Hill

There is a very flattering review of the CD in the December 2008 copy of Maverick, here is a quote from the final paragraph:

“Despite being an album of eighteen songs, it seems to whizz by. If you want an album that combines some of the best sung harmonies you'll ever find on an album, and I do mean ever, and sounds like it should have been released in the 1940's then I'm very sure Hot Off the Press will not disappoint. Its combination of past classics played with such love for the genre and artists involved is, at times, an emotionally moving experience.”

Other CDs

Before Greg played with the New Essex Bluegrass Band, he was part of The Radio Cowboys which featured Pete Sayers. Greg has some of the Radio Cowboys CD: “Riding the Airways on a Bluegrass Song”, plus a few of Pete Sayers CD: “Old Mr Crow”. If you were a fan of Pete Sayers alter ego, Dennis of Grunty Fen, we also have a few of his CDs. Contact Greg for more information.

Videos

Cold Wind (2007)

We are very grateful to Chris Richardson who made a video of us playing on a sunny afternoon at the St Julians club in Kent in August 2005 and a second video on August 28, 2006 and yet a third in August 2007. The 2007 is still in a rough form as Chris rushed it out so that Dixon could see it before he headed back to the States.

The first of the three is the 2007 video of Cold Wind. This starts of with some atmospheric shots of the sights and sounds of the Bluegrass Day, including quite a few well-known bluegrassers; see who you can recognise!

Prison Walls of Love (2005)

I think that my favourite moment in this video is the cut to the lady reading a book... In case you are wondering where our banjo player has got to, this was in the period when we were seeking one, before Dixon joined us. There is plenty of Dixon in the other two videos...

If I remember rightly, we had no idea that Chris was making a video, so it was a great (and very pleasant) surprise when it turned up some months later.

Till the Day I Die (2006)

There may be some more video of the band available in the near(ish) future as our Nov 2007 gig at the King's Arms, Saffron Walden was recorded in its entirety. As that was our last gig with Dixon, we are all looking forward to seeing it.

If there is no invitation to play the videos to the left of this text, click here for the 2005 video and here for 2006 and here for 2007 to visit You Tube.

Last updated: Tuesday, 28th April, 2009, GPS