My Favorite Recordings: Red Smiley with the Bluegrass Cut-ups E-mail
Written by Steve Brandt   
I have been asked to review an album that I liked or had a significant effect on me.  Of the thousands of recordings and hundreds of LP's, 45's 78's, CD's, cassettes and reel tapes I have listened to over the last 45 years or so, I’ll review the first record I remember really listening to as a child at age 3-4 years old.  It was an old album my dad really liked, he played it over and over again.  I learned to really like it as well, and it still plays in my mind all the time.

 

The album is Red Smiley with the Bluegrass Cut-Ups, recorded on Rural rhythm records, RRRS 182, under Sage brush music, BMI. It has 20 good songs on album.  The band was formed after Don Reno and Red Smiley split up.  The core band consisted of Red Smiley, Clarence “Tater” Tate (fiddle), Billy Edwards (banjo, bass, vocals) and John Palmer (bass, guitar).  Other musicians would sometimes perform with the Bluegrass Cut-Ups.
 
Some of my favorite cuts on this album are "Budded On Earth To Bloom In Heaven" Which really touched me at my early age since my own brother had just drowned a year or two earlier. Death was a reality at that age for me, and I imagine maybe my dad played that record so much because of this song as well. "A Prisoner's Dream" stuck in my mind for many years after. I often dreamed how awful it would be to be sleeping in a prison cell.  Seems like there were many songs about prison cells to follow after first hearing this record.



 
I wanted to share this record with you folks to help describe how dear and important bluegrass music has been to me all my life. It taught me about a lot of things especially in my early life including, love, trains, death, sorrow, train robbers, men who shot other men, ladies, uncles, mother and dad, Jesus Christ, Satan and God among other things that were REAL! .  It has been a real sense of reality for me through music, bluegrass music.  I hope it has a positive effect on you as well.

Track List
 
Editor's Note: The Tennessee Cut-Ups preceded the Bluegrass Cut-Ups and included Don Reno. When Smiley left the band it became the Shenandoah Cut-Ups.
Comments (4)
  • 06/16/2010 Jerry Oland  - Red Smiley and the Shenandoah Cutups
    The review caught my attention, because it's a pretty rare recording. Red Smiley only had that band for a short time before he stopped performing. The Shenandoah Cutups later recorded other albums, without Red, for Paul Gerry's Revonah label, which was where I recorded an album. Hershel Sizemore was the mandolin player (Rebecca), and Tater Tate was the fiddler. Later on Tater played bass and fiddle with Monroe. Billy Edwards, the banjo player, was famous for being able to sing and play the banjo at the same time. John Palmer was a great bass player who had played with Reno & Smiley for many years. I saw that band play at my very first bluegrass festival, Labor weekend, Watermelon Park, Winchester, VA.
    Look at the photo carefully. Mac Wiseman was their booking agen! Cool........
    Reply
  • 03/30/2011 CTay  - Red Smiley
    SAGE BRUSH MUSIC (BMP Or BMD)
    Box 521 Arcadia Calif
    ARR. Unlcle Jim O'Neal

    My question is, are you farmiliar with the Letters BMP or
    is it BMD? These letters are on a record presented by
    RURAL RHYTHM
    RED SMILEY AND THE BULE GRASS (CUTUPS- that is how
    it is spelled on album cover.
    A LEE SUTTON PRODUCTION R.R.R.S. 211-A
    (SAGE BRUSH MUSIC


    TRACKS
    • A1) DIRTY DISHES
    • A2) I ONLY WANT A BUDDY
    • A3) DEAR OLD DIXIE
    • A4) LET THE REST OF THE WORLD GO BY
    • A5) ROCK ABOUT MY SARAH JANE
    • A6) OLD PAL OF YESTERDAY
    • A7) WHEN OUR LORD SHALL COME AGAIN
    • A8) THE DYING SOLDIER
    • A9) GARDEN IN THE SKY
    • A10) LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE
    • B1) I NEVER SEE MAGGIE ALONE
    • B2) RED WING
    • B3) PHILADEELPHIA LAWYER
    • B4) PRAYER BELLS OF HEAVEN
    • B5) TAKE YOUR BLUES AND GO
    • B6) CONEY OS;E
    • B7) JUST TELL THEM THAT YOU SAW ME
    • B8) THE OLD GOSPEL SHIP
    • B9) MY FARM IN LOUISIANA
    • B10) BRING IT ON DOWN TO MY HOUSE
    Reply
  • 03/30/2011 Lynn Lipton  - BMP
    It's some kind of bi-monthly charting of music.
    http://www.sagebrushmusicpublishing.com/?page_id=2
    Reply
  • 04/01/2011 CTay  - Thank you for your reply
    I still don't know if it is BMP or BMD. Do you know?
    Reply
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