Headed for the Hills
Dualtone Music Group
When he was collaborating with Ralph Stanley in 1999 on their duet album “I Feel Like Singing Today,” Jim Lauderdale tracked down Robert Hunter because he had heard the Grateful Dead lyricist was a big Stanley Brothers fan. Hunter agreed to co-write some tunes, and sent lyrics to Lauderdale so melodies could be added. Three songs were written like that: two that ended up anchoring the first Stanley-Lauderdale disc, and a third that surfaced on Lauderdale’s solo album “Onward Through It All.”
When Hunter and Lauderdale finally met face to face the following year in Nashville, they reversed their songwriting process, with Lauderdale creating melodies to which Hunter added lyrics; the pair co-wrote 34 songs over an eight-week period. Two years later, two songs from those writing sessions appeared on a second Stanley-Lauderdale collaboration (2002’s Grammy-winning “Lost in the Lonesome Pines”), but it took four years for an album’s worth to emerge on “Headed for the Hills.” And it was worth the wait.
Intense but restrained, these bluegrass- and old-time-folk-inspired originals transport the listener to other times and/or places. With Hunter handling the storytelling (and man, what storytelling!), Lauderdale — one of the ’90s’ most recorded and most successful songwriters — puts more energy into his twangy drawl and impeccable vocal phrasing.
Oh, and there were a few guests who dropped by to help out: Emmylou Harris, Darrell Scott, Bryan Sutton, Gillian Welch, Buddy Miller, Bucky Baxter, Tim O’Brien, Allison Moorer and Donna the Buffalo, among others.
Tracks
1. High Timberline
2. Looking Elsewhere
3. Sandy Ford (Barbara Lee)
4. Headed For The Hills
5. Trashcan Tomcat
6. Paint And Glass
7. Tales From The Sad Hotel
8. Crazy Peg And Darby Doyle
9. Leaving Mobile
10. Joanne
11. I’ll Sing Again
12. Head For The Sun
13. Upside Down
Total time: 48.3 minutes
External Links
artist’s website
amazon.com
iTunes Store
