If any one album summed up one of the most successful bands in bluegrass, any genre really, it would be The Story We Tell by Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers. Released today on Rebel Records, this latest project is the band’s sixth in seven years for bluegrass music’s most historic record label, and brings together a vibrant collection of songs that when heard, work together like chapters from a well-worn literary classic.
Filled with new songs from some of today’s top songwriters including Larry Cordle, Jerry Salley, Ronnie Bowman, Steve Bonafel, and Raleigh Satterwhite, alongside forgotten gems the band dusted off from such varied sources as The Delmore Brothers, Merle Haggard, and The Browns, the balance achieved on The Story We Tell flows through the speakers like tuning in to your favorite radio broadcast — a claim only befitting of the reigning IBMA Broadcaster of the Year, Joe Mullins.
“We gathered a very diverse set of songs, heavy on new material from great writers, allowing us to tell several types of stories — tales of fun, family, fiddlers, faith, felons, and one funeral … real bluegrass,” said band leader and banjo player Joe Mullins. And if the lead off track and first single, “Long Gone Out West Blues,” is any indication, the album is poised to do well with radio programmers. Released the latter part of June, “Long Gone Out West Blues” debuted on Bluegrass Today’s Top 20 Songs chart, maintaining a strong presence five consecutive weeks.
Featuring Mullins alongside bluegrass veterans Mike Terry(mandolin), Jason Barie (fiddle), Randy Barnes (bass), and Duane Sparks (guitar), The Story We Tell showcases the band’s most inventive and innovative arrangements to date, both vocally and instrumentally on 12 tracks. With an approach to the music that rings with authenticity, the band secures a rightful place among the traditional guard of bluegrass while standing comfortably shoulder to shoulder with more progressive type artists who find themselves drawn to not only JMRR’s music, but their down-home, likable nature. In the album’s liner notes, journalist Craig Havighurst brings The Story We Tell and its authors to one solid conclusion: “Joe and his superb band with its diverse strengths and multiple lead vocalists have patiently carved out a special place in the national scene. They’ve won some awards that you can look up, though fewer than they deserve and fewer than they will over time. What matters more is that Joe’s steady contributions and excellent performances are accumulating, year in and out. So is a larger story of an artist who’ll tend to traditional music for decades, something we very much need as the genre widens. Just remember that Joe and his band mates are standing sentinel over something even more profound than the cultural creation we cherish as bluegrass. They’re giving us all tuneful, truthful reasons to have faith in the future of the country.”
The Story We Tell is available to radio programmers via AirplayDirectand to consumers for digital download at iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon. Consumers may also order The Story We Tell direct from Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers at www.radioramblers.com.
The Story We Tell Track Listing (August 18, 2018)
Long Gone Out West Blues
The Last Old Shovel
Songs That Will Get ‘Em
I Could Have Gone Right
If I’d Have Wrote That Song
Neighbors
I Heard That Train
In The Short Rows Now
I’m Nowhere Bound
Would You Care
The Fiddle Man’s Delight
When God’s In It
About Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers
With a presenting sponsor in Rue Farms Rustic Potato Chips™, Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers (JMRR) will find themselves on nearly 100 stages across the country and into Canada in 2017, delivering first class entertainment and being deemed one of the busiest bands in bluegrass. They’ve consistently delivered authentic, chart-topping and crowd-pleasing music, as evidenced by multiple International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) awards and Grand Ole Opry appearances on their resume, and will enjoy a feature in Bluegrass Unlimited magazine this fall. Fronted by the IBMA’s 2016 Broadcaster of the Year, Joe Mullins “could be termed a double-threat in the music business,” writes Chuck Dauphin for Billboard magazine. “Musically, he is one of the top bluegrass acts in the business along with his band, but he also is one of the top radio personalities in the genre. Spend any amount of time with him, and you’ll be in amazement at his vocal chops — whether singing or announcing.” And with personalities that match their music, the entire band is beloved by long-time fans and those just learning of the group’s music. “Mullins and the Radio Ramblers do not rollick to a style that mimics first generation bluegrassers from Bill Monroe to the Stanley Brothers,” stated journalist Tom Netherland in a recent concert review. “Mullins forges his own musical way. He found a theater full of believers in Bristol. His music brought them in, nailed them to their seats and prompted thunders of applause from song to song. So goes the music of substance.”