FROZEN IN TIME (Eric Gibson) -- About the only good that comes out of feeling out of sorts is that some of my best songs have been written when I've been in that frame of mind. In an otherwise excellent review, a writer said that we'd have been on every jukebox in America if we'd been born 30 years sooner. That weighed on my mind when I was working on this one. Our bad economy was all over the news around that time and I remember turning to my wife and saying, "Maybe folks aren't going to have any use for bluegrass musicians. Maybe I'm a dinosaur." I'm feeling much more optimistic now and I'm very proud of this song. I think it's the first time 'dinosaur' has made its way into a bluegrass song! Leigh's son Jack is going through a big-time dinosaur phase and makes Leigh play this song over and over again to hear that line.
HE CAN BE FOUND (Ira and Charlie Louvin) -- Leigh and I are huge Louvin Brothers fans. I loaded my iPod with the Bear Family boxed set and this one came on in the van while on shuffle one day this past summer. We hadn't heard it in awhile, so we played it again before shutting the stereo off and singing it ourselves. we recognized that the blend was working and that we needed to record it. Leigh and I think it might be some of the best harmonizing we've ever recorded. We were sad to lose Charlie Louvin about a month ago, but what a legacy those two brothers have left behind!
SINGING AS WE RISE (Joe Newberry) -- We went to the Joe Newberry well once again after the success of "Jericho" and I Know Whose Tears" from our previous record. I thought this song had a real Stanley Brothers feel and I know no one who knows the Stanleys better than Ricky Skaggs. We are so honored to have Ricky on this track. I think this song has a real tent revival sound. I know that I felt like shouting when we were listening to the mixes, and I still do when I hear this cut.