Title: Sorrow's End
Artist: Clack Mountain String Band & Friends
Label: CD Baby
Product Type: COMPACT DISCS
UPC: 634479850738
Genre: Country

The Artists, in order of Appearance: Born in a holler in Eastern Kentucky in one of the poorest counties in the country, John Wezley Haywood saw life differently than children who grew up in more economically developed areas. He lived in an isolated community called Risner that was named for his Mother's family. During this time both Haywood and his community were being changed by outside influences which came into the area by means of mass communication and corporate development. Many of the traditions that had been handed down in the Eastern Kentucky region were forgotten. For a kid, these influences came from the big city where hopes and dreams could come true. Chasing these dreams brought Haywood to the city where the culture shock instilled in him a new appreciation for his Appalachian heritage. Today, from his home in the southeast part of the state, he paints the real Kentucky. His artwork wallows in the stereotypes and pays tribute to lifestyles that make Kentucky and Appalachia one of the most unique and celebrated places in the entire world. The paintings tell stories of hell raising hillbillies, hardened mine workers, mountain musicians and more. Established galleries such as the Cinderblock and Swanson Reed Contemporary in Louisville, Kentucky have carried his artwork. He also sells work through the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft. In June 2006 He received a professional development grant from the Kentucky Arts Council for a solo exhibition in Ashland, Kentucky. In 2007 he received a Grant from the Kentucky Arts Council and Lincoln Bicentennial Commission for his painting of Abraham Lincoln. He is also a juried member of the Kentucky Arts Council's Visual Art at the Market program. Haywood can also be found participating in various arts and music festivals across the region. His work is currently available at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea, and his Knott County-studio. His work has been collected by a variety of folks in and out of state. Environmental biologists, college professors, famous banjo players, disc jockeys, and tattoo artists are all proud owners of Haywood's paintings. As the list grows, so does the demand for his artwork. "I think that with the way things are today, people are looking for work that will connect them to something or someplace. As our culture becomes more and more homogenized, we are loosing many of the characteristics that make us unique," he says. Roy Tackett is a Morehead State University graduate. He has learned traditional music from many of the master oldtime musicians of East Kentucky. Roy has played in The Trough Sloppers and Rich and the Poor Folks. Roy teaches guitar for the Pick and Bow program through Appalshop and has taught 6 years at the Cowan Creek Mountain Music School. Every Monday from 11 - 1pm, Roy is a volunteer DJ for WMMT radio hosting 'Possum Opry.' Jesse Wells comes by it honest as he continues a legacy in his family of musicians, artists, and down right good people. Jesse has been attending fiddler's conventions and festivals since an early age and has been greatly influenced by his father Jaime Wells, who is an old time fiddler. Through his extensive work as an archivist and professor of traditional music, Jesse is becoming known as a fine fiddler in his own right and an all around good source for mountain music. He plays fiddle, banjo, guitar, banjo uke, mandolin and sings harmony vocals for the Clack Mountain String Band and does so with great intensity and a feel for how to drive a song into the next realm. He can also play soft fiddle tunes with a high degree of dignity and sweetness. Jesse was reared in Red Bush, KY and lives today in Morehead. Jesse has taught workshops at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, WA, The Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, IL, Appalshop in Whitesburg, KY and seven years at the Cowan Creek Mountain Music School, Letcher Co, KY. He has also appeared on PBS's Rhythm of My Soul, traditional music documentary and Kentucky Life on KET. Inspired by the people and places that surround them, The Clack Mountain String Band is connected by a common vein that injects a high level of energy into each song. "Folks often ask us to describe the kind of music we play and I guess from a commercial stand point you can call it 'old time' or 'string band' music, but to us it's just music," says Ratliff. Melody lines are played out on the fiddle with accompaniment from the "knock down" banjo and pushed by the vigorous rhythms of the guitar and doghouse, known as "Rowan County Rhythm." Their vocal harmonies are also very distinct and tend to blend seamlessly not only with each other but also with the music. The tunes come from oral transmission, intense listening (thanks to the archives at the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music), hours upon hours of jamming with all of their old time peers, and original compositions. Clack Mountain String Band is vastly influenced by the mountains and rolling hills of East Kentucky and people like Lee Sexton, George Gibson, and their dear friend Art Stamper, whom we all miss very much. On the forefront of a diverse and blossoming music scene in Morehead, Kentucky, CMSB consists of four core members; Karly Higgins, Jesse Wells, J.T. Cure and Brett Ratliff. Check out their CD, Live from the John Jacob Niles Center, and watch for a new release in late 2008. Growing up in Letcher County, Carla Gover has the Appalachians in her blood. This singer/songwriter/dancer has three albums, Pearl, Birds Fly South and Drop in the Bucket to her credit. She is the winner of the 2007 Kerrville New Folk Song Writing Contest and the 2001 Merlefest Chris Austin Song Writing Contest. She plays and teaches banjo and guitar. Brett Ratliff comes from a small coal mining community called Van Lear, KY. Along with banjo, Ratliff also sings, plays guitar, harmonica, "jews" harp, fiddle and bones with the group. He is a founding member of the Morehead Old Time Music Association with whom CMSB works alongside in helping give old time mountain music a presence in the Morehead community and beyond. As a banjo player, Ratliff is rapidly becoming seasoned as a student of life and mountain music, and along with the rest of the Clack Mountain String Band, hopes to put his own experiences and emotions into the music in order to relate with whoever is in earshot. In 2008 Brett released Cold Icy Mountain, his first solo CD. Jamie Wells, is a native and life-long resident of Eastern Kentucky hails from a musical family with roots deep in the culture and history of the region. Jamie played fiddle for two old-time string bands for nearly twenty years, the Bottom of the Barrel Bunch and The Troughsloppers, playing in such venues as The Carter Family Fold, the Berea College Celebration of Traditional Music, the Kentucky Folk life Festival, Appalshop, and the Highlands Folk Festival and appearing in two KET productions and on ABC's Good Morning America. He has taught fiddle classes at the Cowan Creek Music School and Augusta Heritage Old-Time Week as well as workshops at Appalshop. His repertoire includes tunes from the entire Appalachian region, a few modern tunes, and a few compositions of his own. For the past decade, he has been concentrating on learning tunes and technique from recordings of the old masters of Eastern Kentucky fiddling, such as Buddy Thomas, John Salyers, Clyde Davenport, Snake Chapman, George Lee Hawkins, Luther Strong, Hiram Stamper, and J.P. Fraley. He recently retired after a twenty-nine year career as a high school English teacher. He lives with his wife, an artist, and daughter in rural Johnson County. Jamie also plays the banjo and mandolin. John Harrod, (guitar, lead vocals, tenor vocal with Kentucky Wild Horse) has documented, recorded, and performed traditional music for more than 35 years. In the 1970s and '80s, he played with a number of bands such as the Progress Red Hot Strin

Tracks:
1.1 Morgan's March
1.2 All Night Long
1.3 Morehead
1.4 Hell and Scissors
1.5 Flannery's Dream
1.6 Raisin' Hell and Christmas Trees
1.7 The Cool and Foggy Dew
1.8 Shall We Gather at the River?
1.9 Down to the Grove
1.10 Laurel
1.11 Short Life of Trouble
1.12 Sugar Hill
1.13 Sin and Rue
1.14 Step Stone
1.15 Police Man
1.16 Soldier's Joy
1.17 Run Mountain
1.18 On the Mountainside
1.19 Moonshiner
1.20 The Rowan County Crew
1.21 Jubilee

Audio Sample:
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