Lester Flatt’s Pickin’ Time is now at your fingertips. The Bluegrass great’s final album, recorded in 1978 alongside his acclaimed backing band The Nashville Grass, has been remastered and made available in a digital format for the first time ever. Reissued by CMH Records, Pickin’ Time boasts an impressive collection of tender ballads, inventive instrumentals, and country bluegrass hits of old.
Pickin’ Time was released nearly a year before the legend’s passing in 1979 and features the help of some of the bluegrass genre’s most accomplished players, including Kenny Ingram on banjo, fiddler Clarence “Tater” Tate, guitarist Curly Seckler, and a young Marty Stuart on guitar and banjo.
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“Walking into the Opry with him was like walking into the Vatican with the Pope,” Stuart recently said of Flatt in conversation with American Songwriter. “After one of the first shows I played with Lester at radio station WSM, maybe two or three weeks after I was in Nashville, I remember thinking, ‘You got the gig!’ And I heard this other voice coming up inside my head that said, ‘Now see if you can keep it!’”
Given his tenure alongside the great Bill Monroe and his “Original Bluegrass Band,” his legendary partnership with Earl Scruggs, and his storied solo career after, Flatt himself needs no introduction. The groundbreaking singer-songwriter, guitarist, and mandolinist continues to live on as one of Bluegrass’ most beloved purveyors.
Lester Flatt & The Nashville Grass’ Pickin’ Time is available now to download or stream.
Pickin’ Time Track List
1. “It’s Pickin’ Time”
2. “Goin’ Up On Black Mountain”
3. “I Love You Until I Am Dizzy”
4. “Bluegrass Shuffle”
5. “Cabin On the Hill”
6. “We Don’t Care What Mama Allow”
7. “Uncle Billy Play Your Fiddle for Me”
8. “If You Ain’t Tried It Don’t Knock It”
9. “I’ll Be All Smiles Tonight”
10. “On My Mind”
11. “Auction Sale”
12. “Little Brown Church (In the White Oak Grove)”
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images