Chuck Mead has stayed busy since the break up of
BR5-49. He's toured with members of
the Mavericks as the Hillbilly All-Stars, taught at Vanderbilt University, and became the music director for the Tony-winning Broadway hit Million Dollar Quartet. He now leads
the Grassy Knoll Boys, another roots rock outfit, but on
Back at the Quonset Hut he left his
Boys behind and assembled a bunch of studio pros who have been playing sessions since the '60s. Quonset Hut Studios once hosted sessions by
George Jones,
Patsy Cline, and other legends.
Mead re-creates yesterday's hits with a bit of modern panache. The opener,
Roy Acuff's "Wabash Cannonball," features
the Old Crow Medicine Show and tips its hat to the swing of
Bob Wills with
Chris Scruggs adding some tasty
Leon McAuliffe-style fills on steel guitar.
Bobby Bare joins in on "Hey Joe," a
Carl Smith hit, while
Jamey Johnson adds his gravelly baritone to a hard honky tonk take on the
George Jones hit "You Better Treat Your Man Right," with fine twangy guitar from
Mead. On his own,
Mead is just as impressive turning in solid versions of
Del Reeves' lascivious truck-drivin' classic "Girl on the Billboard,"
Carl Perkins' "Cat Clothes,"
Hank Williams' "Settin' the Woods on Fire" (sung in a high tenor that mirrors
Williams' soulful yelp), and
Johnny Horton's "Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor" (with solid piano work by
Hargus "Pig" Robbins).