It’s been oft remarked of Balsam Range that one of their great strengths is the number of lead vocalists in the band. True, they recently lost Darren Nicholson and Buddy Melton, but gained Alan Bibey and Don Rigsby.
Their latest single, Virginia Girl, features founding guitarist Caleb Smith, who both wrote and sings this song, about a loved one back home that makes work-related travel an especially troublesome necessity.
An interesting side note is that Caleb initially recorded this one more than a decade ago for a solo album that never materialized.
He described how it went down.
“In 2013 I was putting together some tunes for a solo album, and Patton Wages was my first call to help me with his killer banjo playing. I first met Patton at Everett’s Music Barn in Suwanee, GA around 2005, and I immediately was a fan. We became friends and stayed in touch. He became Balsam Range’s first call if Marc Pruett ever needed to miss a gig, and Patton always filled Marc’s great picking with greatness of his own.
I wrote Virginia Girl in March of 2013, and it was slated to be on my solo album, along with God Knows, The Touch, a few more originals, and a few standards. Along with Patton, Aaron Ramsey, Adam Steffey, and Nicky Sanders helped me create the album.”
What he doesn’t mention is that Patton’s banjo track was so strong that the Range wanted to salvage it for this single, as a tribute to the masterful musician we lost when Wages suffered a sever stroke in 2021. Fortunately he survived the stroke, and has recovered much of the function he lost at the time, but returning to form on banjo isn’t ever likely to happen.
So after cutting the new track for Virginia Girl, Caleb and engineer Clay Miller worked in the studio to blend what Marc played with Patton’s original banjo part, and Smith says that they are delighted with the result.
“It worked flawlessly, as if it were meant to be!”
Also on the cut are Tim Surrett on bass, Alan Bibey on mandolin, and Don Rigsby on fiddle. Don and Tim handle harmony vocals.
See what you think.
Virginia Girl is available now from Mountain Home Music at popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.
