TRACK TWELVE -- "Bottomland" (Leigh Gibson)
We have wanted to record "Bottomland" for years. We actually did record it on the album we did with Ricky Skaggs that was never released. That version was more country with percussion, steel guitar, baritone electric, accordion, etc. It was lush and beautiful and sounded like it should be on a movie soundtrack. Leigh always held up Skaggs' version on a pedestal and felt we couldn't touch it on our own. I knew at its core that it's a special song and would be wonderful even stripped down with a guitar or two. I didn't want to load this song up with all kinds of big production on a bluegrass record, but it's one of my favorite songs, an important song even. I said, "What would Tim O'Brien do?" That seemed to spark something in Leigh, and drove us to do a more old-timey treatment. I am so glad we did. "Farm Of Yesterday" is my tribute to our upbringing, and "Bottomland," though not strictly biographical (we were farmers, not sharecroppers), is Leigh's. Did I mention the boy can sing?