Fred Eaglesmith

In 2002, acclaimed bluegrass singer James King took Fred Eaglesmith’s “Thirty Years of Farming” to the top of the bluegrass song chart. And now other noted bluegrass acts such as Ralph Stanley II and Blue Moon Rising have also recorded Eaglesmith songs.

King first heard “Thirty Years of Farming” when some of his Canadian fans played him the song some 10 years ago. “They said: here’s something you could do bluegrass. And I said, you know, I could, couldn’t I?” He suggested the song to his producer, Rounder Records co-founder Ken Irwin, but at the time it didn’t register. Then some three years later, Irwin independently made the same suggestion to King.

The number ended up as the title song to King’s 2002 album, and topped the Top 30 Bluegrass Songs chart compiled by Bluegrass Unlimited for two months. On his next album, Bluegrass Storyteller, King also recorded Eaglesmith’s “Flowers in the Dell.”

“I’m a big fan of his songs,” says King. “I’m definitely going to cut another one of them.”

Another new fan of Eaglesmith’s work is Ralph Stanley II, who recently recorded Eaglesmith’s song “Carter,” an elegy for Carter Stanley, Ralph II’s uncle and the late brother and musical partner of his father, bluegrass pioneer Ralph Stanley. The younger Stanley immediately knew it was a number he should record when it was played for him by Randall Deaton, owner of Lonesome Day Records, as a suggested number for Stanley’s debut album for the label (due out in Spring 2008).

“When he played me the song it just blew my mind to hear it,” says Stanley, whose singing has often been compared to his uncle’s voice. “It sort of felt like it was intended to come to me. I’m sure glad Randall played it for me because it’s a great song.”

Deaton feels like it was a twist of fate that he came across the song.

“About a year ago I was up in Maine on my honeymoon and caught an Eaglesmith show, and loved his stuff. I’d never heard him before. I talked to him after the show, and he later sent me a bunch of CDs. We were looking for material for Ralph’s new record, and I listened to his albums and stumbled across this song ‘Carter,’ and it was obviously perfect for him,” says Deaton. Since then, another act on Lonesome Day, Blue Moon Rising, has also recorded an Eaglesmith number, “Freight Train” for a forthcoming album due out this year.

Since recording “Carter,” Stanley has become an Eaglesmith admirer. “I hadn’t heard Fred’s stuff until Randall played it for me. Now that I’ve discovered him and been listening, he’s written a lot of great songs,” says Stanley, who expects to record more of them in the future.

For Eaglesmith, the covers are a dream come true. “From the time I was a kid, I always wanted to be a respected bluegrass songwriter,” he says.