Dark tales of disaster have always been an important part of the bluegrass songbook, and Balsam Range has always known a good one when they’ve seen it. Case in point: the award-winning group’s latest single for Mountain Home Music Company, “The Pacific.”
“It’s kind of a Bluegrass version of the ‘Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,’” says the group’s bassist Tim Surrett, who pulls double duty on the dobro. He’s referring to the legendary — and fact-based — shipwreck tale spun by celebrated singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, and it’s an apt comparison, as the Daniel Salyer-penned ballad gets off to a foreboding start:
Me and Frankie Taylor, two young’un’s full of dreams
‘Pacific’ steamer headed south on the path of the New Orleans
Eighteen years behind us with a lifetime still ahead
On a bad stretch of the river, gettin’ good at cheatin’ death
“This song has everything I like,” he adds. “A great story, great melody and chord progressions, and a great delivery by Caleb and Don.” And indeed, Caleb Smith (guitar) and Don Rigsby (fiddle) offer a haunting duet as the story unreels, punctuated by solos from each, as well as mandolinist Alan Bibey and Surrett’s dobro. Eschewing a conventional verse-chorus structure for the more appropriately archaic ballad form, “The Pacific” churns like the river at its center until its chilling conclusion:
Some never see tomorrow, some make it back to dock
Ain’t nothing left but a sunken hull on a point called Highland Rock
Sleeping beneath the water, but she don’t sleep alone
The ‘Pacific’’s in the boneyard, and the river rages on
“This was a song that just seemed to musically fit everybody in the band all at once,” concludes Surrett. “Caleb especially has a real gift for a delivery on a song like this. The depth of the story was really appealing, too — you could almost make a movie out of it!”
"The Pacific" is streaming Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL. Listen to it HERE.
