"Fresh Preserves" by Tod Godleski & Buncombe Turnpike

Ever since my second trip to Louisville, Kentucky to attend the International Bluegrass music Association’s World of Bluegrass, I’ve known Tom Godleski.  That year I presented one night of “after hours” music in my suite at The Galt House.  I had planned to have 6 bands that night, but was short by one band.  When I announced that I had an open slot, I was contacted by Tom and Buncombe Turnpike performed that night and the have played every year ever since.  Tom is a prolific songwriter and is very good at taking a true story and making a song.  This CD entitle “Fresh Preserves” is filled with ten original songs by Tom.  Each of these songs was inspired by stories he heard throughout his life.  The first, “The Mountain Duel” is about a man-to-man fight between two “tough guys’ of the nearby county of Madison.  When Tom heard this story about how one man ripped out another’s eye, it stayed with him until this song emerged years later.  The song “Joel Holcombe’s Lament” came from a sad story of the civil war.  “The Ballad of Baldy John & Jake” is a ghost story derived from another incident that occurred during the Civil War.  My favorite song on the CD is “Good and Faithful Servant” written about the lives of two simple and devoted folks of the community.  Track five tells of a kid whose father worked for the railroad and the kids free trips around the country because his daddy worked for the railroad.  This song is nostalgic and filled with fun.  “Lawrence Cole” is another true story sing based on a a true story about a man who came home drunk and mean one too many times.  His only daughter used the gun he taught her
to use to end his life.  The seventh song on “Fresh Preserves” is about a moonshiner,
“Ernest Payne” who rode his horse into the church one election day.  The song “The
Beagle & The Rabbit” is a song about a night out catfishing with the tattooed man from
the circus and the sight they saw that night; a funny story Tom heard as a youth.  The
ninth song here is “Little Omie Wise” tells the sad and true story of the murder of Naomi Wise.  There are many stories that tell of murder based on love and jealousy.  This is a fine ballad that deserves airplay.  The last song on the CD is ‘Aunt Tildy” which is a humorous story based upon an incident where a soldier took a woman’s shoes and how she got them back.  This is a fine CD of ballads, but what makes it special is the many Bonus and unlisted tracks.  After all of the songs there are narratives by many of the old folks Tom heard the stories from and some are told by tom himself to help clarify and bring stronger meaning to the songs in the CD.  Buncombe Turnpike is Tom Godleski, Lead vocals and Bass; Micah Hanks, Guitar; Darren Nicholson, Mandolin; Steve Sutton, Banjo, Tony Reece, Dobro and Don Lewis of Fiddle with Vincent Fogarty on Bouzouki on “Aunt Tildy.”  This is excellent original Bluegrass.