For those who haven’t heard, Billy Strings is cooking up a brand new bluegrass project alongside his dad, Terry Barber, the man who taught him the ropes of bluegrass music.
Titled Me/And/Dad, the project is slated to drop on November 18th via Rounder Records, and it’s a compilation of the two’s favorite bluegrass tunes they’ve grown up loving to play.
So far, they’ve released some stellar versions of George Jones’ “Life To Go,” and the bluegrass traditional, “Long Journey Home.”
Strings recently weighed in on the new record:
“As long as I can remember, I wanted to make a record with my dad. I’ve been burning up and down the highways the last 12 years, and as time slips away, you start thinking, ‘I need to make time.’
It’s been a bucket list thing for me, something I’ve been afraid I wouldn’t find the time to do. And that scared me; not doing this record scared me.”
With that being said, the duo released their latest single today, and it’s none other than Lawrence Hammond’s “John Deere Tractor.”
Although written by Hammond, it was recorded and made popular by Larry Sparks in 1980, and was the title track for his album. The Judds would later record it for their 1984 debut EP, Wynonna & Naomi, and then again for their final album, Love Can Build a Bridge, in 1990.
The song is a beautiful message from a son to his mother, discussing what life is like away from his family for the first time, comparing himself to a “John Deere tractor in a half acre field.”
Check it out:
