September 8, 2023 — Balsam Range is a group with deep roots in the natural beauty of their western North Carolina home — it’s evident from their name alone — so it’s unsurprising that, when they came across a catchy, well-crafted song that calls out irresponsible over-development, the quintet would seize on the chance to make it their own. Having done so, it’s also no surprise that the resulting single for Mountain Home Music Company, “We’ll All Drink Money,” embeds its concern for preserving the rural landscape in a driving bluegrass treatment that underlines why the award-winning quintet remains among the music’s best-loved artists.
Sung by Caleb Smith, “We’ll All Drink Money” establishes its dark mood from the opening notes of fiddler Buddy Melton’s kick-off. Underpinned by Tim Surrett’sgrowling upright bass, pulsating rhythm guitar from Smith, and the metallic ringing of Marc Pruett’s banjo, Smith establishes the narrator’s voice as that of a cynical profiteer who’s heedless of the damage he’s inflicting:
Why build one when you can have two?
Why go around when you can go through?
Nobody’s looking, nobody cares
And if they do, cut ‘em a share
Forget about tomorrow, why ask why
We’ll all drink money when the well runs dry
Solos are passed around among the group — Pruett, IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year nominee Alan Bibey, Melton and Smith — to punctuate the song’s verses, while the trio of Smith, Melton and Surrett tackle each one’s refrain in a muscular demonstration of why Balsam Range is nominated again for IBMA Vocal Group of the Year. Recapping the opening verse in a clever arrangement that loops around to the song’s opening questions, Balsam Range ends with a quintessentially ‘grassy outro that puts the banjo at center stage for its closing notes.
““My Grandfather gave me the idea for this song years ago during a conversation about new home developments during a bad Georgia drought,” recalls writer Adam Wright, who also helped pen the group’s recent chart-topping single, “What The Years Do.” “It’s about greed and short-sightedness. He said the builders made a fortune and that he reckoned they’d all drink money because there sure wasn’t any water. He would be pleased and proud to hear Balsam Range doing this song. As am I!”
“We’ll All Drink Money” is streaming in Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL.
Listen to it HERE.
About Balsam Range
Balsam Range is Buddy Melton (fiddle, lead and tenor vocals); Dr. Marc Pruett (banjo); Tim Surrett (bass, dobro, baritone and lead vocals); Caleb Smith (guitar, lead & baritone vocals); and Alan Bibey (mandolin). The 2018 International Bluegrass Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year, Balsam Range, has become one of the genre’s most award-winning acts. Since forming in 2007, the group has garnered 13 IBMA awards on the heels of 13 critically acclaimed albums. Balsam Range has left audiences spellbound while headlining major festivals from coast-to-coast, selling out venues across the nation and in multiple appearances at the Grand Ole Opry. The band collaborated with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra Ensemble to record 2 albums, the second of which, Mountain Overture, debuted on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart at #5 and the Classical Crossover Chart at #6. Their album Mountain Voodoo debuted at #4 on the Billboard Bluegrass Albums Chart and remained on that chart for 45 weeks. Three singles from that album reached #1 on the Bluegrass Today Chart, including “Blue Collar Dreams,” which spent three consecutive months at the top. The follow-up album, Aeonic debuted at #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart and spent 46 total weeks on the chart. The album featured hit songs like “The Girl Who Invented The Wheel,” “Get Me Gone” and “Angel Too Soon.” The band most recently claimed the #1 radio chart spots with their singles, “Richest Man,” “Grit and Grace,” “Rivers, Rains and Runaway Trains,” “Santa Barbara” and “Highway Side” all from their latest album (#13 for the band,) 2021’s Moxie and Mettle. In addition to winning Entertainer of the Year, Balsam Range vocalist Buddy Melton won IBMA’s Male Vocalist of the Year and bass player Tim Surrett won IBMA’s Bass Player of the Year in 2018.