Orange Blossom Special

Orange Blossom Special, composed by Ervin Rouse(see liner notes) and Chubby Wise, is my song of the weekend. I was first introduced to the Johnny Cash version when I was in college and I bought a Best of Johnny Cash Tape. It is one of my favorite Cash songs. His version is slower than other versions but it contains some amazing harmonica and saxaphone solos. The next version, I found on a CD called Appalachian Stomp: Bluegrass Classics, performed by the Stanley Brothers. It is much harder and faster with some insane fiddling. The last of my favorite versions of this song is part of a two-song combo by Blueground Undergrass, called Red Haired Boy/Orange Blossom Spatial. This is from the Album, Live at the Variety Playhouse Atlanta, GA 7/10/99. In looking around on the internet, one reviewer informed me that some refer to their music as "Hick Hop". This is a 15 minute jamboree that gets me out of my seat in a hurry. While the Red Haired Boy portion of this song is some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard, it's the Orange Blossom Spatial part where the band really goes off. By the way I did spell Spatial correctly as the band put their own spin on it. Also I did have the opportunity to see these guys play in Little Rock at Juanita's several years ago. It was excellent.
Another version by Roy Clark on this site plays automatically when you CLICK HERE (if you just click once here, this is it) and there is a MIDI version at this site.