Originally released in 2018, the album contains a half-dozen new Kathy compositions, an original instrumental from KKB member Tom Bekeny, distinctive covers of numbers learned from Bill Monroe, the Carter Family, and Bob Wills, plus a couple of unique interpretations of traditional songs. Reviews, testimonials, and airplay available at www.kathykallick.com/horrible-world.html

All song notes by Kathy Kallick, except as noted.

Ride Away
Kathy Kallick (Red Shirt Pub. Co./BMI)
A rollicking bluegrass romp of a story song. It is not a story about an "anti-hero" or anybody with redeeming qualities. This is a story of a thoroughly evil guy.

Pockets Full of Rain
Kathy Kallick (Red Shirt Pub. Co./BMI)
That winter of 2017 was a killer dark season that brought everybody down so low. The only way to get through was to look for any ray of light.

(It’s a) Horrible World
Kathy Kallick (Red Shirt Pub. Co./BMI)
Thanks to NPR for finding the tiny, happy bits of news to offset the horror from time to time.

Cascade Blues
Michael J. Eisler (BMI)
Mike Eisler wrote this tune on the banjo when he was playing with the Sawtooth Mountain Boys, a band that traveled extensively through the Cascade Mountains, and I thought it would make a great fiddle number. Mike taught me some more cool tunes, and I stole his intro to one of them ‘cause it sounded so perfect for this one! (AS)

Dark As the Night, Blue As the Day
Bill Monroe (Songs Of Universal, Inc./BMI)
I learned this from the guy who made me want to sing bluegrass, Pat Enright. The blues is such an important part of bluegrass, and no one’s as bluesy as Bill Monroe — and Pat.

Solid Gone
(Public Domain)
Lesley Riddle wrote a song he called "The Cannonball Blues,” which was a variant of Charlie Poole's “White House Blues,” incorporating other songs of the era. Lesley was an African-American singer and guitarist who became a close associate of A.P. Carter, accompanying him on numerous “song-catching” trips throughout the Southeast, and is the one who taught Maybelle Carter several guitar techniques. Legend has it that Lesley traded the song’s rights to A.P. for a new prosthetic leg. David Holt says that Doc Watson collected the song from Inez Chandler of Sodom, NC, who called it "Solid Gone.” Ewan McVicar reported on mudcat that many singers in the UK learned the song from Ralph Rinzler, who provided the final two verses in this version. Whew, the folk process!

My Honey Lou
A.P. Carter (APRS/BMI)
This Carter Family song — actually written in 1897 by Frank M. Statia — came to us from Laurel Bliss and her love of the elusive unison notes in duet singing. It's a sweetie!

Boot Heel Drag
Herb Remington (Unichappell Music, Inc./BMI)
First released in 1950 by Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys. It’s said that Bob was jealous of his former steeler Leon Mcauliffe's 1949 hit record, “Panhandle Rag,” and told his new steel player, Herb Remington, “Write me a tune that’s better than ‘Panhandle Rag!’" I am fond of playing them both on the dobro. Having brought “Panhandle” to the KKB for our 2010 album, Between the Hollow and the High Rise, and hundreds of live performances, it made perfect sense to follow in Bob Wills’ footsteps with this tune. (GB)

The Sunday Road
Kathy Kallick (Red Shirt Pub. Co./BMI)
Thanks to Sally Truitt for her inspiring images, keen artistic eye, and generosity of spirit. She titled her photo “The Sunday Road,” and it sure told a story!

Cotton Eyed Joe
Trad., arr. Kathy Kallick (Red Shirt Pub. Co./BMI)
I learned this song from my mother, Dodi Kallick, a prominent folksinger in the 1950s-‘60s Chicago scene. When old recordings of her resurfaced, I discovered the melody I remembered my mom singing is actually the harmony I invented to sing with her! Who knew? I made up some new words, added a bridge, listened to old versions and pondered the story and its problems, and settled on this interpretation. Annie's fiddling reinvigorated the song for me.

Nothin' So Bad (It Can’t Get Worse)
Kathy Kallick (Red Shirt Pub. Co./BMI)
Terry Harris suggested the title, and, truthfully, the song wrote itself! It could have been silly fluff, but the band played such smart and sassy ensemble and solo parts that it's elevated to Awesome!

Edale
Tom Bekeny (BMI)
Inspired by playing the 1986 Edale Bluegrass Festival in a picturesque village in Derbyshire (UK), this tune was originally performed and recorded by the SF Bay Area band, Tenbrooks. (TB)

This Beautiful World
Kathy Kallick (Red Shirt Pub. Co./BMI) and John Reischman (Badger Blue Music/BMI)
When John Reischman brought me this gorgeous melody, it fit well with some lyrics that had been cooking. Nice to collaborate again with an old friend.