Biography
A set of numbers suitable for a bluegrass group called Summer Wages could easily be assembled from titles such as “Summertime Blues,” “Get a Job,” and “Take This Job and Shove It.” The band itself, however, took its name from an existing composition: Ian Tyson’s “Summer Wages.” The Canadian cowboy songwriter’s piece remains far better known than the three Rebel albums the North Carolina and Georgia pickers issued in the 1980s. Parallel cases range from the little-known pairing of the song “Talk Talk” with the band Talk Talk to the globally recognized “Rollin’ Stone” and the Rolling Stones. The opposite occurrence—songs titled after groups—appears in Margo Guryan’s “Spanky and Our Gang” and Neil Young’s “Buffalo Springfield.”
Among Tyson’s several affecting, life-drawn lyrics, “Summer Wages” stands out for the number of covers it received, including those by Nanci Griffith and Bobby Bare, the latter sometimes judged to have delivered the definitive reading. J.D. Crowe’s progressive bluegrass treatment further embedded the tune in the genre’s repertoire. Once a non-bluegrass number receives such an arrangement, it generally becomes available to any pickers who wish to tackle it—an openness that does not extend to Sting’s “Every Breath You Take.”
Summer Wages released a self-titled debut on Rebel in 1983, followed by two additional albums, the last of which appeared in 1987 under the ironic title Can’t Stop Now. Although accounts occasionally credit mandolinist Jim Mills—later a member of the Ricky Skaggs Band and Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver—with founding the group, Mills actually joined an already existing lineup immediately after high school and remained for roughly two and a half years. Another member, banjoist and guitarist Steve “Big Man” Dilling, was born on an Air Force base in Puerto Rico and had previously worked with Stoney Run String Band, the Bass Mountain Boys, and the Lonesome River Band. Rebel eventually allowed the catalog to fall out of print, with the exception of selections included in the box set Rebel Records: 35 Years of the Best of Bluegrass.
Among Tyson’s several affecting, life-drawn lyrics, “Summer Wages” stands out for the number of covers it received, including those by Nanci Griffith and Bobby Bare, the latter sometimes judged to have delivered the definitive reading. J.D. Crowe’s progressive bluegrass treatment further embedded the tune in the genre’s repertoire. Once a non-bluegrass number receives such an arrangement, it generally becomes available to any pickers who wish to tackle it—an openness that does not extend to Sting’s “Every Breath You Take.”
Summer Wages released a self-titled debut on Rebel in 1983, followed by two additional albums, the last of which appeared in 1987 under the ironic title Can’t Stop Now. Although accounts occasionally credit mandolinist Jim Mills—later a member of the Ricky Skaggs Band and Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver—with founding the group, Mills actually joined an already existing lineup immediately after high school and remained for roughly two and a half years. Another member, banjoist and guitarist Steve “Big Man” Dilling, was born on an Air Force base in Puerto Rico and had previously worked with Stoney Run String Band, the Bass Mountain Boys, and the Lonesome River Band. Rebel eventually allowed the catalog to fall out of print, with the exception of selections included in the box set Rebel Records: 35 Years of the Best of Bluegrass.
Albums
