Biography

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CLIFF WALDRON & THE NEW SHADES OF GRASS - TRAVELING LIGHT (REB-1500), 1971

Musicians
Cliff Waldron: Guitar, Lead Vocals
Mike Auldridge: Dobro, 12-String Guitar, Baritone Vocals
Dave Auldridge: Mandolin, Tenor Vocals
Ben Eldridge: Banjo, Lead Guitar
Bill Poffinberger: Fiddle
Ed Ferris: Bass
Jack Auldridge: Occasional Snare Drum

Production Credits
Produced by Charles R. Freeland
Recorded at R.D. Homer Associates, Clinton, MD
Engineered by Roy Homer
Remastered by David Glasser at Airshow Mastering, Boulder, CO

Cliff Waldron’s career in bluegrass was represented by three distinct phases on Rebel Records. First was his partnership with legendary banjoist Bill Emerson in the late 1960s. Second was Cliff’s post-Emerson solo career, during the early and middle 1970s. Traveling Light is representative of this phase. Third was his re-entry to bluegrass after a 20-year absence. All three phases were noted for Waldron’s excellent musicianship and the high quality of all of his recorded music, regardless of partner.

Waldron’s story was typical of bluegrass musicians in many ways. A native of rural West Virginia, he grew up listening to the music of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs and the Stanley Brothers. As a youth, he played mandolin and guitar and later performed in several local bands. Waldron relocated to the Washington DC area in the early ‘60s and continued to perform with regional pickers. Persistence and patience were rewarded with an eventual partnership with Bill Emerson, a prominent DC-area banjo player and a perfect creative match for Waldron. Their three-year run ended with Bill’s re-joining the Country Gentlemen in 1969.

Starting in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, a number of artists and groups were looking to areas outside of bluegrass for material. Cliff Waldron was no exception. Where a lot of these other groups borrowed not only material but the elements of pop and rock, Cliff took songs from folk, pop, and country and made them work seamlessly as bluegrass-styled tours of force. Among his favorite writers to mine for material were Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard and Ian Tyson, all stars on the pop and country charts. He blended these songs with a few deftly chosen bluegrass classics, a gospel song here and there, and a couple of instrumentals from various band members to arrive at a sound that was unqiuely representative of the modern bluegrass template.