Aaron Burdett opens the new year with Arthur’s Last Dance, an uptempo bluegrass single drawn from a true story rooted in his western North Carolina upbringing and echoing the autobiographical vein of his 2022 release, “Denver Plane.”
The track moves at rapid speed, driven by Burdett’s rhythm guitar and a seasoned ensemble that has anchored his singles since the start of his tenure with the Rangers: award-winning banjo player Kristin Scott Benson, fiddler Carley Arrowood, mandolinist Tristan Scroggins (Missy Raines & Allegheny), producer Jon Weisberger on bass, and harmony vocalists Wendy Hickman and Travis Book of the Infamous Stringdusters.
Burdett’s lyrics pay tribute to Arthur, a local dance-floor fixture who supported countless regional bands and, as the song recounts, delivered a memorable final dance to classics like “The Weight” and “I Saw the Light.” The result is a high-energy salute to a western North Carolina roots music hero and the community that surrounded him.
“I was first introduced to Arthur Grimes when I lived in Boone, NC, in the 90s,” Burdett explains about the song’s titular real-life character, an acclaimed African-American clog dancer known throughout the region. “He’d materialize now and then at many shows I was playing or attending over the years. So when I played a set at MerleFest 2024 with the Steep Canyon Rangers and heard that Arthur was going to be there with Old Crow Medicine Show to do his last dance before largely retiring, my interest was piqued. After our set I was checking out other performances and sure enough, got to see Arthur doing his thing on the Watson Stage one last time.
“It was an event that deserved a few songwriting notes,” he continues. “Those notes I took that night are what turned into this song, commemorating Arthur’s long career dancing with any and every band or performer who came through the High Country of NC over the past 50 years or so.”
Author: World Music Central News Room
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