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What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone has had a nice week. It’s still hot as hell outside, but I feel like fall is gonna be right around the corner before we know it and I’m looking forward to it. This week I’m writing about a record I’m pumped to finally add to my collection, The Tony Rice Unit’s 1979 album, Manzanita. I’m not saying anything groundbreaking here when I say this is probably the greatest bluegrass album of all time. There’s a reason so many people give this album that title, cause it’s that good. It's rare I can say I love every single song on a record, but this is definitely one where that is the case. The opening track, Old Train, is one of my favorite songs of all time. The quintessential train song. The first time I ever heard it was actually at my first Billy Strings show I went to, where there may or may not have been some extracurriculars at play, but this song felt like an old familiar tune to me, even though I knew I had never heard it, which eventually led to me looking it up the next day and discovering this album. The next song is the title track, Manzanita, which is one of the coolest instrumental bluegrass songs ever. Then the third track hits you with one of the best traditional murder ballads, Little Sadie. Songs about trains and murder… I don’t know what more you can ask for in an album. The band is also stacked with grade-A players Sam Bus, David Grisman, Jerry Douglas, and Ricky Skaggs, all tearing it up in their own right. Basically what I’m saying is this is a perfect album and I think everyone should listen to it once in their life. Even if you’ve never listened to bluegrass and don’t think you’d like it, if there was an album that could change your mind, it’s this one.