
Band member Jimmy Ibbotson reportedly suffered from polio as a child and spent much of the time reading. The obvious choice to begin with is House At Pooh Corner, written by Kenny Loggins. The song was originally recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band for their 1970 album Uncle Charlie His Dog Teddy. Pooh has inspired his share of songs-and not all of them are for the kiddies.

So Christopher Robin's birthday became Pooh's. That would make him a mere 85, wouldn't it? It turns out that Pooh's birthday is not calculated from the date of his first publication, but from internal evidence found in The House at Pooh Corner : Pooh was presented to Milne's son Christopher Robin on the occasion of the boy's first birthday, on August 21st, 1921. Happy birthday, Pooh! Or as the denizens of the Hundred Acre Wood might put it, hipy papy bthuthdth thuthda bthuthdy.īut how can Pooh be 90? The first Pooh book, Winnie-the-Pooh, was published in 1926. Milne's beloved children's character Edward Bear, better known as Winnie-the-Pooh. (Sharp-eyed fans will recognize the nod to the artwork on the first two LTH records.) With design work from Red Beet Records’ regular graphics guru, Bill Thompson, the album will feel familiar and new at the same time.This Sunday, August 21st, is the 90th birthday of A.A. Sheban (who has become a well-known children’s book illustrator in the years between these two album covers) took an image that has been stuck in Brace’s head and brought it to shimmering life. The album cover is another return to form, as the creator of Last Train Home’s debut album art in 1997, Chris Sheban was again enlisted to create the dreamlike scene that is the cover of Daytime Highs and Overnight Lows. They’ll surprise you with a Barry White cover, make your heart ache with the elegiac “Old Railroads” and “Dear Lorraine,” and make you shake it with their Monkees-inspired “Wake Up, We’re in Love.” From the pure piano-pop of “Happy Is” to the near bluegrass of “Sleepy Eyes,” Last Train Home takes whatever styles strike its fancy and blends them into its own singular sound.

You can reference the Mavericks, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Sturgill Simpson, the Band, Emmylou Harris, and others, but you’ll never quite pin down the brilliance of Last Train Home. With trumpet and saxophone, harmonica and accordion, pedal steel guitar and glockenspiel – not to mention layers of acoustic and electric guitars and shimmering harmonies weaving with Brace’s warm lead vocals – there is a richness to LTH’s work that you’ll find in few other groups. With Brace’s evocative songwriting and his sublime choices of covers, the album’s fourteen songs make an album that passes the drive test: Take a road trip, put on Daytime Highs and Overnight Lows, start at the top and listen all the way down. In June, 2019, Brace (who has been collaborating with Nashville songwriters Peter Cooper and Thomm Jutz for the past decade), rounded up his LTH cohorts in Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Nashville, for studio sessions that would become the band’s tenth and best recording. While limited touring has continued, there were no further recordings, until now. In 2004, Brace and bassist Jim Gray and drummer Martin Lynds relocated to Nashville, and by 2009 the band was feeling the centrifugal forces that pull on every band. Between 19, they released six LPs, three EPs, and a live concert DVD, while playing steadily across the country, in the Caribbean, and throughout Europe. Since its beginnings in Washington DC, Last Train Home has been one of the most acclaimed roots-rock bands out there.

Daytime Highs and Overnight Lows marks the return of this stellar group fronted by former journalist Eric Brace, on his own respected East Nashville label, Red Beet Records.
