Credits:
Art: G Carole Bomer Back cover “Only a Matter of Time”. You can contact her at [email protected]

And see many of her gorgeous paintings at www.gracecarolbomer.com or at her studio near the river in Asheville NC.

Fern Mitchell, commissioned for the cover “The Road Less Traveled.”  2016 She can be contacted at [email protected].

Produced by Kerry Belcher Sr for Close to the Heart Songs, 2016
All songs (except Tomahawk, written by Lonesome River Band) written or co-written by Kerry G. Belcher, Sr., all rights reserved, Close to the Heart songs, BMI.
The Ballad of the Breaks lyrics by Hugh Belcher; River Sons, lyrics co-written by Dave Sullivan; Adopted, lyrics by Karyn Hopper; Midnight Train, lyrics and music co-written by William Ellis Owens, Jr.

Piano: Dirk Johnson
Fiddle: Gail Johnson
Pedal Steel and Dobro: Tony Dingus
Banjo:  William Owens
B3 and accordion on River Sons: Dave Sullivan
Bass on I’ll Be True: Grant Belcher
Sax: Jerry Blake
Vocals and bgvs: Hugh Belcher, Judy Rogers, Nathan Stanley, Fern Mitchell, Dave Sullivan and William Owens
Orchestration by Anthony Johnson.
All other music and vocals by Kerry Belcher, Sr.

Recorded at BackBone Studios, Haysi Virginia for Close2the❤️Productions 2015-2016 (c)
Engineered by Kerry Belcher.
Additional Engineering by Alan Maggard, Dirk Johnson, Dave Sullivan and Chris Edwards.
Mixed at BackBone Studios by Kerry Belcher, Re-mixed by Dirk Johnson at Maggard Sound, Big Stone Gap, Virginia.

Special thanks: I decided in late summer of 2015 that instead of eating and making puzzles through the fall and winter (when our farm activities greatly slow down) that I’d record “a little bit”. That little bit wound up, several hundred hours later, being a double CD with shy of 80 minutes of brand new music. I felt that, once again, God had laid upon my heart a desire and perhaps a drive to get this particular group of songs out to the public.

My dear wife, Rita Jean, whom I’ve been forever grateful to (for the last nine years and counting) put up with much evening time away from her to make this recording possible and made multiple scheduling changes and gave up many other things as she showed great sacrificial love, as did my daughters Fern and Anna and to a lesser degree my managers and staff at the four locations of Belcher Insurance where I’ve been hanging out for the last 32 years. So my dedication of this project goes first of all to this dedicated group who always support and encourage and in practical ways, keep food on the table, the gear wheels running in farm and insurance businesses and have my (metaphorical and literal) back!

My parents, Clynard and Anita Belcher, instilled humanly and spiritually in me and my siblings the love of God, the love of each other, the love for the church of Jesus along with all true followers of him and the love of music-everything form the Psalms and the earliest Puritan hymns to the classic mountain music genres-bluegrass, Appalachian gospel, gritty country and western music (just maturing during their WWII days) and what we call today Americana Folk music. So, in a very pronounced way I also dedicate this recording to the often sweet musical memories of Dad and the constant watch care, advice and prayers of my Mama over the last 52 years.

My Siblings Becky Morecraft, Judy Rogers and Hugh Belcher have all played formation and support roles since I was a baby in my musical development and two of them lend their talents to this recording. Special love and appreciation are due them! Thanks to Matt Owens and Mike Cuneo for the IT help! Thanks to Jordan Owens, my special assistant and number one CD salesman and Grant Belcher, Ben Mitchell and Fern Mitchell who always challenge me to stay on my musical toes.