Photo of Charleston, W.Va. by Douglas Imbrogno. Click to enlarge.
LISTEN: “Little Bitty City”

As FestivALL Charleston approaches, here is an appropriate “Song of the Day” (or “Song of the Festival”). It’s a tune about Charleston called “Little Bitty City,” by “Mountain Stage” guitarist and W.Va. Music Hall of Fame founder (and gazz contributor) Michael Lipton.

Mark Ferrell, who works in Sen. Robert C. Byrd’s office, came up with the title late one night and it took Lipton several years to build a song around it. Says Lipton: “Lately, I’ve been really loving Charleston and I wanted to write a (hopefully) fun song about it.” The song features Charlie T on lead vocals, Lipton on guitar, Jupie Little on drums, Ted Harrison on bass and Don Dixon on guitar solo, keyboard and trombone, with backing vocals by Lipton, Little and Bill Kimmons.

Here are the lyrics: (more…)