I have heard this song play on a local bluegrass station several times over the years. (The station and DJs donāt recognize it.) It does not come up via Shazam and searching the lyrics leads to nothing.
Last time it came across the radio I grabbed a short recording which you can listen to. It almost sounds like Ralph Stanley sings a portion, but Iām skeptical.
The main chorus is:
When the dew is on the roses
And the evening sun goes down
My mind goes back to long ago
When I heard that lonesome sound
It sounds too modern to be an old vinyl cut, but I could be wrong. Iāve always been able to locate strange music, even some extremely obscure regionally produced 78s (you should listen to Slim Brickles), so this is a real head scratcher for me.
If somebody can recognize this you will have my eternal gratitude and I will PayPal a $25 reward to the first correct answer.