This is the music of my father. His songs were a part of my life—always wafting out of his study or being carried home scrawled on napkins. Dad enjoyed humble success, with songs recorded and performed by artists such as Porter Wagoner, Loretta Lynn, Emmylou Harris, Faron Young, Hank Snow, The Wilburn Brothers, Jean Shepard—even Sinead O’Connor and Elvis Costello. After his 1980 Grammy nomination for Emmylou’s recording of “Blue Kentucky Girl,” Dad gained some national and hometown notoriety. As one reporter put it, he really began “having a time in his own legend.” There was something about an eighth-grade educated, songwriting school janitor from the Ozarks that caught people’s attention. But there was more to it than just folksy charm. Johnny Mullins’ songs were good. His songs are good. He’s been gone since 2009, but these songs deserve to live on. In 2013 I joyfully embarked on the Johnny Mullins Collection mission, archiving and sharing the old “hits” and especially the treasures unearthed in his “shoebox collection.” The majority of songs I recorded for this album are from those dusty shoeboxes, located on tapes Dad made then tucked away. Only four songs here have been previously recorded—“Blue Kentucky Girl” (orig. 1965), “I Dreamed I Saw America On Her Knees” (1968), “Lonely Violet” (1988), and “Move Up A Little Closer” (1964). There are a few others that I grew up singing with Dad— “Garage Sale,” “Lunch Bucket Cowboy,” “Music On The Wind,” and “The Old Genuine.” The rest are songs that I’ve only recently discovered. I’m calling this project “Volume One” because these songs are just a drop in the bucket of Dad’s body of work. Enjoy, and I hope you sing along. —Melinda “Moon” Mullins, Springfield, MO, 2017