# Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

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{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
| type       = [Album](/source/Album)
| artist     = [Patrick Sky](/source/Patrick_Sky)
| cover      = Twostepsforwardonestepback.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = 1975
| recorded   =
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      = [Folk](/source/Folk_music)
| length     =
| label      = Leviathan
| producer   = Patrick Sky
| prev_title = [Songs That Made America Famous](/source/Songs_That_Made_America_Famous)
| prev_year  = 1973
| next_title = [Through a Window](/source/Through_a_Window)
| next_year  = 1985
}}
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [Allmusic](/source/Allmusic)
| rev1Score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref>{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r108537|pure_url=yes}}</ref>
| noprose = yes
}}
'''''Two Steps Forward, One Step Back''''' is the sixth album by [Patrick Sky](/source/Patrick_Sky), released as SLIF 2000 on Leviathan Records, identified as "[a] division of Innisfree Inc." on the back sleeve.  The sleeve notes and front cover title are a reproduction of Sky's own handwriting, notable especially for his misspelling the word ''forward'' as ''foreward'' [sic], though the standard spelling is found on the two sticker labels of the LP itself.  The record is noteworthy also because it includes a piano-driven re-recording of Sky's signature song, "Many a Mile," and because of "My Friend Robert," later recorded by [George Thorogood](/source/George_Thorogood).  Dedicated "[t]o the loving memory of [Mississippi John Hurt](/source/Mississippi_John_Hurt)," the album features not only a cover photo of the fingerpicking legend with Sky (who produced Hurt's [Vanguard](/source/Vanguard_Records) albums), but also covers of three John Hurt songs.  Other highlights include a cover of [Bascom Lamar Lunsford](/source/Bascom_Lamar_Lunsford)'s "[I Wish I Was a Mole In the Ground](/source/I_Wish_I_Was_a_Mole_In_the_Ground)" (Lunsford's version is included in [Harry Smith](/source/Harry_Everett_Smith)'s ''[Anthology of American Folk Music](/source/Anthology_of_American_Folk_Music))'' and lighthearted rhinological commentary about [David Bromberg](/source/David_Bromberg) in the Sky original "Lucky Me."  The album also includes a performance of Sky playing "Lost James Whalen," featuring Sky's vocals as well as his playing of the [uilleann pipes](/source/uilleann_pipes).

The cover bears a distinct similarity to [Paul Simon](/source/Paul_Simon)'s [Still Crazy After All These Years](/source/Still_Crazy_After_All_These_Years) album cover, with the wide buff matting, the hand-written heading of the artist's name and album title, the re-touched and colorized low-rez photo in the center. Both were released in 1975, although Sky's album was released a few months earlier than Simon's.

==Track listing==
===Side one===
#"Many a Mile"
#"Lucky Me"
#"Perryville Reel, Rhode Island Reel"
#"My Friend Robert"
#"Frankie and Albert"
#"Mole in the Ground"

===Side two===
#"Payday"
#"Candy Man"
#"To Find a Way"
#"Danville Girl"
#"Moanin' Blues"
#"Lost James Whalen"

==Personnel==
* Eddie Wright - bass
* Bud Morrissoe - Fiddle
* [Gordon Titcomb](/source/Gordon_Titcomb) - Bars, piano
* Lar Anderson - Drums
* Buzz Kuhar - Drums
* Patrick Sky - Guitar, 12 String [,] Uilleann Pipes, Banjo, Dulcimer, Moans and Vocal Incantations
'''Production notes:'''
* Executive Producer - Lisa Null
* Produced & Arranged - Patrick Sky
* Engineered by - Pitt Kinsolving
* Cover photo - Bob Campbell
* Layout & Design - Joe Szarek, Patrick Sky, Butch Lockwood

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1975 albums
Category:Patrick Sky albums

{{1970s-folk-album-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Two Steps Forward, One Step Back](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Steps_Forward%2C_One_Step_Back) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Steps_Forward%2C_One_Step_Back?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.