Before Bluegrass
Heather Berry is known to bluegrass fans as one of the award winning Daughters of Bluegrass. She put her first band together when she was 12 and recorded a CD titled Reflections of the Past. In 2006 she released To A Dove on Blue Circle Records. Now her second CD for that label has been released. At the young age of 20, this is her 8th CD.
It is aptly titled Before Bluegrass, because the music presented here is in the style of the 1920-1940’s. Recorded live with no overdubs, this CD reflects the traditions of early Appalachian recordings such as The Bristol Sessions. The CD features Heather and her husband Tony Mabe performing as a duo. The couple bears witness to the traditions that led to bluegrass music. You’ll hear echos of the Carter Family, Jimmy Rodgers, Charlie Pool and other old-time influences on this CD
My husband and I have been wanting to record a project like this since we first started dating. Now thanks to Tom T. and Dixie Hall and Blue Circle Records, we are so happy to present this album to you.
These are the kind of songs that we grew up on, and are very near and dear to our hearts. For name’s sake, we’re calling this "Before Bluegrass" because it really is the style of music that bluegrass came from.
…we want to not only help to preserve the heartfelt, beautifully pure music that they made, but to also maybe introduce it to new audiences who will hopefully love it just as much as us.
Heather and Tony are proud that there are no overdubs, punches, vocal tuning, or effects on this recording. It is just them playing and singing songs they love. Not all the music is old though. Tom T. and Dixie Hall contributed a couple of new songs that fit the style of the recording.
If you’re interested in hearing some samples of this recording, visit Heather’s home page. There are short samples from 5 songs featured in an embedded flash jukebox.
The Blue Circle Records MySpace page features several other samples. And here is a youtube music video for one of the songs on the record.


Heather Berry's new CD, which we had mentioned once previously, is now available. Entitled, To A Dove, it was recently released on Tom T. and Dixie Hall's Blue Circle Records label and features a number of Hall original songs and guest performances by a great many popular bluegrass artists.
There...
This post is a contribution from Dave Roye.
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Back To The Well is the title of the second recording from The Daughters Of Bluegrass, an effort spearheaded by Lorraine Jordan and Gena Britt Tew to highlight the musical gifts and skills of the many female bluegrass pickers and singers currently performing in the US. The first CD on CMH Records, Daughters...
The convention center was hopping last night for the late-night showcases, as it always is. It's impossible to see all the bands play, or even to see everyone that you want to, so I generally settle for a representative sampling. My sampling last night was limited to after my own showcase (playing banjo...




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