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.