Dale Ann Bradley will be collaborating next year with her old friend and former employee, Michael Cleveland, when she goes on the road with his band, Flamekeeper, for select shows next year. These dates will bill as Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper with special guest Dale Ann Bradley, with Jim Roe of Roe Entertainment handling the booking and arrangements.

These dates will feature Michael and Flamekeeper doing a one hour set, after which Dale Ann will join them for 30-45 minutes of her material with Michael and his band providing accompaniment.

Cleveland explained how this pairing came together.

“Tony Williams, promoter of the Kentucky Lake Bluegrass Festival, had booked Dale Ann Bradley and our band on the same show this year and he had an idea to have Dale Ann and Flamekeeper do a jam set at the end of the festival on that Saturday night. Tom Adams, Jesse Brock and myself had worked in Dale Ann’s band years ago, so we were pretty familiar with her older material.

We had so much fun playing that show together and we talked about it for days after. So the idea of teaming up with a package show like this seemed exciting and fun for all of us. I always enjoy getting to play music with her and I know what an incredible singer she is. Dale Ann can take any song, whether it be an original, or a standard and make it her own and I’m really looking forward to doing some shows together.”

Only a limited number of dates will be available for this show, as both acts maintain active schedules on their own. It seems likely that audiences, especially for indoor concert settings, will appreciate being able to see the 3-time IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year (Flamekeeper), 7-time Fiddle Player (Cleveland), reigning Bass player (Marshall Wilborn) and mandolin player (Jesse Brock), and the 3-time Female Vocalist (Bradley) in one, all-star show.

Dale Ann is eager to see these shows come to be.

“When I went out on my own, Michael Cleveland as well as Jesse Brock and Tom Adams were the musical glue that held it all together. Watching Michael play the fiddle with his signature drive and sensitivity…man, he’s something else. I am thrilled to be sharing a stage with him and all of the guys in Flamekeeper.”

Sounds like a fun show.

Bluegrass Music Profiles

Since 2005, BMP has dedicated their November/December issue to the ladies, with both feature articles and regular columns focusing on the contributions of female bluegrass artists and personalities.

The cover article by Deborah Wilbrink follows the familiar BMP interview format. An example…

BMP: What are your two favorite bluegrass songs?

DALE ANN BRADLEY: John Deere Tractor remains one of my very favorite songs. Larry Sparks had a hit with it, and The Judds recorded it. I love One Way Track, it’s been a mainstay for Boone Creek, one of the songs that progressed bluegrass. Ricky [Skaggs] has recorded it too in recent times, both of those are standards for a generation.

Also found in the new issue:

• Rhonda Vincent – Christmas Memories
• Claire Lynch and Alecia Nugent – Bluegrass Favorites
• Frances Mooney – Shop Talk
• Carrie Hassler – Bluegrass Poster
• Jennifer Strickland – Songwriter Profile
• Bertie Sullivan – Promoter Profile
• Erica Brady – DJ Profile

Subscription and single-issue details can be found online.

More to come in the morning.

Mike is a two-time winner of the prestigious National Banjo Championship in Winfield, KS. His solo CD, Winds Of Winfield, was released in 2007 and it shows Mike’s facility with a wide range of modern banjo styles.

He has been working with Randy Kohrs, and hopes to coordinate continuing to play with Randy and his new gig with Dale Ann.

“It’s an honor to be Dale Ann’s new banjo player. Her music speaks for itself.I’m glad to be a part of her band and to follow in Terry’s footsteps. I look forward to our musical collaboration in hopes that it will yield great bluegrass music!”

Dale Ann’s schedule can be found on her web site.

This weekend’s episode features both Dale Ann Bradley and The Circuit Riders. At the time of taping, Dale Ann had Gena Britt Tew on banjo, Jeremy Abshire on fiddle, Tim Laughlin on mandolin, Charles Fields on bass, and Randall Conn on dobro.

The show airs this Saturday night at 6pm on UNC-TV for North Carolina viewers, and at 9:30pm on Blue Ridge PBS for Virginia viewers.

A complete listing of broadcast stations nation-wide is available here.

The August 2009 issue also includes a lengthy article about Bradley by Larry Nager, which chronicles her career in bluegrass from her early days with the New Coon Creek Girls through her latest compass CD, Don’t Turn Your Back, and her ongoing struggle with diabetes.

There is also a fascinating travelogue written by Dan Loftin, Nashville photographer and teller of tall tales, about his road trip with Jim Mills to shoot some of the pre war banjos for Mills’ book, Gibson’s Original Mastertones: Flathead 5-String Banjos of the 1930s-40s.

Casey Henry has a piece on dance troupe Footworks, and Murphy Henry has one on bluegrass pioneer Gloria Belle. Regular features include the BU personal appearance calendar, Notes & Queries and the monthly National Bluegrass Survey chart, where Lonesome River Band continues their run at #1 with Them Blues from their No Turning Back CD.

In discussing the August issue with BU Managing Editor Sharon McGraw, it came out that this cover is the second of three in a row that will feature female artists – a first from the magazine. Valerie Smith and Becky Buller had the July cover, and Claire Lynch will be there for September.

You can read the cover story on Dale Ann, and find subscription and single issue purchase information on the Bluegrass Unlimited web site.

The article – The Sisterhood of Bluegrass by Barry Mazor – discusses how the bluegrass/acoustic world has warmed of late to female-headed bands, and how these three all find themselves on Compass at this point in their careers.

“It’s a kind of sisterhood, really,” Ms. Brown notes, and she should know. She’s not only a widely admired banjo virtuoso, and in 1991 the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association’s banjo player of the year award, after a stint playing with Alison Krauss. She’s also a former investment banker who co-founded and heads Compass Records along with her husband and bandmate, Gary West. While the three 40-something bandleaders on Compass are different musically, Ms. Brown stresses their common history.

“We’re all about the same age,” she said in an interview at Compass’s Music Row offices, “and all three of us have seen change and what women can do in the field. When I was playing festivals growing up, people always felt compelled to say ‘you’re really good — for a girl,’ and it wasn’t even meant as an insult. But you don’t hear that so much any more; women are leading the charge with the most interesting bluegrass.”

You can read the full piece online, complete with audio tracks from the Brown, Bradley and Raines CDs.

Online viewers are invited to pick their favorite videos from a much longer list, and the top 12 are announced as the CMT Pure 12 Pack each week.

Bluegrass fans who would like to see Dale Ann hang in there at the top of the charts for another week can cast their vote at CMT.com. And since you are allowed to select up to 12 videos with your vote, be on the lookout for a number of other bluegrass or bluegrassy videos worthy of your attention in the poll:

• The Abrams Brothers – Viva la Vida
• Melonie Cannon – Back To Earth
• The Duhks – Fast Paced World
• Old Crowe Medicine Show – Caroline
• Dan Tyminski – Wheels
• Bradley Walker – A Little Change

How cool would it be to see all those videos in the top 12!

Voting each week ends on Friday, so head over to CMT.com if you want to make your opinion known.

Dale Ann has reigned for some time as the one female vocalist that her peers most consistently rank at the top of their lists, something that has finally been recognized in the IBMA Awards this past two years. Chart-toppers like Rhonda Vincent and Alison Krauss have heaped praise on Bradley and claimed her as a major influence, even indicating that Dale Ann’s early work with The New Coon Creek Girls helped inspire them to contemplate a place for themselves in this music.

On this new release, she follows a familiar format, combining new songs with bluegrass classics, with a couple of grassified pop/country covers for good measure. But there is nothing formulaic about the music, the arrangements or the execution. Four of the 12 songs were written by Louisa Branscomb, two with Dale Ann as co-writer. A Carter Family favorite is included (Fifty Miles Of Elbow Room) as is a remake of Patty Loveless’ 2000 hit song, The Last Thing On My Mind.

The one that grabbed me most powerfully the first time through the CD is Dale Ann’s take on I Won’t Back Down, the Tom Petty anthem from 1989. She tells us that the song hit her the same way.

I Won’t Back Down -  Listen now:   

“The lyrics to I Won’t Back Down are very rootsy and to the point… just plain English, so much like all the songs of first generation bluegrass. I particularly relate to the line ‘you can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I’ll stand my ground and I won’t back down.’

The pop/rock songs that I have recorded are songs that I always heard instantly being done in the bluegrass style from the first note. I am a firm believer that bluegrass can lend itself to any lyric or melody…that’s how much I respect the music and it incredible musicians.”

Another standout is Heaven, one that comes from a completely different tradition. It’s a bluegrass Gospel classic, and the sort of song a singer approaches gingerly. Brilliant versions have previously been recorded by Flatt & Scruggs on their Songs Of Glory album in 1960, and then again in 1972 by Seldom Scene on their Act III LP.

True to form, Dale Ann takes the song in a new direction. Both prior versions were done with a vocal quartet, but here she performs it as a duet with Jamie Dailey, with Darrin Vincent adding a third part. It is simply brilliant, as you might expect.

Heaven -  Listen now:   

“It was a very sweet, spiritual experience to be in the studio with those guys. They  came in there with those voices and hearts and really wanted to make something special happen and they sure did just that. We all cried. I love’m.”

Anyone who’s ever given thought to making the move to Nashville to seek fame and fortune – or maybe even given it a try – will find much to ponder in Music City Queen, one of the pair of Bradley/Branscomb compositions on Don’t Turn Your Back.

Music City Queen -  Listen now:   

“Music City Queen was started on the basis of my moving to Nashville two years ago. When I shared my ideas with Louisa, the experiences were the same as far as always wanting to be here to be near the best singers, musicians and hoping to have one of your songs recorded. Through all of the hopes and dreams there is still the reality that you are far from your native land and  that the business aspect of music very much exists, and is not as warm and fuzzy as the art itself.

The Cumberland River is very metaphoric in the fact that I was born and raised on the banks of the Cumberland River, fished on the Cumberland, crossed it whenever I went anywhere, was married in a church right on the river, seen the river raise up and destroy, yet it carried my dreams at times.

Now it’s ironic that I still live on the banks of The Cumberland in a big city and another state.”

Dale Ann is on the road this summer sharing the music from Don’t Turn Your Back with bluegrass lovers all over the US and Canada. She is excited about her current touring band, which includes Tim Laughlin on mandolin, Brandon Godman on fiddle, Roscoe Morgan on bass, and newest member, Terry Baucom on banjo.

Regarding having Bauc on stage, she was emphatic:

“HOLY SMOKES… it’s a dream come true. When that mans kicks a song, it’s a field goal every time. You can’t help but feel the excitement! What a wonderful person too!”

You can audio samples from all 12 tracks on the Compass Records web site, and there is a music video for the title track on CMT.

There is also an interview Dale Ann did with Bill Cody on WSM which can be heard online. She sings one in the studio, and chats with Bill – and a few callers – while they spin a couple tracks from the CD.

Don’t Turn Your Back is a “must have” for any fans of Dale Ann Bradley – or anyone who appreciates bluegrass music of the highest order.

It was shot and directed by Matt Zervos, a 20 year old filmmaker who approached Dale Ann directly about the concept. She told Bill Rosenberger of The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, WV that it was an unexpected meeting.

Zervos got the gig by chance, as his mother got in touch with bluegrass singer Dale Ann Bradley, who grew up near the same Kentucky town as she did.

She asked Bradley if she was interested in having a music video done for her new album, “Don’t Turn [Your] Back.” And after Bradley saw Zervos’ work from ESPN’s regional station in Huntington, she decided to jump at the opportunity.

“I looked at the kid’s work and thought it was amazing,” Bradley said from her home in Nashville. “I think Matt is a creative mind who can venture out there in new ways but his mountain roots will keep him grounded.”

The 20-year-old graduate of Hurricane High School will try to ride this recent wave of success when he moves to Nashville later this summer to attend Belmont University. He has spent the past two years at Marshall University.

The video is currently hosted at CMT.com.

We’ll have an interview with Dale Ann and many more details about this terrific new album later this week.

Though they had been acquainted for some time, Terry had not performed with Dale Ann much until this past January when he backed her on several shows during the Pickin’ All Star Bluegrass Tour. While that show was on the road, she asked Bauc about doing some shows with her, and he has been traveling with the band since February.

Gena Britt, who had been playing banjo with Bradley’s group, had to bow out as the tour schedule picked up for 2009. She and her husband, Tim Tew, are currently working with Mark Newton.

Current members of Dale Ann’s band include Baucom on banjo, Tim Laughlin on mandolin, Brandon Godman on fiddle, and Roscoe Morgan on bass with Bradley on guitar.

Cindy Baucom tells us that Terry has really enjoyed working up Dale Ann’s material, and in enjoying his time with her on stage. According to Cindy, Terry says that Dale Ann “couldn’t sing off-pitch if she tried!”

Cindy also related that Dale Ann had recently shot a music video for the title track of her new CD, Don’t Turn Your Back, due for release on Compass Records May 19. Both Terry and Cindy will be featured in the video.

Bradley will be hosting a CD release party on May 16 at The Station Inn in Nashville.

We’ll have a preview of Don’t Turn Your Back soon. It’s a dandy.

As a youngster, she was drawn to the sound of the music at the festivals she attended with her family. She soon had a banjo in her hand, and learned to play the driving Scruggs style as she also began to develop as a singer and songwriter. By 1979, she embarked on a music career and had memorable stints with The New Coon Creek Girls, and Wild Rose, a bluegrass/country hybrid that saw commercial success in Nashville.

Wild Rose was also an all-female band, which included fellow Coon Creeker Pam Perry, and multi-instrumentalist Wanda Vick. They released three albums on Capitol Records, with a couple of Top 40 singles, before disbanding in 1991.

But Pam never stopped performing and writing, touring with Patty Loveless and Porter Wagoner, and penning songs recorded by country artist, Terri Clark, as well as bluegrass artists, Carl Jackson and John Starling, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, and The Rarely Herd.

She returned to bluegrass in 1997, and has released three solo CDs, the latest, Benefit Of Doubt, released just this week. The bulk of the songs are her own compositions, with a couple of bluegrass classics for good measure.

Pam plays banjos and carries the lead vocals, with assistance from Bryan Sutton on guitar, Andy Leftwich and Aubrey Haynie on fiddle and mandolin, Wand Vick on resonator guitar, and Mark Burchfield on bass. Dolly Parton and Marty Raybon join Pam for a pair of duets, with harmony vocals from Steve Gulley and Dale Ann Bradley.

Here’s a taste of one of her songs, a hard-driving bluegrass song, Hit The Highway.

Listen now:

We had a chance to discuss all this with Pam recently, from her early days in bluegrass right through the new CD release. My initial questions asked how she became acquainted with bluegrass music and drawn to play the banjo.

“I grew up with the music, but it would definitely be that I loved the bluegrass festivals and the bands we heard there. It was then that I really fell in love with bluegrass. I loved the Osborne Brothers cause I’d heard them since childhood, and the Country Gentlemen – I’d always loved their haunting records (Bringing Mary Home was the very first song I learned on the guitar when I was 8 years old). I loved Charlie Waller and the later generation Gentlemen, as well.

Loved The II Generation. They were extremely cool for a kid in the 70’s. The Seldom Scene with Duffy and Mike Auldridge and Ben on banjo, they were just a thrill at the end of a night up on stage at the Festival of the Bluegrass, and Ralph Stanley with Keith Whitley (which was when I remember really loving what he did) just further drew me in. Playing the banjo was so much fun, and there were so many great pickers in the Florence, KY and Cincinnati, OH area.

It never dawned on me to even play the banjo until one day Daddy said, ‘Why don’t you learn to play the banjo?’ and I said…’OK.’ He’d met a guy named Jeff Roberts at Mac Wiseman’s Renfro Valley Bluegrass Festival from up in northern KY where we lived who said he’d give lessons. And so it all began. Daddy had a 1974 Vega banjo he’d tried to learn to play- with no luck, and so in frustration he put it in the paper to sell. Thank God nobody bought it.

From my first lesson with Jeff (who I fell madly in crush with, but he was 22 and I was 14,) learning Foggy Mountain Breakdown by memory from beginning to end, I fell in love with it. It was absolutely addictive.”

I also asked how she chose the musicians to accompany her on this CD.

It wasn’t real hard. I knew I wanted Dale Ann from the beginning. She sang harmony on my first solo project, The Long Road, on Vanguard. I feel she and I blend very well, and there is no better harmony singer, let’s face it. Steve Gulley was the perfect compliment to her and my voice. He is just the best. Dale Ann gave me the idea to use him, and I will always be grateful to her for that. He was a joy to work with.

Nancy Gardner, my co-producer and dear friend is just one of my favorite singers (as well as people), and we sang together for 7 years with Wild Rose. She was amazing in how she blended, as well (plus playing some dynamite tambourine on AppleJack!). Marty Raybon is someone I’d always wanted to record with him, so that came quite easy, and Wanda Vick Burchfield, my oldtime Wild Rose partner was just the best to work with in selecting Aubrey and Andy. They are two of the best, and I wanted them on there, so we split it up and had them both.

Wanda is an exceptional dobro player, as well as fiddler (and everything else that has strings), and so she was my first choice. It was also important to me that she play fiddle on Wagon Master and Nancy sing on it since they had both been original members of his female band, the Right Combination, back in the 80’s.

Wanda cried when she came in and heard the song for the first time to play on it. That tore me up. Her haunting, country fiddle is perfectly what I heard for the song. Her husband, Mark Burchfield, is a wonderfully tasteful bassist, and he was a great final pick to bring the team together to make this album.

Among the tracks on Benefit of Doubt are Hold Whatcha Got from Jimmy Martin and Tennessee Hound Dog from The Osborne Brothers. I asked Pam if they had been a big influence on her music.

“Yes, a tremendous influence – especially the Osbornes. I saw them at a lot of festivals during my teenage years, and absolutely loved the albums that we had at the house growing up. There is just nobody else who sounds like them, whose harmonies are so full and moving. Their arrangements and song choices were just genius to me.

I hope they can only feel complimented that I recorded several of their songs (Listening to the Rain was on my first solo project, The Long Road, as a duet with Carl Jackson).”

We’ll finish up our interview with Pam tomorrow, including a couple more song samples and her thoughts about the rest of the songs on Benefit of Doubt.

Instead of presenting bands that perform together normally, artists as varied as Ronnie Bowman, Mike Bub, Missy Raines, Terry Baucom, Rob McCoury, Alan Bibey, Mike Compton, Phil Leadbetter, Rob Ickes, Kenny Smith, Tim Stafford, Jason Carter, Steve Gulley, Kim Fox, Dale Ann Bradley, Amanda Smith and Josh Williams were assembled into different groups throughout each show.

Tour organizer Larry Gorley shared a number of photos from shows in Bristol, VA and Kurtztown, PA. They offer a nice flavor of the way these many pickers and singers were staged in various groupings for these concerts, as well as the giant throng on stage for the finales.

Gorley says that the tour has gone well…

“It has been one of the most fun things that I’ve ever been involved in. The crowds have been extremely appreciative of what we’ve done and all the musicians have enjoyed their response and the chance to play with their own. Some great stories have been shared and hopefully new ones will be told after these dates.

We have one more date to do in Stillwater, OK and the tour has been going well. We’ve had 21 musicans on it so far and will likely finish with 25 musicians by tour’s end. Interest has been shown for maybe more of these shows, and hopefully that will happen.

We want to thank all the venues for having us and to all that have come out to see the show, it is much appreciated.”

Perhaps we’ll see an even bigger all-star tour in ‘10.

            

The 60 minute DVD contains live performances from some of the top names on the label, including The Osborne Brothers, Reno & Smiley, Jim & Jesse, Larry Stephenson, Chubby Wise, Special Consensus and Dale Ann Bradley.

18 songs are presented, among them some of the biggest hits in the history of bluegrass music.

• How Many Biscuits Can You Eat – Coon Creek Girls
• How Many Biscuits Can You Eat – New Coon Creek Girls
• Using My Bible For A Road Map – Don Reno And Red Smiley
• Kentucky Gold – The Reno Brothers
• Lee Highway Blues – Chubby Wise
• Orange Blossom Special – Chubby Wise
• Freight Train – Jim And Jesse McReynolds
• Dixie In The Dawn – Larry Stephenson
• Rain Please Go Away – Larry Stephenson
• You Were Born To Sing – Larry Stephenson
• Country In My Genes – New Coon Creek Girls
• Silver Dew On The Bluegrass Tonight – Special Consensus
• Listening To The Rain – Special Consensus
• Irish Medley – Special Consensus
• Foggy Mountain Rock – Gene Wooten
• One Tear – Terry Eldredge
• Fastest Grass Alive – The Osborne Brothers
• Rocky Top – The Osborne Brothers

The DVD is available for $17.99 from Music Shed, and wherever bluegrass performance DVDs are sold.

This type of show has not been a common thing in the bluegrass world, but the folks at Pick One Jams are giving it a go during the month of January, 2009. They have five shows scheduled in the eastern and central US with a bevy of bluegrass stars in tow.

Artists appearing on these shows include Ronnie Bowman, Mike Bub, Missy Raines, Terry Baucom, Rob McCoury, Alan Bibey, Mike Compton, Phil Leadbetter, Rob Ickes, Kenny Smith, Tim Stafford, Jason Carter, Steve Gulley, Kim Fox, Dale Ann Bradley, Amanda Smith and Josh Williams.

Each concert will showcase these top artists in a jam-like setting with the performers rotating on and off the stage as the various pickers and singers are featured. The lineup may vary slightly from one show to the next, but each one is chock full of top bluegrass stars.

Shows on the schedule include:

• 1/08/09 – Raleigh, NC
• 1/09/09 – Bristol, VA
• 1/15/09 – Kutztown, PA
• 1/17/09 – Athens, GA
• 1/24/09 – Stillwater, OK

Ticket and lineup details for the several shows can be found on the Pick One web site.

Vicki was a founding member of The New Coon Creek Girls and worked for years with Dale Ann Bradley. She has recently been a featured performer at Renfro Valley, where the concert will be held next week to help defray her substantial medical expenses.

The show will run from 1:00 to 9:00 p.m., with performances from Steve Gulley, Wildfire, Randy Graham, Cumberland Gap Connection, and a special Bluegrass All-Star Band including J. D. Crowe, Larry Stephenson, David Parmley, Curt Chapman, Michael Cleveland and more.

Ticket information can be obtained by calling 800-765-7464, or on the Renfro Valley web site.

A fund has been established for Vicki’s many friends and fans who would like to make a contribution.

Vicki Simmons Medical Fund
c/o Renfro Valley Entertainment Center
P.O. Box 19
Renfro Valley, KY 40473

Her solo project, Doing All I Can, was released in September showcasing Gena as a lead vocalist, banjo player and songwriter. It’s a terrific album with a first rate cast of pickers and singers on a mix of contemporary and traditional bluegrass.

The first track sets the stage, with a clever reworking of Lennon and McCartney’s Help! Gena shared a few words about how this one came to be.

“Well, I spent almost 4 months in Japan back in 1993 and while I was there I picked up a Dolly Parton record that I had not seen in the States. It had a version of Dolly doing Help! on it, and I thought…. ‘Man, that would make a killer grass tune.’

When I had my band – Ashby Frank, Beth Lawrence, Clay Jones and me – we came up with the arrangement, and it just seemed to work. Plus, it’s just fun to play!

It stayed with me until I got ready to record.”

Two alumni from The Gena Britt Band show up on Doing All I Can, Ashby Frank on mandolin and Clay Jones on guitar, along with Greg Luck on guitar, Wayne Benson on mandolin, Tim Tew on resonator guitar, and Zack McLamb on bass. Gena plays banjo throughout.

“All the musicians on this project are some of my best friends. I grew up in central North Carolina around most of these guys, most of them living only an hour or so from me. It has really been a blessing to grow up with these great musicians who’ve all gone on to be some of the best in the business. I asked Shawn Lane to be a guest vocalist on this project, because I absolutely love his singing. He’s one of the purest vocalists that I know of, and I love to sing with him in my car. So, why not ask him to be on my record? It was an honor.

My husband Tim Tew was guest vocalist on a gospel tune called I’m Glorybound that I heard in his dad’s church not long after we started dating. I think he did a great job and this cut turned out being one of the most straight-ahead bluegrass tunes on the album. His brother, David, and I are singing harmony on that tune.”

Greg Corbett, Wayne Joyce and Teresa Hatley Love also contribute harmony vocals.

Gena also gave us some background on other songs she chose for her new CD.

“Old Flames is another tune that I heard Dolly Parton doing for the first time. I’ve been singing this song for years on my shows and it is one of my most requested songs. It’s an old classic that never grows old for me.

The Life Sentence was written by David Thompson, of the band Kanes River. Julie Elkins had gotten me a copy of this song several years ago and I loved it. Julie cut this song as well, with a little different feel. This song is kind of out of my bluegrass comfort zone, but when we tried it out, everyone seemed to love it and I think it turned out great. The band had a ball with this song in the studio.

As Long As I’m Rockin’ With You was a tune that I’d heard Lonesome River Band do from an early project of theirs. I thought it would be a cool duet with my husband, and that it might be a tune that alot of folks haven’t heard in a long time. It was originally cut by John Conlee, and it was a much slower country version, but I like how the LRB grassed it up.

The House is one that has a neat story. It kind of wrote itself, so it’s special to me. It’s one that I wrote about the house where I live, an old 1800’s farm house. Before we moved in, I’d heard some stories about it being a home where un-wed mothers would come and stay, work on the farm until they had their babies, and then leave. I always thought that was so interesting, and it happened in my house.

I guess I was thinking about that one night when I couldn’t sleep, got up, and just stared into the dark hallway. I picked up my guitar and started playing this haunting melody in a minor key. Then, I started thinking about what it must have been like for those young mothers to be in that home. I know this sounds strange, but I could almost hear babies crying. That’s how I came up with this song.”

Audio samples from several songs can be heard on CD Baby, and full tracks for three songs are available on Gena’s MySpace page.

Radio hosts and programmers who would like a copy of the CD for airplay can contact Gena by email.

Doing All I Can can be purchased from CD Baby, or from Gena at any of her shows with Dale Ann Bradley.

“I’m so proud to be playing with Dale Ann right now. She is such a pleasure to travel with and work for. We’re having a blast and looking forward to picking together a long time.”

Do yourself a favor and check out this fine recording.

I had a chance recently to discuss all this with Melonie, and her excitement about the new project was evident throughout our conversation.

“We just wanted to make a record as good or better as the last one. I found a place for my voice that feels like home in acoustic music, and I don’t want to change it. This is the most natural and organic I’ve ever felt about my singing in my life.”

She had one previous self-titled release on Skaggs Family Records in 2004, and my impression of her was based solely on the glamour photos that had been associated with that project. I had expected an urbane, sophisticated woman-of-the-world, but when we first spoke, the voice I heard was as country as they come.

“Lord no… I’m the furthest thing from that glamour image! Shoot, I’m the biggest redneck there is.”

Melonie comes by her music chops naturally. Her dad is Nashville songwriting and producing legend, Buddy Cannon, whose credits include work with Shania Twain, Vern Gosdin and Mel Tillis. She grew up around country music and top country singers, but discovered bluegrass on her own as a girl.

“I was raised in the country world, and that was the music I heard. My dad worked for Mel Tillis when we were young, and I grew up with his kids – Pam Tillis was our baby sitter.

Still, my family had connections to bluegrass from way back. Daddy played in bluegrass bands in Lexington before he started playing country. My great uncle Dalton Tate gave my dad his first guitar, and he was a bluegrasser. He and his friends – all in their 80s – still get together every week to pick and sing.

I went to school with Deanie Richardson [New Coon Creek Girls/Patty Loveless] since first grade, and later married her brother. She started teaching me songs from the bluegrass and folk world when we were teenagers.

One day her brother took me to The Station Inn and Alison Krauss was playing. She was 16 and I was 15, and from that moment on, the music forever changed my life. Every time they started a song, it sounded like a record. I thought, ‘how do they do that?’

It was like I had walked into the twilight zone. I went and got her records and for the rest of my high school, this was the music I connected with.

Then I started finding artists like Dale Ann Bradley, and she is now one of my favorite singers. I found Del McCoury, and I got into him and Ricky Skaggs’ band. After a while I started digging, and found The Stanley Brothers and the first generation artists. The old Lonesome River Band was another huge influence.”

And The Wheels Turn shows how well she has merged the country and bluegrass influences into her own distinctive sound. Many of the songs are ones that could be cut by country artists, but the arrangements here are acoustic, using the traditional bluegrass instruments.

“The sound of these instruments is soothing to my ears – it’s like heaven to me. I don’t care what they call it – bluegrass, acoustic, country – people can just listen to what they like.”

The star of the show, of course, is Cannon’s voice. She sings with a unaffected purity that is right at home in a bluegrass setting, and blends beautifully with Dan Tyminski, Ronnie Bowman and Sonya Isaacs who sing with her on the new album.

Bowman also contributed three songs to the project. Send A Little Love, Mary Magdalene and I’ve Seen Enough Of What’s Behind Me were all co-written by him. Melonie is credited as a co-writer on three as well, and her dad on two.

One of Buddy’s song which she covers here is the honky tonk classic, Set ‘Em Up Joe, originally recorded by Vern Gosdin in 1988. It fits just fine with banjo, dobro, mandolin and fiddle – just like it was written that way.

It’s a special song for Melonie, and may have been instrumental in her becoming a singer.

“I started out doing this one in the live show a couple years ago. The band loved it on stage and they kept saying that I should record it – as a tip of the hat to my Daddy. I had the chance to sing it on the Opry, and the house came down. Then, I got to tell them that my dad wrote it.

I used to sing this all the time when I was a kid (13-14), but my dad used to drink back then and never really took note. I would plug a mic into an amp and sing along with the record down in the basement.

One day Vern was at the house and said to Daddy, ‘Do you know that kid can sing down there?’ Daddy brought me up and we sang together for the next few hours. They taught me how to sing harmony, what it meant, how it felt.

If it wasn’t for Vern, I don’t know if Daddy would ever have pulled me up from that basement.”

A couple of the songs are flat-out bluegrass where the talents of Adam Steffey, Randy Kohrs, Tim Stafford, Wyatt Rice, Aubrey Haynie, Jody King, Barry Bales and Deanie Richardson really shine.

Melonie shows her vocal chops on the aforementioned Mary Magdalene (Why You Cryin’), which captures an old time Gospel feel – complete with improvised shouts in the background. The chorus was composed of Sonya Isaacs, Tim Stafford, Ronnie and Garnet Bowman, Buddy Cannon, Melonie and Dan Tyminski.

“That session was so much fun. We were sitting around reading the Bible, writing, laughing and having a big Hoohaw.

Sonya and Ronnie had the idea for the arrangement. We set a microphone in the middle of the room, and the two of them got in the corners of the room and just ad libbed those hollers.

I always wanted a to have a Gospel tune about the strong women of The Bible, and a lot of people don’t think much about Mary Magdalene.”

Picking up on that theme, I had noticed that half of the songs on And The Wheels Turn were written or co-written by female composers, and that the themes of the songs were told from a woman’s perspective.

“I’m attracted to strong women songs – guess that’s the tom boy in me. I’m the mother of two boys and I have a husband, a male dog and a male bird. I have to stand up for me, and I respect women who do that.

I end up choosing songs with a great message that speak to me.”

We’ll have more tomorrow from this conversation with Melonie Cannon, including details about her duet – and video shoot – with Willie Nelson.

This CD, the second album for the Blue Circle Record label by the Daughters of Bluegrass, is a landmark extravaganza featuring over 50 daughters and 17 songs.

The opening cut, Proud To Be A Daughter Of Bluegrass, certainly is an extravaganza with Dale Ann Bradley leading 20 other ladies in a remembrance of their forebears in bluegrass and delighting in their own involvement in the music. Such esteemed members of the fairer sex as Heather Berry, Lisa Martin, Gloria Belle, Sierra Hull, Rhonda Vincent, Lisa Ray, Linda Lay, Sally Jones, Carol Lee Cooper, Jeanie Stanley, Sonya Isaacs, Becky Isaacs Bowman, Michelle Nixon, Jeanette Williams, Sophie Haislip, Louise Tomberlain, Mindy Rakestraw, Lizzy Long, Frances Mooney, Lorraine Jordan, Annette Kelly, Lily Lieux, Dixie Hall, Judi Marshall, Beth Lawrence, Melissa Lawrence, Donica Christensen, Rebecca Frazier, Jenni Lyn Gardner and Lisa Manning all share in that pride.

In varying combinations that cast of songstresses, re-enforced by the talents of vocalists Janet McGarry, Valerie Smith, Stacy York, Dara Wray, Alecia Nugent and Jennifer Strickland bring to luscious life some exceptional songs each of which was written by the people at Good Home Grown Music, namely Dixie Hall, Tom T Hall and Troy Engle, with an assist on one song by Billy Smith, who is himself no slouch with a guitar and a pen.

Providing the instrumental drive and finesse are Gena Britt, Vicki Simmons, Megan McCormick, Becky Buller, Tina Adair, Kristin Scott Benson, Rebekah Long, Jenee Fleenor, Jeana Martin, Janice Martin, Larita Martin, Martha Adcock, Amber Burks and Beth Stevens.

Song samples and ordering can be found at the Daughters’ website and on CD Baby. Albums are also available for purchase from most of the featured artists at their live performances and their respective websites.

Strong Enough marks the debut from Beth Stevens & Edge, though her voice will be a familiar one to a great many bluegrass fans. Beth sang for many years with her sister April and her parents as The Stevens Family, before the girls ventured out as The Stevens Sisters.

Her new CD showcases Beth’s strong voice, both as a lead vocalist and in duet with Steve Gulley and Dale Ann Bradley, and her dad Doug Stevens. The material is a nice mix of modern bluegrass and Gospel music, brilliantly performed by Edge and a crack studio band featuring Scott Vestal on banjo, Matt Leadbetter on resonator guitar, Jesse Cobb on mandolin, and Steve Thomas on fiddle. Beth also plays banjo, as she does in their live shows.

She shared a few thoughts with us about the new project…

“Strong Enough is a true representation of the music that I love. It allowed me the freedom to sing and arrange the songs the way I wanted the fans to hear them. The best thing about the album is simply it’s given me and my band EDGE the opportunity to showcase what we can do along with the help and support of some of the people that I have wanted to work with for years like Scott Vestal, who made recording this project one on the best musical experiences for me. I hope the fans enjoy the CD.”

New this fall from The Churchmen is I’ll Be Long Gone, the third on Pinecastle for this North Carolina Gospel bluegrass outfit. It contains primarily original material, written by David Guthrie, who sings the high leads and plays guitar with the group. A few old favorites, like Take Me In The Lifeboat and Rocked On The Deep are included as well.

The band is made up of founding members Gerald Harbour on mandolin, Keith Clark on bass, and Freddy Rakes on banjo, with Tim Smith on fiddle and Guthrie on guitar. Dale Perry plays the banjo on the new recording.