Here is the second part of our interview with Pam Gadd about her new CD, Benefit Of Doubt. In the first part of our discussion, Pam talked about her early exposure to bluegrass music, and how she chose the musicians for the new album.

In the second installment, Pam talks about a number of the songs she chose for this project (with audio samples).

Farewell Wagon Master – Listen now:

“This one is a heart breaker for me. And yet, a true tribute to Porter Wagoner, a man I grew up watching on TV and who I later stood next to on the Opry stage and who was my buddy. That part of my life was a totally unexpected experience, and it enriched me greatly. I can’t say enough about the Opry experience, and I’m so grateful for the friendship, performance, and recording that I did with Porter. He really was a great country artist, and I am so proud.

As I stood by his grave on the day he was buried, in the silence before we all departed, I felt so compelled to start singing ‘Yes, they’ll all come to see me, in the shade of that old oak tree when they lay me beneath the green, green grass of home.’ I just didn’t have the nerve. But I was so struck to stand there and realize that it had finally really came true. I’m forever grateful that it came inside my head from the great Giver of songs.”

Just Love Me – Listen now:

“This was the first song I’d written in quite some time, and Benefit of Doubt came along right after it. They were both happy, bright songs- actually inspired by the same person I was in relationship with at the time. I was just happy and in love and in love with music again. It had been a long time since I’d felt so inspired to pick and write.

When we recorded these songs for the CD, it was so wonderful to work with Bryan Sutton and Wanda Vick, well everyone – and hear these songs with full accompaniment. I wrote both of them on the banjo, which is a bit unusual for me.”

You can hear samples from all 14 tracks by visiting Pam’s web site.

Pam Gadd has been a bluegrass trooper for more years than she may care to admit.

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. (more…)