I wanted to add a few impressions to what Brance posted earlier…

Mountain Heart: I thought that their showcase was brilliant, and was very interested to see how they would approach this “going over to the other side” vibe. When the band launched in 1999 – in another en masse exodus from Doyle Lawson – they were a decidedly bluegrass group, very much in the Quicksilver mode.

Only banjo player and vocalist Barry Abernathy and fiddler Jim VanCleve remain from the original lineup, and with new members coming and going, you expect any band to see an evolution in their sound.

Over these ten years, they have been drifting towards a more modern sound, both in their recordings and in their stage presentation. With the addition last year of Josh Shilling, a very talented vocalist and songwriter whose background is in blues and funk-based music, the guys have been drifting ever farther from a bluegrass-only format. Even the fiddle tunes they perform often rely on harmony that owes as much to rock as bluegrass, and the production of their recent studio albums have strayed from kickoff-verse-chorus-break arrangements.

The whole point of last night’s showcase was to introduce a new stage show that made no attempt to be “a bluegrass band” or a “blues band” or a “rock band.”  The video Brance is editing now will have a lot of comments from Shilling about their newly-refocused approach, where they just let the various stylistic influences in the band be what they are. Bluegrass traditionalists may not care for it, but it struck me that anyone with an open mind towards quality music would have to work hard to dislike it.

Mountain Heart is hosting a mega-jam tonight (9/30) to celebrate their 10th Anniversary, with a stellar list of guests scheduled to appear with them on stage. We will certainly be trying to catch that, tonight at 11:15 p.m. (CDT).

Adam Steffey: I agree with Brance that this was a highlight of the day’s music. All the Mountain Heart guys were there – they headed down to see Adam (a former band mate) after their event had concluded.

His band – essentially The Dan Tyminski Band with Clay Hess on guitar and Randy Kohrs on resonator guitar – was sonic perfection. Ron Stewart shows every time he straps on one why he is among the most admired banjoists in bluegrass. Barry Bales plays bass with the tone and sense of time that the rest seek to emulate, and Justin Moses plays fiddle and sings tenor as well as one could hope. (more…)

Tina Adair made quite a name for herself in bluegrass before many performers her age had played their first show. Her family band, The Adairs, won the 1996 Pizza Hut Bluegrass Showdown when Tina was 17 years old, and within a few weeks, she had signed a recording contract with Sugar Hill Records.

Her first Sugar Hill album, Just You Wait And See, came out in ‘97. Produced by Jerry Douglas and featuring such luminaries as Chris Thile, Bryan Sutton, Aubrey Haynie, Viktor Krauss, Charlie Cushman, Keith Little, and Alan O’Bryant, the project sold well and garnered praise from radio and critics. After four years touring, Tina pulled back from music to study in college, though she did release one self-produced CD, All You Need, in 2000.

After completing undergraduate studies, she went to work in Nashville while also attending graduate school. But the music just can’t be denied. She will be debuting her new band, The Tina Adair Band – with whom she is currently recording – just after IBMA.

The new band features Tina on mandolin and lead vocals with Justin Carbone on guitar, Sim Daley on banjo and Tim Dishman on bass. They have a gutty, snappy, modern bluegrass sound, anchored by Adair’s powerful and aggressive singing style.

We caught up with Tina recently and she shared some of the music cut with the new group, and an update on her activities of late.

Now Forever’s Gone – Listen Now    

“One of my goals was to always get a college degree and was highly encouraged by my family. My brother and I were first generation college students, and my parents worked very very hard in order to pay for both both of our college educations.  I’m very blessed!

Another goal was to live in Nashville, TN.  Therefore, I found Belmont University where I studied and obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration degree majoring in Music Business, perfectly suited to my goals. Boy…it would have come in much handier if I’d only had that knowledge about five years earlier when everything in my music career begin taking off!!

Upon graduating from Belmont, I began work in the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business at Belmont, where I still reside.  I am the Director of the Advising Center in the Curb College and I teach a couple of Senior Capstone courses currently.  I’m also pursuing my Masters of Education in Organizational Leadership and Communication.

Needless to say…I have a LOT of irons in the fire!!” (more…)