Jan 28
Cedar Hill “Poverty Row” (Blue Circle Records)
Cedar Hill - “Poverty Row”I’m a huge fan of my neighboring state, Missouri. I love the Ozarks’ rugged landscape, its gentle people, clear rivers and streams and the smallmouth bass contained therein. My family takes the short escape route from Illinois each year to camp in this beautiful state.
Emerging from this tranquil, beautiful landscape is the band, Cedar Hill, and it’s emerging in a big way, as evidenced by the group’s latest CD, “Poverty Row,” the band’s first project to fly under the Blue Circle Records label of Tom T. and Dixie Hall.
The band has been around for awhile — ages, in fact, with leader Frank Ray leading the group for about four decades. It’s issued several CDs along the way, including two previous projects on the Hay Holler label. But “Poverty Row” is my first exposure to this group. In a nutshell, the CD is fine bluegrass with a few contemporary-tinged touches added to the mix. And, it’s getting plenty of attention. This month, “Poverty Row” hit No. 18 on Cashbox magazine’s Top 25 Bluegrass Albums and received a 5-star review from the publication.
One nearly indisputable fact emerges from listening to this CD: Vocalist Lisa Ray is the band’s standout. Her shimmering voice sparkles on this project, luckily for the listener on eight of the CD’s dozen tracks. Certainly, others in the band are more than adequate with their vocal offerings, but Lisa Ray stands far above, as she would no matter what musicians would be surrounding her.
For me, the pick of the CD was a no-brainer, a Lisa Ray-Vince Gill duet on “Broken Angels,” a deeply emotional look at bad hands life has dealt the song’s two subjects, one being a troubled young homeless girl and the other a 4-year-old boy battling cancer. It’s one of those songs that puts a painful lump in the listener’s throat. And, it’s very definitely a long stride from the traditional to the contemporary for the band.
“Broken Angels” was co-written by Dale Haverstick and Cedar Hill’s mandolin player Frank Ray, who also contributed other tunes to “Poverty Row.” The title track, incidentally, is from the Tom T. and Dixie Hall library. And, no, this isn’t Frank Ray’s first venture into songwriting. He’s been highly decorated for this songwriting talents over the years.
Lisa Ray, incidentally, is more than just a pretty voice. She’s Cedar Hill’s very accomplished fiddler and showcases that talent on a couple of instrumentals, including the ancient classic, “Soldier’s Joy,” which, overworked as the song has become, comes across with a new freshness here. Other members of the band are Kenny Cantrell on banjo; Rob Collins on bass and Joe Wieneman on guitar. Besides Vince Gill’s guest spot, others showing up on this CD are Molly Cherryholmes adding some harmony fiddle, Ferrell Stow on resophonic guitar and Bobby Minner on lead guitar, clawhammer banjo and mandolin.
Cedar Hill, over the past few years, has moved into the national spotlight with several IBMA and SPBGMA nominations. The band’s touring schedule, listed on its Web site, also strongly suggests Cedar Hill is venturing far beyond its Ozark boundaries. “Poverty Row” certainly will help expand the band’s range.
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