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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Grasstowne - “The Road Headin’ Home”

Pinecastle Records is pleased as punch with Grasstowne and the band’s debut CD, “The Road Headin’ Home.”

In a news release, label publicists are touting the CD’s repeat of the No. 1 ranking on Bluegrass Unlimited’s National Bluegrass Survey for February, the third consecutive month “Headin’ Home” has sat on top of the BU charts. Additionally, the CD’s single, “Dixie Flyer,” has reached its pinnacle at No. 1 after steadily climbing the charts since the CD’s release last August.

Grasstowne is now gearing up for the 34th annual SPBGMA Bluegrass Music Awards. The group and its members have been nominated for awards in 11 different categories. This year’s SPBGMA convention will take place Jan. 1-Feb. 3 in Nashville. Grasstowne bandmates are Steve Gulley, guitar and lead vocals; Alan Bibey on mandolin; Phil Ledbetter on resophonic guitar; Jason Davis on banjo; and Jamey Booher on bass.

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Dailey & Vincent Band (L-R) Adam Haynes, Jeff Parker, Jamie Dailey, Darrin Vincent, Joe Dean photo by Aaron Crisler/The Judy Nelon Group for Dailey & Vincent, Inc.

A large crowd of industry VIP’s, media, family and friends gathered at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum on Tuesday night to celebrate the release of Dailey & Vincent’s self-titled debut CD on January 29. The hot new Rounder Records duo thrilled the audience with a 5-song set in the museum’s Ford Theater, including “Poor Boy Workin’ Blues,” “More Than a Name on a Wall,” which drew loud applause after the first chorus, and “Cumberland River.” After the third song, the band left the performance area, while Jamie and Darrin performed “By the Mark.” Their pure harmonies, accompanied by only guitar and mandolin, earned a standing ovation. After introducing the band and offering thanks and acknowledgments, they closed the set with a pristine a cappella quartet version of “Don’t You Wanna Go To Heaven When You Die,” which brought the crowd to its feet again.

Dailey & Vincent (L-R) Jimmy Fortune, Jamie Dailey, Carl Jackson, Darrin Vincent, Craig Havighurst/String Theory Media and Brad Paul/Sr. VP National Promotion, Rounder Records photo by Aaron Crisler/The Judy Nelon Group for Dailey & Vincent, Inc.

After the performance, guests made their way upstairs to the Hall of Fame Rotunda for a reception with Jamie and Darrin. Among those in attendance were Jimmy Fortune of the Statler Brothers, who wrote “More Than a Name on a Wall” and “I Believe” on the CD, Linda Davis, Ken Mellons, Carl Jackson, Kevin Denney, and Bob Minner of Tim McGraw’s Dancehall Doctors, who co-wrote “Music of the Mountains” on the CD.

In other Dailey & Vincent news

Dailey & Vincent’s “By the Mark,” written by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings has reached the top of this week’s Count Down Yonder Weekly Top 17 Songs of SIRIUS Bluegrass.

The song, recorded with only Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent’s vocals, guitar and mandolin, has been a stand-out track noted by reviewers and programmers, and a crowd-pleasing number during their live show.

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We got the new design uploaded and necessary changes made to the database last night without to many complications.

The biggest new feature is the tagging system. You can find a tag list at the bottom of the sidebar on the right and all stories have the tags listed in the “byline.” As we continue to grow not only will the tags help find more news on your favorite artist or festivals but we plan to use these to make regional news specific to your geographic area easier to find.

If you run into any glaring issues please let us know @ travis.tackett@bluegrassjournal.com. Having said that let us know what you think of the new layout by voting below.

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We want to thank everyone for stopping by the site. It’s really beginning to get some legs under it. With that said, we felt it was time to update and improve the design of the site.

Over the weekend we will be updating the site with the new design. We think the new layout will make the site easier to navigate and find the information you’re looking for. The new design will also add support for a tagging system that will allow you to find stories and items on your favorite artists even faster.

If you come looking for your news fix on the bluegrass scene and we’re not here, please check back in a couple of hours. We’ll be right back. Fingers crossed the transition goes that smooth.

Thanks again for visiting BluegrassJournal.com and we hope you enjoy the new layout as much as we do.

– The BluegrassJournal.com Staff

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