Dehlia Low "Tellico"
I was more than curious to get a bona fide copy of Tellico, a new CD by Asheville, N.C., band Dehlia Low. You see, Anya Hinkle, a vocalist and fiddle player with the group, authored a series of articles for BluegrassJournal.com about the making of the CD. Her series made for interesting reading for those who’ve been down the recording path, those who want to go there and even those who are shade-tree pickers and fans with no interest in recording but still interested in the process.
And, yes, it was an interesting and good read for yours truly, who copy-edited Hinkle’s stories before they were posted.
This seems to be an appropriate time to extend warm appreciation to Hinkle for volunteering to write the series for BluegrassJournal.com readers. It was a labor of love well done — as is the band’s new album.
From several listens to the CD, I’d say it was worth all the fretting (pun intended), frustrations and bundles of nerves the band went through.
According to the band’s Web site, “Dehlia Low’s music focuses on songwriting that draws from the sounds of early roots country music with instrumentation that is influenced by early and modern bluegrass.”
And, the new CD reflects that philosophy with virtually all original material, some of it darned outstanding tunes, including the title cut, “Plains of Tellico, a Hinkle-penned number. The CD opens with another Hinkle song, “Take Me Back,” which has all the flavor of an old Webb Pierce country standard from the Fifties.
The CD has a nice mix of vocals, songs and instrumentation, but definitely a standout of Tellico is the Dobro work of Aaron Ballance. He flat out shines on almost every cut. Perhaps its the lack of the traditional bluegrass five-string banjo in the group that puts Ballance in the spotlight at almost every turn, even the subtle ones.
Ballance gets a lot of instrumental support from mandolinist Bryan Clendenin, Hinkle on fiddle and Stacy Claude on guitar. Rounding out the group is Greg Stiglets on bass and vocals. It should be noted that everyone except Ballance contributes vocally to the band’s music.
The group is currently hitting all the festivals it can to promote the CD — and obviously themselves. Despite the lack of a five-string, I’d bet the group is still scoring a great deal of success at the bluegrass festivals where Dehlia Low is on the bill.
With more and more groups surfacing and trying to break into the national touring circuit, making a name has to be a tough row to hoe in this game. Tellico should make the effort a little easier. It’s a good sales tool — and a CD a lot of bluegrass fans will embrace.
Note: If you haven’t read the series from Anya Hinkle on the Making of Tellico, all 4 parts are linked below in the “Similar Posts You Might Like To Read” section.