2007 has been a great year for bluegrass music and a bunch of great discs were released. I’ve consumed more music since we launched BluegrassJournal.com six months ago than I have in the last 2 years. Of all the CDs I’ve listened to this year, there’s a handful that continually find there way back to the CD player.

For my number one pick, I’ve got to go with “Gaining Wisdom” from Donna Hughes, released on Rounder Records.

I can’t seem to get enough of this disc. Hughes is one of the truly gifted talents in the business. “Gaining Wisdom” showcases Hughes’ considerable songwriting abilities that relate everyday observations of life’s trials and tribulations from a unique viewpoint that most anyone can relate to their own life in one way or another.

Hughes’ song-writing skills have a unique and endearing quality about them. On the surface, they can seem deceptively simple and down to earth with a casual listen, yet upon closer inspection they reveal a highly sophisticated and thought provoking commentary on life itself, with an inate ability to command the listener’s undivided attention, drawing one to reflect on the many different joys, sorrows and challenges faced in life.

An album like “Gaining Wisdom,” I suspect, would come to be considered a “landmark” album for many artists in the midst of a long and successful careers. For Hughes, a relatively unknown, to debut with a collection of songs and performances this impressive… it leaves me highly anticipating her next release.

In the number two spot “Lovin’ Pretty Women” from The Steep Canyon Rangers on Rebel Records is just a great album. From the songwriting to performances, “Lovin’ Pretty Women” hits all the bases. The Rangers’ music is firmly planted on the traditional side of the genre but the band brings an energy and vibe to their traditional sound that borrows from the “Newgrass” fork of the musical tree.

Having seen these guys back in September at the Franklin, Ky., Festival, The Steep Canyon Rangers can blow the doors off the barn and leave crowds beggin’ for more. I suspect a ton of great things to come from The Steep Canyon Rangers in the years to come.

The group’s banjo picker, Graham Sharp, had a hand in writing eight of the 12 cuts on the project and may very well be the Steep Canyon Ranger’s ace in the hole.

To the uninitiated, a top to bottom listen will leave the listener wondering if Monroe or some other luminary of the genre originally released these songs years ago. Sharp has a real gift for penning tunes that sound like instant classics.

The instrumental work on the disc showcases a group of musicians who have honed their craft from years of playing together on the road

Much like my Dad, Dan Tackett I couldn’t nail down a single CD for 3rd place so I’m going to have a tie here as well. My picks for third include two artist that hadn’t released albums in several years.

And the tie comes down to Tom T. Hall’s “Tom T Hall Sings Miss Dixie and Tom T.” on Blue Circle Records and Charlie Sizemore’s “Good News” on Rounder Records.

Tom T. Hall is as deserving of the title “National Treasure” as any I’ve heard it bestowed upon. He has a unique perspective on life and can tell stories unlike anyone.

“Tom T. Hal Sings Miss Dixie and Tom T.” was originally intended as a Christmas present for Miss Dixie, Hall’s significant other and songwriting partner. Lucky for all of us, this wonderful album was released on the Hall’s own Blue Circle Records.

Tom T. and Miss Dixie have always written songs centered around observations of the common man’s life, and this batch of tunes deals with many of the same types of examinations that immortalized characters like Clayton Delaney, The Hitchhiker, and Ravishing Ruby.

Compared to the production of the country hits Hall had in the ’70s and ’80s, the laid-back and stripped-down instrumentation provided by an all-acoustic (and all-star) band place Tom T.’s strong suits as a songwriter and storyteller squarely at the forefront. Hall’s vocal delivery on the entire album is right on the money with an honesty you only get from an artist who penned the material.

“Good News” from Charlie Sizemore on Rounder Records showcases Sizemore’s unequaled vocal delivery on a great batch of songs. From the down and out “Blame it on Vern”, the lighthearted “Alison’s Band” and “I’ve Fallen And I Can’t Get Up” to the haunting civil war story “The Silver Bugle”, “Good News” is a great album and a long overdue return of one of Bluegrass’ great vocal stylists.

Back to the current tale, Sizemore himself may deserve the title of The Voice in today’s bluegrass scene. He plays his smooth voice on “Good News” every bit as well as his highly capable pickers do their instruments on this CD. He glides Teflon-like high and then dips low, all with plenty of emotion to fit the tune at hand.

If there’s a lesson to be learned from “Good News,” it’s this: Sizemore, Rounder Records and other powers that be shouldn’t wait another five years before doing this again. Doing so would be bad news.

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Charlie Sizemore photo by Señor McGuire

Burlington, MA — Did you hear the good news? Good News is #1 on XM Radio’s Bluegrass Junction and the single “Alison’s Band” is the #1 single on Sirius Radio’s Count Down Yonder: Weekly Top 17 Songs of Sirius Bluegrass. Good News, Sizemore’s first studio album in five years, was released in August on Rounder Records and was produced by Sizemore and acclaimed country producer/songwriter Buddy Cannon (Kenny Chesney, George Jones, Reba McEntire). The L.A. Daily News calls Good News “…one of the year’s best bluegrass releases,” while CMT.com says, “…if you like easygoing bluegrass music with smart, clever lyrics, this one will make you feel pretty darn good.”

“Alison’s Band,” Sizemore’s lighthearted hit single about yearning to be a member of Union Station, continues its ascent at #12 on Bluegrass Unlimited’s Top 30 Single Chart and #6 on Bluegrass Music Profile’s Top 20 Hot Singles while Good News is #3 on Bluegrass Unlimited’s National Bluegrass Top 15 Album Chart and #3 on Bluegrass Music Profile’s Top 10 Bluegrass CDs.

The Charlie Sizemore Band have announced their spring 2008 tour schedule (below). The Charlie Sizemore Band is Charlie Sizemore (lead vocals, guitar), Danny Barnes (mandolin, vocals), Matt DeSpain (Dobro), John Pennell (bass) and Wayne Fields (banjo).In addition to being one of bluegrass music’s most distinctive and expressive vocal stylists, Charlie Sizemore is also recognized as being one of its most literate and thoughtful songwriters, with impeccable taste in choosing lesser-known, under-appreciated, well-written tunes by other writers. Based in Nashville, where he runs a successful law practice, Sizemore has moved a long way from his roots in eastern Kentucky, on Puncheon Creek, in the state’s quintessentially Appalachian county, Magoffin. In other ways, however, he is as deeply close as ever, as connected to the sources of his musical inspiration as when he joined Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys at age seventeen, replacing the late Keith Whitley, for the next nine and a half years.

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Charlie Sizemore “Good News”

How’s this for a sales pitch from none other than Dr. Ralph Stanley:

“Charlie knows music and knows how to make it right. I would highly recommend this CD.”

That’s Charlie, as in Charlie Sizemore, and “this CD” is Sizemore’s new Rounder release, “Good News.” And, good news, it is, considering it’s been a five-year dry spell since his last recording project.

And, yes, the good Dr. Stanley knows about what he speaks. After all, Sizemore, at the tender age of 17, joined Stanley’s band to replace the then-departing Keith Whitley. He spent nine years with the Clinch Mountain Boys before heading on to start his own band and get a college education, which culminated in a law degree.

Sizemore tackles traditional and not-so-traditional sounds on “Good News,” while giving each track a real trademark Sizemore stamp, especially on the four new original tunes here, including the tongue-in-cheek “Alison’s Band,” which must have drawn some pretty hearty chuckles from Ms. Krauss, her bandmates and a wide circle of bluegrass insiders.

Charlie Sizemore photo by Señor McGuire

Alison Krauss isn’t the only one targeted for some good-natured fun on “Good News.” There’s also “Blame It on Vern,” a real hoot of a tribute to Vern Gosdin, known as country music’s “The Voice,” back not too many years ago when country music was … well, country. But that’s another story for another day.

Back to the current tale, Sizemore himself may deserve the title of The Voice in today’s bluegrass scene. He plays his smooth voice on “Good News” every bit as well as his highly capable pickers do their instruments on this CD. He glides Teflon-like high and then dips low, all with plenty of emotion to fit the tune at hand.

Living in flat, black-dirt Illinois all my life, the John Pennell/Harley Allen tune, “Devil on a Plow,” struck paydirt with me. Shades of Larry Cordle’s style of writing come through on this salute to a hard working dirt farmer.

“The Silver Bugle,” written by Sizemore and Tom T. and Dixie Hall, is a haunting telling of a Civil War legend rooted in Kentucky. The Hank Cochran/Craig Martin tear-jerker, “My Dying Day,” really draws on Sizemore’s ability to milk every drop of raw emotion from a lyric.

“Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart,” the Randy Travis hit, also is treated well by Sizemore and his band. The group includes Pennell playing bass, Danny Barnes on mandolin and other assorted utility chores, Matt DeSpain on resophonic guitars and Wayne Fields on banjo.

DeSpain gets his chance to shine vocally with the lead on “Hey Moon,” one of these feel-good, bouncy love tunes. Barnes also deserves a friendly nod for his contribution of the high harmony part on this fun song.

The CD is co-produced by Sizemore and Nashville ace Buddy Cannon, who has directed recorded projects by Kenny Chesney, George Jones, Reba McEntire and many others.

If there’s a lesson to be learned from “Good News,” it’s this: Sizemore, Rounder Records and other powers that be shouldn’t wait another five years before doing this again. Doing so would be bad news.

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Charlie Sizemore talks about his career, what it was like working with Ralph Stanley, and what to expect with his newest album “Good News”.

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The Charlie Sizemore Band: Good News, Coming 08/14/2007 !
Good News is the first Rounder Records release from singer, songwriter, and vocalist Charlie Sizemore, an artist much respected and loved in the world of bluegrass for both his musical talents and his unshakeable yet immensely likeable integrity. His reputation as “The Real Deal” is based equally on his considerable musical talents and his resolute commitment to doing things the right way, and has only added luster to his place as one of the finest bluegrass artists of his generation. Soulful and heartfelt, Charlie Sizemore’s singing is capable of bringing a new level of emotion and insight to songs new and old. An equally powerful writer, Sizemore’s compositions have been recorded by Ralph Stanley, Jimmy Martin, and Doyle Lawson. His first new album in five years, Good News is compelling proof that Sizemore is his own best interpreter - and that Good News is always worth waiting for.

“Charlie Sizemore was one of my top lead singers that I have had through the years. Charlie knows music and knows how to make it right. I would highly recommend this CD.” Dr. Ralph Stanley

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