The Bluegrass Standard - Desktop - Volume 3, Issue 12

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CONTENTS

King James Boys Frank Newsome The Primitive Quartet Donald Lawrence Tomorrow’s Bluegrass Stars:

Sugar Creek Bluegrass

Earl Bynum THE BLUEGRASS STANDARD

more!

The Drexel Barbershop

Eagle’s Wings The Chigger Hill Boys & Terri Music Barn Festival Guide THE BLUEGRASS STANDARD

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Scott Brown

The Blu e gras s St andard St aff Keith Barnacastle • Publisher

The Bluegrass Standard is a life-long dream of Keith Barnacastle, who grew up in Meridian, Mississippi. For three years, Keith brought the Suits, Boots and Bluegrass Festival to Meridian. Now, with the Bluegrass Standard, Keith’s enthusiasm for the music, and his vision of its future, reaches a nationwide audience every month!

Keith@TheBluegrassStandard.com

Richelle Putnam • Managing Journalist Editor

Richelle Putnam is a Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC) Teaching Artist/Roster Artist (Literary), a Mississippi Humanities Speaker, and a 2014 MAC Literary Arts Fellowship recipient. Her non-fiction books include Lauderdale County, Mississippi; a Brief History, Legendary Locals of Meridian, Mississippi and Mississippi and the Great Depression. Richelle@TheBluegrassStandard.com

James Babb • Creative Director

James is a native Californian, and a long-time resident of Palm Springs. He creates a unique “look” for every issue of The Bluegrass Standard, and enjoys learning about each artist. In addition to his creative work with The Bluegrass Standard, James also provides graphic design and technical support to a variety of clients.

James@TheBluegrassStandard.com

Shelby C. Berry • Journalist Editor

Shelby Campbell is a writer and designer whose heart beats for creativity. A native of rural Livingston, AL, she found her passion in journalism and design at The University of West Alabama, where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications. Shelby also has her own photography business.

Kara Martinez Bachman • Journalist

Kara Martinez Bachman is an author, editor and journalist.

Her music and culture reporting has appeared in dozens of publications and she’s interviewed many performers over the years, from local musicians to well-known celebrities.

She’s a native of New Orleans and lives just outside the city with her husband, two kids, and two silly mutts.

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The Blu e gras s St andard St aff Stephen Pitalo • Journalist

Stephen Pitalo has been an entertainment journalist for more than 30 years, having interviewed everyone from Joey Ramone to Bill Plympton to John Landis. He is the world’s leading authority on the The Golden Age of Music Video (1976-1993), mining inside stories from interviews 70+ music video directors and countless artists of the pre-internet music era. GoldenAgeOfMusicVideo.com

Susan Marquez • Journalist

Susan Marquez is a freelance writer based in Madison, Mississippi and a Mississippi Arts Commission Roster Artist. After a 20+ year career in advertising and marketing, she began a professional writing career in 2001. Since that time she has written over 2000 articles which have been published in magazines, newspapers, business journals, trade publications.

Emerald Butler • Journalist

Emerald Butler is a writer, songwriter, fiddler, and entertainer from Sale Creek, TN. She has worked and performed various occasions with artists such as Rhonda Vincent, Bobby Osborn, Becky Buller, Alison Brown, top 40 radio host Bob Kingsley, and country songwriter Roger Alan Wade. With a bachelor’s degree in Music Business and a minor in Marketing, Emerald uses her creative talent to share the love of music with others. Emerald@TheBluegrassStandard.com

Rick Dollar • Marketing Rick@TheBluegrassStandard.com

Susan Hollenbeck Speed • Marketing Susan@TheBluegrassStandard.com

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Volume 2, Issue 12 ~ Dec 2018

ry to Superfan Kenyon Purcell has a sto tell, in last year’s Gospel Issue.

Also included: Cana’s Voice Greer Family Band Canaan’s Crossing Chestnut Ridge Legacy Five The Miller Family ...and more!

You can check out all of the back issues on our website, even search for your favorite artists at: ine TheBluegrassStandard.com/magaz

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The Bluegrass Standard magazine is published monthly. Opinions expressed are not necessarily the opinions of The Bluegrass Standard or its staff, advertisers or readers with the exception of editorials. Publication of the name or the photograph of any person, business or organization in articles or advertising in The Bluegrass Standard is not to be construed as any indication of support of such person, business or organization. The Bluegrass Standard disclaims any responsibility for claims made by advertisers.

Advertising rates are subject to change without notice. The Bluegrass Standard reserves the right at its sole discretion to reject any advertising for any reason. It is our policy to publish any letters to the editor that are signed and verifiable by phone number. We reserve the right of anonymity upon request. Letters must be grammatically correct, clarity and original and free of libel. The Bluegrass Standard reserves the right to decline to publish any letter. Please send your comments to: editor@thebluegrassstandard.com The views expressed are not necessarily those of The Bluegrass Standard. Copyright ©2019. All Rights reserved. No portion of the publication may be reproduced in any form without the expressed consent of the publisher.

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The Good News of The King James Boys

by Kara Martinez Bachman THE BLUEGRASS STANDARD

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They’ve performed on the PBS show “Song of the Mountains”; been on the Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree; appeared at events such as the Bluegrass and Barbeque Festival and Harvest Fest at Dollywood; received nominations from SPBGMA and the Front Porch Fellowship Awards; released a bunch of albums under various record labels; and are on the road with a schedule that might be enviable to many bluegrass and gospel bands.

But the King James Boys began its ministry through music in the way most gospel outfits start—from within the pews of a sacred space.

“In 1994, we just started as a church group,” explained King James Boys guitarist and lead vocalist, Randy Spencer. “Now, we’re touring full time. We have about a hundred, hundred-and-ten dates a year. We’ve recorded about 12 albums now.”

The roots run deep with Spencer; gospel has been in his life since his earliest days.

“I grew up singing in the youth choir,” he explained. “My dad was in a southern gospel group... I used to watch Hee Haw with my great grandparents.” Spencer first picked up a guitar at around age 18 or 19 and has never stopped.

He said the entire band had a similar upbringing, influenced mostly by folk sounds.

“We grew up listening to all bluegrass and southern gospel,” he said.

In addition to Spencer, the “we” of the King James Boys include Dr. Jeff Dover (harmony vocals); Cole Spencer (bass and harmony vocals); Curtis Lewis (banjo); and Will Hart (mandolin, guitar, and harmony vocals).

Spencer said he looks forward to the holidays; he’ll be doing the same exact thing he does every year. He gets together with his extended family. He’s got five brothers, so with all their spouses and children included, there’s quite a crowd.

“It’s pretty traditional,” he explained. “We give out gifts to the kids, eat, and then head over to my grandma’s.”

His family is primarily centered around the town where he still lives—Cowpens, in Spartanburg County, South Carolina.

In recent years the King James Boys have had two #1 songs on prominent charts, and according to Spencer, “all of last year, we had songs on the charts.”

The group’s latest CD, Living on a Promise, will be released in January through Morning Glory Music. Fans can expect the sound they’re accustomed to—vocals that fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

“We’re really big into harmony singing,” Spencer said, of their style.

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There’s more, though. It’s not just about the sounds, but also about the ideas.

“We’re not into just riffs... we like to have a message,” Spencer said.

It is with the message in mind—the spiritual portion of the band’s work—that most songs they perform are either written or selected. Covers aren’t their thing, so instead, audiences are treated to songs they’ve perhaps never heard anywhere else.

Spencer said about 85-percent of what they perform is original, either written by the band or by someone who thought they might want to record an original song. He said choosing material offered by writers outside the band is as simple as can be.

“If I listen to it and I like it, I think other people would like it, too,” he said in a nutshell, of the song selection process.

Right now, Spencer is the primary force behind most original material written from within the ranks of the King James Boys, but said his son co-penned a song with him, so he is also getting into the writing game.

The Shows: The band’s slate of shows can include lots of variation, but according to Spencer, most dates happen in places expected of gospel. “It’s probably 60-percent in churches and 40-percent in auditoriums and at bluegrass festivals.”

A sampling of upcoming dates include a holiday appearance at the Christmas in the Smokies Bluegrass Festival in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, on Dec. 14; the Sing to Remember concert in Roanoke, Alabama on March 28; an appearance at the Williamsburg Gospel Barn in Williamsburg, Kentucky, on May 2; and in summer 2020, they will gig at Silver Dollar City.

The full performance schedule which is added to as new dates emerge — is available at

TheKingJamesBoys.com 12

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Frank Newsome Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground

by Stephen Pitalo THE BLUEGRASS STANDARD

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He Endured Decades of Coal Mines and His Own Sins, But Now Frank Newsome Praises the Lord With A Golden Voice The preacher sang the songs in the way he always had, as lined-out Baptist hymns without accompaniment.

If you're familiar with Ralph Stanley's version of the song "O Death" from the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack, you get the idea right away. This time, though, it was recorded, pure as a flowing river or shining sunlight, in one summer evening in the tiny community of Haysi, Virginia, population 481. The preacher was Frank Newsome, and the resulting 2018 album Gone Away with a Friend is a testament to one of the oldest and deepest streams of American roots music.

His pure vocal interpretation of these hymns during a service in 2006 were sung in the old tradition of lined-out hymnody, part of the Old Baptist preaching. The voice sounds as if it is the true voice of God, held close to the heart in Appalachia; it’s also called the high lonesome sound, carried more popularly by artists like Stanley and Roscoe Holcomb. Renowned country artist Jim Lauderdale best described Newsome’s voice like so: "There is a purity about Frank's singing that brings a soulstirring, heart-tugging peacefulness that is beyond words.”

Ralph Stanley himself attended Newsome’s services, and Newsome would traditionally open Stanley’s Hills of Home Festival; it was here that renowned country artist Jim Lauderdale first encountered Newsome’s vocals. He told Virginia State Folklorist Jon Lohman about him, and the two decided to set out to Newsome’s church to record these songs. They set up the microphone there in the church, recording Newsome unaccompanied, a rarity in this tradition of hymnody which usually features a call-and-response between the preacher and his congregation.

One can even faintly hear coal cars roll by outside the church. The result is Gone Away With A Friend, a monumental achievement that transcends the genres of gospel and Americana to a level rarely witnessed in western culture. And when 16

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Newsome does an interview, his thoughts are dispensed economically, in that Appalachian cadence of deliberate talk where no unnecessary words make their way into any explanation.

“[Ralph Stanley] was a great friend of mine, like a natural brother. He said that when I’m gone, I want you to preach my funeral. I said, you may outlive me, Ralph. But I didn’t. At Ralph’s funeral, I sang ‘Gone Away With A Friend.’”

Newsome said the song, which serves as the title track for the album, means something different to him now than when he first sang it.

“Lord, yes, it means so much to me. Just like when we die, if you got it right with the Lord, we’re going away with the best friend you can have, and that’s Jesus.”

Born to a family of 22 children, Frank Newsome came originally from Kentucky, where lined-out tradition and coal mining run parallel. Newsome’s childhood was hardscrabble as any in the region, but growing up on a farm had its advantages, and was good for him.

“I think those hard times brought me closer to the Lord. We never did have nothing, but we never did go hungry. We had horses. We had chickens and a hog. We raised plenty of corn. We raised fodder to feed the horses and milk cow. And we always had plenty to eat from that. It wasn’t the best, but it was good back then. We lived up in the holler, about as far as you could go. Dad had land, about 169 acres, and we raised what we ate.”

As one can imagine, Newsome and his siblings had to make do with what was available as far as musical instruments were concerned.

“I built my first guitar with cable wire from the mines. I’d get a board, and I’d drive twelve nails in it, six at the bottom and six at the top. I’d run the strings and bend those nails over, and the more bent over they were, the tighter that wire would get. I was using that one till I got a real guitar. You could get one pretty cheap, you know. I was about 14 or 15 when I started singing. I used to play on the radio with my brother in Wellston, Ohio. That’s when I was playing guitar with my brother, him being left-handed and me being right-handed. He could take a guitar and make it talk to you almost. We had to put the string on backward for him since he was left-handed.”

Newsome worked for twenty years in the mines, where he contracted black lung, a condition he still suffers from today...

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The mines were what brought Newsome to Virginia, and then one day, he heard the calling.

“I was working in the mines, and I’d done things that I shouldn’t have done. I got feeling guilty of it, between me and the Lord. I had been working eight hours a day between two rocks, sometimes six days a week.

“But this one day, the burden got so heavy on me, I got off the motor I was running and went down in this break in the mine, they have those, so I went down in there. I got to praying and asking the good Lord to forgive me of my wrongs. ‘Help me, Lord.’ I said. I needed him more than I needed the breath of life. At that moment, I did feel God forgive me of all my sins. I’ve been serving him ever since then. I met my wife about the same time. We’d been dating.

We’ve now been married for fifty-seven years, going on fifty-eight.”

Newsome also said that the songs retain their power, even if it’s just the recording of those songs.

“I had a sister in the church who was dying. Awful restless. Family said we couldn’t do a thing with her. But they said that they put that CD in the player and played “Gone Away With A Friend” and that she calmed right down and went to sleep and passed on then.”

He also finds solace in another area of his life, one that may have some musical inclinations as well.

“I got two of my grandchildren playing guitars at home. They’re really good at it. I’ve got five grandchildren, and I got four great grand-young uns. That keeps me occupied. And when I’m down, they just come on up and crawl up in my lap, run their fingers through my hair and say, ‘Paw Paw, I love you.’ And if I’m hurting, it makes me feel better.”

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And after 47 years, does Newsome ever run out of things to preach and sing about? He said no.

“God gives it to me. He gives it to me. I’m just trying to help people with problems. A good song, sung in the spirit, will help lift them up and make ‘em feel better. And you know, I’m just a poor man, I don’t have nothing, don’t look for nothing except a home in heaven when I leave here.”

Want to know more about Frank Newsome? Well, he doesn’t have a website or Facebook page, but if you Google him…Wow!

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The Primitive Quartet Sharing Jesus Christ through Song

by Shelby C. Berry 20

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Throughout life, you will always have those certain artists who establish a sound—the ones recognized instantly with the first few notes played. Some sounds have inspired others for generations and influenced artists now successful in bluegrass gospel. But an influence of this magnitude usually comes from well-established bands like the Primitive Quartet, who have been together for almost fifty years.

The Primitive Quartet is among one of the greatest bluegrass and gospel groups to sing a four-part harmony or pick a stringed instrument.

This impeccable harmony all started with four friends, some fishing poles, a guitar, and a mandolin. In 1973, on a fishing trip to Fontana Lake, these friends—Larry Riddle, Reagan Riddle, Furman Wilson, and Norman Wilson—held an impromptu jam session around a campfire and realized they had a four-part harmony.

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After this fishing trip and with the encouragement of their families and pastor, the four began singing together at local churches, calling themselves the Riddle-Wilson Quartet.

“We didn’t start out to do this professionally,” said Reagan Riddle during a prior interview. “We just loved singing! We sang for about five years in just churches. They would take up offerings, and we gave it back.”

After five years of traveling to churches in Tennessee and North Carolina, the group hit the national stage—now with a slightly different lineup of musicians. Once on the road full-time, the group called themselves The Primitive Quartet.

Even now, forty-six years later, the singing style of the Primitive Quartet shows origins from the church, focusing on an Appalachian bluegrass gospel sound.

“It’s the old Appalachian Mountains sound,” said Reagan. “Most everyone who sings in that style sings the shape-note style of singing, and we still do.”

In the early days of the Primitive Quartet, bluegrass gospel music was rarely heard

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far beyond the South. Since then, the band’s devotion has led them to over 25 states and Canada. While the Primitive Quartet never headlined their own tour, they still created music that withstood the test of time and transcended generations.

The Primitive Quartet has recorded countless albums during their forty-six-year tenure and was the subject of a BBC documentary in 1984.

Today, The Primitive Quartet consists of Reagan Riddle, Randy Fox, Larry Riddle, Michael Riddle, and Jeff Tolbert, and they are dedicated to traveling approximately fifty thousand miles for 150 tour dates every year.

“We count it a joy and privilege to spread the gospel through song. Our ultimate goal is to see saints blessed and encouraged to have a closer walk with God and to help lead others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ,” said Reagan.

One of the greatest places to see the Primitive Quartet is at their annual Hominy Valley Singings, hosted each year near their hometown of Chandler, North Carolina.

This December, fans can also see the Primitive Quartet at the Christmas Celebration in Pigeon Forge on December 12, 13 and 14 at the Grand Smokies Resort and Lodge.

At this special celebration, fans join with the Primitive Quartet to fellowship and celebrate the gift of Jesus Christ. On the band’s website, they offer discounts for a weekend stay.

In January, the band will float on the water with two thousand music fans and 25 other top Southern gospel artists on the Singing at the Sea Cruise. The Primitive Quartet is excited to enjoy this time with fans on the Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Sea boat. This five-night Bahamas cruise is a one-of-a-kind experience offering Christian fellowship and the best of Bible teaching.

Very few groups outlast the Primitive Quartet. Perseverance has defined them through decades of crowd-rousing performances, impeccable note-singing harmonies, and cloud-parting lyrics, but mostly with the 2014 death of original band member and co-founder Norman Wilson.

“It’s our first and foremost prayer that we uplift Jesus. All the years—if God hadn’t put that joy in there, we’d have never lasted. God has to put the joy in your heart.” Since the beginning, it’s all been about God. “Jesus saves,” said Michael. “That’s the ultimate message.”

For more ’bout the Primitive Quartet, visit www.PrimitiveQuartet.com

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For Donald Lawrence, Gospel Isn’t a Sound...

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...It’s a Lyric

by Kara Martinez Bachman THE BLUEGRASS STANDARD

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Gospel singer, producer, and songwriter Donald Lawrence sounds as if he knows where his heart feels most sparked.

Yes, this Grammy, Dove, and Stellar Award-winner may have worked with the likes of En Vogue, Mary J. Blige, and Peabo Bryson, but his passion lies not in gaining fame or accolades, but in the simple act of telling stories.

Lawrence is a multi-faceted creative, but everything he does comes down to the pleasure of toying with ways to tell a tale. He crosses genres and artistic disciplines, giving his career a wide range of varied experiences.

First and foremost, it’s about ministering through music. Whether he’s putting out solo work or performing with the Tri-City Singers, he said sharing his faith with others is an everyday goal.

This is apparent in his thoughts on the holidays. He lives in Chicago but will be going home to North Carolina to celebrate, as he always does. He reconnects with family; that’s what it’s all about.

“Being an inspirational and gospel artist, you kind of live faith all the time, all year long,” Lawrence explained. “During the holidays is actually one of the times you do more balance... it’s a time we just take a break from ministry and just do family stuff.”

Although performing live and producing or collaborating with others is a facet of his career, he said there’s one thing he’s most passionate about.

“Writing songs for theater gets me most excited,” he said. His background and education have an extensive focus on the stage, and he loves “anything that takes song and scene and puts them together.”

There’s no doubt his theater chops have served him well. Lawrence said telling stories on stage isn’t dissimilar to telling them through music.

“This last particular album is very much storytelling... I wrote it in a very theatrical way,” he said.

The album, Goshen, tells the biblical Old Testament story of the Exodus and is named for “the body of land where Israel was during the Exodus.” Right now, he’s working on bringing it to the stage, collaborating with a dance theater company called Deeply Rooted.

“It’s their company mixed with my vocals,” he said, the excitement obvious in his voice. Contemporary themes are also explored within the context of the sacred story.

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He also sounds excited about another project in progress. He’s working with Mississippi-based performer Sir the Baptist, whose hip-hop sound will come together with Lawrence’s.

“We’ve been kind of exploring blending choir and hip hop,” Lawrence said. “It’s a creative, unique blending of things.”

Lawrence is really into toying with new combinations of the gospel sound.

For him, the undercurrent of gospel is that it’s not about a certain style, but about a shared interest in the message delivered. He grew up attending a Pentecostal church, so his personal influences are primarily oriented around the tradition of hymn choir singing. Of interest are acapella choir styles he said will be very familiar to those from the Carolinas; he thinks the distinctive style of his region originated with the Gullah peoples who populated the coastal areas of his home region. He loves that choir singing is huge in Europe right now and believes it’s really cool to see that happen to something that’s so distinctly American.

“It’s one of the few music forms that was actually birthed in America,” he explained.

There’s room in gospel, though, for almost anything. He likes most all of it, including music that was also born in the U.S.

“I really like bluegrass,” he said.

“I love the instruments used in bluegrass.”

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He hinted that fans shouldn’t be surprised if, in the future, bluegrass shows up somewhere in his recordings.

Passionate about his ministry through music, there must be a kinship he feels with other performers of worship music, regardless of its influences and places of origin.

“It really isn’t a sound, it’s a lyric,” he said in summary, about gospel. “It’s people from all walks that are speaking of the good news.”

For more information, visit www.DonaldLawrence.com

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Sugar Creek Bluegrass

by Shelby C. Berry THE BLUEGRASS STANDARD

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Music from the Creek: The Story of Family-Band Sugar Creek Bluegrass There’s something about the familial bond in bluegrass that you cannot find anywhere else—which brings us into this story about this family band: Sugar Creek Bluegrass.

Consisting of Cody on fiddle, Molly on bass, Matt on guitar, Ben on mandolin, Abby on banjo, and Gabe on banjo, Sugar Creek Bluegrass is a young bluegrass band from Ohio.

“We’ve been playing together for seven years, since 2012. Gabe, a family-friend joined us on banjo this year when our sister got married,” said Matt.

Sugar Creek Bluegrass consists of five brothers and sisters and a close family friend with a love for the classic, old-time bluegrass and Gospel music of the generations before them.

“For me, bluegrass music is very raw,” said Matt. “You don’t need a ton of sound and equipment. Even at an event like SPBGMA, bluegrass music gives off a sound like you’re on stage even when you are just jamming. The people in bluegrass music are like a giant family, and we get so much support from others.”

The Sugar Creek Bluegrass journey into music was natural. They began at a young age sing a cappella in nursing homes. Beginning with the older siblings, they started learning to play the guitar and fiddle before beginning to perform at weddings.

One day, they had a jam session at church with a friend, and that session sparked into playing bluegrass and eventually forming their band.

“We started the kids out young playing Gaither Homecoming videos,” said Mike, the father of this brother and sister band. “We would go out in our backyard and try to imitate them. We eventually integrated music into their homeschooling and at church so that all their lives, they were singing. We ended up adding instruments and made our way to bluegrass.”

Gabe, the family-friend and newest member of Sugar Creek Bluegrass, didn’t have quite the same background in music as the rest of his band. After attending many 30

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bluegrass shows growing up with his grandfather, he took to the banjo on his own when a friend made him one to learn on in 2012. He has been bleeding bluegrass ever since.

“We really like to play everything,” said Matt. “We don’t just play hard-driving and traditional music. We have a different sound, and we like to play Appalachian music, country, southern rock, and a bit of traditional bluegrass, too.”

Sugar Creek Bluegrass has shared the stage with Russell Moore, and Rhonda Vincent, but performing with Flatt Lonesome and getting to know them over the years set the foundation for Sugar Creek Bluegrass. The band also performed on both ABC and NBC in Columbus, Ohio and were elected for the IBMA showcase in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“All of this has been really humbling for us,” said Matt. “God gave us the gifts to be able to do everything that we’ve done. It has been a good platform for us to praise Him for everything and to walk on stage with people I look up to so much. To be a part of a platform where people know who you are is a tremendous honor.”

The music of Sugar Creek Bluegrass can be heard on several bluegrass radio stations. After three bluegrass albums, however, the band is currently working on its first Gospel album.

“This album started because people were really asking us for a Gospel album not long after we released our third album,” said Matt. “God started this band and gave us our musical gifts, so we wanted to praise Him more with our music.”

“We have tried to record this Gospel album for the last two years, but we are finally here after some roadblocks,” said Mike. “We are really excited!”

In addition to their many accomplishments as young musicians, Sugar Creek Bluegrass is also a member of Tomorrow’s Bluegrass Stars, an organization that offers a large platform for young artists to jam and meet other bluegrass artists.

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“Mr. John Colburn with TBS has really helped us by posting a lot online and promoting our music.

He is always publishing our music, encouraging us, and getting involved. He has such a heart for bluegrass. The newer TBS leaders have given us the opportunity to play at some music festivals!” said Matt.

Sugar Creek Bluegrass is thankful for all the support and encouragement, not only from TBS but from fans as well.

“We want to be intentional and glorify God in return for all the support we have received,” said Matt. “We also have a goal to help everyone in the crowd at one of our shows have a heck of a time! As a professional musician once told me, your goal is to make the people attending your show forget about what they left at home and enjoy themselves for a while.”

As we come to the close of 2019, the members of Sugar Creek Bluegrass shared their favorite December and Christmas traditions.

“During the holiday season, we always listen to Rhonda Vincent’s Christmas album in the car, grab a saw, and go cut down a Christmas tree. We even tend to argue over the perfect one every year. We intentionally take December off from music to focus on family and the Christmas season together,” said Mike.

For more information on Sugar Creek Bluegrass, visit www.SugarCreekBluegrass.com

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The Earl Bynum Empire: A Legend in the Making

by Stephen Pitalo Earl Bynum first learned of his gift of music when he was six years old.

“My mom and dad said that I used to act as if I was playing a piano and singing,” Bynum said. “At the age of six, my parents bought me an adult size piano and I began to play my very first song by ear, and the rest became history.”

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“Gospel has always been my genre of choice and mainly because my mom and dad were both in individual gospel groups,” Bynum said. “My dad was in a quartet called the Gospel Travelers, and my mom was in a group called the Gospel Sunbeam Singers. Both of their groups would travel some weekends, and I was either with mom or dad.

Eventually, I would play piano sometimes for both groups when I would travel with them. This also coincided with my faith being a factor in my career.”

As one of the most prolific and prominent leaders in gospel music and ministry, Earl Bynum has become a true force in the genre across the globe. As the Executive Minister of Music at Mount Lebanon Baptist Church, he can deliver his praises to the Lord through ministry in both Chesapeake, VA and Elizabeth City, NC since this is one of the nation’s fastestgrowing ministries.

“Working full-time in a ministry with multiple locations and producing the church music project has taken up most of my time and has been my focus,” Bynum explained. “During this time with The Mount, I’ve also matured spiritually and learned so much more about the music industry from an executive’s point of view.”

His heart and soul belong to the Lord, but music and the state of Virginia seem to run a close tie for second. Bynum has written for and directed the Virginia Mass Choir, served as Virginia Gospel Radio Announcers Guild’s vice president, and worked as worship leader for the annual Hampton University Minister’s Conference.

Awards abound across Bynum’s career: he’s received two Stellar Gospel Music Awards for Contemporary Male Vocalist of the Year and Contemporary Choir of the Year. As a choir leader, he directed The Mount Unity Choir to various accolades, including Steve Harvey’s 2013 Hoodie Awards’ Best Church Choir, Choir of the Year Award at the 2013 Gospel Blue Mic Awards, and Album of The Year at the 2013 DMV Christian 34

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Music Awards. Bynum’s choir received three 2014 Stellar Gospel Music Award nominations, winning a 2014 Stellar Gospel Music Award for Contemporary Choir of the Year for their debut CD and DVD. Gospel fans know Bynum’s voice from “Bless the Name of The Lord,” a 2013 gospel radio hit, and Bynum’s fifteen world tours have taken him and his choir from Denmark to Japan.

“Italy was so inviting because even though there is a language barrier, the people have always been accepting of the music I sing,” Bynum said of his travels. “Spain was surprising due to its rich culture, and it’s evident most of where you travel.”

He is an active member of the Gospel Music Workshop of America (GMWA). His early years of the GMWA granted Bynum a lead vocal on the song “Holy Is the Lord/Praise Ye Lord” from the 2004 THE TAMPA EXPERIENCE project with the GMWA Choir. For many years Bynum has been an active leader in the Gospel Announcers Guild (GAG) and is an award-winning radio announcer and personality. Bynum received The GAG Horizon Award in 2005 and was awarded the GMWA/GAG 2006 Radio Announcer of the Year. You can catch him on the air by tuning in to On Stage with Earl Bynum, his own nationally syndicated radio show on Rejoice Musical Soul Food Network across the nation.

Not one to rest at all, Bynum is also music instructor at The Mount Lebanon Christian Academy and Co-Founded The Independent Gospel Artist Alliance and Conference; the IGAA educates Gospel, Christian, and Inspirational artists on the business of music, exposing them to the reality of what it takes to be independent in today’s industry.

Bynum said that choir music connects people, but how that happens is God’s own mystery.

“I am not sure of what it is about the sound of a choir that seems to connect people,” he said. “However, I know that good uplifting music can bring joy and happiness into one’s life when it seems that everything may be going wrong.

Gospel music easily brings healing and the warm comfort of love. I LOVE GOSPEL MUSIC!” Bynum’s future seems to include continuing to build his independent entertainment company by signing more artists, book writers, designers and more, along with television and motion picture ventures.

“I will definitely continue to build a legacy that can live after I am gone,” he said.

For more on Earl Bynum, visit: www.EarlBynumMusic.com The Gospel Music Workshop of America: http://gmwanational.net/ THE BLUEGRASS STANDARD

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The Drexel Barbershop

by Emerald Butler During a Christmas party about three or four years ago, I was welcomed into the tradition of gathering inside a barbershop to play music, socialize, and of course, eat treats.

Back then I thought it was something a few local men of my grandfather’s generation did. Not until I had the pleasure of talking to The Drexel Barbershop owner Carroll Anthony, did I realize what a national and perhaps international tradition this community gathering place really is.

“My dad [Laurence Anthony] was in World War II,” Carroll began. “He was in General Patton’s 737th Tank Battalion.

When he came out, he got his barber’s license and he began his business in February 1949. He had been cutting hair for the guys in the service. He had a guitar that he carried in that tank throughout the entire world war. That’s all he had to sit around and pick on. When he didn’t have anything to do and no customers in the chair, he would get his guitar and start to pick a little bit.”

Carroll still has his father’s guitar displayed in a case by his chair inside The Drexel Barbershop in Drexel, North Carolina.

“The chief of police there played the mandolin,” Carroll continued. “He started coming in and they would pick a little bit together. Finally, the chief just left his mandolin at the shop and he’d come by every so often and they’d pick a tune till he got a call. Later on, one of the fellas came in with a banjo and it just grew and grew and grew.”

This simple yet priceless gathering of pickers is how this Drexel Barbershop family tradition began.

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In 1964, right around the time of Beatlemania, Laurence Anthony moved The Drexel Barbershop to Main Street where the local treasure still resides today. “He had a lot more time to play then,” Carroll chuckled. “They started gathering in the back room of the barbershop to pick. It all just sort of evolved. In the last 20 or 30 years, it’s been more about the bluegrass and the music than anything else.”

Carroll shared that despite the Beatles' long hair trend and the ebb and flow of the haircutting business, The Drexel Barbershop still schedules appointments and will still give you a cut before or after you get your fill of picking. There’s jamming every week year-round. You’ll most likely hear more Gospel music on Thursdays and Country music on Fridays inside the barbershop. Saturday is generally the all Bluegrass jam. Carroll counted about 23 pickers at the last jam and about the same amount of folks there to listen. People come from all over the world to experience The Drexel Barbershop due mainly to an award-winning documentary.

Pickin’ and Trimmin’ was produced and directed

by Matt Morris. “It was made in 2007,” Carroll shares. “It’s a 23-minute documentary. It was done by a film student.

He had just graduated from UNC Wilmington (University of North Carolina Wilmington), and he wanted to do a documentary, so he did this thing. The first event that he entered it in was the Woodstock film festival in New York.

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That was Matt's first time out and it won the best documentary short. We were thrilled with that! A couple of years later it won 8 or 10 or 15 festivals at the time. It won all kinds of awards. I think in maybe 2013 it was nominated for an Emmy. Out of 3,000 films, it was one of three films chosen.”

Pickin’ and Trimmin’ brought The Drexel Barbershop into the homes and screens of people all over the world and that just so happened to bring those people back into the Barbershop. “When the documentary hit the internet, we had people from Holland, Sweden, Australia, England, Germany, and France. We’ve had people from all over.”

Carroll thinks that the documentary and the barbershop itself have brought back a lot of nostalgia for people and that’s what has drawn them into the small business.

“People and their family have played that music and it’s just carrying on the tradition.

They come in and they just love the music. We’ve even had donations from as far as Belfast, Northern Ireland. It’s definitely worldwide.”

Laurence Anthony passed away in December 2009, but it was his request to his son for the Barbershop and the music to continue. So, every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Carroll starts a pot of coffee, grabs his upright bass to start the jam, and uploads the latest jam video to The Drexel Barbershop official Facebook page.

Carroll hopes to see the barbershop jam continue to carry on for many years to come. The Drexel Barbershop has become more than a place to get a haircut. It has become a community center for the citizens of Drexel, North Carolina and a homeplace for one of many bluegrass traditions.

Find The Drexel Barbershop on Facebook

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Scott Brown Brand of The Cross Ministries

by Emerald Butler THE BLUEGRASS STANDARD

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It was in December of last year that I was invited to fiddle around at my first Cowboy Christmas Ball. Yes, the Michael Martin Murphey kind. So, I saddled up with the boys in the Scott Brown Band, and we traveled into some freezing Missouri temperatures to try to help raise some funds for a Christian Cowboy camp. Over the past two years, Scott has had some chart-topping success with his music in the positive country realm. It was during the Missouri excursion that I got to know Scott Brown and his music, but it wasn’t until just recently that I got to hear the story of how this singing cowboy preacher was roped in.

Scott Brown was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His dad was a music minister and pastor, so Scott’s family was greatly involved in ministry. When he was around three years old, Scott’s family moved to the south side of Chicago where Scott grew up. It wasn’t until he was in college that Scott moved back south to Georgia.

“My family is very musical. Mom plays the piano. She is 85 and she can still beat the ‘stank’ out of a piano. When every kid hit the air, they were either singing or playing something. When we got old enough, all five of us sang with mom and dad.”

Scott shared that he got started playing the trumpet. “Dad didn’t really want me to sing,” Scott admitted. “He called me a crooner. I didn’t know what a crooner was, but I found out a short time afterward. I’m not supposed to know who Frank Sinatra is. We weren’t Quakers, but buddy we were pretty close,” Scott laughed. “Dad didn’t want me to sing, but I kept doing it anyway.” Scott later learned to play guitar and began writing songs.”

So how does a boy who grew up on the south side of Chicago get to become a cowboy?

“I went and helped out at a camp in Canada when I was 15 years old. There was a man there from Nebraska.

His name was Chuck Dahlgren. It blew my mind when he picked up a lariat and turned it around his head and roped a bale of hay.

I thought get out of town! That is so cool!

So, I asked him if he would teach me how to do that.

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“That week he kind of took me under his wing, and every spare moment I had I would get with him and he would show me how to turn a lariat. At the end of the week, he gave me that lariat that he let me use.

That was the first and last time I ever saw that man.”

Scott took that lariat home to Chicago with him. After he’d finish playing baseball in the field with the other boys, he’d go home and rope dummies into the night. “All my friends that saw me,” Scott recalls, “they thought that I’d lost my mind.”

Scott would go on to become a 1985 American Cowboy Rodeo Association (ACRA) Finals Champion, and he holds several arena records in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) in Georgia. He’s been in several pro rodeos out west. “The bug bit me pretty hard,” he said. His parents didn’t share his cowboy passion, however.

“They were convinced that I was going to lose my Christianity and be a washout as far as being a preacher.”

However, Scott proved his parent’s conviction wrong. Scott later became a music minister at a Church in Ringgold, Georgia, and it’s at this time that the music really came into the forefront.

“I started not only writing a lot of music but throwing it into the concerts at church. Next thing you know, God started really pushing 42

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me that way, and I resigned from the church and went into music evangelism full time.” Brand of the Cross is the official name of this rodeo and musical ministry, and Scott has kept the ministry going since 1991.

“We do music, we do riding lessons; we do a number of things that are involved in that cowboy atmosphere.

A lot of things we do to minister to cowboys and their kids.”

Among his years of ministry, Scott has also made some chart-topping success with his music. “Years ago, when I first got into The Christian Country Music Association, I had like three top 5s, two number 1s way back, and I had a song called ‘Wild Horse’ and that was a number 1 for us in ‘95. In ‘96 I wrote a song called ‘Mountain Top.’ We released it in ’98 and that song was number one on the Christian Country Top 100 Chart on January 1, 2019. It’s the same recording. We just took it into the studio and remastered it.”

Currently, Scott Brown has released a new Christmas single. He has written and added a verse to “Silent Night,” and he gave me the opportunity to do some fiddling on it. The single is available on all digital download and streaming services.

Find the Scott Brown Band on Reverbnation:

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Fly Like an Eagle The Eagle’s Wings Band Lets Their Spirit Carry Thee

by Stephen Pitalo photos: Scott Eric Day Studios

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Jasper, Alabama’s bluegrass/gospel combo Eagle’s Wings brings the joyful noise with a solid sound and foundation that has served them well for over a decade.

Members Darryle Wilson, Debbi Wilson, Matt Wilson, Kevin Chambers, and Jacob Patterson formed Eagle’s Wings in 2008, but Darryle and Debbi performed secular music before they became Christians. Forming the group Family Circle was their first foray, but they pivoted to the new moniker to reflect their faith and devotion. With traditional bluegrass family harmonies, Eagle’s Wings is a band that praises the Lord full-on, without reservation and with heavy resolve.

Group patriarch Darryle knew the church early – his dad was a deacon and his mother was the head of the church women’s group. A musician in high school, he slipped into non-church habits in college but rebounded after marrying Debbi Busby. Country Music was their musical focus until about 1979. After many visits from a member of the local church where they lived, Darryle rededicated his life to the Lord, and about a month later, Debbi did the same. That is when they began attending church and started singing gospel music. That’s the simplest explanation.

Much of the story, however, is highly involved, so we spoke with the members of Eagle’s Wings directly about their past, present, and future.

The Bluegrass Standard: Can you tell me which band member plays which instrument?

Kevin: After all these years, we still haven’t firmly decided who plays what. Most of the time our opening layout is Debbi Wilson on lead vocals, Matt Wilson on guitar and vocals, me on mandolin and vocals, Jacob Patterson on banjo, and Darryle Wilson on bass. If Darryle is singing, then I will usually switch to Bass and sometimes THE BLUEGRASS STANDARD

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Jacob will play mandolin or bass. Matt plays pretty much anything and does some dobro and mandolin, and I’ll do rhythm guitar or percussion (Cajon, etc.) if the need arises. Right now, we are performing around one central condenser microphone (old style) and that often decides for us who plays what, based on the needs of the mix.

BGS: How do you decide which classics you want to play and record?

Kevin: We are exclusively a gospel group and we do very few bluegrass “classics”.

We’ve done “Two Coats” a lot over the years and touched on “Wayfaring Stranger but really our classics are Gospel songs like “When I Wake Up to Sleep No More”.

Debbi does an old Kirk Talley song called “When He Hung the Moon” that feels like a Gospel classic.

Matt: We don’t play or record “fluff”. Our main criteria is that a song ministers to people and is filled with Godly truth.

BGS: Who is the main songwriter in the band?

Kevin: Our last CD is all originals. Matt wrote three, Darryle wrote three, I wrote two, and two others were written by other family members. We don’t have a designated “main” songwriter. Debbi wrote one that we recorded and it’s a great song. Matt got a songwriter’s award at the Mississippi Quartet Convention last year. I had the lyrics to one of my songs displayed in a local museum for a while.

God has given us a lot of songs. Darryle has a literal notebook full of great lyrics, many of which we haven’t even touched… yet.

BGS: How did you first get together?

Kevin: I can only answer this one from my perspective. I married into this very musical family in 1983. My father-in-law, Floyd Busby, was a lifelong musician and the daddy of a country music family going back many years. They all sang or played something. Then he became a Christian, and so did the family.

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He left country music and started doing Gospel only. Soon he started a Southern Gospel group that eventually settled on the name “Family Circle”. I played drums for that group and eventually married his youngest daughter, Rhonda. The group eventually decided to stop taking dates, due to the typical demands of life. Then several years later, Darryle, Debbi, Matt and I were all going to the same church (Central Baptist in Jasper AL, where Darryle is still the Pastor) and we sang together all the time. We started getting offers to sing at other places. We decided to go “all-acoustic” due to the friendly “vibe” that a small acoustic band brings, as well as portability. Our first date as “Eagle’s Wings” was in Nauvoo AL at the Antioch Baptist Church spring festival in 2008. We’ve had various other instruments play with us over the years, and once we had a steady banjo player we were no longer just “acoustic”, we were firmly in the “bluegrass” camp. We didn’t set out to do it that way, but we always loved bluegrass music and we are happy to have that label used to describe us.

BGS: Who would you say are your favorite musicians – the ones you grew up listening to?

Debbi: I grew up listening to country, so I think you can hear a few country “licks” but, after I got saved, I loved the Hinsons and the Inspirations in our early ministry, but now it’s more like the Isaacs.

Darryle: The Beatles, The Association, then later on… The Inspirations!

Matt: Kenny Smith, Tommy Emmanuel, Tony Rice, Chet Atkins, and Bryan Sutton.

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Kevin: I grew up listening to Herb Alpert, Chet Atkins, Glenn Miller, The Ventures, Merle Haggard, Maynard Ferguson, Beethoven… just about anything. I’ve always loved music of just about any style. When I became a Christian, I really liked The Hinsons, The Rambos, and The Inspirations. Then I found bluegrass… New Traditions, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, and The Isaacs became HUGE influences on how I felt about music.

BGS: How many albums have you recorded together?

Kevin: Four to date, about one every couple of years since 2011, I think. Road Back Home was first, then Headed Home which was pretty much a CD of heaven songs, then A Rugged Cross and An Empty Grave and most recently Let's All Tell the World About Jesus.

BGS: What is your favorite song to play live?

Matt: “Headed Home,” “Let’s All Tell the World About Jesus,” “A Rugged Cross and an Empty Grave,” “Different Ways.”

Kevin: I have to give two answers. “Who but God?” is just musically fun to play. I’m on bass for it and I get to “walk it home” at the end. But, for interaction with the audience… “More than Enough” is an amazing song. Anyone who will listen can hear the greatness of God in the message of that song, so I ALWAYS love playing that one.

It is a crowd-pleaser and a crowd blesser!

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New DVD Release !

Now Available At www.nu-blu.com

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The Unexpected Blessing of Bluegrass Gospel

by Shelby C. Berry The Chigger Hill Boys & Terri emerged nearly two decades ago and with little publicity reaped countless awards and nominations. Even after a few personnel changes over the years, the band’s focus on praising Jesus Christ through their crowd-pleasing music has never strayed.

Formed late in the summer of 2001, The Chigger Hill Boys & Terri came together in Hendersonville, Tennessee with Mike Richards and Terri Argot Gore.

“Mike and I had gotten together earlier that year to begin writing music, the very first song eventually making it on to our first album together,” said Terri. “When we were writing, Mike told me that I had a bluegrass-sounding voice and asked if I 50

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would be interested in putting a group together for a band competition.”

Before entering the Cumberland River Bluegrass Festival band competition in Burkesville, Kentucky, Mike and Terri brought in the rest of the band - Ricky Gore, Rodney Lay Jr., and Tom Fuzzy Hughes - to record a five-song EP and prepare for the competition.

“We needed a band name for the competition, and Mike had family roots in a place called Chigger Hill, Kentucky,” said Terri. “It’s a place where his family would gather to play music. As a nod to an old-time way of life, we have even gotten airplay over the years just because of our band name.”

The Chigger Hill Boys & Terri took fourth place in the band competition before receiving their first number one song from that EP – Face to Face with Amazing Grace. The band signed a recording contract with Thoroughbred Records less than a year later in early 2002.

Much of the original band is still together with Mike Richards on mandolin and guitar, Terri Argot Gore on lead vocals, and Ricky Gore on upright bass. They have since added Jim Britton on banjo and guitar and Jack Kincaid on mandolin and guitar.

The Chigger Hill Boys & Terri have received awards and nominations from the GMA Dove Awards, the Inspirational Country Music Awards, and Front Porch Fellowship Bluegrass Gospel Awards. From their ten albums rose numerous charting songs, and they have appeared alongside the likes of Johnny Cash and Alison Krauss.

After nearly 17 years with Thoroughbred Records, The Chigger Hill Boys & Terri signed with Great Escape Records in Nashville, Tennessee before releasing their tenth and most recent studio album, Songs Like Those (For Days Like These). Their first single from this album and the title track, Songs Like Those (For Days Like These) has become a number one hit and may prove to be The Chigger Hill Boys & Terri’s biggest song yet, receiving airplay across multiple genres.

Terri of The Chigger Hill Boys & Terri shares about the longevity of their band, the

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message of their music, and their newest album.

The Bluegrass Standard: What has been your favorite part of the experience of playing with The Chigger Hill Boys?

Terri Argot Gore: I love writing and being in the studio. I just love music. I came from a secular background, and I thought I was going to be a rock star. Well, God works in mysterious ways. I became a Christian and thought I would have to give up my love for music. This band came along at the right time in my life. I love to have fun on stage, engage the crowd, and lift up the Lord Jesus Christ.

BGS: What are your favorite songs to perform together?

Terri: We have a few fan favorites, but our biggest hit is Are You Praying Hard or Hardly Praying written by our mandolin player. It’s a fun song with a serious message. We also love playing songs from our new project. I love the message of the title track. People really identify with it.

BGS: What inspires your band, your sound, and your love for music?

Terri: Gospel and bluegrass! There are not a lot of bands in this specific genre, and we are popular for our niche. We decided to praise the Lord with our music and make that our priority. We want to represent him the best that we can, and we are inspired by other groups doing the same thing.

BGS: What would you say has been most rewarding?

Terri: We’ve had 10 Dove Award nominations and several hit songs. That’s all neat and cool to be recognized and hear your song on the radio, but the reward is hearing stories from people about how a song inspired them and touched them somehow. That is the most powerful and rewarding thing.

BGS: Where has been your favorite place to perform?

Terri: The Cumberland River Bluegrass Festival really is our home. It’s where we got our start. We almost feel like celebrities because we’ve been going for so long. There are also churches we play for on a recurring basis, and we always enjoy that. I love watching those people be blessed.

BGS: What is your goal or mission for your music?

Terri: Well, my personal goal is just to continue to write songs that bless and inspire people. Musically and lyrically, I want to bless and honor the Lord. There are so many people who have been with us through the years, and I want to be faithful to them and share the Lord with those that don’t know Christ through our songs.

BGS: What is your favorite part about your recent studio album?

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Terri: This is the project we spent the most time on. My favorite part is the new people we brought in to help with the album. I feel it's the best of us and who we could be. It really was a labor of love. Jim joined the band in 2013, and this is the first album he’s been on. I also did a lot of writing on this one, and it took things to a new level. We labored over the song selection, and I love how we arranged them. We are so blessed.

BGS: What should a fan expect when attending one of your shows?

Terri: To be relaxed and have fun! They will definitely hear about Jesus. We want to reach the audience and help people have a good time and forget about their troubles for a while.

BGS: With the holiday season only a few weeks away, do you and the band share any special Christmas traditions?

Terri: The band usually gets together to celebrate Christmas after bluegrass has died down for the year. Most years, we will take the month of December to get together and reflect on the year. We will spend time together and simply fellowship before parting ways for the holiday to be with family.

BGS: Lastly, what is your ultimate dream for The Chigger Hill Boys & Terri?

Terri: To keep on keeping on! We have always kept our day jobs, so maybe we could go full-time at some point. But, it’s a ministry, so it’s a strange balance. I just want to continue to write and hone in on the skills God gave me.

Gratefulness for God’s gifts is an honest description of The Chigger Hill Boys & Terri. They constantly pray their music blesses, encourages, and inspires the listener while exalting the Lord Jesus Christ.

Download and listen to The Chigger Hill Boys & Terri on their website, YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, or wherever you listen to music.

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Music Barn  CD review

Rick Faris Breaking In Lonesome release date: 11/15/19 Dark Shadow Recording

by Mississippi Chris Sharp Special Consensus's Rick Faris has a new CD, Breaking in Lonesome, that should be on the streets by the time of this publication. One of the artists on the roster of Stephen Mougin's Dark Shadow Recording, Faris is no stranger to Bluegrass fans. Rounding out the musician's roster assisting Faris are Justin Moses (banjo/tenor vocals), Eddie Faris (bass), Laura Orshaw (fiddle), Harry Clark (mandolin), Greg Cahill (banjo) Nick Dumas (mandolin/tenor), Dan Eubanks (bass), and Shawn Lane (tenor).

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A couple of the songs on this CD have already been released as singles and are likely getting airplay. The catchy If the Kansas River Can and the title cut, Breaking in Lonesome, are the two selected for singles, perhaps thought to be the songs to watch (or hear, I should say).

They are both delightful, but not quite my picks.

I like Jug Band music and anything that mentions my beloved Mississippi, or sounds like Jimmie Rodgers may have had an influence on it (and just what modern, popular melodic music, pray tell, is not influenced directly or indirectly by Rodgers?). Two of my favorite songs in this CD are Mississippi Steamboat Blues and Honey Babe. Both are fun throwbacks to a time when music was as fun for the makers as it was for the hearers. Dan Eubanks' bass work just thumps on Honey Babe; and I also enjoyed Faris's round neck resonator guitar work.

I like original music. The only thing I like more than original music is live original music. If I can't have both, I'll take one or the other...either. Faris composed eleven of the twelve songs on this CD. While I am accustomed to seeing an original song or two on a CD, a full CD's worth is a real treat. Original songs can be risky, but no risk brings little reward. I salute Faris for his profilic pen. I expect there'll be more than a few rewards.

My favorite song is Hate's Decree. It is a beautiful song, poignant. Close on the heels of Hate's Decree is Matthew and Mark's Wisdom, and Faith in Man. While none of them are the driving Bluegrass so many are looking for, they are musical journeys, each telling a story, each inviting personal introspection: not a bad thing to prompt this and make one like it at the same time. They are also among the reasons why one buys CDs (or albums as they used to be called). Everyone likes the singles, that's why they're singles. The good CDs (albums), the ones worth your money, give you songs that won't likely make the airwaves but soon become your favorite songs. Ever buy a CD and the only song any good was the single you heard on the radio? This CD is not One of those. Buy it for the singles, keep it in your rotation for the other ten songs.

Faris's vocal performance on Faith in Man is outstanding. If you are primarily interested in driving, blistering Bluegrass, then Breaking in Lonesome is the song for you. I expect it will be well received.

The production values are high on this recording. There was only one glitch which may exist only on the copy of the CD I have, which is a total Âź second dropout at 1:33 on If the Kansas River Can. I listened several times and it was there every time. I am thinking this is exclusive to my copy as I can't imagine anyone letting this slip through. Congratulations to engineer and producer, Dark Shadow Recording principal Stephen Mougin, for an uncluttered, enjoyable recording.

Best wishes, Rick Faris. Breaking in Lonesome is a keeper.

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Music Barn ď‚œ CD review

Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver Live in Prague SSK Records (Rostislav Capek)

by Mississippi Chris Sharp As I thumbed through the stack of CD's to review, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver's Live in Prague jumped into view. I took a deep breath, tore open the reluctant plastic, and opened the ornery jewel case. The visual of the CD package dripped with class.

I read the liner notes, looked at the color booklet that came with it, and enjoyed spending some time with the quality of the package, the printing, the design, the whole time anticipating what I expected of the music the CD held.

I like Doyle Lawson, who never fails to put on a good show, and I love live music, and 56

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here were both in my hand. I did not anticipate being disappointed. I wasn't. In fact, my anticipation, high though it was, failed me completely. I did not set the bar high enough, as it was cleared on the first song. I set the bar higher. It was cleared at very turn. This is one of the best live recordings I have ever heard.

Many times, live recordings are less live than one might expect, being heavily overdubbed and doctored in post production. I got no hint of that on Live in Prague.

It was clear, quiet, well mixed, well mastered. It is as if the producers had the same mind as many of us, that less is more. Any signal processing and overdubbing, if any, is transparent to my ear. The mix is soft. It is clean. Turn it up loud and it is not harsh on the ears, even through a pair of studio monitors which give you what is there without much in the way of the color of regular loudspeakers. Good engineers take more out than they put in, and the engineers on this recording knew just what to do. Not only is Live in Prague professional, it is superb. Crank it up loud enough for your neighbors to hear. Enjoy the music.

I've spent a lot of time describing the sound I heard on this CD, describing what my ears hear of the recording and production only to come to this conclusion: perhaps the smoothness I heard on the CD also has something to do with the artist. I expect I'm on to something there. Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver are able to give you live on stage just what you hear on a studio recording: impeccable, high energy without speed unless the song demands it, music consistently in the groove, tight harmonies, superlative musicianship. In short, it has every bit of the excellence we expect from Doyle, and it is LIVE! I enjoyed every minute spent listening. I'm now on the third listen. It's as good the third time as it was the first. It will be that good on the fiftieth time.

Rostislav Capek, the Czech luthier, brought Doyle over to Prague for this concert.

All Doyle Lawson fans should be glad he did, as live recordings tend to work sort of like greatest hits albums. Bands typically play their “A” list tunes when they are recording live for a CD. The trouble here is that Doyle does not seem to have a “B” list. Every song hovers near perfect. Favorites are Back in my Baby's Arms Again (a direct pipeline channel of Sonny and Bobby here, and that's a good thing), Jealous (a Paul Craft song, and he wrote bunch of good ones), Living Like There's No Tomorrow (written by my friend Jim McBride and a fabulous vocal performance from Quicksilver's Jake Vanover), I'll Be True While You're Gone (Gene Autry), Shenandoah Breakdown (Bill Monroe), On the Sea of Life, Little Girl (Harley Allen), Got Leaving on Her Mind (Cowboy Jack Clement), Out in the Cold World, etc. and THE BLUEGRASS STANDARD

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ad infinitum. They're all excellently crafted songs. They're all superbly performed.

Take your pick. The song that's playing at the moment becomes my favorite. Right now, I'm smiling and nodding my head in joy to the beautiful vocals on She's Walking Through my Memory and Joe Dean's remarkable banjo work on this poignant ballad of heartbreak, which is not where one typically expects great a banjo solo.

A further example of great Bluegrass groove is on the veteran tune, Clinch Mountain Backstep, which comes in at about 130 beats per minute and thumps so much that one fully expects it was being played much faster that it really is. Do not mistake drive for speed; they are not connected. When it's firmly locked in the pocket, the music gets huge. Al Haig, longer remembered for his contributions to the English language than his service in the Reagan administration, might have exclaimed, “Hugeness was achieved!� He'd have been right. It started huge and finished huger, one might say.

Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Live in Prague: Everyone who likes Bluegrass music should give this a listen. It just thumps all the way through. Thank you, Rostislav Capek, for bringing this to us, live from Prague. Thank you, Doyle Lawson, for giving me a pleasant night of music. There will be more.

And, I'm now on my fourth listen. Five will be up in just a bit. I was not excited about reviewing Live in Prague. I did not like the idea of reviewing something that is bound to be so big, but that all fell by the wayside as I was transported to Bluegrass music live in Bohemia. Prague should be proud.

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Turnberry Records to manage Kentucky-based band, Turning Ground Bringing this national touring band on board at Turnberry is a source of pride for the company’s owner, Keith Barnacastle. He has nothing but accolades for the band’s lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter, Nathan Arnett, who founded Turning Ground in 2011 after performing with groups such as The Arnett Brothers and High Caliber Grass.

“We are excited to join forces with such a talented songwriter and vocal master,” Barnacastle said. “His expressions of the music just electrify us. We see a young man with deep roots and the potential to become a new leader in the bluegrass music world.”

The band is comprised of Nathan Arnett, lead vocal and guitar; Ralph Adams, tenor and guitar; Josh Cantrell, banjo and baritone; Jason Hale, bass; Kyle Kleinman, mandolin.

“We are very humbled,” Arnett said, of his new partnership with Turnberry. “We feel honored to sign with Keith and the crew and are very excited to work with them in the near future. We don’t feel like there’s any other business that works harder than they do for bluegrass music, and we’re so proud to be on their team.”

The band – steeped in the sights, sounds and spirit of the coal country of the Appalachian Mountains – presents bluegrass and gospel that’s based on the traditional music of “yesterday” melded with contemporary sounds of today. Winners of the First Annual Banjo Island Band Competition at the Outer Banks Bluegrass Festival, the group has been noted for its ability to please audiences. Turning Ground has recorded several albums, with its latest release, “Old Country Store,” featuring 13 tracks, with eight originals penned by Arnett. The band is known for its high energy during live shows and is cited for Arnett’s strength, drive, and powerful vocal style.

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s s a r g e Blu ! s e i b a B

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December Bluegrass Festivals

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Dates

Event

Location

Dec 5-7

Balsam Range Art of Music Festival

Lake Janaluska, NC

Dec 7

Honeymoon Island Bluegrass Festival

Dunedin, FL

Dec 11-14

Bluegrass Christmas in The Smokies

Pigeon Forge TN

Dec 12-16

Strings & Sol

Puerto Morelos, Mexico

Dec 14

Carl Jackson's “Home for Christmas” Concert

Louisville, MS

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January Festivals & Events Dates

Event

Location

Jan 2-4

Jekyll Island New Year's Bluegrass Festival

Jekyll Island, Georgia

Jan 9-11

Perrysburg Bluegrass Festival

Perrysburg, Ohio

Jan 10-11

SPBGMA Bluegrass Music Awards Midwest

Jefferson City, Missouri

Jan 14-19

YeeHaw Music Fest

Okeechobee, Florida

Jan 17-19

BayGrass Bluegrass Festival

Islamorada, Florida

Jan 17-19

Blythe Bluegrass Festival

Blythe, California

Jan 24-26

UllrGrass Music Festival

Golden, Colorado

Jan 25

Pickin' on the Pungo Bluegrass Festival

Belhaven, North Carolina

Jan 30 - Feb 2

SPBGMA Bluegrass Music Awards National

Nashville, Tennessee

For the complete list with links to full info, check out our Events tab at TheBluegrassStandard.com!

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from the Publisher’s desk

and all of Hello Bluegrass Fans, Musicians ok for the Lo . ss ra eg lu B t or p p su ho w e os th ing nn gi be e in az ag M e th in s ge an ch new ly to nd ie fr er ut p m co it g in ak m y, ar in Janu everyone. n the New The Bluegrass Standard will begi and Record st ti Ar r fo rt ha C o de Vi a h it w ar Ye vision le Te be t us M os de Vi l Al s. ie an p Com eir th it bm su ay m ls be La or st ti Ar y.

Qualit to the rt ha C ly th on M 15 p To r ou r fo videos Editor@thebluegrassstandard.com Holidays Everyone have a safe and Happy and Happy New Year!

Keith Keith Barnacastle – Publisher

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• Booking 2019–2020 •

Turnberry Records & Management

Christian Davis

The Kody Norris Show

Rebekah Long

Phillip Steinmetz & His Sunny Tennesseans

No Time Flatt

Bluegrass Outlaws

SpringStreet

Nu-Blu

Turning Ground with Nathan Arnett

Jeff Brown & Still Lonesome

The Baker Family

Turnberry Records & Management

a division of The Bluegrass Standard Magazine 760.883.8160 • Booking 2019–2020 • turnberryrecords@gmail.com 12168 Turnberry Drive, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270 www.TurnberryRecords.com

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