![](https://bluegrasstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/ars-1.jpg)
Billy Blue Records has a new single today for The Appalachian Road Show, who are certainly in the running for the most consistently interesting bluegrass act on the circuit right now. It’s one written within the band which harks back to the dynamic style of the earliest days of bluegrass.
Blue Ridge Mountain Baby, from fiddler Jim VanCleve and banjo picker Barry Abernathy, drives hard and doesn’t let up. The song is sung by mandolinist Darrel Webb, who agrees that it feels old school.
“I had a blast singing Blue Ridge Mountain Baby! It’s just one of those songs that has that fun classic bluegrass lope. It sounds like it could have been written and recorded by Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass boys in 1946!”
The new single, with its unique double chorus format, is the first from the group’s next full length project which VanCleve says was inspired by their chosen motif for the album.
“When we settled on the theme and title of Jubilation for this new project (intended to be sort of an ‘answer’ to our last project, Tribulation), we knew exactly the direction some of the of the material needed to head. But, sometimes finding just the right pieces to put it all together can be a task! One day the hook, ‘Blue Ridge Mountain Baby,’ popped into my head out of the blue sky. In that instant I could just feel what the finished song ought to sound and feel like… We just needed to actually write it… and then perform it!
When it was time to record it, Man, did the guys sure scald it! If ever a song felt Like it belongs on an album called Jubilation, I think Blue Ridge Mountain Baby does!”
The music video captures the guys performing the song outdoors – in a jubilant fashion – while a small cast of actors portray the meaning of the lyrics.
Have a look/listen..
The Appalachian Road Show is completed by Zeb Snyder on guitar and Todd Phillips on bass, true masters of their instruments as are all their bandmates.
Blue Ridge Mountain Baby is available from popular download and streaming services online. Radio programmers will find the track at AirPlay Direct.
Can’t wait to hear more from this project.