When Blue Mafia dropped their debut album, My Cold Heart last year, we were fast fans. Their combination of strong original material, powerful and aggressive vocals, and super solid accompaniment won us over right away.
It seems that Pinecastle Music feels the same way, as they have signed Blue Mafia to the label, with plans for a new CD sometime in 2015. Recording is ongoing this Summer, and a debut single is expected before the year is out.
The title of the new record will be Pray For Rain, a song written by mandolinist Dara Wray. She tells us that it’s one she wrote about her childhood, which will be sung by fiddler Kent Todd.
“We had two house fires growing up, and I have often thought of how my Dad must have felt getting the call about the second one. I wrote this song from his perspective.”
In fact, most of the songs on the next CD will be Dara’s compositions, sung by her and husband Tony (on guitar), or by Todd. One that she didn’t contribute is He’s In Control, originally cut by Austins Bridge, who had written it as well. It was named Bluegrass Recorded Song of the Year in 2008 at the GMA Dove Awards.
Kent will sing this one, and he says it hit him the first time he heard it.
“I heard it on a southern Gospel radio station, and when I heard it my wife and I thought that it would be a good one for the band so we worked it up. It has been a great song for us, people seem to really enjoy it, and its a ton of fun to sing it with Dara and Tony.”
Here’s a version that Blue Mafia recorded live on the Bluegrass Connection radio show.
Other than Tony, Dara, and Kent, Blue Mafia consists of Cody Looper on banjo and Mike Gregory on bass.
Dara also said that the band is delighted to be working with Pinecastle, and can’t wait to get this record finished and out.
“We’re all extremely happy with the direction Blue Mafia is taking, and have worked hard to make sure that we continue to grow as musicians, and as a unit. I think our music gets stronger and tighter the more we play, and it’s exciting to be along for this journey.”
The band has been winning fans across the country in the past 12 months through their live shows, and hope the first Pinecastle release will bring them even greater attention.
