New label, new single for Tina Adair of Sister Sadie

Tina Adair, the powerful singer, mandolinist, and chief comedienne with Sister Sadie, has been announced as the latest signee for Engelhardt Music Group in Nashville.

Tina has been part of the bluegrass scene most of her life, starting out with her family group, The Adairs, as a teenager. In 1997, her first solo project was released on Sugar Hill, Just You Wait and See. That record generated a great deal of buzz and this teeny tiny singer with the great big voice, but after four years touring, she decided that a college education was what she most wanted, and Tina pulled back from the road.

She says that education was a big priority in her home growing up, and she certainly didn’t want to disappoint her parents.

“One of my goals was to always get a college degree, and it was highly encouraged by my family. My brother and I were first generation college students, and my parents worked very very hard in order to pay for both both of our college educations. I was very blessed!

Another dream of mine was to become a resident of Nashville, TN. Therefore, Belmont University was where I studied and obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration degree majoring in Music Business, perfectly suited to my long term goals. Boy…it would have come in much handier if I’d only had that knowledge about five years earlier when everything in my music career begin taking off!!

Upon graduating from Belmont, I began work in the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business at Belmont, where I still reside. I am the Director of the Advising Center in the Curb College, and I have been at Belmont now for 18 years!”

Coincident with the signing announcement, EMG has a first single for radio today, a remake of Kathy Mattea’s 1988 hit, Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses, done up bluegrass style. The song, written by Paul Nelson and Gene Nelson, tells of an over the road trucker on his last day driving, heading home after retirement to spend all his time with a beloved wife.

For Adair, the song takes her back to this early days singing with her brother and her mom and dad.

“I’m thrilled to be sharing the wonderful news of signing with EMG and releasing my first single from the new record. It’s been a minute since I’ve released a solo project and the timing to do this has worked out well. The first single, Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses, is a song that I’ve loved to sing ever since I was a little girl. This song to me is about the forever love story, it’s about hope and having something bright to look forward to! I love the band’s interpretation of this coupled with the unparalleled harmonies from Ronnie and Garnet Bowman! This was a lot of fun to record. Thanks so much for giving it a listen.”

Supporting Tina on this track are Scott Vestal on banjo, Casey Campbell on mandolin, Rob Ickes on reso-guitar, Cody Kilby and Pat McGrath on guitar, Tim Crouch on fiddle, and Dennis Crouch on bass.

Radio programmers can get Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses now from AirPlay Direct. The single will release to consumers on popular streaming and download sites October 30.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.