We found a couple of recent online articles that may be of interest to our readers.
The Canadian Press has an AP piece on Rhonda Vincent which focuses on her musical upbringing in The Sally Mountain Show with her family, including some discussion of her attempts to find success with mainstream country in the 1990s.
“It was very confusing because they were saying, ‘Can you take the bluegrass out of your voice?”‘ she recalled. “And then we were looking at songs, and I said, ‘I would never sing that song.’ It had something about beer, and it was kind of suggestive. I said I would never sing that, but they would bring it to me and say this is the song you’re going to do.”
Read the full article online.
There is also an article on David Grier in the folk music section of Bella Online. It spends time on David’s musical immersion as a child as well.
David was quick to correct me when I asked him if it was true that he had began playing guitar at the age of 5 under his dad’s direction. He stated it “wasn’t so much under his direction. I mean at first I had little plastic guitars which I played around with. My dad would show me things but let me go on my own. If he’d pushed, I would have rebelled.” He did admit, his dad had suggested the guitar because of its versatility. David’s dad, Lemar Grier, played banjo for Bill Monroe; thus, David was immersed in acoustic music by virtue of his heritage.
Find the full article online.