Tomorrow (1/28) is the official release date for Rhonda Vincent’s next album, Only Me, a curious sort of double album with six bluegrass tracks on one disc and six country tracks on the other. It is packaged in such a way as to make the point that the two CDs are both separate, and part of the same thing.
If you’ve followed her career as long as I have (since the late 1980s), you are already aware that Rhonda has sung both styles since childhood, and even had a brief career in mainstream country with Giant Records in the ’90s. Since her return to bluegrass in 2000, her recordings have often included grassed up country songs, and she tells us that her experience releasing a duet project with Gene Watson on her Upper Management label in 2011 really opened her eyes.
“That album showed me that there is a market for good old traditional music. People always say that there’s no traditional country anymore, but we know the market exists. I think maybe there just isn’t enough being recorded.
Of course I grew up singing both styles, back when what we were doing was just called country music. My granddad might sing a Bill Monroe song, and then my mom some Kitty Wells, and then dad a Jimmy Martin song.”
To help share her excitement about Only Me, Rhonda has created brief videos to introduce the songs, which we will share with our readers. First up is one with her thoughts about working with Willie Nelson on the title track.
This next shows how even an iconic performer like Vincent can find inspiration from young, up-and-comers.
We’ll have a formal review of the album on the release date tomorrow, and will share other videos from this set through the week.
