Skyline Records has a new single for bluegrass vocalist and mandolinist Nick Dumas, one written by Tim Stafford and Jon Weisberger with the intriguing title, Sweet Lips and Sweeter Lies.
A native of Washington state, Nick grew up immersed in bluegrass music. His grandfather played the reso-guitar and had a country/gospel group, and by the time he was 12, Nick was part of a family band with his grandfather, mother, and aunt called The Three Generations. As a young man he co-founded two popular groups in the Pacific Northwest, Northern Departure and North Country Bluegrass. But it was a member of Special Consensus that most bluegrass lovers came to know Dumas, starting in 2015.
Nick left Special C in 2019 to pursue a solo career, and Skyline Records snapped him up in 2022, making him the first artist they signed.
Sweet Lips and Sweeter Lies will be included in Dumas’ second Skyline project, and is the first listen to what it contains. It’s a fast-moving number about a guy who is falling fast, even though he realizes he perhaps is being taken for a ride.
For Nick, this is a feel-good song that pumps you up when you hear it.
“This song just hits you in the face with the fiddle intro, and the energy throughout the song just makes you want to dance, drive faster, or sing loud. It’s a nod to the energy and heart of the bluegrass I grew up on, but it’s also very much my own.”
Studio support comes from Kenny Smith on guitar, Calib Smith on banjo, Carley Arrowood on fiddle, Jed Clark on mandolin, and Jeff Partin on bass and reso-guitar. Will McSeveny produced, Scott Vestal engineered, and Jim VanCleve mixed and mastered, and together with the players, they turn in snappy and memorable track.
Check it out in this video visualizer.
Sweet Lips and Sweeter Lies is available now from popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.
