Audie Blaylock Archives - Bluegrass Today

Ran Out of Road – Audie Blaylock tribute from Reed Jones

The entire bluegrass world was shocked when Audie Blaylock died unexpectedly earlier this year. Only 61 years of age, he had been present in professional bluegrass all of the past four decades, and in such a highly visible way, that it seemed like he would always be there. And yet he was gone.

Audie was only 19 when he hired on with Jimmy Martin, staying seven years as a Sunny Mountain Boy. He lived the life of a bluegrass journeyman, working stints with Red Allen in Nashville, with Chris Jones, and Lynn Morris, before taking the guitar gig with Rhonda Vincent & The Rage in 1999. After several years there, he worked with Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper before dedicating himself to a solo career with his own group, Audie Blaylock & Redline.

Now, nearly a year on from his passing, Blaylock’s good friend and former bass player, Reed Jones, is set to release a memorial single written about his relationship with Audie. Titled Ran Out of Road, Reed says that he was inspired to write it by experience most of us will have had after losing someone close.

“I wrote this song in the wake of what appeared to be a posthumous Audie sighting. It was like he was reminding me that he was still right there with me. And I know he is.

This song was written for me, my Redline brothers, and everyone who has experienced the pain of losing a loved one. Each of those groups gets a part of this song, and I hear Audie all over it.”

Jones wrote a good bit of the material that Redline recorded in recent years, so his style is closely associated with theirs. And he brought in a number of Audie’s former bandmates to record the track, with both Evan Ward and Russ Carson on banjo, Patrick McAvinue and Mason Wright on fiddle, McAvinue on mandolin, and Darren Nicholson on harmony vocal. Reed himself played bass and guitar, using Blaylock’s vintage Martin, Thor, and sang the lead on Ran Out of Road.

Also appearing on the track are Vince Gill on tenor vocal and Harry Stinson on snare.

The studio reunion was a happy time for everyone, and Reed believes that it helped them all with their grief.

“All of us in Redline needed something like this to do together as part of our healing. We hope that healing is evident to everyone who hears this song, and that they can experience it themselves.”

Finally, Jones expressed why he cared so deeply for his friend, Audie Blaylock, both personally and musically.

“He listened tirelessly. He loved deeply. He lived passionately and intensely. He was fiercely loyal and incredibly sensitive. He was a musician’s musician, a singer’s singer. He was a kindred spirit. He was my brother.

In our first conversation, he told me, ‘we play bluegrass music, but we play it like rock stars.’ I could get behind that, and I found out very quickly he meant it. I also found out quickly that when he said, ‘I love you,’ he meant that too. In fact, I think that pretty accurately sums up Audie: he meant it.

Audie was a musical force. I would love it if Audie could hear this from the other side and think, ‘those are my guys, that is my music, and I can hear myself all over it.’ I hope he’d love it and be proud.”

Have a listen to a sample from Ran Out of Road, set to release January 10, 2025, the one year anniversary of Audie’s passing.

Look for the single on 1/10/25 from 615 Hideaway Records.

Audie Blaylock Celebration of Life next week

For those who wish to pay their respects to and honor the life and career of bluegrass legend Audie Blaylock, there will be a celebration of his life on Thursday, January 25, 2024. The event will be held at 2:00 p.m. in the Lakepoint Room at the Eagle Eye Golf & Banquet Center in Bath, MI (about 15 miles northeast of Lansing).

Blaylock passed away unexpectedly at home in Auburn, Indiana, on January 10. He was 61 years of age.

He is being mourned world-wide as a great loss to the bluegrass music community.

Audie Blaylock passes

Audie Blaylock, life long bluegrass singer and bandleader, passed away unexpectedly earlier this week at his home in Auburn, IN. He was 61 years of age.

His family reports that he was experiencing some health problems of late, and died from complications of these existing issues. An intensely private person for someone with a public personna, no further details were offered.

Known in recent years as lead singer and guitarist with his own band, Redline, Blaylock dedicated most of his adult life to bluegrass. Born in El Paso, TX, Audie grew up in Lansing, MI, where he was playing guitar and mandolin in regional bands while still in school.

His big break came in 1982 when he was offered the mandolin gig with Jimmy Martin, and he spent the next nine years as a Sunny Mountain Boy. From there he played some with Red Allen, and a good bit with Harley Allen, based in Nashville. When Red died in 1993 he took a job with The Lynn Morris Band. For a brief while he played with Chris Jones & The Night Drivers.

Then from 1999 until 2003 he played guitar and sang with Rhonda Vincent & The Rage. After that stint, Audie launched his solo career, sidetracked briefly in 2006-07 when he joined up with Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper featuring Audie Blaylock.

Following his time with Michael, Blaylock reactivated Redline, which has continued to this point with a number of popular recordings by the band.

One of his crowning achievements was as coordinator of the album, A Tribute to Jimmy Martin: The King of Bluegrass, on which Audie covered a collection of Martin classics with some of the top musicians of the day in 2004. It was truly an all-star effort, with Sonny Osborne voicing an introductory tribute to The King, J.D. Crowe and Kenny Ingram playing banjo, Ben Isaacs and Jason Moore on bass, Michael Cleveland on fiddle, and Jesse Brock on mandolin. Harmony vocals were provided by Paul Williams, Sonya Isaacs, and Ben Isaacs. Blaylock played guitar.

The album was nominated for Grammy award, and Audie was justly proud of having been able to re-present the music of his hero and mentor for a modern audience.

Playing the Opry with Rhonda Vincent and sharing the stage with Andy Griffith was another career highlight, as Griffith was another hero to Audie.

Reed Jones, bassist with Redline, the band’s primary songwriter, and a dear friend of Audie’s, shared that…

“Audie was a very passionate person, and once you were his friend, you were in for good. Extremely loyal. Over the course of the past 13 years, Audie became like a brother to me. Traveling together, you form a very special bond. Most bands tend to have a revolving door with personnel, but Redline has had a core that stayed. Audie called it a brotherhood.”

In addition to his love for bluegrass music, which he always demanded be played with passion and precision, Blaylock also had a deep fondness and appreciation for vintage American automobiles.

Reed again…

“His fiery intensity will be missed in the bluegrass community.”

His family are putting together plans for funeral services now, and should announce those details soon.

R.I.P., Audie Blaylock.

Red Rover drops for Audie Blaylock and Redline

Red Rover is the latest single to drop from Audie Blaylock, one from his upcoming project with 615 Hideaway Records.

Like many of his recent releases, this one was written by long time bassist, Reed Jones, who says that it was inspired by a story his grandfather had told him of years past living in eastern Kentucky. It draws on the game most of us will have played in childhood.

“Red Rover feels classic and new all at the same time with its hard-charging pulse and free-flowing harmonies. The song is upbeat and bright, but the lyrics bring in just the right twinge of heartbreak and lonesome; it feels old, but the melody and progression smell fresh, like the whole thing was vacuum sealed 70 years ago and mailed to the present.

Red Rover demonstrates that just because it’s new, that doesn’t mean it can’t be traditional; and just because it’s traditional, doesn’t mean it’s not relevant. It also shows that nobody can do that like Audie Blaylock and Redline.”

With Audie on guitar and lead vocal and Reed on bass, the track is completed with banjo from Scott Vestal and many mandolin and fiddle from Patrick McAvinue. Blaylock sings the high harmony and Vestal the low.

Check it out…

Red Rover is set to release for download or streaming on March 24, and radio programmers can get the track now at AirPlay Direct. Pre-orders and pre-saves are enabled now online.

Different Than Today from Audie Blaylock and Redline

615 Hideaway Records has a new single this month for Audie Blaylock and Redline. It’s the title cut from their upcoming album, Different Than Today.

Like much of the band’s original material, this song was written by bassist Reed Jones. It tells a bit of his family history, relating the true story of how his grandparents moved from eastern Kentucky to southwest Ohio where work was plentiful in their youth. A great many families in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan have a similar backstory, one told in aggregate in the recent book, Industrial Strength Bluegrass, by Fred Bartenstein and Curtis W. Ellison.

Jones says that keeping in touch with where you come from, and those who preceded us in the world, helps us keep track of who we are.

“At their best, songs help us make sense of the world. Different Than Today not only honors the legacy of my grandparents and their journey from eastern Kentucky to southwestern Ohio, the act of writing and recording it has helped me find my way forward in the face of this frenzied world, all by maintaining a healthy and meaningful connection to my own history.”

Blaylock sings the lead and plays guitar, supported by Jones on bass, Evan Ward on banjo, and Mason Wright on fiddle. Guest mandolin is provided by former Redline bandmate Patrick McAvinue.

Have a listen…

Different Than Today, the single, is available now from popular download and streaming sites online. Radio programmers will find the track at AirPlay Direct.

The full album from Audie Blaylock and Redline is expected sometime next year.

Love’s Fleeting Fire from Audie Blaylock and Redline

615 Hideaway Records has a new single for Audie Blaylock and Redline, the first from their upcoming project with the label. It furthers Audie’s stated intent to preserve the sound and feel of traditional bluegrass music through new and original material.

This latest is called Love’s Fleeting Fire, written by Redline bassist Reed Jones, with Blaylock in the producer’s chair. Audie sings lead and plays guitar, with Jones on bass, and Evan Ward on banjo, Mason Wright on fiddle, and special guest (and former bandmate) Patrick McAvinue on mandolin.

The Hideaway folks captured this music video in the studio, with a sneak peek of the track.

Love’s Fleeting Fire will be available wherever you stream or download music online later in April. Radio programmers can get it now from AirPlay Direct.

Originalist – Audie Blaylock and Redline

The title given the latest release by the veteran combo Audie Blaylock and Redline may, at first, seem something of a misnomer. While Blaylock (guitar, vocals) and his compatriots in Redline — Even Ward (banjo), Mason Wright (fiddle) and Reed Jones (upright bass) — definitely apply a distinctive touch and sensibility, the music they make bows to past precepts and shares a certain sense of timeless tradition. Blaylock notes that the album’s rousing first single, Love Is An Awful Thing, acknowledges the trajectory from then to now. Indeed, while the name of the song may seem somewhat disparaging, it’s quite the opposite; it effectively defines and describes the tack they take throughout.

In that sense, Originalist attempts to redefine vintage bluegrass as a force going forward. Although the upbeat harmonies of Don’t Know Why, the waltzing rhythms of The Ghost of Cecil Watson and the honkytonk sound of I Just Came to Get My Baby pay homage to the most revered aspects of current grassicana, it’s clear that the quartet are determined to put their own spin on the music and fuel it with their own distinctive presence and personality.

Indeed, the material relays a series of affecting narratives, from the homesick tale of Foggy Old London, and the enduring emotion and waltzing refrain of Always a Fight, to the hoary folk tradition passed along by Prodigal Son, the forlorn tale of a departed lover on Medicine Springs, and the sentiment and sway shared in (Is This) My Destiny? There’s a sense of richness and revival in each of these offerings, all of which are imbued with a distinctive delivery all their own.

It’s also worth noting that half the songs here are originals and the remainder come courtesy of earlier icons such as the Stanley Brothers, the Delmore Brothers, and Jimmy Martin, among others. Yet in terms of both tone and tempo, the attitude and approach provides a constant continuum throughout, with their personal perspective always remaining front and center.

Blaylock is, of course, a seasoned player, and so it’s only natural that he’s able to inform these arrangements with his own earnest attitude. Clearly, he is an Originalist after all.

Love Is An Awful Thing video from Audie Blaylock and Redline

(615) Hideaway Records has produced a music video for their first single from Audie Blaylock and Redline, Love Is An Awful Thing.

True to form, it’s a hard-driving bluegrass number, written by Redline bassist Reed Jones, with a vintage vibe. That vibe carries over into the video, where we see an eager young car salesman made a fool by a girl with a big smile and bright red lipstick. Meanwhile Blaylock sings about a love gone wrong, hence the title.

Audie says of the song…

“Love Is an Awful Thing I believe is a perfect bridge between tradition and the future. I think the lyrics and the musical interpretation — as well as vocal interpretation — show a fresh approach to bluegrass music and still pay homage to the roots and tradition that it came from.”

Redline is Blaylock on guitar and lead vocal, Evan Ward on banjo, Reed Jones on bass, and Mason Wright on fiddle.

Love Is An Awful Thing, and the album on which it is included, Originalist, can be found wherever you stream or download music online, or on CD directly from the band. Radio programmers can find it at AirPlay Direct.

The Gate Called Beautiful video from Audie Blaylock

The newest single from Audie Blaylock & Redline, the second from their current project, Originalist, offers an interesting take on Acts, chapter 3.

This is the familiar story of St. Peter curing the lame man at the Temple in Jerusalem following the ascension of Jesus into Heaven. The people of Israel in the time had become somewhat accustomed to Jesus performing miracles, but seeing it done by one of his disciples in Jesus’ name was a startling image to the people at the Temple gate – the gate called Beautiful.

This new single carries that title, The Gate Called Beautiful, and was written by Reed Jones, bassist with Redline. Reed shared with us how it emerged and evolved over the past 7 years into the form in which it now exists on the new record.

“I am inherently drawn to words. I love their various connotations and applications, I love toying with them, I love their power and scope…I just love the turn of a phrase. So while sitting in a weekly bible study in 2012, studying Acts 3, I was struck by the poetry of the miraculous healing of a disabled, nameless beggar at the gate called Beautiful. The obvious connection between the nature of that event and its location was striking to me for the first time, even though I had read the account numerous times before. I just felt that I had to write a song that captured, to the best of my limited abilities, the message of that story.

Musically at that time, I was reflecting a lot on Audie’s philosophy of singing and harmony, namely that you should hold your words out as long as possible and make the harmonies soar. Those two things collided after I chose to write the story from the perspective of the beggar. It was such a powerful exercise to see myself as broken and in need of healing. It really taught me a lot about myself, and reminded me of our common humanity; I kind of feel like we’re all in that same boat at various points. But at the same time it made me wonder how can I embody that message of hope and restoration to others that feel broken at that moment? I think if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ve all been in both of those places to varying degrees at different points in our life, and you don’t have to be particularly religious to recognize that. I really think that story wraps up a pretty potent part of the human experience.

I sat on the song for years, not really doing anything with it, but for some reason in the last year or so, it felt right to record it. I just love singing with Audie and Evan, and I feel like they captured the vibe so well.

About that time we also started a partnership with Hemisphere Coffee Roasters, creating Redline Roast, and the song really resonated with Paul Kurtz, Hemisphere’s “Coffee Apostle,” whose business model seeks to impart that healing to the farmers they work with. The pieces of the puzzle really came together, and when my dear friend and visual artist, Todd Buschur, came on board with a desire to draw that story, things really took off.

We’ve got a video for the song that pulls all those things together. As a writer, I just really want the message of that song to reach as many people as possible, and the response has been powerful. I want people to ask themselves, “What does The Gate Called Beautiful mean to me?”

The Gate Called Beautiful and Originalist are widely available wherever you stream or download music online. Radio programmers can get both from AirPlay Direct.

Audie Blaylock talks Originalist and Redline

The title of their latest album, Originalist, is a perfect descriptor for Audie Blaylock and Redline, and how they go about creating their style of traditional bluegrass.

The word is used to define a theory of constitutional interpretation in the United States, whereby judges are encouraged to seek understanding of what the lawmakers who crafted specific legislation meant at the time they wrote it. It’s not universally accepted, and is quite controversial in some circles, but it is the same approach that Blaylock and his band use in writing and recording new bluegrass.

“We play traditional bluegrass music, but we don’t play the same songs as the founders. We want it to sound new and fresh, but we try to play it in the same spirit as the guys who were doing it in the ’50s.”

And Audie has developed some understanding of that spirit. During the years he played mandolin with Jimmy Martin & The Sunny Mountain Boys as a young man, he made a point to learn everything he could from the master to whom he was apprenticed.

One lesson in particular has stuck with him.

“Jimmy had the ability to hear all the instruments at the same time, and he knew how to put all the pieces together. He could listen to what the banjo was doing while he was singing, and how what the bass did matched with his guitar. He would talk about that sort of thing all the time, going down the road, and I listened and paid attention. I feel like I have learned how to hear that too, and always try to be conscious of it when I look for members of this band.”

But changing personnel isn’t something that has been a big issue in his band, Redline. Audie says that he is very careful in choosing them, and that when you get the right people, they tend to stick around.

“The band has been together a long time. I try to find people that have the same mindset as I do – the way they look at music. Since we started in 2004 I’ve had very little turnover. If everyone is on the same page, you can have different ideas, but they still work together. We all love the hard driving traditional bluegrass, and we bring that to the center of things.”

To be sure, Blaylock has a keen eye for talent. Two of his long term members who have left of late for gigs with big name acts are Russ Carson, now playing banjo with Ricky Skaggs, and Patrick McAvinue, currently touring with Dailey & Vincent on fiddle. Both got their start with Redline, and generated a good bit of notice while they were there.

Audie feels like his band right now is every bit as good, with Evan Ward on banjo, Mason Wright on fiddle, and Reed Jones on bass. They all share his passion for the spirit of the early days, as well as the experience and technical prowess to play it with drive and that originalist spirit.

They are two years since their last album, The Road That Winds on Patuxent Records, which found the title cut being used for a short-lived cable television program called Backroads Gold. The show celebrated another of Audie’s enthusiasms, vintage automobiles, but it failed to make a mark with viewers.

But the album was a hit with bluegrass fans, and a number of songs charted here at Bluegrass Today.

When they finished work on Originalist, a chance conversation with Sammy Passamano in Nashville led to the record being the first release on Passamano’s new 615 Hideaway Records. Sammy had made a splash this past few years with his online live music program of the same name, and had recently decided to expand into his family’s business.

“We cut the album independently, but I felt like we needed a label behind us for help with distribution, radio, and industry relationships. Sammy had approached me about doing his TV show, and told me he was starting a label. By the time we got off the phone, we were on 615 Hideaway Records.”

Originalist features a roughly 50/50 split between new material written within the band, and classic covers. They created a video to share some of their thoughts about the music, and introduce the debut single, a song with the intriguing title, Your Love Is An Awful Thing, written by Reed Jones.

Originalist is available now wherever you stream or download music online, and to radio programmers at AirPlay Direct.