The 39th edition of the Jekyll Island, Georgia Bluegrass Festival was opened by The Clinton Gregory Bluegrass Band, a Georgia group. The James King Band was next up, with Don Rigsby filling in on mandolin The Spinney Brothers from Nova Scotia brought their brother harmonies to the stage for the first of two days. Spring field Exit gave their normal – read wonderful – performance.
Rhonda Vincent and the Rage provided a high-powered show with James King joining Rhonda for a couple tunes. Gene Watson and the Farewell Party Band closed the day’s show. Rhonda joined Gene for several numbers as well.
Several country artists have made the leap to bluegrass in recent years, with most of them simply returning to the music they grew up loving and performing. Clinton Gregory is among the latest artists to make the change from country back to bluegrass. Although Gregory had several songs on the country charts in the 1990s, he actually began his career playing the fiddle. Now, he has returned to bluegrass with the appropriately titled debut album from the Clinton Gregory Bluegrass Band, Roots of My Raising.
Gregory samples from both classic country and bluegrass on this album, with eleven of the twelve tracks covers of old favorites from artists such as Merle Haggard and Flatt and Scruggs. Gregory’s vocals have a definite country flair, with a bit of a Keith Whitley sound, but for the most part, the music is modern traditional bluegrass. The addition of a harmonica on a few tracks lends itself to more of a country sound, but sounds a little out of place.
The album gets off to a good start with the driving How Mountain Girls Can Love, which has nice instrumental solos. Little Cabin Home on the Hill is also well-done, with a straightforward traditional bluegrass sound. The country-style vocals don’t work quite as well on Somehow Tonight, although Gregory adds tasteful fiddling throughout. He further shows off his fiddling skills on the album’s lone instrumental, Katy Hill, which also has some fine banjo work from Scott Vestal, and strong support from the rhythm section.
A number of Merle Haggard cuts are included, such as the title track, which Haggard took to number one in 1976. This tune about returning home is an enjoyable, mid-tempo acoustic number, with harmonica taking the place of the original’s steel guitar. Living With the Shades Pulled was previously given a bluegrass treatment by the McPeak Brothers, and Gregory’s upbeat version with its mandolin intro pulls from that cut more so than Haggard’s.
Gregory lets his ’90s country background shine on I Never Go Around Mirrors, putting in a performance that Keith Whitley fans will surely appreciate. New Patches, a top ten hit for Mel Tillis,has a similar sound. Gregory does a nice job on these country heartbreak tunes, and his voice fits the material well. The album’s closing track (and its only original), the Gospel piece Crucifixion, has the same acoustic country feel for its moving narration of Jesus’s death on the cross.
Gregory, who also plays guitar on the album in addition to his fiddling and lead vocal duties, is joined by a talented band. Vestal and Harold Roper trade out on the banjo throughout the album, while Doug Flowers plays mandolin and Scott Terry rounds things out on bass and harmonica.
For more information on the Clinton Gregory Bluegrass Band, visit www.melodyroundupmusic.com. Roots of My Raising can be purchased from a variety of online music retailers.
Clinton Gregory would appear to be another country music artist taking a stab at bluegrass. The Virginia native had some chart success in the early ’90s, particularly with the song If It Weren’t For Country Music I’d Go Crazy.
Gregory went into a deep decline after going through a painful divorce, and losing his record deal in 1996. He all but disappeared and even family and friends had trouble finding him through this time, until a friendship with country legend Hank Cochran and a religious conversion brought him back from a life of drugs and rebellion in 2005.
Since then, he has continued performing and recording in country, but his newest release, Roots Of My Raising, finds him in the midst of banjos and mandolins.
But Clinton isn’t just some random country guy dipping his toe into bluegrass waters. He comes by his roots quite naturally. Before moving to Nashville in his early twenties, Gregory was active on fiddle and guitar in the southwest Virginia music scene. Before he was 10 years old, he was playing fiddle on stage at bluegrass festivals, and folks back home still talk about the local boy who went to Nashville to make good.
Roots Of My Raising was recorded with The Clinton Gregory Bluegrass Band, who will be touring in support of the album. Harold Roper is on banjo, Doug Flowers on mandolin, Scott Terry on bass and Gregory on guitar and fiddle.
Clinton says that not long ago, he got re-bitten with the bluegrass bug, and this new record is the result.
“This bluegrass album has been 40 years in the making.
The project came to life when we spent a weekend up at a cabin; we played until our fingers couldn’t play anymore. Something really rare happened and we knew we needed to get into the studio. In fact, the songs on the record are the very same songs from those inspiring evenings at the cabin.”
Most of the material consists of bluegrass and country favorites (How Mountain Girls Can Love, Sittin’ On Top Of The World, I Never Go Around Mirrors, Little Cabin Home On The Hill, Somehow Tonight, New Patches), but he also lets loose his fiddle on Katy Hill, and includes an original Gospel song, Crucifixion.
Audio samples are available online, and Clinton put this video together to introduce his bluegrass sound and new band.
You can keep an eye on concert dates for the Clinton Gregory Bluegrass Band online.
