Randy Kohrs Archives - Page 2 of 11

Faultline – Jesse Gregory

Jesse Gregory is a strong young vocalist from Maryville, TN, currently enrolled in the Bluegrass, Old Time & Country Music program at East Tennessee State University. She has the distinction of being the first woman to declare a bluegrass major there, and would seem to have a bright future ahead of her in music as she begins to pursue it professionally after graduating after the Fall 2013 semester.

Faultline, her debut CD, was released in 2012, and producers Clay Hess and Randy Kohrs assembled a crack band in support of Gregory’s voice. Hess plays guitar and Korhs reso-guitar, with Sierra Hull on mandolin, Justin Moses on banjo, Tim Crouch on fiddle, and Harold Nixon and Jay Weaver on bass.

Jesse sings with power and authority, and stands out from most of her contemporaries both for the quality and tone of her voice, and by refraining from torturing each line of a melody with every twist and turn imaginable. Far too many young singers seem to view melody as a mere framework for their vocal acrobatics, a trend that has long existed in pop music, and more recently has crept into bluegrass. It is more than a little refreshing to hear Jesse belt out a song without a trace of this “show off” style, which takes a confidence and maturity beyond her 21 years.

But she tells us it’s not because she isn’t aware of, or capable of doing it.

“I grew up practicing vocals with CDs of my favorite singers. If I couldn’t hit vocal inflections just as they did, I would practice until I had something exactly right. As I got older, I took bits and pieces of everything that I had learned (and continue to learn) to make my own style. I don’t want to sound like anyone, but to have my very own unique sound.

Those singers I practice with are usually not bluegrass singers. I love to try and sing/keep up with people like Christina Aguilera or Beyonce. I also am crazy about LeeAnn Womack. Bluegrass and bluegrass/Gospel is where my heart is, but practicing with these types of singers makes those ‘bluegrass trills and inflections’ so much easier!”

She and her producers have chosen 11 terrific songs for this project, mostly new compositions from top writers like Craig Market, Jennifer Strickland, Jerry Salley, Keith Sewell, Dottie Rambo, Clay Hess and Justin Carbone. The sound and production are decidedly contemporary bluegrass, set off nicely by Jesse’s unadorned vocal delivery, with lines held out sans vibrato or the overuse of trills.

Harmony vocals are stellar as well, with contributions from Alison Krauss, Sierra Hull, Randy Kohrs, Justin Moses, Jennifer Strickland and Clay Hess.

Choosing highlight tracks is difficult, as each is a gem. One is Love Lifted Me, a 100 year old Gospel song which has been cut by dozens of country and Gospel artists, gets a rousing bluegrass treatment here. Another is Last Train Done Gone Down, famously recorded by John Denver in 1997. I’ve seen this commonly credited to Peter Rowan, though the writer here is shown as Allen Toussaint. Also strong is Gregory’s cover of Always On A Mountain When I Fall, a 1978 hit for Merle Haggard, and the opening track Highway Of Pain from Glenn Dauphin.

Faultline is a record that slipped under our radar last year. It deserves far wider attention than it has received, even if it comes a few months late. Don’t let this fine album pass you by.

Special kudos to Kohrs, who engineered and mixed at his Slack Key Studio in Nashville, for the sonic purity throughout.

Radio programmers can request a copy from Jesse’s web site, or her Facebook page.

Aaron Ramsey – Gathering

After a full four years of recording and mixing as his schedule allowed, Mountain Heart mandolinist Aaron Ramsey has completed his new solo project, Gathering. Aaron had to find time for his own album amidst touring duties with the band, working on multiple records for other artists, and getting hitched to his new bride, Jordan Laney Ramsey.

Just shy of 30 years old, Aaron has built quite a reputation as a player and singer, working as part of Randy Kohrs’ & The Lites and The Linville Ridge Band before becoming part of Mountain Heart in December of 2007. Doing shows with Tony Rice won him a rave review in Tim Stafford and Caroline Wright’s biography of Rice, Still Inside, and persuaded the guitar hero to appear as a guest on this new CD.

Other performers include Ron Block, Stuart Duncan, Tim Crouch, Randy Kohrs, Patton Wages and more. Ramsey sings several of the tracks, with guest vocals from Rickey Wasson of American Drive and Mountain Heart’s Barry Abernathy.

Aaron shared a few words about Gathering, and a sampler with snippets from a number of the tracks.

“It’s really a gathering of a lot of the people and sounds that have made me love bluegrass music and allowed me to have my own identity as an artist. It is Cold on the Shoulder in spirit—it’s not that album, but Cold on the Shoulder was my inspiration and the spirit of this record.

I am really glad to get it out there and let people listen to it. I hope you all enjoy it.”

Six of the 12 tracks on Gathering are co-writes between Aaron and his dad, Mike, a life-long bluegrass musician himself. Others include the Osborne Brothers classic, One Tear, and Fare Thee Well, a Bob Dylan number brought into bluegrass some years ago by Tony Rice, on the aforementioned Cold On The Shoulder album.

Orders are being accepted now from Aaron’s web site, with all pre-orders being autographed and shipped by mid-January, at which time they will also be available at all Mountain Heart shows.

Daydreams – Cory Piatt

Young Cory Piatt is currently mandolinist with The Kenny & Amanda Smith Band. He has been playing almost half his 17 years, and has developed a stunning mastery of his instrument in this short time, as evidenced by his debut solo project, Daydreams, on Patuxent Music.

It was only a few years ago that a young Sierra Hull hit the scene, cowing mandolin players 3 and 4 times her age into submission. She was an Adan Steffey disciple, where Cory seems to have been led more by Chris Thile, who was frightening mandolinists as a teen since he hit the late ’90s.

From the opening track, you can tell that this teen is the real deal, displaying a pro’s confidence, a light touch, and a lovely, delicate tone.

Assisting in the rhythm section are Jim Van Cleve and Bryan McDowell on fiddle, Scott Vestal and Cory’s brother Owen Piatt on banjo, Mark Schatz on bass, Jake Stargell on guitar, and Randy Kohrs and Gavin Largent on reso-guitar. Even with such monster pickers surrounding him, Piatt more than holds his own throughout, trading licks with some of the best modern grassers the music can offer without missing a beat.

6 of the Daydream’s 11 tracks were written by Cory, all instrumentals. Each is a strong contribution to the contemporary repertoire, ranging stylistically from fiddle tunes, and Brazilian choro, to new acoustic romps. The only non-Piatt instrumental here is Darol Anger’s brilliant Ride The Wild Turkey, which gives everyone a chance to show off, with some jaw-dropping mandolin work.

As impressive as it is for a 17 year old to play this well, understand that Cory was just 15 when Daydreams was recorded. And the tunes he wrote for the album date back a couple of years before that. Piatt tells us that he had to have surgery on his foot when he was 13, and was bedridden that whole summer recovering. He used that time to come up with these original compositions.

The other 5 tracks are songs, but Cory stays behind his mandolin on the record, content to allow singers like Ronnie Bowman, Keith Garrett, and Brandon Bostic to tackle the vocals. New songs from Chris Harris, Jennifer Strickland, and Craig Market are included, along with a cover of country singer Kevin Denney’s That’s Just Jessie.

Daydream is quite a coming out party for this extremely talented artist, and one hopes to hear much more from Cory Piatt in years to come.

The album is available where ever bluegrass is sold, from Piatt’s web site, and via download from iTunes and Amazon.

Grassers with Bobby and Billy Ray Cyrus

Unless you’ve been living in a cave since 1992, there’s a strong likelihood that you are familiar with country singer and TV personality Billy Ray Cyrus. Odds are you are also acquainted with his daughter, singer, actress and gal-about-town, Miley.

But did you know that Billy Ray has a cousin who is also a musician? Bobby Cyrus has a new CD, Homeplace, set for a December 1 release. It was recorded with the help of a gaggle of bluegrass artists, and produced by noted bluegrass vocalist and bandleader, Don Rigsby.

A debut single, Milkman’s Eyes, is available now, which features brother Billy Ray, along with a music video which includes Darrell Webb as well. It’s not a bluegrass song, per se, but Darrell is pictured with a banjo, mimicking the part Carl Jackson played on the record.

It’s a cute video, with Bobby’s take on a classic country theme of the iniquitous spouse.

Jason Grubb, Darrell’s manager, explained that Webb ended up with the gig through Grubb also working with Cyrus.

“Bobby called me looking for a banjo player or mandolin player to appear at the shoot in Nashville. I suggested Darrell because he can play anything with strings. Bobby had some knowledge of Darrell, and was excited he would be willing to do it.

The producer, John Lloyd Miller, as well as the rest of the crew, liked what Darrell brought to the table. He is a natural entertainer and was able to easily provide what they were looking for.

We had a great time at the shoot, and Darrell did some great networking. We love the fact he appeared so prominently in the video. He did a great and professional job!”

If you look closely, you’ll also see Jason’s wife, bluegrass singer Stacy Grubb, and their two children in the video.

Growing up in eastern Kentucky, both the Cyrus boys grew up around bluegrass, and share an appreciation for the music and the folks who play it. So it’s no great surprise that Bobby reached out to the bluegrass community when it came time to record.

When we caught up yesterday with Don Rigsby, he explained a bit about Homeplace, and how he came to be involved.

“I have known Bobby for many years… since we were both just out of our teens. I always knew he wanted to pursue a career in music, but his family responsibilities kept him from doing so.

A while back, he approached me and asked me if I would consider producing a project for him. He had an investor and said that we could make the kind of project that we both wanted to do, and I was eager to flex my creative muscles a bit beyond the borders of bluegrass.

I know what is and is not bluegrass, and had no intention of making the lines blurred…and I didn’t. However, I have long held that bluegrass musicians are among the finest in any genre. I have seen it time and time again, so I tapped many prominent grassers to help record this project.

Carl Jackson played banjo, Randy Kohrs played various instruments as only he can, Jim Hurst played guitar, Aaron Till played fiddle, Kathy Chiavola, Garnet Bowman, Ronnie Bowman, Larry Cordle, Jerry Salley, John Cowan and I sang harmonies, I played mandolin, and Tom T. Hall gave a stirring recitation on a number.

The rhythm section was supplied by Jim Hurst, Tim Marx and Nick Budha. In addition to these, many other great session players from country music filled out the cast.

There is no pure bluegrass music to be found here, but the songs are really great, and in anything I do, a certain bluegrass sensibility is always obvious. The aforementioned players and singers are always easy to count on for adding a grassy edge to anything they do too!

I am very proud of this project and I truly hope the people get behind it and help Bobby realize his dream of success.”

Carolina Moonrise from Jim Lauderdale

Jim Lauderdale is set to release his 21st recording on September 25, a new bluegrass album called Carolina Moonrise.

Like his previous grass projects, Jim has again teamed up with Randy Kohrs, who produced and engineered, and also provided reso-guitar. And like Jim’s most recent prior release, Reason And Rhyme, Randy assembled a crack band of Nashville super-pickers, using the same bunch for each track to get a “band feel” in the studio.

Assisting are Scott Vestal on banjo, Josh Williams on guitar, Tim Crouch on fiddle, Jay Weaver on bass and Aaron Ramsey on mandolin.

Jim said that he again collaborated with his favorite lyricist, a legend in American music.

“I am very excited about this record. I got to write the whole thing with one of my all-time heroes, Robert Hunter. Randy Kohrs really outdid himself as a producer and it was incredible to work with these fine players.

This has been an overall great experience.”

Robert Hunter is perhaps best known for his songwriting output with The Grateful Dead, having written or co-written some of their most enduring numbers (Friend Of The Devil, Uncle John’s Band, Sugar Magnolia, Truckin’). His association with The Dead dates back to Jerry Garcia’s early years as a bluegrass musician, where Hunter played guitar to Garcia’s banjo.

For Hunter, a fondness for bluegrass remains, something he exercises in his collaborations with Lauderdale. Carolina Moonrise marks their fifth project together, and surely not the last.

The album is set to release during World of Bluegrass, and we’ll try to corral Jim next week for more details.

Josh Shilling Letting Go video

We’ve written before about Letting Go, the debut solo project from Mountain Heart vocalist Josh Shilling.

And as Josh has mentioned in previous posts, this isn’t a bluegrass record, though it does feature contributions from notable grassers like Shilling’s bandmate Aaron Ramsey, Cia and Molly Cherryholmes, and Randy Kohrs.

To mark the short-form album’s official release into digital distribution, Shilling prepared a video of studio clips which he says was produced on a shoe string budget.

“Because this is a completely independent and self-funded venture, I couldn’t afford lighting, camera, and make-up crews when we recorded this CD. All of the video was captured on two inexpensive, hand-held cameras and I made this promotional, behind-the-scenes documentary of the making of Letting Go on my laptop using iMovie. No tricks or faking…nearly all of these video clips are the actual recorded performances that we used on the CD.

Thanks so much to everyone involved in recording this project and thanks to everyone that supports what I’m doing and music in general!”

You can find Letting Go for download at all major digital resellers, and autographed CDs can be ordered from Josh’s web site.

Daydreams from Cory Piatt

Cory Piatt, the talented young mandolinist with The Kenny & Amanda Smith Band, has recently completed a solo project. Entitled Daydreams, the album will be released this summer by Patuxent Music.

Piatt tells us that he has been working on finishing this record for nearly a year, with Patuxent’s Tom Mindte producing. Six of the eleven tracks are songs/tunes which Cory wrote or co-wrote, with the material leaning towards instrumentals, with four vocals.

He put together a strong rhythm section, with March Schatz on bass and Jake Stargel on guitar. Banjo is handled by Scott Vestal and Cory’s brother Owen, with Randy Kohrs and Gaven Largent on reso-guitar. Jim VanCleve and Bryan McDowell both contributed fiddle, with Bryan also playing some guitar.

For the vocals, Cory has solicited the help of some of the biggest names in bluegrass: Ronnie Bowman, Keith Garrett, Brandon Bostic and Darren Beachley. Should be a good’n.

Here are a few photos from the tracking sessions.

Go the Road – Tiller’s Folly

It wasn’t too many years ago that the concept of a “band” began to change from simplistic to more complicated definitions. In fact, at the turn of the last century, many individuals would have considered the act of two people playing together (most commonly fiddle and banjo) as a band performance. However, our present definition of a “band” is much different.

For at least one group though, an older definition seems to apply. Currently the three-piece, Pacific Northwest based group Tiller’s Folly are releasing their latest project entitled Go the Road.

With a set of back to back album release shows scheduled for March 29th and 30th in White Rock, British Columbia, the Tiller’s Folly gang is proud to announce the release of their 8^th project in some 16 years of performing together as a group. According to band member Bruce Coughlan these shows will be filmed for promotional purposes and released on DVD shortly afterward.

Previously, the band had performed music based on their Celtic influences. In fact, their website describes their sound by calling them “Celtic influenced Canadian Americana Newgrass,” but with Go the Road, the band seems to be headed in a different direction. Coughlan says the band is excited to embark upon a new musical journey, which sounds closer to mainstream Newgrass music.

While the principle members of Tiller’s Folly are singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Bruce Coughlan, Nolan Murray (multi-instrumentalist), and Laurence Knight (bass, vocals, and producer) they are often joined by other musicians to fill out their sets on stage. For instance, on this album they are joined by a host of wonderful musicians. Coughlan stated that a portion of their album guests will also be accompanying them at upcoming concerts. Guest artists on Go the Road include John Cowan, Ronnie McCoury, Josh Shilling, Sam Bush, Cia Cherryholmes, Scott Vestal, and Randy Kohrs.

The band recently returned to the west coast from a short tour of the southeast, including stops in Nashville for Music City Roots, Memphis for the Folk Alliance Conference, and Valle Crucis, NC at the Mast Farm Inn. In the upcoming weeks, they will be playing across the northwest, with shows taking place in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia. This summer, they’ll embark on a tour of the United Kingdom, visiting several festivals of traditional and Celtic music.

Go the Road is available as of March 1, and can be purchased from iTunes, CDBaby or the Tiller’s Folly website. For more information on the new album, the band, or their upcoming tour dates, visit www.tillersfolly.com.

Life Goes On – Music from the MACC II

We’ve written many times about the magnificent work done by Darrel and Phyllis Adkins at their annual Musicians Against Childhood Cancer festival in Ohio. Top bluegrass acts make the trip each summer and perform at no charge, with proceeds from the festival being donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

Recordings made at the festival from 2000-2005 were released as the Celebration Of Life CD in 2006. The record went on to win the IBMA Album of the Year award that September, and was widely hailed for its stellar performances by the more than 130 artists featured on the 2 disc set.

March 27 has been set for the release of a second volume of live MACC tracks, again a 2-CD set recorded at the festival from 2006-2011. Life Goes On will appear on Rural Rhythm Records and, like the live show, all the artists appear without compensation, with a share of proceeds headed to St. Jude’s.

A debut single is now available to radio through Airplay Direct, the lone track of 39 that was not recorded live on stage. It’s the title track, one that Darrell Adkins particularly wanted to include, which was cut recently at Randy Kohrs’ Slack Key Studio in Nashville. It features shared lead vocals from Jerry Salley, Larry Cordle, Ricky Wasson, Ronnie Bowman and Carl Jackson on a poignant song by Dale Pyatt and Steve Thomas about moving on after losing someone dear. Adkins was inspired to host the MACC fest after losing his own daughter to cancer in 2000, making his identification with the song’s lyrics all too clear.

Life Goes On: [http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegrasscast/life_goes_on.mp3]

Alan Bibey is on mandolin, Jim VanCleve and Ron Stewart on fiddle, Randy Kohrs on reso-guitar, Clay Hess on guitar, and Jay Weaver on bass. Harmony vocals are provided by Garnet Bowman, Ashley Kohrs, Darrell Adkins, Len Butler, Gary Payne, and Dale Pyatt.

A music video for the song is being filmed today in Gallatin, TN with Ronnie and Garnett Bowman, Larry Cordle, Jerry Salley, Randy and Ashley Kohrs, Clay Hess and more scheduled to appear. It should be available some time prior to the 3/27 album release date.

We’ll share more details about the rest of the material on Life Goes On shortly.

Little Did They Know

Little Did They Know is latest Christmas single from the Rural Rhythm Christian label. It was written by IBMA-nominated songwriter Rick Lang, and produced by Stephen Mougin. The track features vocals by his wife Jana Mougin, formerly lead singer with the popular European bluegrass band Fragment, with background vocals from the great Melanie Cannon and Stephen Mougin.

The musicians on the single include: Stephen Mougin (Acoustic Guitar), Randy Kohrs (Resonator Guitar), Todd Parks (Bass), and Chris Brown (Drums). Yes… I said the traditionally dreaded “D” word, but the precussion on this record is very tastefully done, and complements the acoustic instruments nicely.

Lang says…

“Writing Christmas and Seasonal material has been a passion of mine for a very long time. It goes back to the influences and experiences I had as a child at Christmas in our New Hampshire home.

There have been many great songs written about the birth of Jesus that we all long to hear at this time of the year. That being said, there still needs to be new songs written and recorded that hopefully will appeal to future generations as well.

I want to be one of the writers that helps keeps the Nativity Story alive…. in people’s minds…and hearts.”

This cut is a perfect vehicle for Jana’s tender and endearing voice, and Stephen has presented it with a beautifully tasteful accompaniment. It should be a treasured addition to any Christmas music collection.

I first became aware of the tune when Justin Carbone and I demoed it for Rick, a little over a year ago. Right away, I recognized that it was a special song, and am glad that Rural Rhythm Christian is sharing the song and the message with listeners everywhere.

Little Did They Know: [http://ruralrhythm.com/web/uploads//2011/11/clip-LittleDidTheyKnow.mp3]

You can purchase the song from iTunes, Amazon, Rhapody, eMusic, and other popular online sources. Radio programmers can download the song via Airplay Direct.