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Rhonda Vincent & The Rage at the 2024 IBMA Bluegrass Live! – photo © Frank Baker
Here’s some more of the images Frank Baker shared from the 2024 IBMA Bluegrass Live! festival at the Red Hat Amphitheater in downtown Raleigh, NC.
Moree to come.
From her formative years in Greentop, MO to becoming a member of WSM’s Grand Ole Opry in 2021, Rhonda Vincent’s career has taken her down many roads. Her latest release, Destinations and Fun Places, is a concept album which takes the listener on a journey to various cities, states, and other locations throughout the album’s thirteen tracks.
The opening track, Please Mr. Please, first became a hit for Olivia Newton John in 1975. Rhonda gives this classic a formidable bluegrass treatment with solid backing from members of her band, The Rage. Along with Vincent on mandolin, the group also consists of Mickey Harris on bass, Aaron McDaris on banjo, Zack Arnold on guitar, Adam Haynes on fiddle, and Jacob Metz on resophonic guitar.
Take Me Home Country Roads is the first of several collaborative tracks on this project. Written and first recorded by John Denver in 1971, this chestnut has been cut by countless artists in the decades since. Vincent is supported on her rendition by country legend Dolly Parton, as well as modern country vocalist, Cody Johnson, making for a very pleasant performance.
Wagon Wheel created something of a controversy for Vincent when it was first released as a single in July of this year, primarily due to its length, but also because it’s a song that’s been over done within the acoustic music canon. Featuring Alison Krauss on harmony vocals, her version goes at somewhat of a gentle, staid pace for the first half of the seven minute track, but towards the end, shifts into an instrumental jam that is a true tour de force, which forms the strongest point of this track by far.
In Between Town by Bob and Virginia Minner is a song that captures the charm of living a simple life in a small town. An excellent story, which Rhonda tells excellently well.
Another interesting track is Rhonda’s take on the Jimmy Buffett classic, Margaritaville. Featuring vocal assistance from Trisha Yearwood and Jeannie Seely, this is an odd choice for inclusion on a bluegrass record, but a fun performance nonetheless.
Speaking of Jeannie Seely, I Miss Missouri was cowritten by her, Vincent, and Erin Enderlin. It’s a vivid, autobiographical piece for Rhonda, and perfectly captures her fondness for her home state.
Nine To Five, which served as the title song for the film of the same name, is another track that is executed surprisingly well in the bluegrass format. The vocal blend between Rhonda and Sonya Issacs Yeary is the highlight of this entire performance.
Another song that’s been recorded by scores artists over the years is City Of New Orleans by Steve Goodman. Rhonda delivers an exceptional take that once again shows her ability to make a well loved song her very own.
Destinations and Fun Places is an enjoyable effort. While many of these tracks have been previously covered, in some cases more times than necessary, Rhonda Vincent has reminded us why we fell in love with these songs in the first place. All thirteen tracks fit the concept of this project effectively. It’s an album that definitely lives up to its name.
We caught up with Rhonda Vincent this week to learn a bit more about her latest album, Destinations and Fun Places, which is available today (August 9), and one of the tracks from the project, a grassed-up version of Dolly Parton’s big 1980 hit, 9 to 5.
Nine To Five, of course, was also a very popular movie released that year, starring Dolly, along with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. A bit of a comic farce, with Dabney Coleman as the ladies’ overbearing office boss, its theme song, written and sung by Parton, became a major crossover hit, going to #1 on multiple charts and winning two Grammy Awards in 1981.
We asked Rhonda how she came to pick this one to record, and it turns out it is quite a story.
“We were at the Grand Ole Opry for Dolly’s birthday in 2023, and they asked everyone to sing Dolly Parton songs. I immediately said I wanted to sing Jolene, but they told me, ‘No, you wont. Someone else is doing Jolene. You’ll need to find another song.’
So, I looked through Dolly’s songs, trying to find one that I knew well. I ended up doing 9 to 5, and the response was overwhelming. I called Dolly’s office and asked if it had ever been done in a bluegrass style, and they said, ‘We don’t think it has.’
We were excited to include it on this project, knowing that it has the destination of going to work, fitting the destinations theme. People were requesting it, so we knew we needed to include it. Every time we play it, people are singing along. They know this song, they love this song, and I am thrilled that we got to do the first bluegrass version.”
Though this new album finds Vincent singing 13 familiar songs, she doesn’t look at it as a covers project.
“My Grand Ole Opry sister Jeannie Seely started writing I Miss Missouri for me several years ago. She lost everything, including the lyrics she had written, in the Nashville flood of 2010. Fast forward to February 28, 2020, the night she made my greatest dream come true by inviting me to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry. We have since become close friends, and after the Opry invitation, she said the lyrics started coming back to her. She invited Erin Enderlin and me to join her in writing the song. I Miss Missouri was the inspiration for creating a ‘destinations’ project, with all the songs representing a destination.”
And she says that the reaction to these many well-loved songs has been raucous on stage when they play them live.
We have been performing many songs from the album already and have been for the last year or so. We started performing 9 to 5 in 2023, pretty much as soon as we recorded it. If it’s something we love, like Please Mr. Please, we immediately start performing it, especially to gauge the response and see how people react to it.
Please Mr. Please has probably gotten the greatest response because of how unique it is in an up-tempo style. We’ve been singing The City of New Orleans, Please Mr. Please, 9 to 5, Take Me Home, Country Roads, Old Brown County Barn, and will soon be performing all of them on stage.”
So let’s have a listen to how Rhonda Vincent & The Rage interpret 9 to 5 in a bluegrass style.
9 to 5, and the full Destinations and Fun Places album, are available now from popular download and streaming services online.
Rhonda Vincent, the reigning Queen of Bluegrass, is continuing her trend of releasing grassed up covers in 2024 with her latest single, her version of the Bob Dylan/Old Crow/Darius Rucker hit, Wagon Wheel. It will be included on her next album, Destinations and Fun Places, set for an August 9 release.
Vincent says that as a treat for bluegrass lovers, she has included a very special guest on the track.
“I am so excited to create a new version of Wagon Wheel, that has so many different elements from mid-tempo to breakdown speeds featuring my band, The Rage, an acapella section, and Alison Krauss singing harmony throughout, makes it an epic event.”
They take the song at a relaxed speed, and turn in an extended cut running to over seven minutes, with a driving grass vibe mid way through. For fans of Wagon Wheel, they give you a lot to love!
Along with Rhonda and Alison, this track features The Rage, Vincent’s touring band, with Aaron McDaris on banjo, Zack Arnold on guitar, Mickey Harris on bass, Jacob Metz on reso-guitar, and Adam Haynes on fiddle They recorded the song three years ago, and have released it now during the 20th anniversary year of the recording by Old Crow Medicine Show.
Have a listen…
Wagon Wheel from Rhonda Vincent is available now from popular download and streaming services online. Pre-orders for Destinations and Fun Places are likewise enabled.
Rhonda Vincent at the McDowell County Roundup (8/12/22) – photo by Laura Tate Photography
When the Queen of Bluegrass, Rhonda Vincent, releases new music, people in our industry sit up and take notice.
And so they will today, as Rhonda has released a music video in support of her latest single, a remake of Please Mr. Please, which was a hit for Olivia Newton John back in 1975. It’s a classic heartbreak song written by Bruce Welch and John Rostill with the protagonist asking patrons in a bar not to play a certain song on the jukebox because of how it relates to her recent breakup.
Vincent says that the idea to grass this one up just popped into her head one day while making preparations for their next album.
“I was working on the song, Four Strong Winds (our new project theme is ‘Destinations’), and as I turned from working on that song, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I started singing Please Mr. Please. There was something similar in the songs. My heart started to race and I instantly thought, ‘This will be a great bluegrass song!’ I couldn’t wait to tell the guys in The Rage. When I mentioned it, none of them had heard the song before. This made it even better.
I found so many people have never heard of the song. It’s like having my own original bluegrass song. We rehearsed it at sound check, and then started performing it on our shows. You could instantly tell this song was special. People react to the song, many singing along, and best of all, people are asking for the song, saying they have to hear it again. I love that! So here it is. Ready for radio!
I asked the videographer to capture the pure essence of bluegrass: the family atmosphere, kids playing bluegrass, adults playing bluegrass, banjos ringing throughout, dancing, fun; these elements all wrapped into one video.
Our video of Please Mr. Please is what he captured. I hope it makes you smile!”
Filmed at SPBGMA back in January, the video features Rhonda and The Rage – Mickey Harris on bass, Aaron McDaris on banjo, Zack Arnold on guitar, Adam Haynes on fiddle, and Jacob Metz on reso-guitar – along with a whole slew of bluegrass stars and festival attendees singing along. It truly is great fun.
Please Mr. Please from Rhonda Vincent & The Rage is available now from popular download services online.
Fresh off her recent signing with ATS Records, Olivia Jo has a brand new single, her version of Harley Allen’s High Sierras, sung with Rhonda Vincent.
The young southwest Virginia native grew up on bluegrass music, thanks to her dad’s love of the music. By the time she was 12 years old, Olivia Jo already had a pair of bluegrass albums to her credit. Now after an unsatisfying attempt at the country scene in Nashville, she is back to her first love.
She has turned in an impressive cut on this gorgeous song, first recorded in 1995 by Linda Ronstadt on her Feels Like Home album, with harmony vocals from Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. It became a huge song for her, and few of her fans ever knew it was written by a bluegrass artist, and son of the great Red Allen.
High Sierras has also become something of a touchstone for female vocalists, with only the best willing to take a stab at this classic. Olive Jo, of course, passes with flying colors.
It tells a forlorn story of a love that wasn’t to be, told by someone who had the highest hopes, only to see them dashed.
Olivia Jo says that she feels honored to have had such stellar artists with her on this one.
“It’s a dream come true for me to have Rhonda singing harmony with me on this new single! I have enjoyed her music since I was a little girl. Of course I greatly admire her talent, and as a young woman navigating the music business, she inspires me to go the extra to achieve my goals and dreams.
My producer and I took a few creative liberties to put a new spin on this already incredible song to make it my own, and I think we accomplished that. Everyone involved did a superb job and I’m very pleased with the way everything turned out in the end.”
Assisting in the studio were Anthony Howell on guitar, Tim Crouch on fiddles, mandolin, and bass, with Randy Kohrs on reso-guitar. The haunting harmony vocals were provided by Josh Shilling as well as Rhonda Vincent.
Have a listen…
High Sierras by Olivia Jo is available now from popular download and streaming services online. Radio programmers will find the track at AirPlay Direct.
Newly-converted grasser Billy Gilman, who saw tremendous success as a country artist as a youngster, has a new single today with Pinecastle Records, a song he wrote about the icons of our music called That’s Bluegrass To Me.
And to sing it with him, Billy has brought in the reigning Queen of Bluegrass, Rhonda Vincent, who trades verses with Gilman and adds harmony on the choruses.
The song was written by Gilman with Dan Murph and Philip Douglas, and Billy says that they set out to create a paean to the rich legacy of our music.
“I wanted to write a song that is a tribute to bluegrass music and our heritage as a genre, and one that also showcases how widespread and diverse the bluegrass audience is these days – from New York to California to North Carolina and everywhere in between. And I thought that a bluegrass anthem would be even more complete if it had the Queen of Bluegrass singing on it, so I played it for Rhonda Vincent and she really liked the song and blessed me by agreeing to record it with me. What an honor that is!”
Not only does Rhonda contribute to this new track, she brought along the Rage as well. Vincent plays mandolin, Aaron McDaris is on banjo, Zack Arnold on guitar, Mickey Harris on bass, and Adam Haynes on fiddle. Brent Burke also adds reso-guitar.
Have a listen…
That’s Bluegrass To Me is available now from popular download and streaming sites online. Radio programmers will find the track at AirPlay Direct.
The song will also be included on Billy Gilman’s upcoming full-length Pinecastle project, expected later this year.
Rhonda Vincent, the Queen herself, starts a run of Christmas shows this weekend, featuring music from her two Christmas albums, plus a number of holiday favorites done up bluegrass style. Her Christmas dates have been a popular special occasion for many of her devoted followers, who look forward to them at the end of each year.
Booked for this month are stops in:
Also to be included in these special concerts is Rhonda’s 2023 Christmas single, her arrangement of the ever popular, Mary Did You Know.
Time and ticket details for all of the 2023 Christmas shows with Rhonda Vincent & The Rage can be found on her web site.
Mary Did You Know is available now from popular download and streaming services online.
You can check out all the Christmas bluegrass we have covered at Bluegrass Today by following this link.
The #1 song this week on our Bluegrass Today Weekly Airplay chart is Rhonda Vincent’s crisp and satisfying bluegrass cover of the enduring classic, City of New Orleans. One of the most popular train songs or the past two generations, it was written and first recorded by Steve Goodman in 1971, and became an international hit for Arlo Guthrie a year later. The song has been translated and recut in Dutch and German, and reappeared atop the charts in 1984 when it was memorably recorded by Willie Nelson.
The train which gives the song its title is a line that still runs today, leaving from Chicago and then following the Mississippi River down to New Orleans. Goodman’s lyrics take a wistful look at rail travel, recognizing that once this train was the primary means of traversing the mid-section of this country, though it has since become an afterthought for many people.
Rhonda and the Rage give the song a complete bluegrass makeover, presented here in a clever music video that places the band within a model train city, while Vincent stands above looking down. With Rhonda on mandolin and lead vocal, we also have Zack Arnold on guitar, Aaron McDaris on banjo, Jeff Partin on reso-guitar, Adam Haynes on fiddle, and Mickey Harris on bass.
Check it out…
City of New Orleans from Rhonda Vincent & The Rage is available now as a single from popular download and streaming services online.
Rhonda Vincent has announced that Adam Haynes has joined her touring band, The Rage, on fiddle. He steps into this role several months after Hunter Berry left the group late last year.
Until making this switch, Adam had been a member of The Grascals this past ten years and prior to that, fiddler with Alan Bibey & Grasstowne.
Over the past couple of months Rhonda has had a rotating cast of guest fiddlers, some simply filling in, and other hoping to be considered for the job.
Vincent says with this announcement, that she is ready too get back to her predictable road show.
“We haven’t rushed into anyone specific till now, and we’re so excited to welcome Adam Haynes into our Rage Family. We’ve enjoyed working with a variety of players, each who brought a new element to the band, and we thank each one of the musicians who have joined us in our quest to find the perfect fit.
Now we’re ready for the consistency that a new member brings. We will soon release new music that will include all the members of The Rage, including the amazing talents of fiddler extraordinaire, Adam Haynes, 20 year member Mickey Harris on bass, 13 year member Aaron McDaris on banjo, 3 year member Jeff Partin on dobro, and 2 year member Zack Arnold on guitar.”
That will certainly be something to look forward to.
UPDATE 2/22…. Rhonda shared this video of Adam with the band earlier this month.
