Tommy Webb Archives - Bluegrass Today

Two new singles from Tommy Webb

Tommy Webb – photo © B Chord Photography

615 Hideaway Records has two new singles this month for Kentucky grasser Tommy Webb. One is a Webb original, and the other a gospel favorite.

Daddy Was The Backbone is one Tommy wrote about growing up country poor in eastern Kentucky. It shares several of his memories of childhood, and reflects on how hard his mom and dad worked to provide for their family.

With Webb on guitar and lead vocal, additional support comes from Ron Stewart on mandolin and fiddle, who also produced the track with Buddy Young, and Harold Nixon on bass.

Have a listen…

Also now available from Webb is a new cut of Honey In The Rock, one that should be familiar to most folks who follow gospel music. It was recorded with the same personnel, with Tommy also adding his clawhammer banjo.

Ron Stewart, who produced both tracks, shared what makes Webb’s music so memorable.

“Tommy Webb is one of those rare ‘Down to Earth, No Sugar Coating’ talents that comes along once in a grand while that grabs you and makes you listen.”

Check it out…

Both Daddy Was The Backbone and Honey In The Rock from Tommy Webb are available now from popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.

Teardrop Inn – from church to dive bar to Gospel Hangout

Back in 2009 there was a bluegrass song released by Tommy Webb called Teardrop Inn, which became quite popular, especially in Kentucky and West Virginia. It’s a modern day bluegrass murder ballad, about a cheating husband, Bobby, who was caught by his wife at the aforementioned establishment with a certain Tina, and fell prey to his wife’s mariticidal intent.

The song is based on a true story about a legendary dive bar and exotic dance club, located in Kermit, WV, which has quite a story of its own. Initially a Church of God meeting place, it became Sweetie’s Teardrop Inn after the church moved on, and developed quite a reputation for seedy entertainment and low down drinking.

Sweetie was well known to the locals, and ran the club until it was closed a few years ago.

But those who remember it as a church can now rejoice in news that the building has been reopened as The Gospel Hangout, run by John Messer as a gospel music hall and learning center. They hold concerts on Saturday evenings, and offer gospel music instruction for youngsters as well. Messer also plans to build a recording studio on site at some point.

Bluegrass fans who have never found themselves in Kermit still know the name of the Teardrop Inn, and we reached out to Tommy Webb about the song’s enduring appeal.

“I wasn’t at the Teardrop Inn back in its hey day, but we have heard so many stories of that bar. Everyone who knew Bobby and Tina have their own version of what happened. It’s a true story as far as I know, and it’s just a once in a lifetime song that everyone could relate to, young and old. I felt so blessed to be able to record it at the time.

Songwriter Mike Wells had sent me a demo, and Teardrop Inn was the first song. I fell in love with it the first time I heard it, and called him and said I was definitely going to record it. It’s still our most requested song to date, and I love to watch the reactions of people when we are on stage and they are singing along . They are so serious looking, it’s just amazing to watch, and I will never get tired of it. I just feel so blessed to be able to record a song that touched so many people.

I would like to thank my producer, Ron Stewart, and my banjo player/tenor singer, Chris Goble, for without them, Teardrop Inn would not have come out the way it did.”

Sounds like a happy ending for the former Teardrop Inn, though less so for Bobby and Tina.

Amber – new single from the Tommy Webb Band

615 Hideaway Records has a new single from Kentucky’s Tommy Webb Band, the first from their upcoming album with the label, Catching Up.

Webb has been singing and playing bluegrass for many years, and has developed a loyal following for his unique songwriting skills, his authentic bluegrass voice, and his entertaining stage show. Since finishing school, he has worked with a number of groups, including The Pine Top Ramblers, South Creek, Onlyne, and Clyde Bowling and the Southern Bluegrass Boys before launching his own band in 2005. A number of his songs have gained attention in recent year, like If It Weren’t For Bluegrass Music (I’d Go Crazy) and Bluegrass Boys.

Though most of his recordings have featured song he has written, this latest, Amber, comes from Josh Atkins. Webb takes it as a smooth, mid-tempo grasser as the song tells of a man who has longed for the titular subject for some time.

Tommy sings and plays guitar with support from co-producer Ron Stewart on banjo, mandolin, and fiddle, and Harold Nixon on bass. Chris Goble provides harmony vocals.

Have a listen…

Radio programmers will find Amber from the Tommy Webb Band at AirPlay Direct. Look for the full Catching Up project later this summer.

615 Hideaway also has a newly redesigned web site, making it much easier to navigate and find live performance videos from your favorite bluegrass artists. You’ll find new videos from The Edgar Loudermilk Band, Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, The Crowe Brothers, Seth Mulder & Midnight Run, Amanda Cook, and Volume Five.

Bluegrass Boys – Tommy Webb

Eastern Kentucky’s Tommy Webb has long been a favorite of bluegrass fans throughout that region, with several hits over the years grabbing the attention of the national bluegrass audience. Songs like If It Weren’t for Bluegrass Music (I’d Go Crazy) and Teardrop Inn have garnered Webb quite a bit of radio play. His latest album for Kindred Records, Bluegrass Boys, has a number of songs with the potential to do the same.

The title track tells of the favorite pastime of a group of guys who like to get together and pick whenever the opportunity arises: “We like to howl at the moon on a Saturday night at the bluegrass opry barn, singing them songs by Bill Monroe, Stanleys, and the King of them all…” They’re not touring the country, but it doesn’t matter as long as they’re having fun. The song has a nice groove and Webb seems like he’s having a good time singing. Rocks and Roses has a similar musical vibe, sharing the cute story of two neighbors who went from throwing rocks at each other as children to falling in love as teenagers, set to a snazzy mandolin melody.

Doing Her Wrong is a fine, fiddle-guided country cheating number. Webb’s smooth lead vocals have a bit of hesitancy in them that fits the song’s lyrics well, as the singer questions crossing the line and hurting a woman who has stood by him through thick and thin. She’s Between the Two of Us Again is a different take on heartbreak, sharing the pain of a father who worries about hurting his daughter as he and the child’s mother fail to make it work. It’s another nicely-performed song, again relying on fiddle to bring a tear to the listener’s eye.

Mary Jane is a catchy, grassy number about a man pining for a woman who’s never even noticed him. The lyrics are more sweet than yearning: “She didn’t even notice me, but why should I complain? I couldn’t find the nerve to speak in front of Mary Jane.” A more earnest take on love can be found in I Depend on You. The singer honors a wife who never lets him down and takes care of both him and the children without batting an eye, singing “We’ve got dreams and they’re gonna come true, until then I depend on you.” The straightforward music and singing match the lyrics’ tone well.

It wouldn’t be a traditional-leaning bluegrass album without a Gospel song or two, and Webb doesn’t disappoint. He tackles Honey in the Rock with ease, throwing in a bit of clawhammer banjo for good measure and creating a nice uptempo rhythm. If We Believe is one of the album’s best tracks, a fine showcase of both the musical and vocal sides, with Webb pouring plenty of conviction into his singing.

Bluegrass Boys was produced by Ron Stewart, and there are plenty of his bluegrass sensibilities here – well-played music in the modern traditional style (with Stewart playing several instruments on a number of the songs), a bit of country flair, and a crisp rhythm section. However, the album puts Webb front and center, and he proves up to the challenge. His vocals are distinctive and as such, his songs should stand out from much of the other modern traditional fare on today’s radio. He wrote or co-wrote the majority of the songs here, and they’re fresh and well-written. Long-time fans and new listeners alike shouldn’t be disappointed.

Bluegrass Boys from Tommy Webb

Kindred Records has released a debut single from their next album by Kentuckian Tommy Webb.

The song is called Bluegrass Boys, and it’s bluesy, medium tempo number with a wicked groove about a group of good ol’ boys who like to get together to pick and sing bluegrass. Webb gives it a sincere reading with strong support from Ron Stewart who produced the recording and played the accompaniment.

Stewart speaks quite highly of his recent charge.

“Tommy is one of those rare ‘Down to Earth, No Sugar Coating’ talents that comes along one in a great while, that grabs you and makes you listen.”

Fans may recall a song that did well for Tommy a few years ago, called If It Weren’t For Bluegrass Music (I’d Go Crazy), also on Kindred Records.

The single is available now to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.

Look for the new Tommy Webb album to drop sometime in May.

Kenny O’Quinn to Half Past Lonesome

Kenny O’Quinn has been announced as the new mandolin player with Jeff Clair & Half Past Lonesome, where he will also assist on harmony vocals.

Prior to signing on with Jeff, Kenny had worked with The Tommy Webb Band, Don Rigsby & Midnight Call, and more recently with Dave Adkins and Republik Steel. His first show with the band will be this Saturday in Lexington, KY.

Clair says that…

“Were all glad to have Kenny as the newest member of the band. I look forward to all the contributions Kenny is going to bring to the band with his playing and singing as well as his creative contributions.”

According to O’Quinn, he was just recently brought in through a friend.

“As of a few days ago The Lord put an old friend back in my life, Mitch Bentley, who is currently playing bass with Half Past Lonesome. Bentley asked if I would be interested in picking some with the group and I jumped at the opportunity.

Mitch and I played together in the Tommy Webb Band and I can’t wait to get that chemistry flowing again. As a sideman in bluegrass, you never know where you are going to wind up. I am looking forward to this new adventure and I can’t wait to get back on the stage and do what I love doing.”

You can keep up with Jeff and the band online.

From Rock N’ Roll to Bill Monroe

Tommy Webb is a fine bluegrass singer and songwriter from Bill Monroe’s native state of Kentucky who has a special Monroe tribute song to honor Big Mon’s 100th birthday this year.

Webb has gained some notoriety for his clever original songs and adaptations in the “songs about bluegrass” sub-category. His first was a reworking of Clinton Gregory’s If It Weren’t For Country Music (I’d Go Crazy), where he substituted the word bluegrass for country, and all the references to country artists into ones about grassers.

His new song, From Rock-n-Roll to Bill Monroe, tells a story that may be familiar to a good many readers, that of playing rock music as a youngster, only to graduate eventually to picking and singing grass. Here’s a sample of the track, which will be included on Webb’s next CD in September, and which features Boxcars’ superpickers Ron Stewart on banjo and fiddle, Adam Steffey on mandolin and Harold Nixon on bass.

From Rock-n-Roll to Bill Monroe: [http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegrasscast/webb_rock.mp3]

The song is available as a single to radio programmers through New Cuts of Bluegrass and Airplay Direct.

You can find more details about Tommy and his tour schedule online.

Tommy Webb – Heartland

Tommy Webb, a recent recruit to the Rural Rhythm Records‘ roster, will have his first release, called Heartland (RHY-1043), on that label on April 21, 2009.

The album, produced by Ron Stewart, includes 12 songs, several of which were written by Webb. Among those are two songs, re-mixed and re-mastered, from Webb’s previous two albums: the hit If It Weren’t For Bluegrass Music (I’d Go Crazy), which reached No.4 on the Bluegrass Unlimited Top 30 Singles Chart, and A Hard Row to Hoe.

Rural Rhythm has just released two tracks from the album on the Rural Rhythm Fresh Cuts & Key Tracks No.4 radio compilation CD, namely Teardrop Inn and Heartland.

Teardrop Inn, written by Mike Wells, is an emotionally-packed love story tragically gone wrong, while Heartland was written by Tommy Webb and Sam Passamano, Jr.

DJ Gracie Muldoon, of WorldWideBluegrass.com says of the title song:

"Heartland reaches the heart and soul of the everyday working man and woman and their plight enduring through these hard times, just trying to survive. Thanks Tommy for hittin’ the nail on the head with this tune at this most difficult time in our beloved America, and the rest of the World.”

Webb, from Langley, Floyd County, Kentucky, near to the well-known highway Route 23, in a region from where so many award-winning bluegrass music artists have originated, has a deep voice like no one else in the genre. He writes passionately about life in the heartland, a life that he experiences personally.

With Tommy Webb (lead vocals, guitar, clawhammer banjo) on Heartland are Chris Goble (banjo, harmony vocals), Kenny O’Quinn (mandolin, harmony vocals), Danny Stiltner (bass, harmony vocals), Ron Stewart (fiddle, mandolin, resonator guitar, bass, harmony vocals) and Sherri Stewart (harmony vocals).

Two new CDs: Tim Carter and Tommy Webb

We received two fine CDs recently, from artists whose music may not be familiar to a wide listening audience. Both projects have their roots in the rich, fertile “bluegrass crescent” that encircles eastern Kentucky and Tennessee along with western Virginia and North Carolina.

Tim Carter, along with his brother Danny, has been performing as The Carter Brothers since 2001. These Carters claim a distant relation to the legendary Carter Family, and bring their traditional music roots to their more eclectic, blues/rock/bluegrass show. Brother Tim now has his own solo releases, and he steps forward as the bluegrass part of the band’s equation. Ten songs, all but on written or co-written by Carter, feature Tim as a fine instrumentalist and a vocalist as well. Guests include Tim Stafford, both on guitar and as co-writer on several tracks, plus Rob Ickes on dobro, Casey Driessen on fiddle and Alison Brown on second banjo on a tune she and Tim wrote together.

Tim’s compositions for banjo tend towards the progressive realm, but his songs have a very traditional feel to them. The mix provides the artistic tension for Bang Bang, and makes for a very enjoyable listen.

Audio samples can be found on Tim’s MySpace page, and ordering is enabled on The Carter Brothers site and on CD Baby.

Tommy Webb’s new CD is entitled Eastern Kentucky, and he has called on some of the heavy hitters from that region of the country to assist him. Banjo legend JD Crowe supplies some words of praise on the back cover, and while his touring band of Chris Goble (banjo), Tadd Huff (bass) and Kenny O’Quinn (mandolin) supports him on a few cuts, the bulk of the recording features one of my very favorite bluegrass bands – Ron Stewart and Harold Nixon.

Ron supplies banjo, mandolin and fiddle on most of the tracks, and adds his guitar and resonator guitar to a few others. His New South bandmate Nixon provides bass on these same tracks, and the effect is quite powerful. I’ve suggested here in the past that Stewart is the most accomplished bluegrass musician of his generation, and those abilities are clearly on display here. He also produced and recorded this project, which has his sparkle all over it.

But Ron’s wizardry is not the main focus here, it’s Webb’s hardcore bluegrass singing and songwriting. A highlight is his grassified reworking of Clinton Gregory’s country hit, (If It Weren’t For Country Music) I’d Go Crazy, which reemerges as If It Weren’t For Bluegrass Music I’d Go Crazy. If you are familiar with the original, the clever retooling of the lyrics will be especially enjoyable.

Audio for Eastern Kentucky is also available on both MySpace and CD Baby.