The First Time I Heard About Heaven from The Cox Family

The Cox Family is back! … in a manner of speaking. Maybe we should say, a Cox Family is back.

It’s no longer Willard Cox with his son and three daughters, but a revamped lineup consisting of Willard’s son, Sidney, noted singer, songwriter, banjo player, and guitarist, and his three daughters. The eldest, Anna, had been a part of The Cox Family with dad and her aunts back in 2016, playing bass. Now her younger sisters – Sara on guitar and Lydia on mandolin – have joined the group.

So it’s still The Cox Family, with the same sweet, understated, sibling harmony (plus dad), and they do a beautiful job on the existing Cox Family catalog, as well as their own new music.

The original family band started recording in the 1980s, an acoustic, bluegrass and gospel act from Louisiana. They were popular in the deep south but blew up nationally when Alison Krauss did a record with them in ’94, I Know Who Holds Tomorrow, which won a Grammy the following year. They were also included in the soundtrack for the O Brother, Where Art Thou film, singing I Am Weary Let Me Rest in 2000. Various family commitments slowed them down after a couple more successful projects, though they did release another in 2015, Gone Like The Cotton.

But now Sidney, Anna, Sara, and Lydia are recording, and fans of the original group may be shocked by how similarly they sound to the band from the ’80s and ’90s. For a first single they have chosen Dottie Rambo’s The First Time I Heard About Heaven, a lovely song where Anna sings lead with gorgeous harmony from the rest of the clan.

Have a listen…