Rebel Records has announced the signing of The Price Sisters to the label. This pair of Ohio youngsters, twins Lauren and Leanna Price, have already at 21 years of age become established and experienced performers on the festival circuit.
Both are students at the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music at Morehead State University, studying for degrees in traditional music. The girls have released one previous recording, but it was Rebel’s Dave Freeman hearing their authentic representations of Bill Monroe songs in the din at the 2014 IBMA World of Bluegrass convention that brought them to his attention.
“There was a lot going on in the exhibition hall at the time, but I was drawn to the sounds of someone picking the fire out of Get Up John. Around a couple of turns I was thrilled and amazed to hear Leanna and Lauren Price playing and singing a bunch of Bill Monroe classics (as well as their own compositions)—and not just Uncle Pen and Blue Moon of Kentucky, but the hard stuff like I Believed in You Darling, Blue Night and Sitting Alone in the Moonlight. My initial feeling was that these girls were something special and deserved to be heard more. They come with high praise from some of the top musicians in bluegrass, and they are a great fit for our label.
To find young musicians today who can not only play and sing beautifully, as Leanna and Lauren do, but also really appreciate the music they are playing, bodes very well for the future of the music that means so much to so many of us!”
Leanna does most of the singing for the group, and plays fiddle, with Lauren taking mandolin and harmony vocals. Lauren has also been recognized for her skillful Monroe style mandolin, which she has studied for years under the tutelage of Scott Napier.
Their first Rebel project will be an EP, with 7 tracks produced by Bil VornDick. Assisting the Prices in the studio were Mike Bub on bass, Charlie Cushman on banjo, Dustin Benson and Ronnie McCoury on guitar, and Alan Bartram on harmony vocals.
The as yet untitled Price Sisters project is expected to be released later this summer.
Here’s video of them at the Pennyroyal Opera House in Fairview, OH last year doing What Does the Deep Sea Say.