March 28, 2025 — “The wait is over!” declares Caleb Smith of Balsam Range, as he enthuses over the group’s new single for Mountain Home Music Company.“From the first time I heard Daniel Salyer’s demo of ‘When It Comes To LovingYou,’ I knew it would make a great Balsam Range song — and I believe it has! It’s our first new single since the release of our last album, Kinetic Tone, in December, 2023, and I couldn’t be more excited for music fans to hear it!”
Indeed, the single is poised to make a splash among bluegrass fans, as the group’s revamped lineup both signals a strong through-line in their signature sound and introduces a new collaborator who will be joining them on personal appearances for the remainder of this year. “Tim [Surrett], Marc [Pruett], Alan [Bibey] and I are so excited to be joined by the great Don Rigsby on tenor vocal and fiddle,” Smith says. “There will be no mistaking when you hear his powerful voice!”
Sure enough, fans familiar with Rigsby’s work over the years — he’s enjoyed stints with many of the music’s iconic groups and artists, including a long stretch helming his own band — will find their ears perking up when he adds a keening harmony to Smith’s expressive lead vocal even before “When It Comes to Loving You” reaches its first memorable chorus:
When it comes to loving you, it’s like trying to whittle stone
Somewhere in your past somebody did you wrong
If you ever learn to love again I won’t know what to do
Working’s all I’ve ever done when it comes to loving you
Still, the song is a definite group effort that underlines how quickly Rigsby’s talents have been incorporated into the quintet, as Pruett, Bibey, Smith and he split smoothly energetic solos, while Surrett’s low harmony vocal glues together the harmonies that deliver its portrait of a mournful yet determined lover who “ain’t worked at nothing like when it comes to loving you.” Taken together, each aspect of the masterful performance serves notice that the new Balsam Range has picked up the musical thread without dropping a stitch.
“With a cool groove and lyrics that are so well put together, I truly hope you all enjoy it as much as we do creating it,” concludes Smith. “Thanks to Daniel Salyer and Jeff McClellan for a great song, and thanks to all the DJ’s and streaming platforms for spinning it!”
“When It Comes To Loving You“ is streaming in Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL. Listen to it HERE.
About Balsam Range
The 2018 International Bluegrass Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year, Balsam Range, has become one of the genre’s most award-winning acts. Since forming in 2007, the group has garnered 13 IBMA awards on the heels of 13 critically acclaimed albums. Balsam Range has left audiences spellbound while headlining major festivals from coast-to-coast, selling out venues across the nation and in multiple appearances at the Grand Ole Opry. The band collaborated with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra Ensemble to record 2 albums, the second of which, Mountain Overture, debuted on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart at #5 and the Classical Crossover Chart at #6. Their album Mountain Voodoo debuted at #4 on the Billboard Bluegrass Albums Chart and remained on that chart for 45 weeks. Three singles from that album reached #1 on the Bluegrass Today Chart, including “Blue Collar Dreams,” which spent three consecutive months at the top. The follow-up album, Aeonic debuted at #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart and spent 46 total weeks on the chart. The album featured hit songs like “The Girl Who Invented The Wheel,” “Get Me Gone” and “Angel Too Soon.”
The band then claimed the #1 radio chart spots with their singles, “Richest Man,” “Grit and Grace,” “Rivers, Rains and Runaway Trains,” “Santa Barbara” and “Highway Side” all from their latest album (#13 for the band,) 2021’s Moxie and Mettle. In 2023 a new album, Kinetic Tone, featured the number #1 tune “That’s What The Years Do”, the second single, “Snake Charmer” topped at #3, and the third release single “We’ll All Drink Money” hit the #2 spot.