Arden, North Carolina (January 22, 2021) — For the next chapter in its groundbreaking set of collaborations under the Bluegrass At The Crossroadsbanner, Mountain Home Music Company is releasing a pair of singles that feature two different groups of musicians. One, a nod to legendary banjo player Earl Scruggs, comes from the same quintet that kicked off the series last year with “Start Walking Back,” while the other is a new gospel song co-written by the late Steve Gulley, recorded by a different, yet equally diverse group of musicians drawn again mostly from Mountain Home’s award-winning roster of artists.
“Ground Speed,” written by Scruggs and recorded in 1959, was chosen by Steve Martin Banjo Prize recipient and 4-time IBMA Banjo Player of the Year Kristin Scott Benson (The Grascals), who says that it “may be my favorite Scruggs tune. It has a great melody and two signature B parts, but it can also absorb a lot of other ideas.” Adds mandolin player Darren Nicholson (Balsam Range), “to record an old standard was a whole lot of fun. I love breathing new life into some of these old songs and putting our spin on it. Bluegrass is one of those really cool genres that is always moving forward but turns around and tips its hat back to the past — you’re paying homage to the old and forging something new at the same time. Earl Scruggs and his contemporaries were groundbreaking and putting their own stamp on the songs when they were originally recorded, and now I’m hearing these great musicians put their own stamp on it as well.”
In addition to Benson and Nicholson, the fiery instrumental features the Infamous Stringdusters’ Jeremy Garrett (fiddle); Sideline’s guitarist, Skip Cherryholmes; and Kevin Kehrberg, bassist for Organic Records’ Zoe & Cloyd.
Listen to “Ground Speed” HERE.
Paired with the durable classic is “Lift Your Voice, Bow Your Head,” written by series producer Jon Weisberger and the late Steve Gulley, whose untimely death in August, 2020 is still mourned by the bluegrass community. The track features Mountain Home’s Carley Arrowood (fiddle) singing lead, with support from Wayne Benson (Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out) on mandolin; the Infamous Stringdusters’ Travis Book (bass, vocals); Joe Cicero (Fireside Collective) on guitar; Mt. Airy gospel singer Wendy Hickman (vocals) and another Steve Martin Prize recipient and 5-time IBMA Banjo Player of the Year, Sammy Shelor of Lonesome River Band.
“‘Lift Your Voice, Bow Your Head’ is one of the most meaningful gospel songs I’ve ever had the pleasure of singing,” enthuses Arrowood. “And knowing Steve Gulleyhad a hand in writing it makes it that much more special. Whenever life is hard, you just take the time to talk to Jesus about it. It’s that simple. 2020 was a hard year, but God loves us and doesn’t want one word to go unsaid to Him. Thank you Jon and Steve, I love this song so much.”
Says Weisberger, “It’s always exciting to hear great musicians turn the bare bones of a song demo into a performance that can touch people’s hearts, but that’s especially true with this song, which I wrote a couple of years ago with the late Steve Gulley. The band’s playing has all the heart and all the finesse you’d expect from this lineup, and I love the way that Carley, Travis and Wendy — three singers from different corners of our roots music world — were able to blend so smoothly while letting the individual character of their voices shine through.”
Listen to “Lift Your Voice, Bow Your Head” HERE.
About Bluegrass at the Crossroads
A musical cauldron of distinctively American contributions largely rooted in the rural south, bluegrass has taken on a new identity in recent years, as new times and new musicians have naturally incorporated the sounds around them in every part of the country — and even the world. At the same time, an indispensable musical core has persevered, finding ever-changing ways to create performances that cause everyone familiar with the genre to say, “now, that’s bluegrass.”
Over the years, Mountain Home Music Company and its sibling imprint, Organic Records, have become home to a family of artists who are collectively creating music that forms part of that core, but also exemplifies the adventurous, wide-ranging side of the genre. Bluegrass at the Crossroads is a series of unique encounters between members of that family from every corner — geographical, generational, stylistic and more — of the music and the communities it has inspired, inviting them to collaborate not only through fresh takes on bluegrass classics, but especially with new songs that reflect and engage with the contemporary world.