Album Notes

"A one-of-a-kind compilation of 20 of today's great artists from the Blue Ridge Mountains, most of them not widely known outside the region, yet! Their songs span multiple genres (predominately acoustical) including: bluegrass, country, Americana, blues, folk, old-time, rock-a-billy, honky-tonk, and Irish! While the collection includes a few wonderful traditional songs, this is not your typical Appalachian roots collection. Many of the great original songs go beyond traditional, but are still grounded in the styles of the mountains in which they were born!"

See Liner Notes below by LARRY GROCE, Host/Artistic Director, MOUNTAIN STAGE Radio and Television:

"At the end of every Mountain Stage show I urge listeners to go out and hear some live music wherever they live. It may be in a grand theater or on a back porch. The music in this collection will more likely be found at the latter. You might also hear it in a coffeehouse, a smoky bar, at a local fair or festival, during a family reunion or around a campfire.
It's the kind of music that seems to grow out of the ground in rural America, especially in the South - folk, bluegrass, blues and their offspring. You'll find a few familiar songs here and a lot of original ones, but they all have a homemade comfort to them. They tell stories of real people's lives, celebrating the high points, lamenting the mistakes. Some are performed by family bands, a Blue Ridge Mountain tradition long before the Carters and Stanleys became world famous.
I don't know these musicians. None have been on Mountain Stage and I don't know if they often play outside of their home territory or aspire to. But when I hear the sweet young voice of Heather Berry sing the old bluegrass standard "Worried Man Blues", the soulful, Stanley style harmony of The Bluegrass Brothers' "Tragic Love Song", or the haunting Matt Ramsey original, "The Smell of Redemption", I don't care about any of that. The music is all that matters."