DAUGHTERS
OF BLUEGRASSBack To The Well
Blue Circle Records
BY GRACIE MULDOON
With all the “grassy girls” of bluegrass lined up pickin’ and grinnin’ you know from the moment you see the cover that this is a special project. Singers, songwriters and pickers appearing on Back To The Well are Dixie Hall, Lorraine Jordan, Gena Britt, Julie Elkins, Dale Ann Bradley, Vicki Simmons, Mindy Rakestraw, Beth Lawrence, Michelle Nixon, Becky Bueller, Jeanette Williams, Frances Mooney, Angel Oudean, Valerie Smith, Louisa Branscomb, Megan McCormick, Heather Berry and Donica Christensen. The title track, Back To The Well, says it all for the women in bluegrass music. Written by Dixie and Lorraine, it hits the heart of every woman anywhere who ever picked up a guitar or banjo or opened her mouth and sang a beautiful mountain song from her heart. I choked up because of its powerful message and beautiful delivery. Wow! Homesick For The Hills, a Dixie and Tom T. Hall song, is beautifully written. Sung by Dale Ann, a Kentucky angelic songbird, it carries the message that anyone raised in the mountains, who’s lived there any amount of time, yearns for the time when. The CD doesn’t tell you who’s playing and singing on each song so you’ll have to guess - although most of the voices are identifiable. Each woman performs to the utmost of her capabilities, and believe me, that’s awesome. Each song is rendered tenderly, lovingly as only a woman could, but you can also feel the heat when the pickin’ picks up speed and sends a hot lick up your spine. The grassy girls do it all. I recommend this CD to anyone who makes room for the girls at the jam, who books our bluegrass women at the festivals, who buys their music and sings their songs. I’m so thrilled to see them getting the attention that they deserve. BMP