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Hurricane - CD Review
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Review By Roger Randolph
I first heard of Stacy Grubb several years ago, not long after...Review By Roger Randolph
I first heard of Stacy Grubb several years ago, not long after I started internet broadcasting. She had been singing in her fathers band "Alan Johnston & South 52" where she honed her talents as a vocalist and songwriter. She's a beautiful young songbird who's ready to fly as high as the skies will allow. Her first CD project... "Hurricane", will prove that she has both the wings and the strength to get her soaring.
When reading the liner notes one can't escape the impressive cast of musicians that helped bring Stacy's songs come alive.... with names like Rob Ikes, Ron Block, and Aubrey Haynie a person would think this CD was going to be a bluegrass project, far from it though. Bluegrass is there, along with the sounds of country, mountain, folk, ect. No set genre for this gal and as far as I'm concerned she should not be confined to one. Just GREAT music on each track.
The title cut for the CD is "Hurricane", and upbeat tune written by Stacy's father Alan "Cathead" Johnston and is also on Alan's CD "Sweet Appalachia". (For those who remember the early years of Mel Street you might remember Alan, he also backed up Crystal Gail, John Anderson, and Stella Parton to name just a few so he's no stranger to the musical business.)
Stacy grabs your attention right away with a strong commanding vocal presence that keeps you glued til the end, a great choice for an opening song but the best is yet to come... Heck with Stacy's singing you don't even realize who's singing harmony on Hurricane... It's none other than Jamie Daley and Darrin Vincent!
I had started this review out to be simple, but it grew to a song by song 'book' that I just had to condense into this..
The songs Stacy wrote and selected for the cd are stories of mountain life, love and sorrow, each distinct and powerful. If you close your eyes you can imagine yourself as being part of each song. They come alive and draw you into them. When the songs end you're wishing they would continue.
Some of my personal favorites include "Baby Dear", "Let It Go", "West Virginia Wildflower", and "I Wonder Where You Are"... all written by Stacy. In fact, of the 12 songs recorded on "Hurricane", Stacy wrote 9 of them.
Stacy Grubb can mesmerize you with with her soulful tenor voice as well as with her genuine smile. She is as real as they come, and growing up in southern WV you can bet she can take care of herself too. I honestly feel that we'll be hearing more from Stacy in the years to come.
Bear in mind that this album is not a "Bluegrass" cd, you will hear drums, strings and even an occasional electric guitar. All done tastefully so that even some of the traditional bluegrass/country lovers will find it appealing.
If you're a "Music from the Heart" lover, you won't want to pass this album up. It's available directly from Stacy's website at www.stacygrubb.com
~Roger Randolph - May 2009
Host of “The Bluegrass Express”
The Bluegrass Mix
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Introducing Stacy Grubb: Songs from a West Virginia wildflower
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Picture this:
You stop for gas during a long drive along a two-lane country highway, it doesn’t r...Picture this:
You stop for gas during a long drive along a two-lane country highway, it doesn’t really matter which. It could be SR-69 in north Texas– maybe highway 89 near Fairview, UT, or somewhere in Appalachia. Somewhere you’ve never been before, or haven’t been to in a really long time.
As you fill up, you look out at the wide open scene. A bluegrass song is playing over the station’s speaker system. You don’t consider yourself a huge bluegrass aficionado, per se, but you appreciate good music from any genre. You can’t believe how the song seems to match the setting perfectly. And while it has a definite “old-timey” sound, you detect a distinctly fresh tone. The words sung by the emotive soprano weave a story that– even though your brain is fried from watching yellow lines for hours– hijacks your attention. By the time your tank is full, you find yourself rummaging through your glove box looking for something to write with.
“If I can jot down a few lyrics,” you think, “I can Google them in quotes later and figure out who this is.”
Let me spare you the research– you’re listening to Stacy Grubb.
Since this site isn’t solely dedicated to music, and I’m sure the five of you who read this blog no doubt have varying musical tastes, this won’t be so much a review as an introduction.
Those of you who know me know that I’m a fairly picky music listener. I don’t take to artists easily. But when I do, I’m all in. Just ask my wife, who I’ve forced to endure hundreds of hours of Jack Johnson (who she doesn’t particularly care for), and U2 (who she hates with a passion). Fortunately, she and I are in agreement on country artists like Alison Krauss and Sara Evans.
Interestingly, Stacy Grubb’s soprano blends the former’s angelic clarity with the latter’s enveloping richness. Speaking strictly about vocal dynamic, that’s a decent comparison.
But don’t get me wrong– Miss Grubb’s sound is all her own. I first heard Stacy a few years ago on a karaoke contest website. Not sure how I got there, what the place was called, or even which song she was singing. The website was clunky, and the video submission was homemade and grainy.
But the voice and vibe were unforgettable.
I figured it would be only a matter of time before she recorded an album, and I knew that when she did it would be a good one. Which is why I was delighted when she released her debut record, Hurricane, last month.
If Stacy’s voice alone isn’t enough to hook you (it is), her knack for songwriting will be. She penned 9 of the 12 songs on Hurricane, and her lyrics aren’t trite or formulaic or focus group tested with the singular goal of pop radio airplay.
I write newspaper columns and blog posts, not songs. But I’m not unfamiliar with the sometimes grueling, always rewarding process of translating feelings and concepts into words. So I can appreciate– at least to some degree– the mental effort involved in writing lyrics. When I listen to an album, I pay as much attention to the lyrics as I do the music. Tracks like ‘Time Hasn’t Changed Anything’ and ‘I Wonder Where You Are’ are proof enough that even though she’s new to the recording industry, her writing skills are well refined.
This might have something to do with the fact that The West Virgina native is the product of a generations-long bluegrass heritage. It’s in her blood. She grew up singing with her father and has spent the better part of the last decade performing with his bluegrass band. She’s been writing poems and songs as far back as she can remember.
“God gives everybody a special talent and there’s really not a day that passes that I don’t thank Him for making mine music,” Stacy told me in an email. “I never want it to let me go. Nearly everything is a song to me.”
Even when she’s writing about fictional people, Stacy says she feels like their story deserves to be told. And she tells it well. Take the track, ‘Violet Steele,’ for instance. Fro
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Artist of the Month Interview
http://stacygrubb.com/AOM_interview.html for full text
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Stacy Grubb: A new artiste headed for stardom
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HURRICANE by Stacy Grubb
CD and download (Amazon, iTunes, eMusic, Napster)
Stacy Grubb is poised...HURRICANE by Stacy Grubb
CD and download (Amazon, iTunes, eMusic, Napster)
Stacy Grubb is poised to make a massive impact on the folk/country music scene. Behind her pert image and vivacious personality lurks a deep Christian thinker, a gifted song-writer, and an outstanding singer who is already able to command studio support from ace musicians and backing vocalists. The end result is a perfectly balanced album: thoroughly informed by bluegrass without being a slave to it. By turns haunting and exuberant, it is sonically beautiful from start to finish. Thoroughly recommended, and I can't wait to hear the results of her current work-in-progress.
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Homegrown Harmony
http://stacygrubb.com/wvsoutharticle.html for article
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Hurricane Review
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West Virginia's Stacy Grubb is a relative 'unknown' name and voice in the bluegrass music world...bu...West Virginia's Stacy Grubb is a relative 'unknown' name and voice in the bluegrass music world...but that is about to
change in a hurry with the release of this debut album, which not only features her soft, mellow vocal styling (which
has an angelic Alison Krauss feel to it), but also showcases Grubb's interesting songwriting talents (she wrote 9 of
the album's 12 selections). Hurricane, produced by Ronnie Cochran, also sports the Who's Who of Nashville studio
bluegrass session players which ultimately adds yet another glossy dimension to this album.
There are many superb moments to be found on the album, from the opening track, energetic title tune (which
features harmony vocals by award-winning bluegrass duo [Jamie] Dailey & [Darrin] Vincent), to more mellow and
vocally haunting efforts in Time Hasn't Changed Anything and Runaway Train.
Stacy Grubb also shows she can get a bit edgy with her songwriting, injecting some of the dark side of life in her
story song Violet Steele. Here's a sampling:-
Don't turn your back on a yellow-haired girl
With satin flowers sewn into her dress
For a dime she'll mend that hole in your heart
For your wallet she'll shoot you dead!!
Stacy Grubb's songwriting will likely be a door-opener for her in the bluegrass community, but her passion-filled
vocals could be the ticket that will soon make her a name to be reckoned with in country and bluegrass.
supersonic
