Dana Romanello

Local musician Dana Romanello has mixed traditional music with the classics in her career and the combination seems to be working. She interned for MCA and Mercury Records and now is working in promotion for Kix Brooks' American Country Countdown. But it was her grandfather who discovered the Lucasville, Ohio, native as singer. "My grandpa was a musician and my dad, aunt and uncle had formed a bluegrass band in the 1970s called the Poverty String Band," she said. "When I was around 3, they were all having a big jam session at Shawnee Lodge in West Portsmouth. They started playing Bill Monroe's 'Blue Moon of Kentucky' and I recognized it from hearing it so much around the house, and I stopped to sing along. My grandpa heard me and made me sing it again by myself!"

She sang with the family band and did local talent shows as well as took lessons at Tammy Jo's Studio in Greenup [KY]. "My first performance in Ashland was dancing in the food court of the Ashland Town Center with my class from Tammy Jo's," she said. Since then, she's been at songwriter's events at the Paramount, performed at events hosted by Stephen Salyers and has been involved in WTCR events as well as having been a board operator at WTCR. She also coordinated promotion and publicity for Ricky Skaggs' Skaggs Family Records in 2006, has appeared in music videos with Toby Keith, Joe Nichols and Julie Roberts and have performed on stage with Trace Adkins during the CMT Awards and with Phil Vassar and Travis Tritt.

Romanello also found time for some formal training. She was a music education major at Marshall University for two years, where she studied voice under Linda Dobbs. "She really helped expand my range and vocal breathing," Romanello said. "I had to learn songs in Italian, French and German. Keep in mind I was used to singing 'How Mountain Girls Can Love,' not arias!" She eventually graduated with a bachelor of arts in communications and a minor in music and moved to Nashville to get her music career under way. She performs frequently at writer's nights in Nashville and sometimes gets shows with a full band; she is currently performing with Louise Mandrell's show at Opryland and will continue that through Christmas Day. She said her father accompanies her on mandolin in the band.

She calls her music a blend of bluegrass and country and that the process of blending the two begins with songwriting. "Some ideas require a bluegrass sound and some require a country feel," she said. "Sometimes I will take what I feel like are contemporary country lyrics and put them with a grassy melody. It really just depends on the song."

She counts among her influences Ricky Skaggs, Emmylou Harris, The Judds, The Dixie Chicks, Dolly Parton and New Grass Revival and the Mandrells. Romanello's current self-titled CD, her first, has all original music - she wrote or co-wrote all 10 tracks. One dollar from every album sale benefits the Steven A. Hunter Hope Fund. Hunter, a family friend of Romanello's, died Jan. 18,2006, from a congenital heart defect; "I wrote the song 'See You Later' for the Hunter family," she said, a song she performed to close her set during a benefit in memory of Hunter on Sept. 18, 2007, which featured Ricky Skaggs.

The album is available on her Web site, www.danaromanello.com and will be available on iTunes in January. - The Independent

DANA ROMANELLO
Dana, a fourth generation musician whose pure bluegrass roots shine in her sound, was inspired by a quote from Opry legend Minnie Pearl - "Take the back roads instead of the highways." This former Scioto County fair queen from Lucasville, Ohio is a graduate of Marshall University and a former Tennessee Titans cheerleader who recently spent the holidays performing alongside Louise Mandrell. Dana's self-titled album which features a "sassy-grass" musical blend, benefits the Stephen Hunter Hope Fund. - Country Weekly

Dana Romanello returns to town to open for Julianne Hough
File photo/The Herald-Dispatch


DAVE LAVENDER

The Herald-Dispatch

When Dana Romanello was three years old her grandfather, Don, sat her up on stage and had her belt out Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky."

No offense to the Father of Bluegrass, but these days Romanello is trying to sing some grass-stained country songs all her own, making a name for herself in Nashville.

The twentysomething singer/songwriter, who is perhaps best known in Huntington for her stint from 2000 to 2004 as a Marshall University cheerleader, is sharing some of her songs in concert Tuesday night.

Romanello and new Nashville duo the Carter Twins are opening up for Academy of Country Music's Best New Artist Julianne Hough, at a 7 p.m. Tuesday concert at Veterans Memorial Field House, 2590 5th Ave., Huntington.

Tickets are $18 and $28.

Romanello, who graduated with a degree in communications and a minor in music, will also perform at 2 p.m. Monday, May 25, as part of the Memorial Day celebration in Ashland's Central Park.

She will also play with Hough on June 1 on the campus of Marietta College.

A native of Lucasville, Ohio, Romanello has been singing with her dad Joe's bluegrass band, the Poverty String, since she was nine.

Her dad plays mandolin for her band, which also includes Lennie Centers, lead guitar; Roy Centers, banjo/dobro; Fred Spencer, bass; and Stephanie Taylor, fiddle.

Set to have a song download, "I Ain't Me," in Country Weekly Magazine and set to do three shows during the CMA Music Fest (Fan Fair), Romanello, who will again spend the holidays performing with Louise Mandrell's Opryland Hotel show, is working hard to get some buzz going on her bluegrass-built country.

Not unlike one of her main musical influences such as fellow area native Ricky Skaggs, who Romanello worked for in Nashville as a publicist at Skaggs Family Records, Romanello is all about staying true to her grass roots and letting country radio come to her.

"I think it is hard to bridge that gap," Romanello said of the divide between contemporary bluegrass (which is flush in Nashville) and the handful of artists who are played on mainstream country radio. "I think a lot of times down there the label executives are smelling perfume all over, and it all starts to smell the same. You pick up a Chanel bottle, and you know it is going to smell good. I compare that to a lot of artists there. If it's a Carrie Underwood record, they are automatically going to play it, and every other artist tries to follow Carrie Underwood. It is hard for people to take notice of stuff outside the box."

Described recently in Music City as a Lee Ann Womack meets the Dixie Chicks, Romanello has released a 10-song CD with four songs she wrote completely herself and six songs she co-wrote.

Romanello, who will perform solo on guitar opening for Hough, said it's just natural to steep her songs in a newgrass/bluegrass style.

"That's where my roots are, and I don't want to change," Romanello said. "I am not going to forget my bluegrass style and influence for anyone. When I am 80 years old, I will still be playing bluegrass festivals."

While Romanello has been working hard on her own music, she has also been wrapped up daily in the music industry.

Romanello, who worked at WTCR-FM while in Huntington, interned at Mercury and MCA Records, then moved to Skaggs Family Records for about a year before American Country Countdown gave her a job.

The affiliate manager for ACC (hosted by Kix Brooks) and the radio version of GAC Nights, Romanello's job is to be the person responsible for the relationships between programming and radio stations around the country.

Interestingly, just recently, the show has gotten Romanello to do some Q&A work as well.

She just interviewed red-hot and rising country star Jason Aldean and will soon be interviewing banjoist and American comedy legend Steve Martin.

Romanello, who also cheered for the NFL's Tennessee Titans for a couple seasons before concentrating solely on music, said it's been a lot of fun diving in and learning the business from many angles.

"I knew that I wanted to move to Tennessee and to get involved in this scene because this is where my roots are and the kind of music I grew up with," Romanello said. "I wanted to be involved with it in anyway that I could. Moving here as a female with no family, I couldn't be naive. It has been nice to be able to educate myself and absorb as much of the business as possible and to be educated about opportunities that could come up in my future."

Though she knows lots of people in the business, she said it doesn't feel right to use her day-to-day connections to further her career as an artist.

In fact, Kix Brooks doesn't even know she is a writer or singer.

"Being aggressive like that is a good thing, but it is not for me," Romanello said. "Personality-wise I'm not pushy. - The Herald Dispatch