Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising

BMP: Tell us a little about your current group, list the members and mention any new or upcoming news.

Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising is currently enjoying their 5th year together with a full summer of appearances including the three biggest parties in the state of Oregon – the Portland Rose Festival, the Oregon State Fair and four days with 55,000 or our closest friends at the internationally famous Pendleton Roundup.

Comprised of bass player and band leader Kathy Boyd, mandolin/fiddle/guitar player Tim Crosby, banjo/Dobra player Tom Tower and guitar/harmonica player Dennis Nelson (who is the current Roots Music Association Bluegrass Songwriter of the Year), the band focuses on two things – crafting songs that will appeal to a large cross-section of humanity and providing a highly entertaining stage show that will keep audiences coming back for more.

Our goal for 2011 is to expand our performance area and bring our stage show to folks who up to this point have only had the opportunity to hear our music on the radio.

Information about the band can be found at http://www.phoenixrisingband.org



BMP: What would you like readers to know about your latest CD?

Our third CD – Walk Humbly – was released on March 17th of this year (and is on the list of recordings eligible for an IBMA award in 2010!). The twelve songs on it were all written by various band members. What makes it an interesting recording is that each band member comes from a very different spiritual background. For instance, Tim’s songs tend to be bible based stories where-as Dennis tends to write more about life experience.

Having a gospel CD has opened us up to being invited to perform gospel shows and concerts along our travels, and that is proving to not only be a lot of fun, but is introducing us to a whole other listening audience – who may have never experienced bluegrass before.

We are extremely appreciative of the disc jockeys and radio stations who choose to share our music with their listening audience!

The CD is available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kbpr3
You can find all three CD’s at http://www.cdbaby.com/artist/kathyboydphoenixrising



BMP: What other music have you been listening to lately?

A friend sent me a copy what may be the only CD Horace Scruggs ever appeared on. I’ve been having fun with that and also with singing along to a CD given to me at a recent concert by a local Americana band called Hudson Ridge. Because I’ve been doing a round of internet radio interviews lately I’ve had the opportunity to listen in on a variety of shows – which of course host quite a wide variety of bluegrass music. It’s always fun to see what’s out there and what it catching people’s attention.



BMP: What would you do if you weren’t a musician?

We come from a variety of backgrounds including hospice, sales, mechanics, counseling and flying. I have always held the belief that a being a musician is not something you do – but rather something that you are. If you are a musician, the music is going to find a way to be expressed through you, whether onstage as a performer, singing in your church choir, or even by simply being the best shower singer you can be. If it’s feeds your soul, you are a musician – no matter what your “day job” is.





BMP: What’s your favorite summer activity?

I am a huge gardening fanatic! Whenever I’m home I’m out in the yard. I recently built a greenhouse, which is proving to be a lot of fun and very satisfying. I’ve got “the gardening bug” so bad that I have been known to weed the flowerbeds of folks who have put us up as we travel.

- Bluegrass Music Profiles

In a cozy home at the end of a quiet Tualatin cul-de-sac, a bold experiment in old-time music is unfolding. A four-piece bluegrass band has made its home in a recording studio in a hidden, soundproof room tucked into a nondescript garage.

However, the state-of-the-art cloaking isn't what is so remarkable in this musical experiment. It's the band itself -- Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising -- which actually was organized around a business plan. In just one year, the quartet already has attracted sponsorships, played some big festivals and established a following.

Having a business plan runs directly against the time-honored flow in the arts, particularly music. Most bands are formed when like-minded musicians pledge allegiance over a lot of beer or coffee. Phoenix Rising, on the other hand, was conceived through Boyd's singular vision. "My vision was to put together some great musicians and run the band as a business," says Boyd, the acknowledged leader. "Everyone has a specific function, and we all share a vision of taking our music as far as we can."

It doesn't hurt that all the members are, well, mature. They're no strangers to gray hair -- if they have hair at all. They've all played in bands of note, and they all have rather impressive day jobs. Guitarist Tom O'Connor produces a newsletter for RVers. Tom Tower, who plays banjo and Dobro, is a mental health counselor. Tim Crosby, who brings the voices of fiddle and mandolin to the band, sells musical instruments. And Boyd, who plays string bass, is a hospice worker, Alzheimer's lecturer and treasurer of the Oregon Bluegrass Association.

Boyd recruited the members after deciding to assemble the band. They all had to audition. "Along the way, everyone found out that we all actually like each other, which is a very nice side benefit," Boyd says.
Of course, the band's real driver is the music, the members' common vocabulary. Through its pedigree, bluegrass taps America's musical roots, reaching back to Celtic folk tunes brought by early European immigrants. Except, in this country, the ancient bagpipe's drone was translated into strings. And the instruments themselves reflect the whole range of countries the immigrants came from.

So, let these tunes steep in the joys and agonies of the American experience for a couple of centuries. Add some gospel harmonies and a touch of blues, step up the tempos and you have a uniquely American sound.

"Part of what speaks to me is the core content of the songs really talks about the eternal truths in life," says Tower. "There's a reason this music has persisted, with a loyal following." Crosby says he is descended from 1,000 years of Irish fiddle players and poets. He says the music helps him span his family's five-generation migration across North America, with stops in Tennessee, the Ozarks and Colorado.

"I even play fiddle with my great-grandfather's bow," he says.

For such a new band, Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising already has cut a swath. The band has played Portland's River City Bluegrass Festival, one of the largest on the West Coast.

Meanwhile, the band is sponsored by Black Diamond Strings and is booked for a series of performances in Oregon and Washington through the year. A CD is in the works, and the band just videotaped a set for
broadcast on Tualatin Valley Community Television.

"More importantly," Boyd says, "we're having fun."

Who knows? With the band's rapid success, this business plan stuff just might catch on.

Rick Bella: 503-294-5114
rickbella@news.oregonian.com
15495 S.W. Sequoia Parkway, Suite 190
Portland, OR 97224
- The Oregonian - 4/24/06

“It’s dark as a dungeon way down in the mines,” two men sing, in a sad, wavering harmony. One is playing a fiddle and the other a guitar. They’re standing in a circle of men and women who are strumming and picking along on banjos, Dobros and mandolins. When the song reaches the next chorus, a woman joins in singing as she thrums a standup bass that is a good foot taller than she is.

It’s a moment of poignant communion in the incongruously vast and sterile lobby of the Oregon Convention Center.

It’s Friday afternoon, the first day of the RiverCity Bluegrass Festival, and the huge hall will soon be overrun with fans of local bluegrass, and of headliners Emmylou Harris and Asleep at the Wheel.
What sets these fans apart from those at other music festivals is how many bring their own instruments along with them.
I’m watching the first permutation of what will be an endless grouping and regrouping of sessions during the course of the festival. Kathy Boyd, leader of the band Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising, is in charge of the official jams, but others will spring up wherever there’s room, she says.
Later at night, they’ll head over to the Red Lion across the street, where jam circles will fill the bar, overflowing into adjoining conference rooms and blocking traffic in the hallways.
“Jams are a great place to expand yourself,” Boyd says. “It’s a great way to meet people and to learn how to get better on your instrument.”
She points to two men with fiddles who are facing each other in the center of the circle, heads bowed forward, watching each other intently as they play. “The challenge for them is to do something fun like that – not do the same thing the other person’s doing, and not clash either,” she explains, adding that the two fiddlers met for the first time only minutes ago.
Beginners learn at the fringe. . .
Bluegrass draws on a wealth of traditional songs, hymns and well-known standards. Its name comes from Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys, the band that forged the style from earlier American folk music.
The bluegrass instruments of choice are guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, bass and Dobro. Portable and non-electric, they lend themselves to impromptu performance.
“Anybody can come, anybody can play,” Boyd says of a bluegrass jam.
But there are unspoken rules. Participants stand or sit in a circle, and take turns calling out songs and taking the lead. Those who are less confident remain on the outskirts, strumming more quietly and following along.
“Usually what happens in a jam is a group will start – four or five of us – and people will ebb and flow, they come in and leave, they swap instruments,” Boyd says.
As I watch, 9-year-old Dustin Hohl approaches the lively circle of 11 or so adults. He stands at the outer edge of the group, listening and plucking cautiously at a mandolin.
His dad, Jason Hohl, stands farther back, watching. The two of them discovered bluegrass together about a year ago, the elder Hohl says. Dustin wanted to learn fiddle – he’s been taking piano lessons for a whole year in preparation, and he’ll have a fiddle in his hands any day now.
It takes all kinds. . .
Mason Smith also is a relative newcomer; he took his first music lesson two years ago, at the age of 53.
It was gospel music that drew him in. He was starting out on the mandolin, he says, when his music teacher pointed out to him that he could sing. Now he’s a member of the Oregon Bluegrass Association, and is busy promoting an upcoming bluegrass gospel night (7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, info at www.oregonbluegrass.org).
He stands out from the crowd in a natty western ensemble. “Some day I want to entertain,” he says, “and if you want to entertain, you gotta look good.”
In his dark western-cut jacket and vintage tie, he forms quite a contrast to the baseball cap, shaggy beard and brightly tie-dyed T-shirt of Tom Tower, a lifelong banjo player.
As a member of Phoenix Rising, Tower is here to jump-start the weekend’s jams, and also to offer a seminar on overcoming stage fright. He’s a professional counselor and a banjo teacher, and the two callings came together when he realized that for some, anxiety is a real barrier to the joy of playing music.
Jams pose no pressure. . .
For the shy, the setup of a bluegrass jam offers a way to sneak up on performance. You can hover on the outskirts, insert yourself by degrees. And of course, everyone else is playing, too.
It’s a supportive environment, yet one that encourages modesty – at the end of a song, no one claps.
Jamming is such an important aspect of a bluegrass festival that some people never even make it to the official performances. They’re too busy out in the lobby (or down the hallway, or over at the campground) teaching each other how to play “Dark as a Dungeon.”


annemariedistefano@portlandtribune.com

- Portland Tribune 1/11/07

AGNEW - Bluegrass will flourish tonight on O'Brien Road as Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising, a four-piece band from the Portland area, present a free concert at 7 p.m. at the KOA Kampground, just south of US Highway 101 about seven miles east of Port Angeles.

The band, on its way to headline the Sooke River Bluegrass Festival on Vancouver Island this weekend, opted to stop on the North Olympic Peninsula for a no-cost, hour-long, outdoor presentation of acoustic music and stories.

"Be sure to bring lawn chairs," advised Boyd, who added that her band will perform music from its new CD, "Burning Down the House" that's "very family friendly."

"We had a choice of coming up through Seattle or through Port Angeles, and we all just love the area you live in so much that we decided to come up that way, spend the night, and give a little something to the town," Boyd said.

Boyd and Phoenix Rising will travel around Oregon and Washington this summer; concert dates can be found at www.phoenixrisingband.org.
- Peninsula Daily News ~ Thursday, June 14, 2007

Air Check by Larry Robinson

Kathy Boyd

Kathy Boyd is a high-energy bluegrass dynamo, well known in the Northwestern United States and Canada. Her popularity will no doubt increase as she spins her web throughout the bluegrass community. Kathy is the co-host of Uptown Bluegrass, a syndicated show carried by a number of stations in Canada and the United States in a one or two-hour format. The show has been broadcast for the pat 25 years.
Kathy shares hosting duties with George McKnight. McKnight has been with the show since its inception, while Kathy has been on-board for the past five years.
You can see a listing of the stations carrying the show, or listen to 24/7 streaming audio at www.uptownbluegrass.com. A new show is uploaded every Thursday.
Uptown Bluegrass operates with a playlist that nixes traditional and contemporary bluegrass styles. The show originates in Canada, so it has plenty of Canadian content mixed with musical input from the rest of the bluegrass world. Each show is built around a different theme, and the content may lean more towards an old-timey sound on some broadcasts.
Syndication makes it difficult to get a handle on the show's demographics, but the website receives visits from over a thousand listeners a week. Gotta love the Internet!
Another of the many facets of Boyd's musical life is her band, Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising. Kathy plays bass for this four-piece bluegrass/Americana ensemble (visit their website at www.phoenixrisingband.org). Kathy and her husband own a recording studio that specializes in acoustic recording and sound for small festivals; check it out at www.groundzerosound.com.
Kathy also works as a public speaker for the Alzheimer's Association, and as an Admissions Coordinator for Odyssey Hospice. Artists and listeners may contact her at kathyboyd@phoenixrisingband.org.
- Bluegrass Now Magazine

An award-winning Keizer songwriter will help kick-start the new Keizer Rotary Amphitheatre.

The May 30 event features Joe Stoddard along with Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising and the Keizer Community Band.

A member of Phoenix Rising is Dennis Nelson, a 49-year-old winner of the 2008 Roots Music Association award for Bluegrass Songwriter of the Year.

Nelson described Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Risings shows as "high energy".

"We really drive the rhythms and get out there." he said. "They'll get a lot of bang for their buck."

The band has been together for about five years, and Nelson joined about three years ago.
He plays guitar and sings tenor in the band.

He started singing early in life. Growing up in Hudson, Wisconsin, he played in some garage bands and got into bluegrass in high school.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" featured countless bluegrass stars at the time, including Roy Acuff, Maybelle Carter and Earl Scruggs just to name a few. It was this album, along with the general country-rock trend of the 1970s, that really got Nelson interested in the musical form.

Winning the national award was "pretty phenomenal," he said. "Just to be nominated blew me away," he said. "but when I won – I'm still not quite over the shock for that one."

The band has played shows from California to British Columbia, and is receiving airplay in the southeastern United States, in Europe and in Australia.

"Europe's kind of more open to that," said Nelson. "A lot of radio stations over there are all variety, all the time, where they just play eclectic stuff."

As for hearing his own songs on the radio?

"It perks your ears up," he said. "Just on the first few notes … you kinda turn the volume up and say, ‘That's our song. That's pretty neat.'"

Nelson said he was excited to be opening the amphitheatre.
"I'll get a big kick out of that," he said.

By JASON COX
Of the Keizertimes - The Keizer Times

Clatskanie, Deschutes, Tualatin, Tygh Valley. Unless you’re familiar with the Pacific Northwest you might not recognize these names, but they are part of the bluegrass geography of Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising, a Portland, Oregon, based band whose album of original and traditional songs you now have the privilege of listening to.

The band’s name comes from the legendary bird that rises from the ashes. This new formation is a testament to the rejuvenating quality of music to bring people together in new ways and with a renewed vitality. All the musicians here have played in many bands and traveled many roads, and they seem to have found a new spark in this latest formation.

To paraphrase the great Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill—all bluegrass is local. That is, it takes its strength from the songs of real people who live in real places. These musicians and songwriters understand the source of that strength and have combined nine original songs with four others to create an album that I guarantee will make you a lifelong fan of their music.

In any successful band there is someone with vision and drive, and here that’s Kathy Boyd. She is sometimes described as a ten-gallon soul in a two-pint body. Her energy comes through in her stage presence (she’s also a popular emcee and dj with Uptown Bluegrass), her singing, and her bass playing. She gives this recording the necessary oomph that only a solid bass player can give. Kathy is also involved in working with the elderly and she’s selected a great song to sing by Mark Brinkman about Alzheimer’s.

Contributing four of the songs and playing banjo and dobro is Tom Tower, who knows how to write a new bluegrass song based on the traditional songbook, and who also has a great feel for fills and rolls. Fine mandolinist Tim Crosby also wrote four of the songs, including “Stolen Kisses” that I wish the Louvin Brothers could have recorded back in the 50s. And if Dennis Nelson wasn’t so young, I’d suspect him of being an offspring of Hank Williams. Listen to his lonesome lead vocal on the self-penned “Mourning Dove.” Dennis has an old-time country tone that I could listen to all night in some honky-tonk on the Columbia River. I’m told Dennis is an airplane pilot and mechanic. All I know is he sings higher than a cat’s back.

After listening to the album, I felt like I was friends with these people, and I look forward to getting to know them even more. I’m sure you’ll feel the same. There’s something so immediate and heartfelt about these songs. There’s no pretense here. Just four good musicians who enjoy what they’re doing. And they know what they’re doing too.

So, I’ll quit my yappin’ so you can enjoy the music. As Tom Tower so perfectly says—“Life is just too short to have it any other way.”
- Chris Stuart (www.chrisstuart.com)

Your name:
Kathy Boyd.

The name of your band/act etc:
Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising

Where are you from?
Tualatin / Oregon / USA.

Your sound can be described as?
Hard driving original bluegrass/Americana.

Fill us in on the history - where did your band/act start, what changes and developments have happened along the way and where are you now?
The band formed a little over two years ago when Kathy Boyd decided it was time to take things to the next level and form a band with a vision to go international and a business plan to make that happen. Dennis Nelson replaced the original guitarist in September of 2006, bringing the final piece to the puzzle that makes up the unique sound of Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising. All members are songwriters (the band performs approx 97% original material). Mandolin/fiddle player Tim Crosby and banjo/Dobro player Tom Tower have performed together for over 30 years!

In early 2007 the band released it’s first CD Burning Down the House to rave reviews and airplay all over the world (including Mike Kear’s radio show in Australia!). The song Rhubarb Pie even spent some time on the “Rhapsody’s Most Listened to Music” list. The CD is available at www.cdbaby.com/cd/kb
In 2007 Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising truly went international by headlining the Sooke River Bluegrass Festival in Sooke, British Columbia (Canada). The year has seen the band traveling throughout the West Coast and British Columbia, bringing their original material and high-energy stage show to audiences at festivals, school assemblies and private concerts.

The band is currently in the studio working on new material and looking towards a more extensive touring season in 2008. They are working with festivals throughout the United States and Canada towards 2008 bookings, and are always open for further travels!
"Our goal is to take the music to wherever people want to hear us."

What’s your earliest memory of developing a passion for music?
(This is Kathy speaking) I grew up in a fairly musical household. We all – there were five of us – played band instruments and my sister and I both played piano. I was the church organist by the time I was in third grade (for a whopping $5 per Sunday, I was rich!). My earliest memory of developing a passion for entertaining was probably in 7th grade when I was chosen to sing an Olivia Newton John song for a school program. I also have spent time in musical theatre and am a public speaker for the Alzheimer’s Association and Odyssey hospice. Although I believe that music is what you are, not what you do, it is really the entertainment aspect of performing that holds my passion.

Your influences (musical, political etc) and why?
Musically, my greatest influences would be the pop of the 70’s and today’s current country music. The writings and compositions of my fellow band mates. The band tries hard to work on a sound that is original and doesn’t sound like anyone else, but you can definitely tell that Jerry Garcia, Ola Belle Reed and others have snuck into our sub-conscience!

What’s your Mum or Dad’s favourite record/song and why do you love/hate it?
My Mom: Rodger Whittaker. I found an old cassette of Rodger a few years ago and played it until it broke. His rich voice and storytelling ability should be national treasures!

Most memorable gig you’ve played and why?
Oh, that’s a tough one. The one that comes to mind is a series of school assemblies we recently did in Goldendale, Washington. The middle-schoolers treated us like rock stars and wouldn’t let us leave!

What’s the naughtiest thing you and/or the band have gotten up to on tour?
I wouldn’t say that we’re “naughty”, but things have gotten rather silly after too many days together!

Do you drink? And if so what’s your favourite rock ‘n’ roll recipe? If you don’t drink would you care to elaborate as to why?
Three of the four of us do drink occasionally. We played a gig for an Irish family about a year ago and they gave us this HUGE bottle of Maker’s Mark. We carry it around and it’s the official “band drink” for after gigs. While in Canada recently they introduced us to Fireball. Now THAT’S a drink!

What was the first record that you ever owned and tell us the story of how it came into your possession and why you loved it?
Anne Murray’s Snowbird was my first 45. I don’t remember how I came to own it, but I played it until it drove my Mom crazy! What did I like about it? It was mine, I love the low tones of Anne Murray’s singing, and it was a catchy little tune.

What’s the best thing about the music scene you are involved in and why?
The people. Plain and simple. I love the interaction and response from the crowd. I enjoy meeting new people and hearing their stories.

What’s the worst thing about the music scene you are involved in and why?
The budgets of the folks hiring performers. They have not at all kept up with the cost of living. In our particular genre of music there are also a lot of bands who are happy to “pay to play”, which makes it even more difficult for professionals to make a living.

How did you get involved in the music scene you find yourself in now?
Years ago I led a girls choir and one of the Moms that helped out was a fiddle player. I started taking fiddle lessons from her and one day she asked if I would like to join a band. Bam! There I was, smack dab in bluegrass land!

Any parting words?
I am blessed to be in a band of true gentlemen who are incredibly talented. Our families support our goals and ambitions and we are having fun. My personal goal is to bring these gentlemen the recognition they so richly deserve for their talents. The fans, promoters, radio stations, webzines, print publications, etc. who have given us their attention are so appreciated. The teamwork, the shared vision and the deep friendships of Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising are invaluable. The fact that we all found each other and LIKE each other is a gift, and we all plan on riding this ride just as far as it goes!

August 2007 ~ Article by Sarah Dalgleish
- PBS Australia 106.7 FM

The best breaks and the sweetest vocals in the world would be without value if they
weren’t put in the context of a really good song. And Oregon, a state that attracts and
nurtures creativity in many arts, is blessed with great songwriters.

Tim Crosby has been playing mandolin and singing for Portland audiences for more than
30 years. Now performing with the band Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising, Tim's music is
reaching a much broader audience.

You’ll enjoy reading his answers to our questions. His prose is as engaging as his
poetry.

How long have you been writing music?
When I was thirteen, my best friend got a banjo, and I got a guitar for Christmas. We
knew that someday we could be the next Flatt & Scruggs. That was when I started
writing songs and poetry, just chock-full of nerdy teen-aged-boy pretensions of literary
whoop-de-do. Forty-some years later, I still look through my old notebooks from time to
time, so that the embarrassment will remind me of where I really stand.

Why do you write?
There have been a few times that I said to myself, “Well then, I need a new song, so I’ll
just sit down and write one.” Fortunately for all of us, none of those have seen the light
of day. The real reason I write is to keep my head from exploding, there’s a bunch of
stuff in there that has to get out.

What’s your writing process?
I’ve often said that I don’t write songs: they write themselves on me - usually in the
middle of the night.

I’m a third-generation insomniac, so I keep a notebook and a little flashlight beside the
bed. It’s much more convenient if I don’t have to pad around on the cold floor in my bare
feet searching for a piece of paper when a song gets a hold of me.

Sometimes a song will emerge all firm and fully formed, easy as pie. More often, it’s like
being wrestled to the ground by some burly angel. Sometimes it’s in a different language
altogether. Ah, the subconscious mind is a strange country, no? There is, of course, the
heavy lifting: editing and reworking and finding the right melody and chord progression
and so forth.

Besides a cheap spiral notebook and my guitar, my most important tool is a digital
multi-track recorder that I use to really get a sense of how the song works.

Please say a few words about songs of yours that have been nominated for
national awards.
Along with my pal Dennis Nelson, I was nominated by the Roots Music Association for
2008 Bluegrass Songwriter of the Year. I’m not entirely sure which song it was for. My
guess is it was for either “Western Girl”, a true story about how my grandmother met
my grandfather, or for “Risky Business,” the only bluegrass song I know of that mentions
giant Meteorites (along with other life-threatening hazards we all face every day).
Bluegrass disc jockeys were the nominators, and those two songs have been getting
quite a bit of airplay.

What are your favorite songs you’ve written and why?
Perhaps my favorite is a western swing song called “Another Lonesome Cowboy Song.”
I wrote it in the back yard while visiting my parents’ house out in the desert in Western
Colorado.

Although I am a naturalized Oregonian, I still feel twangs of nostalgia for the bitter alkali
wind and the sandburs in my socks of childhood days growing up in a corner of the
American Southwest. The song describes the beauty of and longing for a place now far
away. It’s a true story, as are all my songs (although some have more truthiness than
others).

Who are your favorite songwriters?
Like many of us, my list of favorite songwriters is long, but it includes (in no particular
order) Gillian Welch, Bob Nolan, James Taylor, Greg Brown and Kristen Grainger.



~ Article by Claire Levine, OBA Staff writer
- Oregon Bluegrass Express January 2009