After dropping two singles from their latest project, the Tennessee Bluegrass Band has just released a brand new album, Nolichucky. It is their first full album with their newest band configuration which combines founding members, Lincoln Hensley and Tim Laughlin on banjo and mandolin, and veteran fiddler, Michael Feagan, with newcomers, Jacob and Josiah Sheffield on guitar and bass. The young brothers from eastern North Carolina, ages 18 and 20, demonstrate that they have a lot to offer, vocally and instrumentally, on this first project.
The album features 12 tracks, and comprises a nice mixture of vocal and instrumental, secular and gospel, traditional and original numbers. Recorded at Eastwood Studios in Cana, VA, it is a self-published recording by Hensley and Laughlin on their own label, FlagPond Records. (Hensley hails from Flag Pond, TN.) Many bands who try to record and produce their own albums often fall short of the mark. That is not the case in this case. It is a high-quality, top-notch recording.
Laughlin and Feagan come with quite a bluegrass pedigree. Each musician has performed and recorded with numerous festival headliners. They know what it takes to make quality music. Hensley, though a young 26-year-old ETSU grad, has quite a connection with first generation bluegrass, having become close friends Sonny and Bobby Osborne, and later Bobby Hicks. Hensley’s banjo picking is strong and hard driving with influences from Sonny and Earl, but he still manages to make each break his own.
Hensley and the Sheffields are young in years, but with old souls reflected in their singing and playing. They are definitely keeping traditional bluegrass alive, and this recording is the prime example.
Nolichucky, the title cut and first song on the album, was released as the new configuration’s first single. Though written 50 years ago, the song tells the tale of the eastern Tennessee river flooding just as it did last fall with Hurricane Helene.
Red Dirt, White House, Blue Ridge Mountain Home was the second single to drop from the project. Written by Tim Raybon, it is a prodigal son-type song. Both singles feature powerful vocals belted out by the Sheffield Brothers and Laughlin, with strong, supportive instrumentation.
Of the remaining ten tunes, there’s not a weak one in the batch. A personal favorite is I’m On My Way, a gospel number penned by east Tennessee musician and singer, Charlie Powers. Hensley really shines with his finger picking guitar, reminiscent of the late Earl Scruggs from the Foggy Mountain Boys’ quartet days.
Hensley co-wrote two tunes: Yesterday’s Memories and Edison’s Bounce. The latter features jazzed-up instrumentation which the young banjoist gleaned from his mentor and co-writer, Edison Wallin.
He reflected on their origins.
“Edison’s Bounce was a tune that my mentor, Edison Wallin, wrote the first part for. He called one night and played it over the phone. It went kinda like, ‘Hey, Lincoln, see what you think of this.’ After hearing it the first time, I thought the melody and chords were really catchy and very intelligently written. He said it needed a B part so we came up with the rest of the tune over the phone that night.
It’s a fun swingy little tune that is a crowd pleaser on stage shows because it showcases each member of the band, even the bass gets a ride! It’s different from anything else we do, but all the guys really brought it on our recording. I enjoy playing it on the banjo, and it gives me an opportunity to give Edison some much deserved credit on our live performances!
Yesterday’s Memories is a song idea that my Sunday School teacher, Lynn Harris, brought to the band. I’ve played music with her in church and at local events for a long time. She attended a show we played last year, came backstage, and said, ‘Hit a B flat,’ and started singing part of that song. The band just fell right into the groove, playing along with her. They couldn’t believe how natural this song felt with our band. She just sang the one verse and chorus that day as I remember. I told her if we could get the rest of it worked up, we’d record it. So over the next few weeks we texted back and forth and got the rest of the song finished. It had a great country shuffle feel to it and was perfect for Jake’s range with a twin fiddle kickoff. Jake does a great job making you feel the story. Close your eyes and he’ll paint the picture.”
The album also includes two originals from Feagan: an instrumental, Laurel County Breakdown, and a vocal, I’d Like To Go Back.
Feagan reflected…
“Laurel County Breakdown is a fiddle tune that I came up with close to a year ago. I was going through London, KY and that’s in Laurel County. I had that tune that I’d pretty much wrote in my head and saw the sign, Laurel County, and thought, ‘That’d be a pretty good name for a fiddle tune.’ So I named it that. We’ve been doing it on shows and everybody seems to like it.
The vocal I probably wrote a couple years ago. Everything mentioned in that song, I’ve lived it about where I was raised on a farm. ‘I’d Like to Go Back to Way Back When’ is pretty much universal. A lot of people can relate to it.”
Nolichucky raises the bar of what all musical projects should strive to achieve. If I have any negative criticism, it would simply be that 12 tunes are not enough. It leaves the listener wanting more. Highly recommended.
Digital release is set for August 15. Audio CDs are available now from the band web site.
