Artist Bios
The Grascals
Great musicians will always find a way to make good music,
but for great musicians to make great music, they must form a
bond – one that, more often than not, goes beyond the purely
musical to the personal. For The Grascals, that bond has been
forged at the intersection of personal friendships, shared
professional resumes and an appreciation for the innovative
mingling of bluegrass and country music that has been a
hallmark of the Nashville scene for more than forty years. As
their releases prove, The Grascals’ rare musical empathy gives
them an unerring ear for just the right touch to illuminate
each offering’s deepest spirit - whether they’re digging into
one of their original songs or reworking a bluegrass classic
or pop standard.
Vocally, the trio of Terry Eldredge, Jamie Johnson and Terry
Smith are tighter than ever, cutting loose on driving solo
vocals and soaring trios with equal fire and passion. As an
instrumental unit, The Grascals have never sounded sharper, with
mandolin ace Danny Roberts, fiddler Jeremy Abshire and banjo
player Kristin Scott Benson leading the charge. As a result,
their cutting-edge modern bluegrass is delivered with a deep
knowledge of, and admiration for, the work of the music’s
founding fathers. Timely yet timeless, The Grascals make music
that is entirely relevant to the here and now, yet immersed in
traditional values of soul and musicianship. It’s a unique sound
that has earned two of their previous releases (THE GRASCALS,
2005 and LONG LIST OF HEARTACHES, 2006) Grammy® nominations for
International Bluegrass Music Association's Best Bluegrass
Album. High hopes abound for the upcoming album, THE GRASCALS &
FRIENDS / January 2011.
The Grascals are among the most beloved and acclaimed bands
on today’s bluegrass scene, having won SPBGMA’s Bluegrass Band
of the Year award in 2010, the International Bluegrass Music
Association’s Emerging Artist of the Year award in 2005 and
earning its Entertainer of the Year honor in both 2006 and 2007.
For those who know them, the quick emergence of the group
came as no surprise, for these are musicians whose roots and
crossed paths reach back over more than two decades in bluegrass
ensembles like the Osborne Brothers, Larry Cordle & Lonesome
Standard Time, the Sidemen and New Tradition. Their roots can
also be traced back to Nashville’s larger musical community,
where The Grascals have been able to draw on legends like Bobby
Osborne, George Jones, Vince Gill, The Jordanaires, Steve
Wariner, Lloyd Green, Paul Craft and others for songs and for
performances in the studio, on stage (including multiple guest
appearances on the Grand Ole Opry), and for national television
appearances, including on The Late, Late Show with Craig
Ferguson, CBS’s Early Show and Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends.
Thanks to those experiences and those friendships, The
Grascals embody a profound grasp of and familiarity with country
and bluegrass tradition that made them a natural choice for
Dolly Parton to turn to for recording and tour support not long
after the group was created in 2004. The group continues to push
the envelope and, in 2010, The Grascals joined The Rowdy Friends
Tour, traveling far and wide with Hank Williams, Jr., playing
before huge crowds, expanding their fan base and exposing new
audiences to the diverse and unique "BluGrascals" sound.
The Band:
Terry Eldredge’s soulful vocals and
easygoing stage presence have earned him not only the loyalty of
bluegrass fans and the appreciation of fellow bluegrass
musicians, but the admiration of a stunningly wide variety of
entertainers who have witnessed him fronting the Sidemen at
Nashville’s world-famous Station Inn. The Indiana native began
his career with first-hand experience of the music of an earlier
generation of country stars, playing bass with longtime Opry
stars Lonzo and Oscar. He joined the Osborne Brothers in 1988,
soon switching to guitar and adding a powerful lead and low
tenor voice to the Brothers’ legendary trios. Eldredge took up
the bass again when he joined Larry Cordle & Lonesome Standard
Time at the end of the 1990s, earning a 2003 IBMA nomination for
Bass Player of the Year and contributing mightily to the
ensemble’s success with dynamic tenor and lead vocals. During a
hiatus from Lonesome Standard Time, he recorded and performed as
a member of Dolly Parton’s Blue-niques. In addition to two solo
albums for Pinecastle Records and albums by the Osborne
Brothers, Cordle, Parton and the Sidemen, Terry’s recording
credits include appearances on CDs by IBMA Hall of Honor members
Benny Martin, Josh Graves and Chubby Wise, as well as country
star Dierks Bentley.
Shared Indiana roots and a love for the Osborne Brothers’
harmonies first sparked a friendship between Eldredge and Jamie
Johnson, but when the latter moved to Nashville at the end of
the 1990s, the two quickly discovered a vocal blend that rivals
bluegrass’ greatest sibling harmonies. Though he helped to found
the Wildwood Valley Boys at the beginning of the decade, Jamie
first drew attention to his soaring tenor voice as a member of
the Boys From Indiana, with whom he performed in the mid-1990s.
Stints with local bluegrass and country bands followed before he
returned to the Wildwood Valley Boys, making his recording debut
on their I'M A BELIEVER (2000). Following his move to Nashville,
he began to find success as a songwriter – he co-wrote the title
cut of Bobby Osborne’s WHERE I COME FROM (2002) – and as a
singer, making his Opry debut as a member of Gail Davies’ band,
joining the Sidemen in 2001, and contributing leads and
harmonies to BLUEGRASS - THE LITTLE GRASCALS: NASHVILLE'S
SUPERPICKERS.
He has recorded with Dolly Parton (harmony vocals on 2005’s
Those Were The Days and Backwoods Barbie), alternative country
singer Trent Summar (on the Davies-produced Caught In The Webb),
Ricky Van Shelton, hit songwriter Jerry Salley, and has enjoyed
further songwriting success with cuts by The Grascals (including
the title tracks to LONG LIST OF HEARTACHES, KEEP ON WALKIN' and
THE FAMOUS LEFTY FLYNN'S), the Lonesome River Band and
bluegrass-country singer/songwriter Ronnie Bowman.
Danny Roberts began playing
guitar to back up his friend Jimmy Mattingly (founding member,
The Grascals) when the two were growing up on adjacent farms in
Leitchfield, KY. Soon he was winning contests on his own as a
guitarist and, eventually, mandolin player. In 1982 he
co-founded the New Tradition, a dynamic, ground-breaking
bluegrass/gospel group that toured the country for close to 20
years (the last ten on a full-time basis), recorded ten CDs,
made “Seed Of Love,” the first bluegrass video to feature the
banjo – it reached #1 on the TNN channel – appeared on the Grand
Ole Opry, and helped to bring the bluegrass sound and gospel
message to a new generation of fans. When the group dissolved in
2000, Danny went to work for Gibson Musical Instruments, where
he rose to the position of plant manager at the company’s
Original Acoustic Instruments luthiery. Still, he kept his hand
in as a musician, giving workshops with mandolin colleagues like
Sam Bush, Chris Thile and Bobby Osborne, making guest
appearances with artists such as Marty Raybon, Larry Cordle and
Melonie Cannon, and touring and recording with bluegrass/country
veteran Ronnie Reno as a member of his band, the Reno Tradition,
before reuniting with Mattingly in The Grascals in 2004. His
solo recording, MANDOLIN ORCHARD, received extensive airplay and
was touted by the Chicago Tribune as one of the Top 10 Bluegrass
Releases of 2004. Roberts was also honored with the 2006 and
2008 SPBGMA Award for Mandolin Performer of the Year.
Another veteran of the Osborne Brothers’ band, bassist
Terry Smith grew up in North
Carolina before moving to Nashville in his early teens.
Beginning in a family band with his brother, Billy, and his
parents (Hazel Smith, Terry’s mom, is a songwriter and renowned
country music journalist) he graduated swiftly to stints with
bluegrass and country legends Jimmy Martin, Wilma Lee Cooper and
the Osborne Brothers. He also found time to pursue a separate
career with his brother, recording a 1990 album for CBS that
generated an early #1 video on CMT, following it with 1992’s
GRASS SECTION disc (made with friends and colleagues like Ronnie
McCoury and Glen Duncan) and a 1996 Bill Monroe Tribute that
included some of the Father Of Bluegrass’s last recorded
appearances. In 1999, the Smith brothers issued VOICES OF THE
MOUNTAIN, with original songs that found a place in the
repertoire of bluegrass favorites like the Del McCoury Band and
the Lonesome River Band. Terry has worked as a staff songwriter
for EMI and Major Bob Music, and recorded with Marty Raybon,
Vern Gosdin, IBMA Hall of Honor member Kenny Baker and more.
After a long tour of duty with Grand Ole Opry member Mike
Snider, Terry joined The Grascals in 2004.
Fiddler Jeremy Abshire
burst onto the bluegrass scene as a member of Billie Renee and
Cumberland Gap (winners of the 2006 SPBGMA International
Bluegrass Band Championship), and came to The Grascals’
attention as a member of IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year Dale
Ann Bradley's band. His style is both fluid and hard driving,
owing to the influences of Benny Martin, Scotty Stoneman, Chubby
Wise, Bobby Hicks, Kenny Baker, and Stuart Duncan – whom Abshire
cites as his favorite fiddle player. As for joining The Grascals,
Abshire explains “It was an easy choice for me. I had been
around the guys, and the personalities meshed really well. The
thing that excited me the most was the fact that when I went out
to play with them, they didn’t want me to play like anyone else.
They just said, ‘Play what you feel,’ and when I did, it brought
everything together. I couldn’t have picked a better group of
guys to hang out with ... I’m out there having a blast!”
Three-time International Bluegrass Music Association Banjo
Player of the Year (2008, 2009 & 2010), Kristin Scott
Benson is the newest member of The Grascals. Raised in
a musical family in South Carolina, she made her stage debut, on
mandolin, at the age of five. Given a banjo as a Christmas
present when she was 13, Kristin honed her skills through the
rest of her teenage years. Since then, she has performed with
many outstanding artists, including Laurie Lewis, Josh Williams,
IIIrd Tyme Out, Jim Hurst, Roland White and Rhonda Vincent.
Kristin was named SPBGMA’s Banjo Performer of the Year award in
2009. Of her membership in The Grascals, she says, “I've been in
the business long enough to realize how rare it is to be in such
a successful band and I feel blessed that they offered me a
chance to be a part of what they've already established."
Kristin’s solo CD, Second Season, is on the Pinecastle label.
Whether being light-hearted and jovial or soul-searching and
reflective, The Grascals are at the very top of their game.
Though it is still - at least in bluegrass terms - a new group,
the web of friendships, band memberships, recordings and
personal appearances that binds The Grascals together has
produced an ensemble of unsurpassed cohesion and focused
artistic direction. Whether in the studio or on stage, The
Grascals honor the past and forge into the future, bringing
fresh yet familiar sounds to the bluegrass world and beyond.
Visit The Grascals' website at:
www.grascals.com
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