by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
What: Rhonda Vincent (at the Palatka Bluegrass Festival)
When: February 10th
Where: Rodeheaver Boys’ Ranch - Highway 19 Palatka, Florida
Rhonda Vincent has been a darling of the bluegrass genre since she was a child. After a brief foray into country, she returned to bluegrass in 2000, winning the respect of her peers. Her latest album, All-American Bluegrass Girl, is aptly named, because that’s precisely what Rhonda Vincent has been. EU had a chance to talk to her recently about her album and how she discovers new songwriters.
EU: What’s the difference between Ragin’ Live and your latest album, All-American Bluegrass Girl?
Vincent: The most drastic difference was because Ragin Live was a live album, performed in front of a live audience and it’s basically the show that we did…All-American Bluegrass Girl was my first studio album that I’d had in like 3 years. Because of the liberties we took with Ragin Live, it was important that we get back to basics…[so there’s] more of a basic bluegrass premise to [All-American Bluegrass Girl].
EU: Do you think that the song All-American Bluegrass is destined to become a classic?
Vincent: Boy, I hope so, that would be really great if it was.
EU: I know that the first version of the song was pretty rough (you said your fiddler laughed at it).
Vincent: (laughs) Yes, it was.
EU: Can you tell me what changed about the song and what stayed the same from the first very rough draft?
Vincent: Well, before it was basically I had put down the story of my life and a lot of things that were too many details that really wouldn’t make sense [to a listener]…It was kind of just talking about my childhood…more details about coming home from school…It was pretty hokey. It’s still kinda hokey but it is what it is and so I made it more well rounded…
EU: Which song on the CD still makes you cry?
Vincent: ‘Prettiest Flower There’ is still one of my favorite songs to sing…I was in the middle of recording and pretty much had all of my songs recorded and heard that song on the way to the airport to go record again…I heard this song and immediately thought of my grandmother. I just started crying. We lost her a year ago and I thought ‘If this song got this reaction from me, I would think it would get the same reaction [from an audience] if we sang it—and sure enough…(laughs) Why do we want songs that make us cry?
EU: The songwriter for that was one of the new songwriters you discovered…
Vincent: That’s right, Val Johnson.
EU: Can you tell us about the process you use to find these songs and these undiscovered songwriters?
Vincent: I welcome everybody. They send me songs and we listen to them. We listen to everything. It’s pretty much as simple as that.
EU: So anybody can send you songs? And you listen to all of them?
Vincent: That’s right…It began with ‘Little Angels’ from my 2000 album…Got that song by a lady just handing it to me at a show..
EU: You’ve been in the bluegrass biz since you were a kid; what do you think bluegrass does as genre that no other genre does for music?
Vincent: At a bluegrass festival there’s an open stage and it gives [kids] a chance to perform to really get a feel for being in front of an audience, I don’t know of any other musics that would do that. You know, you go to a country music show and someone who’s just beginning is not going to be allowed on the stage…If you want a good evaluation, go out to a [bluegrass] jam session, see if people start gathering around or walking away. You’ll get a real feel for it.
You can see Rhonda Vincent at the Palatka Bluegrass Festival. The fest runs from the 8-10th, but Vincent will be performing on the 10th.
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