Gail Davies and Friends Live on Little Chickadee

Gail Davies And Friends Live On Little Chickadee BY DEBORAH EVANS PRICE some of her previous hits: "Grandma's Song," "Round ber "Blue Heartache," penned "Hometown Gossip" for NASHVILLE- Acclaimed bassist Leland Sklar once com- the Clock Lovin'," and "Bucket to the South." "A lot of the Whites, and has cut duets with Dolly Parton, Ricky mented that when Gail Davies first began producing bluegrass bands have cut that song," Davies says of Skaggs, and most recently Ralph Stanley on his Clinch records, women in Nashville were barefoot, pregnant, and "Bucket to the South." However, she admits, most peo- Mountain Sweethearts disc. in the vocal booth. "I knew that I was breaking ground, ple don't associate her with bluegrass music -even "I heard someone say the other day, `Everybody is and I knew it was going to cause a lot of static," Davies though she had a country hit with the bluegrass num- jumping on the bluegrass bandwagon,' " Davies says. "I recalls, "but it was something that I had to do." just want to remind everybody that in 1981, I brought Never one to take the easy road, Davies paved the way Jerry Douglas -who was just a kid -into the studio to for other female country artists to enjoy artistic freedom play, and the record company freaked out [and said], `If and creative control. Now 53 -and still as outspoken as we put dobro on this, people will think you are trying to ever -Davies continues to make music on her own terms. be bluegrass.' I used Jerry on probably one of his first Her new album, Gail Davies and Friends: Live & Nashville sessions." Unplugged at the Station Inn, is a lively acoustic outing Davies had a string of country radio hits in the late '70s recorded at Nashville's famed bluegrass night club. The and early '80s, including "I'll Be There," "It's a Lovely, set is being issued Nov. 13 via Valley Entertainment and Lovely World," and "Jagged Edge of a Broken Heart" Davies' own Little Chickadee label. Davies has also pro- (recently cut by new Russian country group Bering Strait duced Caught in the Webb, a tribute to Webb Pierce fea- on MCA Nashville). She became less visible as she devot- turing Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris, Pam Tillis, ed time to raising son Christopher, now 18, as a single George Jones, Charley Pride, Willie Nelson, Robbie Fulks, parent. In the early '90s, she worked with former Capitol Joy Lynn White, Allison Moorer, BR549, and others, due Nashville chief Jimmy Bowen as a staff producer before out on Audium Records in January. starting her Little Chickadee label in 1994. (She owns a Live & Unplugged at the Station Inn has a fresh, no- publishing company, also called Little Chickadee, named holds- barred energy that is earning fans. "One listen and for a line in the Webb Pierce song "No Love for I. ") you'll know this is a record Gail has always wanted to Jeff Skillen, executive VP of Santa Fe, N.M. -based Valley make," says Terry Herd, owner of the syndicated Bluegrass Entertainment, says the label plans to market the album Radio Network and host of its weekly Into the Blue show, beyond bluegrass circles. "It has a really natural feel to it. as well as program director for Sirius Satellite Radio's It's very accessible and will appeal to a broader demo- bluegrass channel. "It's straight from the heart -no stu- graphic than strictly bluegrass," he says. "I don't want to dio tricks, no smoke and mirrors -just honest, unre- pigeonhole this record. Obviously, people know Gail from touched, handmade music captured live at bluegrass her early country success, and I don't want to do anything ground zero. What a concept." to alienate people who still make a distinction between Davies says the idea to record a live album at the Sta- country and bluegrass." tion Inn came when her husband, Rob Price, suggested Davies, who is self- managed and booked by Andrea Comp- capturing her performances there. "My husband bought ton, debuted her new album at the International World of a Roland 1680, and the next time we played the Station Bluegrass convention in early October in Louisville, Ky. Inn, he taped [the show]," she recalls. "We listened to it Davies will tour Europe and Japan in November and De- and said, 'Wow, this could be a live album.' That's how cember, but, she admits, she would like more U.S. book- the album came to be. It's all -except for two songs - ings. "We'd like to do a lot of shows, but I can't get any- one performance." body to book me because I'm over 30," Davies says. "It's The 19 -song collection runs the gamut from the Bob such a sexist thing -and nonsense. Somebody said I was Dylan classic "It Ain't Me Babe" to the tongue -in -cheek too old to be a singer and I needed to quit trying. I looked "Wedding Invitation" to the poignant "I'm Hungry, I'm at them and said, 'No. 1, I'm not trying to be a singer, I Tired," which Davies penned for pal Roger Miller, whom am a singer. You wouldn't tell B.B. King he's too old to she briefly dated early in her career. play guitar or Willie Nelson he's too old to sing anymore. "I went out and toured with him for a couple of You only say that to women.' " months," Davies recalls of a short stint as Miller's back- Davies does not plan on slowing down. Her next proj- up vocalist. "It was very enlightening. He was wonderful ect will be Gail Davies: The Songwriter Sessions. "I'm and a great songwriter. One evening he told me the story going to do a lot of my songs that people don't remem- [of his life], and I went home and wrote the song. It was ber," she says of the acoustic album. "It's going to be a very sad song. He missed out on growing up with his really broken down -me on acoustic guitar and maybe mother. When I played it for him, he cried." one other guitar player, upright bass, and mandolin - On Live From the Station Inn, Davies also reprises real stark and real open."

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