LINER NOTES
Here in your hands you hold a great new album by RoseBud Blue, a bluegrass group from California fronted by two women (Jenny Lynn Williams and Angela Personeni) who sing like the proverbial angels.
Their choice of material is excellent, ranging from 1930’s traditional material from the masters (here’s where I thank them for letting me join in on the gospel quartet number, a cover of Bill Monroe’s Little Community Church), interesting covers that they twist and turn into their own unique style (such as Dolly Parton’s Wildflowers), and a whole bunch of great, timeless originals.
You won’t find the group spending months in the studio tweaking the tracks, searching for that shiny plastic Nashville Idol sound. Instead, what you hear on this disc is an honest representation of the group’s live sound, from the gals’ singing and playing, aided by Matt Dudman’s mandolin to Josh Tharp’s banjo, twin fiddles from Mike Eisler and Ed Neff, and special guests Keith Little and yours truly. It’s organic, it’s real, and it’s….good.
Enjoy this album. I know I did!
Deke Dickerson
SONG BLURBS
Empty Mansions (Daryl Hutchins/Southern Music Pub Co Inc.)
Here’s a swingin’ number that we thought might benefit from a little percussion-action. Give a listen to Matt on the “snare” (ok, it was actually a banjo- check out the You Tube on our blog).
Wedding Blues (Bill Mack)
Someone said this cut exemplifies RoseBud Blue’s feel and attitude. Hmm … ok. We can say it’s one of the first ones we worked out together and it is, in fact, one of our favorites. Can someone say “fin twiddles!”?
Wildflowers (Dolly Parton/Velvet Apple Music)
Angela found this great country tune while working on a tractor with an AM radio. Keith records and performs with Dolly a lot and he reckoned we could bluegrass it up. What do you think?
Lonely Me (Jenny Lynn Williams/Pleasant Valley Publishing)
Jenny Lynn wrote “Lonely” on a rainy day in Kensington, California. The first song she ever wrote down on paper, the classic country feel comes through loud and clear. She’s got traditional music in her blood (duh!). We love how Ed hands off the solo to Mike, and then they join back up for the twin tag.
The War Path (J. Tharp & M. Dudman / Pleasant Valley Publishing)
Matt and Banjo Boy wrote this hard driving banjo number while Jenny Lynn was napping on the sofa just a few feet away. Maybe growing up sleeping through endless bluegrass picking parties had a lasting effect! She finally woke up and we recorded it together live in the Squirty studio just a few hours later. Nice tune, boys!
The Lord Will Make a Way (P.D./ Arr RoseBud Blue)
This one is sweet and pretty … NOT! Actually, it’s an old southern gospel number. (Try YouTubing “Al Green” for a fun version). We kindly gave it our own twist and Mike rocked the RBB out of it. Nasty (yet pious!).
She Wanted To Go Home (Angela Personeni / Pleasant Valley Publishing)
Angela wrote this song about her grandmother. Never content with her surroundings and always thinking of home as wherever she used to live, she is now home with the Lord. You could say this one is really about being happy wherever you are at the time.
Old Man’s Story (Charlie Monroe/Venus Music Corp.-Berwick Music Corp.)
We’ve long studied and admired the close harmony of the pre-bluegrass brother duets and wanted to try and pay tribute in our own ‘sisterly’ way. A classic story of lost love, brother Charlie Monroe may have found his way into some of that ‘houndog’ guitar style Jenny Lynn’s got goin’ on.
Your Heart Was Made To Be Free (Jenny Lynn Williams / Pleasant Valley Publishing)
Jenny Lynn once complained to her dad that it was hard for her to find a good song to sing because all the ones she knew were written from a guy’s perspective. So Del tried to think of a few numbers, and then finally concluded, “You’re right, so I guess you’ll just have to write your own!” Here it is.
The Life That You’ve Lead (Vic McAlpin-Jack Toombs/Cromwell Music Inc. OBO Melody Trails Inc.)
A honky tonk number about cheating and then getting what’s coming to you, this is a fun one to play, mainly ‘cuz of the lopey/swingy groove. Look out, mama’s watching over you. And she knows how to walk the bass!
A Pair of Old Sneakers (Kingston, Larry Sutton, Glenn/Peer Music Ltd-Universal-Songs of Polygram International Inc.)
Pure 80’s country novelty. But the harmonies on this song really struck us. The twin fiddles seemed to suggest themselves. With Keith’s magic touch, we were able to put an original RBB stamp on it.
The Last Old Shovel (J. Scott/Trio Music Company-Fort Knox Music, Inc. )
We learned “Shovel” from our primary influence and inspiration: Vern and Ray. Traditional bluegrass just runs deep here in the RBB camp.
Little Community Church (Bill Monroe- Lester Flatt)
Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys performed this vocal quartet as what we now know as “Blue Grass” music was being created. Keith “Chubby” Little laid down the funky guitar track just right for us and blended the incredibly challenging baritone part perfectly ‘invisibly’. And how ‘bout the famous Deke Dickerson and his one-of-a-kind bass vocals, doing the bottom end?
Meet RoseBud Blue
RoseBud Blue is the realization of a childhood dream for Angela Personeni and Jenny Lynn Williams. These two in-your-face “chickgrassers” grew up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, surrounded by both majestic oaks and family and friends playing the finest hard core traditional bluegrass music the west coast has ever seen. (In fact, the band is named after Jenny Lynn’s dad’s first group, “Rosebud Blue”, which included a 17 year old Keith!, and which band used to perform on the breaks in between Vern and Ray sets.) While listening to this music at a young age Jenny Lynn and Angela fantasized about the bluegrass band they would form “when they grew up.” Years later life took the gals their separate ways, but after running into each other again at The California Bluegrass Association’s Father’s Day Festival in Grass Valley in 2003, the two renewed their friendship, and of course, they quickly resumed discussion of that bluegrass band they had once dreamed about. Well, it turns out Angela and Jenny Lynn did finally form that band, and they incorporated the right ingredients: hard driving rhythm, edgy vocals and tastefully exciting picking. I guess those late night picking parties actually sank in!
Yes, traditional bluegrass music is still thriving out west. Please welcome RoseBud Blue. ChickGrass Rocks!
Musicians
Jenny Lynn Williams: guitar & lead vocals (harmony on 7 & 11)
Angela Personeni: upright bass & harmony vocals (lead verses on 3, 7 & 10, and lead chorus on 11)
Matt Dudman: mandolin, harmony vocals & percussion
Josh “BanjoBoy” Tharp: banjo
Mike Eisler: fiddle
Ed Neff: twin fiddles
Keith Little: guitar and baritone vocal on 13
Deke Dickerson: bass vocal on 13
Deke appears courtesy of Major Label Records.
SONG LIST
1 Empty Mansions (2:58)
2 Wedding Blues (3:57)
3 Wildflowers (2:35)
4 Lonely Me (4:11)
5 The War Path (3:13)
6 The Lord Will Make a Way (3:36)
7 She Wanted to Go Home (3:24)
8 Old Man’s Story (2:50)
9 Your Heart Was Made to be Free (2:34)
10 The Life That You’ve Lead (3:07)
11 A Pair of Old Sneakers (3:21)
12 The Last Old Shovel (2:36)
13 Little Community Church (2:47)
RECORDING INFORMATION
Produced by Matt Dudman and Keith Little
Engineered by Jenny Lynn Williams at Squirty Records Studios, Dixon, CA
Additional recording by Keith Little, Benicia, CA
Mixed by Jim Nunally at Music Hill Studio, Crockett, CA
Mastered by Joe Weed at Highland Studios, Los Gatos, CA
Design by Colleen Silva, San Francisco, CA
Liner notes by Deke Dickerson
Song blurbs by RoseBud Blue
Contact ROSEBUD BLUE at:
640 McKenzie Dr., Dixon, CA 95620
www.RoseBudBlue.com
This recording was mixed as though you, the listener, are actually standing on stage with the band. Listen to the banjo on your left, fiddle on your right, etc. Enjoy! No automatic tuning was used on this recording. Visit RoseBudBlue.com for exciting extras, including lyrics and photos.
THANK YOUS
to our family and friends, thank you for putting up with our crazy bluegrass lifestyle. matthew, macrae and jesse especially, thank you boys for putting up with our music all day everyday, and for being our friends. you all mean the world to us / thank you keith for lending your profound skills to help us make this record, opening our ears to new things, and showing jenny lynn that breathing and singing at the same time is actually possible! / engineers jim and joe, thanks for freely teaching matt (who taught jenny lynn) over the years about recording / colleen, your ideas and work rock. thanks / deke, we love your music, thanks for your cool contributions / billy moore, orange guy, paul lee, and larry cohea, thank you guys for your music and patience early on, we wouldn’t be the same without you / sandy rothman we thank you for your amazingly insightful and honest comments / mike and ed you guys are our fiddling heroes. thanks so much for gracing this recording/ banjoboy, you are an inspiring player and a swell dude (even if you do let the boys run in the street) / avram siegel, thank you for your love, support and musical guidance / george goodell, thanks for the friendship, wine nights and random opinions / thanks also to josh “font man” hadley / uncle dean williams, thank you for keeping bluegrass music as soulful as it could ever be / squirty records - thank you for creating a wonderful place to record … just like home! / pleasant valley music, thanks for taking us on, and for your support and sponsorship / honestly, when we sat down to write our “thank yous’, one name came up over and over. matt dudman has done so much to make this project, and this band, a reality. since the beginning matt has been our teacher, cheerleader, brutally honest critic, consultant, chief proponent, and most important our true friend. he has freely given his time and advice with care, guiding us literally each step of the way. matt was involved in adding quality to every single part of this recording. matt, thank you. / last but certainly not least, thanks to eileen butterfield, john personeni, del and vern williams for surrounding us in an environment all of our lives that allowed us to learn, love, live and breathe bluegrass music with the hair still on it! we love you all!
