SONGS FROM LYON COUNTY Available For
Pre-Order Now
Multi-Artist CD Features Bluegrass, Country, Americana & Folk Music From Singer/Songwriter Dennis Duff
Dennis Duff’s latest album, SONGS FROM LYON COUNTY, is available for digital pre-order now fromBandzoogle and physical CDs fromGracey Holler Music.The disc, which featuresa host of guest artists and tunes ranging from Bluegrass to Country to Americana and Folk,will be in stores September 7.For the project,Duff
has assembled gifted vocalists to interpret a cohesive and compelling
group of songs. Guests include Paul Brewster (Ricky Skaggs band), Darin
and Brooke Aldridge (Mountain Home Music), Josh Shilling (Mountain
Heart) and IBMA award-winner Bradley Walker (Gaither Music), as well as
rising star, Holly Pitney (Mo Pitney band). Duff sings lead on four of
the album’s nine songs.
The
diverse offering leads off with the breezy, creek-side stroll through
memories of moonshine, stills and simpler times that is”Wilson Holler.”Deceptively upbeat with a hooky fiddle repeat courtesy of Jason Carter
and with Paul Brewster singing lead, the shady groves and shady men
described are easy to visualize. Duff takes over vocal duties for”Road To Dover,”a song based on childhood memories. Whippoorwills, dogwoods, rivers and
roads all line that path of recall, drawn inevitably on by Carter’s compelling fiddle work and the wheel-turning rhythms of Cody Kilby’s mandolin.
Drawing deep on local history, Duff resurrects the Planters Protection Association in”Night Riders.”Josh Shilling’s
gritty lead vocal drives a track that features Andy Leftwich on a
churning fiddle refrain and the pounding hoofbeat repeat of Alan Bartram’s
acoustic bass. Often the only recourse of justice for an isolated
community, the PPA numbered over 10,000 members, both black and white,
defended abused wives and children and brought tobacco monopolies to
heel.
Darin and Brooke Aldridge take”TC And Pearl”and lift the mood with a tale of love at first sight, faith, family
life and the heaven on earth joy a simple life can bring. Their combined
vocals are mesmerizing; trilling high notes, earthy mid-range and a
solid feel for the song make this a disc highlight. Hypnotically
deceptive,”37 Flood”sweeps the listener away just like the waters of the mighty Ohio River
swept away farms, families and a way of life. Plinking mandolin notes
mirror raindrops falling, while the eerie fiddle run mimics the wind
that met the treetops as the water reached them. This powerful and
magical track features Duff’s most compelling vocal outing to date, as it projects a memory that is embedded firmly in the local psyche.
The first single from SONGS FROM LYON COUNTY is an emotional rendering of”When I Leave Kentucky”that features Bradley Walker and Holly Pitney in a riveting duet.”Hey Mr. TVA,”is a sorrowful lament that tells
the story of the U.S. government’s use of imminent domain to rip half
of Lyon County away from landowners to create Land Between the Lakes. It
was also the inspiration to write all the other “untold” stories on the
album, including the
the haunting prison song”Castle On The Cumberland”and the ode to the hobo lifestyle”Iron Hill.”
TRACK LIST
“Wilson Holler”
“Hey MR. TVA”
“Road To Dover”
“Night Riders”
“TC And Pearl”
“Castle On The Cumberland”
“Iron Hill”
“37 Flood”
“When I Leave Kentucky”
ABOUT DENNIS DUFF:
Duff
has written hits for headliners in the Gospel, Bluegrass and Country
genres, including Bradley Walker, Darin and Brooke Aldridge, Donna
Ulisse, Mo Pitney, Lou Reid & Carolina,and
more. A winner of the 2009 Chris Austin Songwriting Contest “Country”
Song award, he was nominated for IBMA Gospel Song of the Year in 2011
for his composition, “God’s Front Porch.” In the mid-1800s, his family
moved from Tennessee to an area between the Tennessee and Cumberland
Rivers in Kentucky called ‘tween the rivers.’ SONGS FROM LYON COUNTY
tells the story of that past in the voices of those who lived it; these
are not documentaries but are instead more like the diary entries of
his ancestors.
For more information, go towww.graceyhollermusic.com