Posts Tagged ‘banjo’

Hadley Music Group releases Red Grass by Ilya Toshinskiy

Ilya Toshinskiy is the former lead guitarist and banjoist for the Russian Grammy nominated band Bering Strait. Classically trained in a music conservatory in Moscow, he came to the United States as a young teenager and part of Bering Strait. The band was featured on 60 Minutes, had a documentary made about them (The Ballad of Bering Strait) and was signed to Universal South Records and released two critically acclaimed albums.

Ilya was quickly scooped up into the world of studio work in Nashville and was the first member to leave the band with so much studio work being offered to play on the records of others. We are thrilled that he was able to find the time to compose ten fantastic banjo instrumentals and record the album Red Grass for Hadley Music Group.The album is set for a release date of May 20, 2016 and includes a stellar group of supporting musicians such as Jerry Douglas on dobro, Bryan Sutton on acoustic guitar, Luke Bulla and Aubrey Haynie on fiddle, Andy Leftwich on mandolin to name just a few. Below is the EPK about the album.

Wilder Days by Natasha Borzilova released April 21, 2015!

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Hadley Music Group is proud to release the fourth solo effort by singer songwriter Natasha Borzilova, Wilder Days. On this album she borrowed instruments from friends, learned to play them for the songs on the album. Instruments she played included mandolin, dulcitar , keyboard, and banjo as well as acoustic and electric guitars. She wrote all of the songs on this CD with the exception of her first cover tune, “Oysters”, a song by Tori Amos who has been a favorite of hers for a long time. Below is the EPK with Borzilova talking about some of the songs on the album and her process of making this record.

 

 

 

Hadley Music Group releases Showin’ My Roots by Donna Ulisse!

It might seem surprising for a performer who has been nominated as IBMA’s top songwriter for two successive years to be releasing a “covers” album, but ― in a sense ― that’s what Donna Ulisse has done with her latest effort.

Yet, while Showin’ My Roots puts Ulisse’s interpretive skills on fine display, it stands as far more than a stylistic exercise or even a tribute. Although her deft touch as a lyricist and composer is present on only two of these 13 tracks, the rest are songs that form the bedrock of her musical heritage: She has lived and breathed them for so long, she might as well have written them.
And she breathes new life into them with her magnificent voice, as warm and supple as ever, backed by some of the finest musicians in bluegrass music. Ulisse co-produced Showin’ My Roots with acoustic guitar virtuoso Bryan Sutton, and the supporting cast includes Scott Vestal on banjo, Rob Ickes on Dobro, Andy Leftwich on mandolin and fiddle, and Viktor Krauss and Byron House on upright bass. Sam Bush duets on the traditional work song “Take This Hammer,” and harmony vocalists include John Cowan, Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle, Fayssoux McLean, Larry Stephenson, Frank Solivan, Jerry Salley and Rick Stanley, Ulisse’s husband and band mate.

This is a diverse collection of songs, in tempo and sentiment. The Stanley Brothers (cousins of Ulisse’s husband) are represented in songs penned by Carter (the sprightly “How Mountain Girls Can Love”) and Ralph (the resigned “If That’s The Way You Feel”). Ulisse honors two heroes with her spin on Merle Haggard’s version of Dolly Parton’s “In The Good Old Days When Times Were Bad.” “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad,” made famous by Tammy Wynette, shows her feisty side, as does Loretta Lynn’s “Fist City.” She serves up a gorgeously wistful take on Hank Locklin’s “Send Me The Pillow You Dream On,” and an earnestly prayerful “Wait A Little Longer Please Jesus.”

Two songs that Ulisse wrote with her husband bookend this album. Both beautifully illustrate the love that went into this project. The album-opening title track is an ode to those whose “singin’ and writin’ lit a fire in me”: Haggard, Parton, Lynn, Carter Stanley. And  “I’ve Always Had a Song I Can Lean On,” closes the album with a message that illustrates the importance music has always played in Ulisse’s life.

From beginning to end, Showin’ My Roots is as an extended love song to her influences, and one that lovers of bluegrass and traditional country music are sure to enjoy again and again. These timeless performances may well light a fire in generations to come.

Street Date: October 15 2013

Donna Ulisse back in studio


Producer Keith Sewell and Donna Ulisse

Hadley artist Donna Ulisse is back in the recording studio working on her fourth release for the label. Once again she is collaborating with producer/guitarist Keith Sewell who has been at the helm of her prior releases on Hadley Music Group Records.

Musicians on the project are some of the cream of the crop in the bluegrass genre with Sewell on guitar, Andy Leftwich on mandolin and fiddle, Viktor Krauss on upright bass, Rob Ickes on dobro and Scott Vestal on banjo. The album will be a new collection of original tunes written or co-written by Donna. Other co-writers on the material are Rick Stanley, Marc Rossi, Kerry Chater, Lynn Gillespie Chater and Ben Glover.

The CD is set for an early June 2011 release.