Legendary Bluegrass artist Roland White welcomes some of today’s best to release a new recording of an iconic song this Friday, August 17. Darin and Brooke Aldridge perform alongside the Bluegrass Hall of Famer on the Kentucky Colonels classic, “If You’re Ever Gonna Love Me.”
It’s the debut single from this highly anticipated album, Roland White and Friends, A Tribute to the Kentucky Colonels, where Bluegrass legend Roland Whiteincludes some of the most talked about players and singers in today’s Bluegrass world to pay homage to the Colonels’ lasting legacy.
Darin and Brooke Aldridge are known as some of today’s most outstanding vocalists in Bluegrass and Country music. Brooke, the reigning IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year, and husband Darin, an award-winning and pedigreed band leader, join the legendary White in this classic Kentucky Colonels song that sets the tone of this special tribute album from Mountain Home Music Company.
“If You’re Ever Gonna Love Me” includes a who’s who of today’s hottest players. The musician line-up includes the youngest nominee to date for the IBMA Banjo Player of the Year award, Gina Clowes on banjo; Jeremy Garrett, of the Grammy winning band The Infamous Stringdusters on fiddle, and bassist Jeremy Darrowof 2017 IBMA Emerging Artist nominee, Front Country. Drew Matulich takes on the guitar role with his virtuosic playing that captures the technical prowess and energy of the original recording.
In a blaze of rhythmic bounce and flatpicking fire, these young players honor the legacy of Roland’s groundbreaking band and resurrect the spirit of the very sound that crowned the Kentucky Colonels iconic. The combination of music and vocal harmony perfection is a taste of what’s to come from this special recorded event. It’s music of a respected master assembled with the talents of those his legacy has influenced.
The result captures the magic and mastery of the Kentucky Colonels’ sound that blazed a trail for decades of musicians.
About Roland White
Roland White is a living legend in Bluegrass Music. Inducted into the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2017, his career spans 60 years. From his start as a teenager with his brother Clarence in what would eventually become the Kentucky Colonels, Roland has been a musical influence on more than just one generation of musicians.
His career is pedigreed. From the far reaching influences of the Kentucky Colonels and the New Kentucky Colonels, to his time as a member of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys to his innovative musicianship in celebrated bands like Country Gazette and The Nashville Bluegrass Band, to his years of studio and solo work all the way to his current outfit, The Roland White Band, it’s nothing short of consummate.
But above all, it’s White’s stylistic playing and singing that makes him an icon.
It’s the way he seems to “dance” through his instrument with a touch, tone and aliveness that expresses and communicates feeling to all that hear. In much the same way, White creates mood vocally with rare uniqueness and personality. It’s White’s creative innovation and professionalism that has made his music stand the test of time.
Even today, White is known in Nashville as a person who continues to bind the city’s Bluegrass community together. A mentor to all who have a chance to meet or play with him, he has nurtured numerous performing artists and been an ambassador to the genre.
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