Brit Taylor’s Going “Kentucky Bluegrassed”
After Saving Country Music attended a Brit Taylor showcase during AmericanaFest 2023 at the legendary Basement in Nashville, you knew something was brewing. Instead of coming out with a full tilt electric band to reprise the songs from her recent Sturgill Simpson-produced album Kentucky Blue, Brit showed up with a hot shot bluegrass band in tow. Being from Kentucky, this wasn’t a complete curve ball. But it wasn’t a lark either. She was telegraphing her next move.
“I always knew that, at some point in my career, I’d make a bluegrass album,” Brit Taylor says. “I grew up in the East Kentucky hills surrounded by incredible pickers and listening to bluegrass with my Papaw Hillard. He had an old 8-track player. Honestly, I was probably listening to bluegrass before I ever heard any other country song. Papaw introduced me to Patty Loveless and Ricky Skaggs, and that’s probably when I found country music.”
Lo and behold, making a bluegrass record is exactly what Brit Taylor has now done. Called Kentucky Bluegrassed, you can consider it like a companion to 2023’s Kentucky Blue, but with three new original bluegrass songs to go with five bluegrass interpretations of Kentucky Blue tracks. Kentucky Bluegrassed is being released on the one year anniversary of Kentucky Blue, February 2nd.
To help Brit Taylor, she roped in an all-star bluegrass band including Rob Ikes on dobro, Stewart Duncan on fiddle, Golden Highway’s Dominick Leslie on mandolin, multi-instrumentalist Seth Taylor, and Matt Menefee. It was all produced by Brit’s husband and bluegrass musician Adam Chaffins.
“He knows bluegrass better than anybody, and he knows my voice better than anyone else,” says Taylor. “He hears me singing in bars, clubs, theaters, studios, the car, the kitchen and the shower.”
Ahead of the new album, Brit Taylor has released one of the new original bluegrass songs called “Saint Anthony” about the saint of lost objects and lost people. In this case, the song is about an absent and wayward lover. “It reminded me of my grandparents’ courtship and love story – my Pawpaw Hillard was a bit wild in his drinking days and my Mamaw was always hunting him down,” Taylor says.
Kentucky Bluegrassed will be released on Brit’s Cut a Shine label distributed by Thirty Tigers. Physical copies are now available for pre-order.
January 13, 2024 @ 10:38 am
I love her music and the ease of her voice. It seems so natural and such clever lyrics
January 13, 2024 @ 10:55 am
Excellent.
January 13, 2024 @ 12:35 pm
Awrighty… mighty fine, mighty fine!
January 13, 2024 @ 2:23 pm
After hearing that one song, I’ve marked February 2 on my calendar to listen to the whole album. Should be a great start to the month!
January 13, 2024 @ 3:01 pm
Brit was one of my favorite new discoveries of 2023. I really enjoyed Kentucky Blue and have listened to it quite a bit. So this new album should be good.
Also looking forward to her and Jesse Daniel live when they hit my city in April.
January 14, 2024 @ 1:15 am
Kentucky Blue was among the best country albums of 2023 and the title song probably the prettiest song of last year. A true country star. Looking forward to new work.
January 14, 2024 @ 6:42 am
Brit Taylor has been firing on all cylinders the last few years. Kentucky Blue was one of my favorite albums last year. I enjoy Bluegrass, but it’s not a genre I listen to on a regular basis. The new single St. Anthony has been stuck in my head since first listening to it Friday morning though. I’m looking forward to this.
January 14, 2024 @ 8:04 am
…intriguing move in many ways. her voice fits bluegrass as it does country – and bluegrass obviously runs in the family. however, you can’t be everybody’s darling. not even the outstanding vocalist and performer rhonda vincent has achieved that. only dolly really did.
being a convincing blugrass act as well as a convincing country act requires different musicians/talents in the band behind you. again, just look at rhonda vincent. moreover, undermining now the (country) stepping stone she only just created with her remarkable “kentucky blue” album may not be the smartest career move. most people would have been looking for more where that came from now.
on the other hand, having another potential contender to molly tuttle’s position as leading young female torch bearer in the world of bluegrass can’t be a bad thing. still, straddling two horses at the same time ain’t an easy act to pull off. mind the gap.
January 15, 2024 @ 7:22 am
I don’t think this is an attempt by Brit to be both a Country and Bluegrass act. It seems more of a passion project and an extension of her Kentucky Blue album. Which is why most of the songs are reimagined versions from that album. This album will feed a passion from Brit to do a bluegrass album, as well as give her a few more songs to continue her tour into 2024.
January 15, 2024 @ 8:19 am
exactly, in the vein of Sturg’s bluegrass recordings. She’s great.
January 15, 2024 @ 4:45 am
A good portion of this album already had some bluegrass influence, so this does not surprise me. Looking forward
January 20, 2024 @ 11:07 am
I have been listening to the Real Me album. I think she sounds a little like Kelly Willis. “At Least There’s No Babies” is so good. She should be a big star.
January 25, 2024 @ 9:44 pm
Kentucky Blue was a great album and I can’t wait to hear this one! Saw her live last year a few times and she is so good!