Kathy Tugman – “Love Song Nineteen” – The Arrival Of Bluebilly Music with The Rocky River Rangers “Well, it ain’t bluegrass and it ain’t no hillbilly music either. Why, while Mama might’n agree – and don’t you go and tell her or I’ll deny it – but I’d call it bluebilly music.” - the old coot at the vegetable stand on Tennessee 8 “Bluebilly music will make your garden grow lush and feed you all winter.” - the Wilkes County Wastrel A product of, and evolution from, nine previous albums – some alt-country (even before there was alt-country) and some sophisticated jazz albums (where Kathy refined her vocal chops in a very tough discipline) – “Love Song Nineteen” shows Kathy finding her other authentic voice: that of her rearing in rural Tennessee, thereby bringing to a grateful world the balm of bluebilly music. And what a band she has to help bring these original tunes to a timeless life: The Rocky River Rangers. Listen here to this: From the ace bluegrass band, the Hamilton County Ramblers, comes Jams Kee on mandolin, acoustic guitar and backing and duet vocals (the owner of Kee’s Tasty Licks, James was recently called to play the mando on the Grand Old Opry with Stuart Duncan), John Boulware on fiddle and backing vocals (John is a Tennessee state champion bluegrass fiddler and is also tall), and Josh Hixson on double-bass (the base – and the root – of the Ramblers and the owner of a great beard). And then there is Kathy’s longtime (22 years) rhythm section of Jo “the Tub Doctor” Whitaker on drums (he plays in Kathy’s jazz band, in the David Walters Trio, in the pop band, the Lumbar Five, and held down the prog-rock band, Somnambulist) and Eddie Gwaltney (on bass, acoustic guitar and backing vocals on this album, and who played keyboards, guitar and bass on most of Kathy’s earlier albums and was necessary to the creation of the demos for this record.) Two special guests also appear, on electric guitar: Tarbell Patten, IV (“More Tarbell!”) and Steven Hopkins (who cut his tracks in Boston and then made them appear on our record by magic). The album was produced by Kathy and the E.P. and recorded and mixed at Sound Resources in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with Steve Babb co-producing and Fred Schendel engineering. Fred, with help from Kathy and the E.P.(whoever he is), mixed the record. It was mastered by Randy LeRoy, an ace working for Airshow in Takoma Park, Maryland. How could we fail? No way. - “Before I heard bluebilly music, I lived under a huge dark and lightening-haunted cloud of miserable depression. Now, oh my, I am a beaming ray of sunshine, in a humor possibly insufferable.” -- Willie “Poleax” Peters, Brushy Mountain State Prison So y’all get out there and get a big ol’ bucket of bluebillies and, as one tune says, “Save room for the light; hold back the dark.” Before we go, a few words about the Singer. Kathy has played Riverbend, fronting alt-country and jazz bands; played a seven-year stint at the Foundry in the Chattanoogan Hotel, singing jazz with the David Walters Trio and, sometimes, the David Walters Quartet; has been local vocalist with the Chattanooga Symphony; has played the late venue, Rhythm and Brews, many times; sung with singer-songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman; played Barking Legs; will appear with the Trio next year on Fripp Island, S.C.; and has done, and still does, many private parties – too many to remember. Anyone who has heard her sing knows she can deliver the song, whether she wrote it or whether she tapped the Great American Songbook to sing tunes by Cole Porter and Irving Berlin or picked up a classy pop tune by someone like Kathy Mattea or Beth Nielsen Chapman. Her own work has grown in accomplishment, and she remains a vigilant student of her instrument. The lady has some pipes, and with the advent of bluebilly music, her voice is stronger than ever. “Love Song Nineteen” – Real Pros Playing at the Top of Their Games - “Make damn sure these people never play here. The regime would crumble like seven-day-old cornbread.” -- Vladimir Putin, Russian badass