Formed in 2007, Carolina Blue lays claim to a Top 5 Billboard album, four International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) award nominations and being named Entertainer of the Year by the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America (SPBGMA) along with winning the coveted Bluegrass Band of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year and Album of the Year honors, also from SPBGMA. The band pres
ents bluegrass music like Bill Monroe intended, without being a Bill Monroe cover band. The sound is marked by heavy fiddle and mandolin work; and complex harmony from a group that enjoys sincere engagement with fans. Bobby Powell (guitar and vocals) said he and the Carolina Blue band members, which includes Timmy Jones (mandolin and vocals), James McDowell (banjo and vocals), Reese Combs (upright bass and vocals) and Aynsley Porchak (fiddle, recipient of the 2018 IBMA Momentum Instrumentalist Award), “are on the same page when it comes to music and lifestyle. We’re all conservative Christians and we reflect that as a band, too.” The band’s attire is a throwback to the 1940s and 50s. That periodic style of dress was influenced by two of Bobby and Tim’s North Carolina mentors – Roy Chapman and Joe Byers. “They taught us to try to dress better than the folks who are paying money to see us play,” Powell says. “They told us to respect our audience.” Carolina Blue records for Billy Blue Records with their new album, Take Me Back, available now. Carolina Blue has perfectly encapsulated on this album, the music that has made them one of the genre's most popular bands in recent years. In the liner notes, Nashville Bluegrass Band alumni and mandolin aficionado Mike Compton stated of the band, “Their style is rooted in the past, their presentation straightforward and courageous, their performances filled with charismatic energy and a touch of modern sophistication.”
Take Me Back is packed with twelve new songs – eight of which were contributed by co-founders Timmy Jones and Bobby Powell. "Grown Cold" (Powell), the album's spirited opening track and first single, has made an impressive statement including a rapid rise in just three months on the National Bluegrass Survey's Top 30 Songs chart. The achingly beautiful "Take Me To the Mountains That I Love," (Jones) the Stanley Brothers styled "Lost And Lonely," (Jones), and "Number 73987," (Powell/Jones) a song told from the perspective of Bill Monroe's infamous mandolin, are excellent examples of the wide range of creativity flowing freely from Carolina Blue. And although the band produces much of their own material, they are quick to recognize a great song from outsourced writers, as well. The second single, "Too Wet To Plow," was written by noted song-smith David Stewart and is a perfect fit for the group, as is "Country Lovin' Son Of A Gun" written by Dewitt Johnson, and "Blue Grass" crafted by hit writers Larry Cordle and Mike Anthony. The album is chock full of the Monroe-esque goodness the band is most recognized for and dedicated to the man credited for creating the American art form know as Bluegrass music.
