BIOS
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Charlie Sizemore (vocals, guitar)  

In addition to being one of bluegrass music’s most distinctive and expressive vocal stylists, Charlie Sizemore is also recognized as being one of its most literate and thoughtful songwriters, with impeccable taste in choosing lesser-known, under-appreciated, well-written tunes by other writers.  Based in Nashville, where he runs a successful law practice, Sizemore has moved a long way from his roots in eastern Kentucky, on Puncheon Creek, in the state’s quintessentially Appalachian county, Magoffin.  In other ways, however, he is as deeply close as ever, as connected to the sources of his musical inspiration as when he joined Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys at age seventeen, replacing the late Keith Whitley, for the next nine and a half years.
 
“Charlie Sizemore gave me nine and one half years of honest and dependable service as lead singer in the late seventies and early eighties,” Stanley reflects today. “He was one of my top lead singers that I have had through the years. Charlie knows music and knows how to make it right.”

Not only did Sizemore give his boss Ralph Stanley “honest and dependable service,” but during that time, all of Sizemore’s earlier experience and influences paid off and led to the creation of one of the most subtle and sophisticated styles of lead singing in bluegrass today.  His remarkable tone and understated attack underpin the notion that he is truly a singer’s singer, possessed of exquisite taste and feeling.

Within a month of leaving the Clinch Mountain Boys, Sizemore enrolled at the University of Kentucky, and after matriculating attended graduate school in history at Middle Tennessee State University for a while before switching paths and moving to Nashville.  Here he earned his law degree and passed the Tennessee bar exam.  (He later would become licensed in his home state of Kentucky as well.)

By that time, he had married and started a family, with two small children, and he felt that the legal profession would be a more dependable way to support them. As the years passed, however, he grew restless and began the Charlie Sizemore Band.

Along the way he recorded a series of highly-acclaimed bluegrass albums, chief among them (and perhaps his most personal) In My View as well as a full-length album of Tom T. Hall songs.  He had also married and started a family, with two small children. Just prior to graduating from law school while at the same time working for a Nashville law firm, he took a sabbatical from the road in late 1998. “I don’t feel like I was all that busy,” he remembers, “I was having a great time. I enjoyed everything I did. The problem is I was never home and when I was my nose was in a book. I wanted to see my kids grow up.”

The “Good News” in the title of Charlie Sizemore’s most recent album, his first for Rounder and available in stores, is that he is back -- back to recording and back out on the road.  He has indeed been missed during his lengthy hiatus of the past several years, devoted to building his law practice and raising his family. He nonetheless made time to collaborate with co-producer – “co-equal” Charlie calls him – Buddy Cannon to make Good News. Of Buddy’s contribution to Good News, Sizemore says, with typical Sizemore modesty, “it simply could not have been done without him.”

Cannon himself returns the favor and says straightforwardly that no one else’s voice makes him feel the way Charlie’s does. Putting their heads together, the two came up with a sterling set of songs, each memorable in its own right, including some new Sizemore originals and some tunes that are favorites of Charlie’s going back several years. Sizemore’s goal was “to make a record that sounds like the records I liked growing up” – to capture the vibrancy and “aliveness” that he first heard in recordings of Red Allen, the Stanley Brothers, and Flatt & Scruggs. Doing so represented a huge leap of faith for a perfectionist with obsessive tendencies in the studio like Sizemore, but one which ultimately brought out the best in singers, players, and producers.
 
More modestly, however, this was a record made “live,” and with minimal pressure; it’s the quickest record Sizemore has made since his younger days of recording with Ralph Stanley. “Silver Bugle,” a song drawn from local Puncheon Creek Civil War lore, is an idea Sizemore has carried around with him for fifteen years. Written with Tom T. and Dixie Hall, it has already become a favorite in his live performances.  Cannon and Sizemore wrote “I Won’t Be Far From Here,” inspired by an old necktie of Carter Stanley’s placed by their side while they were writing the song, virtually channeling the feel of the late Carter Stanley’s songs.
  
The many musical highlights of Good News amply testify to the richness and depth of Sizemore’s influences and background, from playing music with his father in a band lead by local east Kentucky musician/showman Lum Patton to his time with Melvin Goins prior to joining Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys, and then going off to form his own band and make his own recordings. To this day, Charlie takes with him the spirit of humble perseverance and dedication set forth by his heroes -- mountain men at heart who were true to their word, worked diligently, and endlessly honed their craft. True to his word, Charlie Sizemore’s most recent album title, Good News, is just that.

“Alison’s Band,” a song on the album where Sizemore, perhaps tongue in cheek, laments being unable to convince Ms. Krauss to hire him, spent three months at #1 on Bluegrass Unlimited’s National Survey and was nominated for IBMA song of the year. The success of Good News, which is universally critically acclaimed, has led to a busy touring schedule and less time in the law office. That’s fine with Sizemore, who declares: “I won’t say that my worst day playing music was better than my best day practicing law – but its close.”

The band continues its affiliation with Rounder Records and a new release is scheduled for early in 2010.

Danny Barnes (mandolin, vocals)  

Danny has lived his entire life around the world of bluegrass music. Music has always been a big part of his life.  He began playing in a family band as a child with his father Earl Barnes and brother, Randall Barnes.
   
Danny now plays the mandolin, but can showcase himself on several other instruments including the banjo.  He helps complete the sound of bands he plays with by singing tenor vocals.  Danny is also making a name for himself in the area of songwriting and has had several of his original works recorded by well-known bluegrass bands.  He has played live and recorded with several top-billing bands over the years including the Charlie Sizemore Band, Continental Divide, Pine Mountain Railroad, Katie Penn, and Dean Osborne to name just a few.

Danny is sponsored by Gibson Acoustic Instruments and plays the Gibson F-5 Sam Bush Model mandolin on stage and in the studio.  He is now also endorses Black Diamond Strings.  Danny remains close to his bluegrass roots.  He still lives in the town where he was born and raised, Richmond, Kentucky.  He makes his home there with his wife Angie and their two children.

Matt DeSpain (Dobro)
 

After college, Matt found himself gravitating to the pure acoustic sounds and harmonies of Bluegrass.  After learning the guitar and banjo, Matt found a friend in longtime musical master Gene Wooten.  Matt says that through his friendship with Gene, he not only learned from the master's musical styling, but also how to remain grounded in the basics of bluegrass Dobro.  As Matt's abilities improved, he joined Bluegrass 101 in the fall of 2000.  With Bluegrass 101, Matt gleaned his first experiences not only with live stage shows, but also with studio recording.  In the spring of 2001, Matt became one of the founding members of Louis Louisville-based "Inquire Within Band." Here Matt found more versatility in his approach to the Dobro, and gained more experience in the recording studio. Matt has since toured with the Dean Osborne Band and Pine Mountain Railroad before working with Bobby Osborne and the Rocky Top Express at the Grand Ole Opry for a couple of  years.
           
Matt lives in Hodgenville, Kentucky.  Matt plays Dobro and sings vocals for the band and uses Black Diamond Strings exclusively.

John Pennell (bass)  

John was born and raised in east central Illinois.  He has lived in Nashville for the past nine years.  As an original member of Union Station with Alison Krauss, John composed several of her earlier songs, such as "Too Late to Cry", "Foolish Heart" and "Every Time You Goodbye."  He has also played bass professionally with Harley Allen, Chris Jones, and Vassar Clements. 

John has released a CD of original material entitled "All the Lonely" and was co-writer with Harley Allen on the song "Meat & Potato Man" recorded by Alan Jackson on his "When Somebody Loves You" albums.  John continues to live and write music in Nashville, TN.








PHOTO COMING SOON

JOSH MCMURRAY (banjo)

From Church Hill, Tennessee, Josh is the newest member of the band, having played is first show in November, 2008.  Josh is perhaps best known for his ten years as banjo player for Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers, where he gained a reputation as a young picker to watch.  J.D. Crowe notes his approval in liner notes he wrote for Josh’s instrumental CD on Copper Creek Records.

IN MEMORY
Wayne Fields (banjo)

We are sorry to announce the passing of our beloved friend and band member, Wayne Fields.

Charlie Sizemore writes:
I first met Wayne over thirty years ago during his stint with The Boys From Indiana when I was a kid working with the Goins Brothers.  I still remember being a bit taken aback by how respectful he was toward me - a skinny kid from Puncheon Creek still trying to learn to pick.  He made me feel welcome and comfortable, and I was thrilled just to be able to hang out with him at festivals and shows. 

As the years went by we became friends and I continued to be amazed and inspired by his talent, never dreaming that I'd be able to work with him.

I can say with complete honesty that working in a band with Wayne is the highlight of my career, and regardless of what happens from here I don't think this will be surpassed. 

The term "greatness" is used far too casually these days.  But for me Wayne is the embodiment of that idea, both as a musician and as a person.  This is a fact: I have never known or been associated with a musician with anything approaching the combination of talent, humility, loyalty, and team spirit, and plain old-fashioned grit that Wayne Fields possessed. One would have had to be in the studio to truly understand how sick he was when we made the "Good News" CD, yet he neither complained nor asked for any special consideration. 

He was, in the words of John Pennell, "the best kept secret in bluegrass."  Beyond this and just as significant, as a band member recently noted, "he made us all better." 

I entertain no delusions of being a musician of Wayne's caliber. I can only hope to someday lay claim to being something approaching the kind of person he was.  In reality, this may be the larger hurdle.

We love you and miss you, Wayne. You'll never be replaced.

Charlie Sizemore
The Charlie Sizemore Band

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