Gena Britt Music

"Get Up In Jesus Name" the energetic and upbeat Southern gospel track from the recently released CHRONICLE: Friends and Music, featuring Alecia Nugent's powerful lead vocal, and Beth Lawrence alongside Gena Britt on harmony, has just made it's debut at number one on the Bluegrass Today Gospel Chart.

This passion infused song has been receiving escalated SiriusXM airplay and a warm reception from listeners on both Bluegrass Junction and the Enlighten programs. When you hear it you will understand why. It offers anything and everything you could possibly want from a feel good, inspiring southern gospel tune. Energy, spirit, amazing instrumentation and soulful vocals that lift you straight up out of your seat.

A job well done in arrangement, recording and execution by the vocalists and band! More, More, More!

"You may know Gena Britt as a member of the bluegrass supergroup, Sister Sadie. However, her resume includes so much more than that. She is one of the most respected current bluegrass banjo players. She has been a member of Lou Reid & Carolina and Grasstowne. In addition, Britt has done work with The Lonesome River Band, Balsam Range, and Alecia Nugent, just to name a few. She has just released a new solo project, Chronicle: Friends and Music. 

Gena Britt’s new project is just what it’s title implies, an album featuring great music from her and her friends. Those musical friends are recognizable names, including Brooke Auldridge (“On and On” penned by Bill Monroe), Marty Raybon (“Traveling Poor Boy” penned by Brent Cobb), Dale Ann Bradley (“You Don’t Get Over That” penned by Tim Stafford & Steve Gulley), and Alecia Nugent (“Get Up In Jesus’ Name”). Add to that songs written by Tim O’Brien (“Untold Stories”) and Eli Johnston (“Over and Over” and “Looking Forward to the Good Life”), and you have a quality project all the way around: singing, performing, production, and songwriting. One of my favorite tracks on the album is the instrumental “Soldier’s Lament”. It seems to be the flip side to the upbeat, old fiddle tune, “Soldier’s Joy”. 

There are 13 tracks on Chronicle: Friends and Music. I noted the guest vocalist that appear on this project, but I must mention that Britt sings lead on 6 songs. I would be remiss if I did not mention at least some of the other folks that lent their talents to this album: Jason Barie, Tina Adair, Darren Nicholson, Zak McLamb, Deanie Richardson, Scott Vestal, Alan Bibey, and Keith Garrett. Even if I did not know the title of this project, the album has a feeling of friends gathering to play great music, just shy of a jam session. I recommend Gena Britt’s Chronicle: Friends and Music."

-Michael "Porkchop" Branch, 92.1 WLHR Lake Hartwell Radio

Gena Britt 
Chronicle: Friends and Music – 2019 (Pinecastle) 
Reviewed by Donald Teplyske

The third solo album from a member of Sister Sadie to be released in 2019, "Chronicle: Friends and Music" (following those of Deanie Richardson and Dale Ann Bradley) reflects the breadth of modern bluegrass: energetic and intense, firmly rooted in the foundations of an ever-evolving music. 

An original Daughter of Bluegrass, North Carolina's Gena Britt has been - for more than three decades - one of bluegrass music's most identifiable and increasingly in-demand 5-string players. Once an anomaly - a female working at the highest levels of a staunch and frequently overbearing industry - Britt is rightly viewed as one of the finest melodic and driving of performers. In Murphy Hicks Henry's expansive tome "Pretty Good for a Girl," when writing of the mid-Eighties that "the second wave of female banjo players was rolling in," the first next mentioned is Gena Britt. 

"Chronicle: Friends and Music" collects 13 tracks, six featuring Britt on lead vocals and recorded with some of bluegrass music's most recognizable names, including all of her Sister Sadie compatriots. The album is significantly cohesive in sound and presentation. 

Highlights include the radio-friendly "Over and Over," "Come to Jesus" and "Runaway Train," each sung by Britt. While Britt's voice isn't necessarily as distinctive as some of her bluegrass sisters, it is robust and sensitive, entirely engaging and entertaining. 

With friends like Brooke Aldridge available, Brett wisely takes advantage and features her on Bill Monroe's "On and On," a significant alliance that should not be over-looked when awards time next comes around. 

Duane Sparks' lead vocal appearance on "Ships That Don't Come In," Robert Hale's on "Looking Forward to the Good Life" and Marty Raybon's on "Traveling Poor Boy" also elevate this very strong collection. Out of the bluegrass spotlight for a number of years, Alecia Nugent makes a welcome return on the affecting "Get Up in Jesus' Name." 

Additional songs from Tim O'Brien ("Untold Stories") and Tim Stafford and Steve Gulley ("You Don't Get Over That") as well as a pair of instrumentals (Britt's "Soldier's Lament" and "Big Country") solidify a stout collection of music that weaves in, out and about all expected bluegrass touchstones. 

Bluegrass music has an inaccurate reputation as a music that is about 'out-performing' others. Rather, and at its core, bluegrass is about artful instrumental and vocal collaboration, and this is in evidence throughout "Chronicle: Friends and Music." It isn't about hot licks and speedy note popping - although there is plenty of that. Instead, bluegrass is about friends coming together to present songs in a most endearing, artful manner. 

This is a timely collection of contemporary bluegrass that will be long-regarded for its quality and substance.

SEE COUNTRY STANDARD TIME

Gena Britt is surely one of the most beloved personalities in bluegrass. Since she was a teenager, you could find Gena at festivals and conventions in the North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee region, looking for a jam and a chance to pick. 

Now as a grown up lady with two daughters of her own, she is still out there with her banjo, performing at the highest professional level. Stints with Petticoat Junction, New Vintage, Lou Reid & Carolina, and Alan Bibey & Grasstowne have made hers a familiar face on the festival stage, and she had released a solo project in 2008, Doing All I Can. As if that wasn’t enough, Gena was a founding member of The Daughters Of Bluegrass, and toured with her own Gena Britt Band for several years as well. 

Today she is a member of Sister Sadie, among the most fun-loving bands ever assembled in bluegrass, and her increased visibility has led to a new solo album, Chronicle – Friends and Music, coming up soon on Pinecastle Records. 

A debut single is out this week showing off Britt’s solid banjo playing and lead singing chops, a new song by Eli Johnston and Kevin McKinnon, called Over and Over. She is supported by Darren Nicholson on mandolin, Dustin Benson on guitar, Josh Matheny on reso-guitar, Zak McLamb on bass and Deanie Richardson on fiddle. Tina Adair and Scott Vestal sing harmony vocals. 

It’s a driving bluegrass train song about a man who just can’t stay in one place.

Over and Over is available now as a free download when you pre-order the full album, which is set for release on July 12. Radio programmers can download the single now at AirPlay Direct.

When we wrote earlier about this week about Gena Britt taking her leave from Alan Bibey & Grasstowne, we wondered if there might be a little more to the story. And of course, there is. 

It is true that both Grasstowne and Sister Sadie have trended upwards this year, with both acts seeing an uptick in bookings, so she really couldn’t have continued to do both. But Gena also has some other irons in the fire that are taking up her energy. 

Remember, this is a woman who continues to work a non-music career during the week, and is a single mother of two girls. Free time is something of a relative concept in her life. But she is equally wedded to bluegrass, something she has done since she was a teenager traipsing around Galax with a banjo across her shoulder looking for a jam. 

Now she has signed with Pinecastle Records to produce a solo project under her own name, with work set to begin sometime later this year. Britt says that she has collected material for the album and can’t wait to get started. 

Gena shared a few words about all this… 

“I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a member of Grasstowne and I will miss everyone. Alan Bibey and I go back a long way and we will always remain great friends. I wish him and the new configuration of Grasstowne nothing but the best. 

The support of my career from Pinecastle means so much. I’ve got some pretty awesome pickers and singers assembled to start working on an upcoming solo album early this fall.” 

And she’ll be cutting it with a new banjo! Gena has also just signed an endorsement deal with Wilson Custom Banjos who are building one just for her. 

“I am ecstatic about my new partnership with Steve Wilson & Wilson Custom Banjos. Steve and I (mostly Steve) have worked hard at designing a banjo that ensures my personality shines through from the wood to the design of the inlay pattern and some other neat features. I’m so excited for everyone to see and hear this banjo! It’s an exciting time for me.” 

You can catch Gena this summer with Sister Sadie, an all-star group that also includes Dale Ann Bradley, Deanie Richardson, Tina Adair, and Beth Lawrence. Look for their schedule online.

https://bluegrasstoday.com/gena-britt-to-pinecastle-records/