{"id":3238,"date":"2011-08-09T11:05:53","date_gmt":"2011-08-09T18:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3238"},"modified":"2011-08-09T11:05:53","modified_gmt":"2011-08-09T18:05:53","slug":"rhonda-vincent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/rhonda-vincent\/","title":{"rendered":"RHONDA VINCENT"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

RHONDA VINCENT<\/h1>\n

One of bluegrass\u2019 leading ladies takes care of business<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Rhonda Vincent grew up in the family business. The Missouri native first began singing at age 5 as a member of her parents\u2019 bluegrass group, the Sally Mountain Show. Three years later she took up the mandolin, and it\u2019s been her instrument of choice ever since. \u201cOne of the great things about growing up in a bluegrass family is that it allows you to experience so many different things on a much smaller scale,\u201d says Vincent. \u201cYou become really entrenched in the lessons of how to make a career and how to make a living. So I\u2019m very grateful to my parents, because I got on-the-job training.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that Vincent is one of the leading figures in modern bluegrass, she\u2019s taking on a new challenge. She recently launched her own independent label, through which she released her new album, Taken<\/em>. \u201cI eliminated the middleman,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt was a viable route to go, though it had its challenges. When it came time to write a check, it was the first time that I didn\u2019t have an advance, so it was scary. But it\u2019s also very exciting. During meetings, somebody would ask, \u2018Who do you need to check with?\u2019<\/p>\n

And I would reply, \u2018Let me check with the A&R department. OK,\u00a0that\u2019s me. I say let\u2019s do this.\u2019\u201d\u00a0Recorded with her longtime backing band, the Rage, Taken<\/em> features guest appearances from Dolly Parton, Richard Marx, Little Roy Lewis and Vincent\u2019s daughters Sally and Tensel Sandker (who have a group of their own, Next Best Thing). The album found Vincent going back to basics by playing more mandolin than she has in some time. \u201cI made it a personal goal,\u201d says Vincent, who has focused more on her vocals over the last several years\u2014and been named the International Bluegrass Music Association\u2019s Female Vocalist of the Year seven times. \u201cI\u2019ve played a few pieces here and there, but not every mandolin piece on an entire album.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two decades after the release of her debut album, A Dream Come True<\/em>, Vincent continues to push herself artistically. \u201cWhen I go into the studio, I always try to make something better and I always try to do something we haven\u2019t done before,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a challenge, but there\u2019s always the same rule of thumb. It has to feel good in my heart before we send it off for folks to listen to.\u201d Those folks sent Taken<\/em> to No. 1 on Billboard<\/em>\u2019s bluegrass chart upon its release. \u201cIt told me this was really the right choice,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s like a stamp of approval, something that says, \u2018Job well done.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Lee Zimmerman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RHONDA VINCENT One of bluegrass\u2019 leading ladies takes care of business Rhonda Vincent grew up in the family business. The Missouri native first began singing at age 5 as a member of her parents\u2019 bluegrass group, the Sally Mountain Show. Three years later she took up the mandolin, and it\u2019s been her instrument of choice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[1334,2336,10156],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3238"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3242,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3238\/revisions\/3242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}