Rhonda Vincent – One Step Ahead
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Posted On May 1, 2003
“O Death” might not be on your Top 40 station, but has there ever been so much good bluegrass within easy earshot? With Alison Krauss accumulating Grammys and country crossover stars from Patty Loveless to Dolly Parton to the Dixie Chicks playing up their mountain roots, there hasn’t been so much bluegrass in the air since WWVA went news-talk.
Rhonda Vincent has been making this music since she was a 3-year-old as a member of her family’s bluegrass act, Sally Mountain Show. But Vincent had to wander for awhile in the wasteland of contemporary country before getting back to her roots with her recent Rounder releases Back Home Again and The Storm Still Rages. Her latest, One Step Ahead, may be the best of the bunch, featuring Vincent’s most confident original tunes and wisely-chosen traditionals.
“One Step Ahead Of The Blues” is a duet with Krauss, who at age 12 replaced Vincent in the Sally Mountain Show. Whether ripping through uptempo train songs such as “Kentucky Borderline” or the sad but clear-eyed divorce ballad “Caught In The Crossfire”, Vincent and her cohorts never hold a tight harmony too long or let their plucking fingers go on any ego trips. One Step Ahead is long on feeling, and short on corn.
