Daughters of Bluegrass- Pickin’ Like A Girl review

I few months ago I received from the good folks at Blue Circle Records a copy of Pickin’ Like A Girl, a new three-disc compilation of Miss Dixie Hall (and her co-writers) songs recorded by a wide range of bluegrass females. It is a very interesting project, and I hope I captured some of the highpoints within my review, posted at Country Standard Time. The review was submitted more than two months ago, but got lost in the workload and only makes its appearance today.

There are many theories shared about why women remain ‘less than equal’ within the bluegrass world. I suppose one has to accept the first statement as fact before even considering the reasons, and I suspect that there are many who will not.

Many years ago, Rhonda Vincent stated to me that she feels part of ‘the problem’ (if one views it as such) is that women- generalizing here- frequently are the primary caregivers and homemakers in families, and simply- because they are too busy- don’t have the opportunity to ‘pick and sing’ with their buddies the way some men do. Others have suggested that female led acts have it rougher on the road because some festivals continue to have informal (heck, could be written in their charter for all I know) ‘one female per year’ policies. I had a compatriot once remark to me, when we were considering a female-led band booking, that the requested fee seemed ‘a lot for a girl.’

Some likely feel that females in ‘grass is simply no part of nothing, or that they play wimpy arsed country music. Yes, I’ve heard those comments, too.

Regardless, females are placed front and center within Pickin’ Like a Girl, and I hope you’ll consider exploring the set. It is very reasonably priced. By the way, my review of Bluegrass Bouquet, a previously released volume in this series included as a bonus with the new set, is posted HERE.

A promo video for “Pickin’ Like a Girl” is was posted last week.

As always, thanks for visiting Fervor Coulee. Donald