Billie Reneé - Songs From The Heart

Perhaps the surest sign that bluegrass has grown to a mature musical form is the fact that it has now segmented itself into a number of subsets. Each has its own dedicated following, with artists catering to the style, labels that record and promote the music, agencies that specialize in promoting it, and festivals committed to preserving it.
There is the traditional sound, what used to just be called bluegrass, the more progressive style where performers use the common instruments associated with Bill Monroe to play music that bears little resemblance to his Blue Grass Boys, and looser configurations that merge folk, swing, and grassy approaches to original music. There are the jam grass bands that take after The Grateful Dead, and the retro grass outfits that take us back to the 1950s. There are even bands intent on recreating the music of the big ’80s rock groups, with acoustic instruments.
That all this is viewed generically as “bluegrass” serves our music well in the main, though it can lead to confusion among some consumers. And like all factions, each surely feels that their is the “true bluegrass,” the one that will win out in the end.
Perhaps the largest component these days is what might be called contemporary bluegrass, given to tightly-crafted songs, more sophisticated arrangements, and high-level instrumentalists, delivered by skilled vocalists. It retains most of the elements that defined the earliest examples of the music, and has begun to absorb what a few years ago was known as acoustic country. And the further that pop country moves away from its traditions, the bigger the door for bluegrass to incorporate that sound.
This is where an artist like Billie Reneé Johnson shines, in this contemporary bluegrass realm, and where she is likely to find a great many fans thanks to her new Songs From The Heart album from Truegrass Entertainment. It shows her to be a fine bluegrass singer, with a very attractive voice, and the power and range to sing this music with the aggressive edge that has become its hallmark.