Article Contributed by Mountain Home Music Company
Published on January 10, 2026
“Bernadette,” the new single from legendary bluegrass hitmakers, Mountain Home Music Company’s Lonesome River Band, proves there’s still plenty of life in the classic “dark lyrics set to upbeat, energetic music” bluegrass trope. Here, though, it’s given a new twist as it gets the group’s innovative “Telegrass” treatment that blends chicken pickin’ electric guitar with the acoustic instrumentation that typifies the genre.
Kicked off by veteran fiddler — and newly minted National Fiddlers Association Hall of Fame member — Mike Hartgrove, and sung by the band’s guitarist, Jesse Smathers, “Bernadette”’s doleful tale of a farmer abandoned by its fickle namesake has a surprising origin story, recounted by songwriter Bob Minner of Tim McGraw’s Dancehall Doctors band:
“My wife Ginger and I write a lot of songs together,” he says, “and sometimes the ideas come from the strangest of places. ‘Bernadette’ came from when one of Ginger’s favorite authors, Shawn Inmon, was asking his fans to offer up unique women’s names to be used in his next novel. We were driving around and joking about names like Ethel, Maude, Carly, etc., and I just blurted out ‘How ‘bout Bernadette?’ And out of nowhere I sang that name and first line.”
“We got home and sat down and we wrote it in no time. It just fell out, so to speak. Plus, I always wanted to use the word ‘trifling’ in a song, so it seemed fitting for a woman like Bernadette in the story. We did a guitar/vocal demo of it and I sent it right to my buddy, Jesse Smathers, because LRB was who we heard in our heads doing it as we wrote it.”
Indeed, it’s hard to imagine any other artist giving “Bernadette” a more compelling treatment. Highlighting its unusual structure with split solos that feature Hartgrove; the group’s award-winning banjo player and leader, Sammy Shelor; Telecaster wizard Rod Riley; mandolinist Adam Miller, and Smathers, its plaintive story is emphasized by unusual open fifths in the chorus’s harmony vocal, even as the group’s rhythmic drive propels the track to its downbeat ending.
“Thanks to LRB for cutting this one,” says Minner. “We’re honored.”
“Bernadette” is streaming in Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL. Listen to it HERE.
