Balsam Range is traversing the musical landscape from their acoustic, award-winning Mountain Voodoo to that of the orchestral with their newest work, Mountain Overture, a recording that transforms the band’s most-loved songs from their first decade of recordings and features the Atlanta Pops Orchestra Ensemble. It’s an epic new branch of their music that captures not a new, but an additional direction. With an augmented version of the Balsam Range Bluegrass sound, Mountain Overture becomes the band’s album of greatest hits, plus!

“Balsam Range is a five-piece acoustic band. We all share the love for the arts and all the music forms that contribute to that title,” says lead vocalist and IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year, Buddy Melton. “To hear our music performed with the support of the Atlanta Pops Orchestra Ensemble is a big and beautiful sound, and it opens the mind to the understanding that all music is connected.”

The music scores, arranged by Wes Funderburk and Shelley Washington, do just that. They lift the heartfelt tale of “Trains I Missed” (IBMA 2011 Song of the Year), intensify the sentimental longing of “Blue Mountain,” and draw out the melancholia of “I Hear the Mountains.”

Each work is made new by pulling together the rustic and the symphonic. It seamlessly combines the authenticity of Balsam Range’s traditional approach with string, brass, woodwind and percussion sections. Its effect is profound -- elevating “Matthew,” “Jack Diamond,” “From A Georgia Battlefield,” “Last Train to Kitty Hawk,” “Eldorado Blue,” “Burning Georgia Down,” and “Any Old Road (Will Take You There)” to new heights.

With its ability to break new ground by combining these two musical worlds, Mountain Overture is a true prelude for things to come for this celebrated band.

“Collaborating with Balsam Range has been a highlight in the 73-year history of the Atlanta Pops. Through expert musical arrangements, virtuosic playing and singing, and a most genuine camaraderie, I think we may have discovered an exciting new genre!” says Atlanta Pops Orchestra Ensemble Assistant Conductor Tom Gibson. “We’re very excited for audiences to hear what we’ve discovered. They have such a polished ease in performance, and such a heart-warming openness with their audience...this has been wonderful to witness. And a blessing to emulate. They make music in the most sincere way possible, and blending our sounds has been exhilarating.”

Mountain Overture will be available for streaming and purchase April 27 from Mountain Home Music Company. That evening, Balsam Range will perform with Atlanta Pops Orchestra Ensemble at MerleFest in Wilkesboro, North Carolina on the Watson Stage.

As a member of the GRAMMY award-winning Infamous Stringdusters, Jeremy Garrett’s known for his fiddle playing and bold vocal style. Now, with the upcoming release of Circles, an intimate wide-ranging solo album, he serves up a compelling reminder that some artists’ creativity needs more than one outlet to be completely fulfilled. Circles, now available for pre-order, will be released by Organic Records on Jan. 31, 2020.

A multi-instrumentalist, Garrett uses guitar, fiddle, and mandolin — along with plenty of modern musical technology — behind his signature vocals to showcase an especially emotive side to his song-crafting.  Yet as personal as the songs on the 8-track collection are, they also reflect his engagement with a community of co-writers, including some of the best-known names in Roots/Americana music. Highlights are Oliver Wood of the Wood Brothers on Garrett’s previously released single, “I Am Who I Am”; Darrell Scott on “What Would We Find”; and one of his long-time writing partners, the award-winning Jon Weisberger on “Travel Light,” “The Highway” and, along with another veteran co-writer, Josh Shilling, on the project’s first single, “I Can’t Lay Your Lovin’ Down.”

The title track, “Circles,” finds Garrett working with noted writer Donna Ulisse to weave together melancholy and hope in a meditative reverie enhanced by atmospheric vocal harmonies from singer-songwriter Prisca. 

Using a carefully-assembled array of effects to create his roots-based compositions, Garrett loops and layers his instruments and vocals throughout the album. The technique is most notable in the instrumentals “Oracle” and “Baker’s Jam,” with the latter transforming a long-time favorite traditional tune, “Angeline The Baker,” into a virtuosic, 21st-century rave-up that reminds us why Garrett’s known for his prowess on the fiddle. 

The multi-instrumental layered recording style Garrett used to create this work results in lush textures that add to the intimacy of the songwriting. Yet thanks to his arsenal of devices, he’s able to bring that same depth of sound to live performances, which he offers in tours built around his full-time band’s schedule. 

Garrett’s Circles has its place in a growing wave of exploratory acoustic fusion music, but stands out for the authentic songwriting at its core. The result is an unmistakably innovative collection that still finds its most enduring strength in the oldest of old-fashioned ways — by delivering deep, emotional expression straight from the heart.

Pre-order Circles HERE.