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Sunday, 8 February, 2009 12:06 PM
CMA New Artist Spotlight: Becky
Schlegel
Photo
by Michael Witcher
Lilly
Ray/IGO recording artist Becky Schlegel
| By
Bob Doerschuk |
| ©
2008 CMA Close Up News Service |
Aside from a whisper
of electric guitar on the title track and a bit of steel guitar
now and then, the instrumentation is acoustic throughout Becky Schlegel's
debut album, For All the World to See. Even on the faster bluegrass
tracks, her songs are filled nearly as much with light as with sound.
That quality flows through
the first single, "Bound for Tennessee," evokes Celtic
folk and Appalachian harmonies in "Jenny," hangs like
an evening mist on the cello-caressed "Why Maybe" and
ambles to the rhythm of some very gentle drumming on "I Need
Your Love." The spaciousness on these 11 tracks, each written
by Schlegel, may have something to do with her upbringing in Kimball,
a tiny town on the South Dakota prairie. Piano lessons began there
at age 5 and pointed Schlegel toward her first gigs with her mother's
band, The Country Benders.
After high school, she
found summer work as singer and keyboardist on "The Mountain
Music Show," staged seven nights a week at Custer in the Black
Hills. This revue piqued her interest in more traditional Country;
after moving to Minnesota she switched to guitar and founded True
Blue, honored by the Minnesota Music Academy in 2000 as Bluegrass/Old-Time
Group of the Year. Then, after winning the MMA's Artist of the Year
award in 2001, Schlegel began her journey as a solo artist.
Produced by Schlegel
and Brian Fesler and released on Lilly Ray / IGO Records, For All
the World to See introduces an artist who's ready for all the world
to hear.
IN HER OWN WORDS
SONG YOU'D SECRETLY
LOVE TO COVER
"'Nobody Wins,' by Kris Kristofferson."
DREAM DUET PARTNER
"Don Williams."
SONG YOU SING IN
THE SHOWER
"'Slow Learner,' by the Nashville Bluegrass Band. I sing it
every time I step into an elevator too. It's been in my head for
about seven years."
ITEMS IN YOUR TIME
CAPSULE
"Pen, paper and a Mountain Dew."
FAVORITE FOOD ON
THE ROAD
"Gas station food - all of it!"
MUSICAL HERO
"My mom and Merle Haggard."
INFLUENCES
"Donna Fargo, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Highway 101, Alison
Krauss, The McCarters, Charly McClain, Dolly Parton, Reno &
Smiley, Ricky Skaggs, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, The Whites, Don
Williams and Dwight Yoakam."
BOOK ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND
"The Berenstain Bears."
SONG YOU WISH YOU
WROTE
"'Tennessee 1949.'"
MOMENT YOU'D RELIVE
IF YOU COULD
"The night I met my husband, Heath Loy."
IF YOU WEREN'T AN
ARTIST, WHAT YOU WOULD BE
"A vintage Fisher Price toy collector."
YOUR GREATEST PERFORMANCE
TO DATE AND WHY
"Opening for Junior Brown in Fairmont, Minn. I closed my eyes
and couldn't believe how great we sounded."
On the Web:
www.beckyschlegel.com
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