Bluegrass Changes, Bluegrass Life, The Pandemic Shuffle
Rhonda Vincent Brings in Zack Arnold as New Guitarist
In the world of NASCAR, they call it the “silly season.” It is the time between late fall and early spring after the race season has ended when various race car teams either fire a driver or crew chief, bring in new talent and start a new team, or fold up the company altogether. The bluegrass world works on a similar timeline, centered on the festival season in the warmer months. During this same time period, bands change their personnel, new bands appear and others fold, and musicians decide whether to sign on for another year on the concert trail or choose to get off the road to get a day job or spend more time with family. In the year 2020, the Covid-19 lockdowns added even more negative pressure to the live music industry as a whole.
When the 2021 touring season appeared in the uncertain atmosphere of the pandemic, news began to break throughout the bluegrass genre. Brandon Rickman left the Lonesome River Band after 18 years of service, bluegrass veteran Jeff Parker put his solo band on hiatus so he could join the IBMA Award-winning Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers, and IBMA Hall of Famer Doyle Lawson announced that he would retire from touring at the end of 2022.
After many years with Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, three-time IBMA “Guitar Player of the Year” Josh Williams decided to leave the group to spend more quality time with his family and three young kids. Always one to land on her feet, Vincent quickly brought some young blood into her band to replace Williams with the addition of guitarist and vocalist Zack Arnold.
Living here in the High Country Mountains of western North Carolina, I had the chance to watch Arnold rise up in the bluegrass world as a teenager while in the band ClayBank. The group was made up of Arnold on mandolin and his fellow teenage buddy Jacob Greer on guitar, both hailing from Ashe County, NC. Rounding out the band were two older musicians in Tyler Thompson on banjo and local Boone, NC, bluegrass veteran Gary Trivette on bass, who spent time performing with Carolina Crossing and Southern Accent.
Trivette happened to meet the two young pickers at the Appalachian State Old-Time Fiddler’s Convention in 2015 and soon ClayBank was born. The group quickly won the Bluegrass Band Competition at the Union Grove Fiddler’s Convention in April of 2015, won the Bluegrass Band Competition at RenoFest in 2016 and then came in third place in the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America convention’s (SPBGMA) band contest later in the year. ClayBank’s debut album on the Rural Rhythm label called Playing Hard To Get produced the single “Up On ClayBank,” which climbed to Number 2 on the Bluegrass Today Weekly Airplay Chart and reached the Top Ten on the Billboard Bluegrass Album chart.
Two of the judges at the SPBGMA competition were Danny Roberts of the Grascals and his wife Andrea Roberts, the acclaimed manager and booking agent who has successfully guided the careers of Blue Highway, The Grascals and other groups. After signing with Roberts, this collaboration led to two albums released on the Mountain Fever label, including 2019’s Road Signs and Highways.
Youthful exuberance, however, seem to take hold of the band. Tyler and Trivette left ClayBank with Trivette landing on his feet with Nick Chandler and Delivered. Jason Davis, Kameron Keller and Jamie Harper joined Arnold and Greer to make ClayBank a quintet. Then, by September of 2019, before the pandemic hit and just a little over a month after the release of the Road Signs and Highways album, Arnold suddenly left ClayBank to join the hit-making bluegrass band Sideline, one of the best outfits in the genre.
Going into 2020, Arnold’s long-time friend Greer also joined Sideline, marking the end of ClayBank. That, of course, is just the nature of the business. To their credit, Arnold and Greer learned a lot from their time with their former band and it provided them with a launching pad for future opportunities.
Earlier this year, in May 2020, Arnold took advantage of his connection with Rhonda Vincent and decided to take another leap of faith by accepting Josh Williams’ coveted guitar slot with The Rage.
“It’s been absolutely crazy,” said Arnold. “It’s really been a dream come true for me. This is what I have dreamed of doing as a young kid from probably the age of six up until now. It’s been very surreal, but I have been very happy and blessed that that I get to do it. I’ve known Rhonda for a pretty good while now and we’d speak in passing. We got to sing together a little bit prior to this, so when all of this came about with Josh, she reached out to me and asked me if I played the guitar. I told her, ‘Yes, I do.’ She then asked if I would be willing to come and fill in for Josh on a few shows a while ago, and I told her that I’d be honored to do it. So, that it how it all worked out.”
Moving from mandolin to guitar was easy for Arnold. “The guitar was my first instrument,” said Arnold. “I started when I was about 12-years-old when I began to take lessons with Steve Lewis for a couple of years. I started playing the mandolin when ClayBank began and it became my main focus. But, I’m excited to be playing the guitar again. My guitar heroes have always been Tony Rice, Bryan Sutton and Kenny Smith and all of those guys. Josh Williams has always been one of my heroes, as well.”
Arnold’s networking with Vincent paid off in a positive way, which is something that all young musicians can learn to do as they get older, as long as they do it without being overbearing. As it turns out, however, Arnold’s connection with Vincent goes back to a time long ago that Arnold cannot remember. “I told Rhonda this past weekend that there is a picture that I need to find of her holding me when I was about two years old,” said Arnold. “My Mom is a huge Rhonda Vincent fan so I had been to a lot of Rhonda’s shows over the years. As I got older, I’ve always done my best to speak with her and tell her how much I appreciate what she does. So, it is very surreal that I now get to share a stage with her. She is one of my idols and I am very lucky and blessed to be able to play for her.”
Vincent, who has been in the business her whole life going back to her family’s bluegrass group in Missouri, is a true band leader who knows exactly what she wants from her band members.
“She gives us each specific jobs that we need to do,” said Arnold. “If there is something that needs to be worked on as far as me and my guitar playing, or anything to do with anyone else in the band for that matter, we will work on it until we get it right. Hunter Berry (who is the fiddler for The Rage as well as an instructor at the East Tennessee State University Bluegrass, Old-Time, Celtic and Country Music Program) is an amazing musician that can play all of the instruments exceptionally well, as does everyone else in the band and they help me out. They are some of the most talented musicians I have played with and they are great guys, and Rhonda is great to travel with as well. I love it.”
Now in his 20s, Arnold has experienced what it is like to enter two top bands filled with established band mates that have been together a long time.
“Well, you are always feeling a little unsure of the situation when joining a new band,” said Arnold. “When I told Steve Dilling and the guys in Sideline that I was leaving, they were supportive, but it is bittersweet. It is always tough with band changes going on and the business side of things. But, I wish nothing but the best for those guys as they have been my best friends for almost two years and Jacob and I have been friends for 12 years now. So I want Sideline to keep on hammering down and I know they will do exactly that, so I am happy for those guys as well. But a good way to describe what it is like to join a new group is it’s like walking into a new classroom on the first day of the school year as a kid. But within the first couple of hours of being on the bus with the guys in The Rage, we were laughing and cutting up. They have welcomed me with open arms. Within just a few weeks of playing with Rhonda’s band, we have become brothers. It is like getting on a bus with family.”
After getting the job of replacing a powerful musician like Josh Williams, Arnold made the call to Williams to learn what he could about his new role. “Yes, I’ve talked to Josh a little bit and I’m taking every piece of advice that I can get from him,” said Arnold. “He has been extremely supportive of me and gave me pointers on being in the band and I’m very grateful for him. He gave me the same advice that my teacher Steve Lewis told me when I first started to learn how to play the guitar back in North Carolina. I told Josh that he had left me some really big shoes to fill and he was very encouraging to me, saying that he knew I could do it if I set my mind to it. Josh said, ‘Well, the one piece of advice that I can give you is if you are playing a break or a solo and you get to a place where you miss a couple of notes, don’t back down. If you are going to miss, miss big. If you mess up something, make sure everybody in the crowd knows that you messed up on it. Then, laugh about it and keep right on going.” That is very good advice because it is kind of like playing golf. When you are playing golf, you can hit a ball off the tee and it becomes a terrible shot. But, you get to go to the next hole and start all over again. That is also the way a new song onstage works. That is pretty good advice.”
Rhonda Vincent began the 2021 season by releasing her new album Music Is What I See. With a constantly growing touring schedule including numerous appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, due to Vincent’s recent induction as the world-famous institution’s newest member, Zack Arnold has an eventful and busy year ahead of him.
