RHONDA VINCENT AND THE RAGE

RHONDA VINCENT AND THE RAGE
ALL THE RAGE: RHONDA VINCENT AND THE RAGE IN CONCERT, VOLUME ONE

Upper Mgmt. Records
UM010

For any young musician determined to carve out a meaningful and lasting career, it’s hard to imagine a better role model than Rhonda Vincent. With her remarkable artistry, discipline, commitment, generosity, and vast energy, there are few, if any, quite like her. If we even needed further proof of this, we have it with her new CD/DVD live-in-concert release, All The Rage. Recorded at West Tennessee’s Bethel University last year, this 14-song, 60-minute-long tour de force captures Vincent and her long-time band at their full power.

Rhonda and the Rage open the show with an exhilarating, almost giddily exuberant reprise of Jimmie Rodgers’ “Muleskinner Blues,” a longstanding staple in their live shows. With seeming effortlessness, they segue into a mellow, soulful reprise of “Is The Grass Any Bluer.” This heartfelt tribute to Bill Monroe is an ideal showcase for Vincent’s almost astounding combination of vocal range, precision, and nuance. (It’s one thing to be able to break a champagne glass with your vocal pipes; it’s quite another to bring listeners to tears while doing it.)

Vincent, in recent interviews, has stated that one of her most enduring ambitions has been to put together the very best band as is humanly possible. If she hasn’t done it with The Rage (whose five members include two of her son-in-laws), then she still has come close enough for horseshoes. Not surprisingly, she’s both extremely proud and generous when it comes to sharing the spotlight to her bandmates. She devotes roughly half the tracks on this live collection to showcasing their collective and individual instrumental, vocal, and songwriting talents.(www.rhondavincent.com)BA