Vickie Vaughn
Finding Her Own Voice
Photos by Laura E. Partain
With her solid bass skills and impeccable vocals, two-time IBMA Bass Player of the Year Vickie Vaughn is an in-demand hired gun. Her job is to create the sound other performers want to capture on records or on stage. But when she went into the studio last year to lay down the vocal tracks for her first full-length recording, Travel On, it was her chance to introduce the world to the true, unique voice of Vickie Vaughn.
“My goal with this record was for it to fit my personality like a glove,” Vaughn says. “I know that that sounds weird with music, but what is music except an extension of your heart? I feel like the biggest hurdle that I’ve ever had to jump over was singing the way I sing truly in my heart and mind, playing the way I play in my heart and mind, and not for anyone else.”
Sister Sadie’s co-founder and Grammy nominated fiddle player Deanie Richardson produced the project. Deanie told Vaughn, “This sounds like your record,” Vaughn tells Bluegrass Unlimited. “And I was just like, that’s so great because I didn’t even tell her that was the goal. Being in different bands, whether it’s High Fidelity, Della Mae, or the Vickie Vaughn Band, I was always playing for someone else. This was the first time that I even got to be in the studio and sing and play for myself the way I wanted my songs to sound.”
“When we finished recording and I got to listen all the way down I was so thankful at how it completely captured the essence of Vickie Vaughn,” Deanie Richardson said. “It’s got every little piece of her. I didn’t want to go into this with the idea of ‘Oh, this is her first record and we need to make sure it sounds a certain way to ensure radio plays it or it is nominated for awards.’ I wanted to capture everything that Vickie Vaughn is, why she’s so sought after as a player and singer, her faith, her kindness, her kickass groove, her playfulness, her undeniable human decency, her sense of humor, her heartbreaks, her contagious laugh and that thing that makes us all love her so much. She is genuine and you feel her light and her love. This record has all of this. I call her the Sweetheart of Bluegrass. I am so honored to have been a part of this record and a part of her journey.”
Learning from her friends who know about branding, Vaughn likes to describe the record as “Country Spunk: Lives in the City; Doesn’t Fit In.” “It’s bluegrass, but I can’t help but sound country, especially in my vocals, because I grew up singing country,” Vaughn said. “My playing is bluegrass through and through. I feel like I’m a country vocalist playing bluegrass music.”
In her early years, Vaughn wanted to become a background vocalist and songwriter. She sang weekends at the Kentucky Opry and started classical training for her voice at Murray State University as a teenager. Later, the mezzo singer was accepted into Belmont University in Nashville where she trained in classical and commercial vocal music. “It was intense, but I liked it a lot,” she says. “I feel like, especially with the classical lessons, they kind of teach you how to sing with longevity. I don’t want to be a flash in the pan. I want to be able to sing forever. I don’t want to damage my voice. I’m singing tonight from 9 to 11:30, and I feel like without the proper technique, I would blow out my voice with how many gigs I play a week.”
During her college years, Vaughn became acquainted with Richardson when Deanie came to hear the Belmont Bluegrass Ensemble perform. “Vickie was playing bass and singing,” Richardson remembers. “I was completely blown away with her talents. She’s a powerhouse singer. That voice is huge!! Her stage presence is so warm and personable. That Kentucky southern accent sucks you right in, and she’s just a hell of a human being with a kind, loving energy that you want to hang out with all the time. I was a fan instantly. I knew she would take the bluegrass world by storm soon.”
“I got an education with her because she would invite me over, and we would jam and stuff,” Vaughn recalls. “She would ask me what songs I liked, and I would tell her and she was like that’s all good. She made all these mix CDs of vocalists that sing with heart.”
“I just wanted to help expose her to some singers that I loved and maybe some that she’d never heard or studied before,” Richardson said. “I think that’s where we really learn and become inspired…when we step outside of the norm. Open our minds and creative boxes. I remember K.D. Lang, Patty Loveless, Nanci Griffith, Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris and probably even some Etta James being in that mix of singers.”
“It shaped me because at school all they want you to do is learn how to belt, really,” Vaughn says. “So it’s like here listen to Carrie Underwood, listen to Mariah Carey, listen to these bombshell vocalists. Those women are amazing, but that’s how they sing. She wanted me to find [my voice].”
Vaughn, who is a songwriter too, at first wanted to write all the songs on her first album, but she decided to tap into the rich treasure trove of tunes her songwriting buddies had created. “Great songs are at my fingertips all the time. Why would I stress myself out trying to expand on that, whenever it’s right there? I’m confident enough to say that I know what a good song is and so can Deanie.”
One of those songs, “Still in Love,” written by her good friends and co-writers, Kyle and Spencer Clouse, transitioned into a completely different direction. “Still in Love” with the Clauses is country to the core, and “Still in Love” on my record is a grassy lonesome Kentucky song with triple fiddles.”
Vaughn did record one song that she wrote by herself called “The Pilot,” a metaphor for Jesus. “I feel [this song] is the core of her faith,” Richardson says. “Her vocal is so convicted on this, and I wanted it to be all about that. The droning fiddles and bass with Cody’s guitars are the perfect bed for Vickie to describe the Pilot that guides her daily. Love, Love, Love how this one turned out.”
The faith that Vaughn sings about has guided her through the turbulence over the last several years following the death of her dad and a battle with cancer. “I leave everything up to God. My faith is the cornerstone of my life. I’ve been through enough tragedies and trials to know that the only thing in my life that’s gonna stay the same is God’s faithfulness to me. He’s proven his reality to me over and over and over. However, a lot of what goes on in the Church bothers me, personally. Most notably the judgment of others. It’s exclusive and alienating and that’s not what Jesus was about. I still attend, but with the understanding that anything man created is going to be problematic.”
The Early Days of Bluegrass
A native of the tiny town of Symsonia, Kentucky, outside of Paduccah, Vaughn’s parents took her to the bluegrass jam at the nearby Kentucky Opry. “I didn’t know how to play anything, but there would always be a house bass around, so I picked that up and tried to learn it,” Vaughn recalls. A banjo player named Scottie Henson, who traveled with the Grand Ole Opry band, taught her how to play upright bass.
“The first person I saw playing the bass like I wanted to play was Missy Raines. I was 13, and my dad took me to a Josh Williams show at the Kentucky Opry. She was there playing. I remember on the way home that I told daddy that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. I want to do that! I wanted to be Missy, but it took a long time to get there. I’m still working on being Missy.”
At 5’2” the instrument towered over the teen, which was quite the job to carry on most gigs. “I had my daddy whenever I was home, fortunately, to help be carry everything, but learning to tote the bass, that’s another thing. I think the job is lugging the bass around; playing’s the fun part.”
In addition to her influence by Raines, Vaughn also intently listens to players like Todd Phillips and Alan Bartram. “You can put your note anywhere in the beat—and this is so nerdy, but so cool, to listen to where a bass player places the beat, and how that affects the timing of the whole band,” Vaughn said. She also has her eye on Raines method for keeping time. “She’ll keep timing in her right hand, and that’s changed my time,” Vaughn explains. “When I saw her doing that at ROMP one year … I saw her keeping her timing even when she wasn’t playing with her right hand, almost like a conductor. I came home and practiced that. It felt goofy at first, but that changed. Whenever I’m teaching anybody, I call it “The Missy,” and it changed my timing for the better.”
Besides keeping that solid groove going, Vaughn continues to be cognizant of not overplaying with the band. “I try playing what’s in my heart and mind instead of trying to be impressive, and I think for any instrumentalist that only comes with time and confidence. Confidence only comes with time. The more anyone plays, the more that you can trust your own instincts and make your own choices and not based on, ‘I’m on stage over here with [banjo virtuoso] Wes Corbett. I wonder if he likes this run that I’m about to do.’ Not playing for the other people on stage. I feel like that has been the biggest hurdle that I’ve had to jump over. I’ve had to tell myself that so many times or I’ll get spooked and overplay, and no one likes a bass player that overplays.”
Vaughn’s hard work paid off with her peers in the International Bluegrass Music Association selecting her as the Bass Player of the Year the past two years. “I think that personally, peer recognition is the greatest success that you can have especially as a bluegrass artist.”
Unfortunately, she couldn’t be present at the 2023 awards show, but there was no way she would miss the 2024 awards. She was stunned when they called her name. “My gosh, I blacked out! It’s not like I blacked out from booze,” she adds joking. “But I remember walking up there saying a bunch of stuff and getting off stage, and Missy Raines and John Cowan were in the backstage area because they hosted that year and they were being so sweet. I go, “What did I say?” But I wanted to make sure to speak about my faith a little bit and about my mom and my brother and my dad and the people that have stood behind me. I couldn’t be anywhere without them because hard work only gets you so far.”
The Professional Push
All that preparation helped give Vaughn the needed push to start her career once she graduated. She hit the road with the gospel band, High Road, where she also had her first real-world opportunity to record in the studio. “It was cool doing it with a band instead of being a hired bass player to come in,” Vaughn recalls. “Right now I’m comfortable being hired to come in and never hearing the song and knowing how to set up and knowing how I work best to do the right job in the studio. Back then, I didn’t know what I was doing. I had to be told. ‘Do I work best with my charts on the left or the right? Am I better sitting or standing? Or even knowing to get a pencil to make notes. But I loved that my first time in the studio seriously was with a band that was forgiving and knew that it was my first time and I was part of a band so they needed me there. That made me a little more comfortable being in the studio with my own band at the time.”
In 2011, she started the Vickie Vaughn Band, comprised of Casey Campbell on mandolin, Zach White, guitar, Maggie Estes White, fiddle, and Justin Hiltner, banjo. Except for Justin, they all met during college days and toured part-time for a while, playing gigs at The Station Inn, Music City Roots, and the World of Bluegrass. In 2015, Vaughn made her six track Vickie Vaughn Band EP with Ronnie McCoury producing. “He’s the most kind-hearted person and super supportive, and he was really validating in the studio.”
Vaughn’s next venture took her out on the road singing back-up for Country Music Hall of Fame member Patty Loveless. “Touring with Patty Loveless was a TREASURE! It is one of the pearls of my career. I learned so much from her while standing on stage and listening to her with that voice. She is the BEST. Definitely the artist to aspire to. Long before I got hired to tour with her, she was a hero of mine. The epitome of Kentucky soul.”
Another incredible moment for Vaughn came when she performed with Loveless and another Hall of Famer Ricky Skaggs at ROMP. “When my Daddy was alive, before work, he would make coffee and listen to the Mountain Soul [Patty Loveless] record super loud on the Bose system in the house. It woke everyone up,” she adds, laughing. “But I, unknowingly, was absorbing those sounds. The sound of her and Ricky singing ‘Daniel Prayed’ together that I got to sing with them at ROMP. It still feels like a dream that that even happened. I remember getting the call asking if I would be willing to sing in a trio with them for a few songs at ROMP, and I cried. I was SO nervous at the rehearsal, but I knew that I was game for the gig because I had been singing those parts with their recordings for my whole life. And those two were so incredibly warm and welcome to me. That experience will always be one of my favorites.”
The doors continued to swing open to incredible opportunities for Vaughn. A fan of the Grammy-nominated, all-female group Della Mae, she was invited to join the group. “Before I got hired, I got asked to go on one of their State Department tours with them, I think, about seven years ago,” Vaughn says. “[Group founder and fiddler player] Kimber Ludiker informed me that the tour would be in the Caribbean. So, I got to tour with my favorite band in one of the coolest places on the whole Earth. Looking back, it all feels like a movie or something! I’m guessing that was a bit of an audition without my knowledge because a few months later they asked if I would join the band. It was a no brainer, of course. I love them all so much musically and personally. They are family.”
Part of Della Mae’s mission is “to improve opportunities for women and girls through advocacy, mentorship, programming, and performance.” That statement falls right in line with Vaughn’s viewpoint. “I think I’ve always been a quiet feminist,” Vaughn says. “Not really an activist, necessarily, but I was raised believing that a woman could do anything a man could, especially in the workplace. My Mama and Daddy raised my brother and I to do the same chores, the same work. I think that comes with being raised in the country on a farm. The same was expected of each of us. Because of that, I’ve never really understood how genders could be treated differently in the workplace. Della Mae showcases exactly that, that a woman can do anything in bluegrass that a man can. And that we, as a genre, should expect that. Kimber Ludiker is an absolute genius for caring about this and creating a launch pad for the conversation.”
While she juggles her work with Della Mae, teaching private lessons, studio work, and sideman gigs, Vaughn continues to lead her own band—something that was difficult to do after her dad died. “He was my biggest support and believed in me and the band more than anyone else,” Vaughn says. “I couldn’t imagine just picking up where I left off after he passed. My entire world had changed. My sole support was gone. So, all of us kind of went our separate ways. It took me a while to get my emotional strength back enough to work on my personal band efforts, but lo, here we are!
“It’s tough for the original band to all get together at the same time, now, and as a band leader, I realize it’s a lot easier to just work with a rotating cast of characters. It opens me up to more opportunities to make sure that I, myself only, am the one that’s available for a gig offer and then go from there with who I hire in my band.”
Vaughn stays plenty busy performing at several Nashville area venues like The Station Inn and Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, she doesn’t tour often, but that could soon change. “After the release of this upcoming record of mine, however, I definitely want to spend time touring more with them. Meeting folks on the road with Della Mae, and teaching camps across the country, I really want to bring my band’s music to introduce to these folks I’ve built relationships with over the years. Maybe even their friends will like it!” she adds with a laugh. “I love being a band leader. It’s a different muscle to flex, being in charge of a song’s sound. I love songs. I love music. The only way I can be in charge of the sound and the vibe is to be the band leader.”
What the future holds for the hard-working musician is up to God, she says, as she continues to give it her all. “I have no five-year plan,” Vaughn says. “I never have. It’s unrealistic. It counts out God, and faith, and hope, and the surprises that happen along the way. My only plan is to continue working very hard, recording my own music and taking the opportunities that come my way.
“I’ve been working as a musician for 14 years now and what I’ve learned is that everything is connected. One gig leads to another leads to another and so on. Same with the people that you meet along the way. I have had an incredible life so far that I couldn’t have planned at all. I let God use it as a template, and I’m totally open to whatever He places in my way. My job is to continue to work hard with what’s been given to me.”
