Mary & The Ringtones

… Sometimes life intervenes and you just don't go down the road you were headed in the beginning. Mary studied voice and music and went to Memphis to sing back-up and play the club scene for a while. But eventually she was back in Kentucky with a family and a government job. Music hung on, though, at church, at gigs with Arnold Chin, in the garage with friends. Then the kids grow up and the music hangs on and Mary begins making a list of good tunes (Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood) from proven songwriters (hall of famer Bennie Benjamin) that fit her voice and she'd maybe like to stamp on a CD just to hang on to something a little more permanent as a keepsake. The list doesn't fit any particular genre, but, when mixed, offers to dish up something special. Pretty soon, the project begins to ask for stuff, like input from four-time IBMA fiddle player of the year Michael Cleveland, or accordion player Todd Hildreth. Mary's old friend, producer and ZZ Top engineer/ mixer Joe Hardy weighs in with advice and about 47 musical instruments of his own (who else would know she needed a little dumbek, or celesta). It was up to Hardy to pour Mary's creamy alto into the hard drive mixer with all these other ingredients and come up with Mary and the Ringtones new CD…. "Recipe."

Sarah Fritschner