3 Fox Drive is the proud to be part of the reigning "Album of the Year" Award winner as designated by the International Bluegrass Music Association for their contribution on the tremendous release, "Celebration of Life"!
- Concert stages range from high-profile bluegrass festivals to country music fairs and festivals
- Featured artist on CMT.com
- Sponsored by GHS Strings, Gibson Guitars and First Quality Music
BIO
Soaring, powerful bluegrass harmonies; compelling, well-crafted original songs; supple, exciting instrumental virtuosity—3 Fox Drive's debut disc, Listen To The Music, has all these, and in a rare measure of abundance.
Born in upstate New York's Adirondack Mountains, Kim, Joel and Barb Fox were introduced to bluegrass as youngsters by their parents. By the late 1980s, they had established themselves on the northeastern bluegrass circuit, which was ultimately built around their intricate, exciting vocal trio and Kim Fox's increasingly mature songwriting, which eventually earned her the prestigious “Chris Austin Songwriting Competition Award” shortly after its inauguration. Throughout the first half of the 1990s, the group continued to build its reputation by signing with California's Sierra Records in 1996; the label released Follow My Lead and followed it shortly thereafter with When It Comes To The Blues, consisting almost entirely of Kim's songs, one of which (“The Dream”) reached #1 on Bluegrass Unlimited''s single airplay chart. By 1997, they were nominated for the International Bluegrass Music Association's (IBMA) Emerging Artist of the Year award—a springboard for the genre's soon-to-become household name acts.
Yet just as they were on the verge of breaking through to national acclaim, their recording career was sidetracked as the label closed its doors. Kim Fox then relocated from New York to Nashville where she was mentored by country and bluegrass hit maker, Larry Cordle, and continued to concentrate on her songwriting. Through the band's appearances on special events such as the vocals she and Barb contributed to on Follow Me Back To The Fold (a tribute to women in bluegrass), this album won the IBMA's Special Recorded Event award in 2001, and burnished their reputation among the bluegrass community.
The experience of the intervening years had shaped a new direction to their music and underlined the importance of their fellow band members' contributions and unmistakably is manifested in the powerful approach heard on Listen To The Music. Seeking out players whose skills and orientation would not just support, but complement that approach, Kim, Joel and Barb recruited Ohio mandolinist Jim Reed, whose supple playing has been heard with luminaries like Tony Rice and Peter Rowan as well as the jam-band-leaning String Therapy; California fiddle player Megan Lynch, who moved from a long string of regional and national contest championships to playing bluegrass with artists like Due West and the award-winning guitarist Jim Hurst; and Kentucky bassist Mike Anglin, a veteran of Larry Cordle & Lonesome Standard Time, The Ronnie Bowman Committee and 1995's IBMA Emerging Artist of the Year, Continental Divide.
Bound together by the common threads of bluegrass experience, overflowing talent and a sense of exploration, 3 Fox Drive is a tightly-knit ensemble of rare musical empathy that animates Listen To The Music. A tour de force from start to finish, the album is a breath of fresh bluegrass air, at once firmly planted on bluegrass soil and stepping onto new musical ground. Influenced by the creative ferment within Nashville's songwriting community, Kim Fox has emerged as a stunning songwriter with a special gift for narrative, equally capable of penning a driving tale of frontier justice (“Eye For An Eye”), a classic love song (“Short Walk To The Moon”) or a sensitive, nuanced childhood story (“This Little House Of Mine”). Yet she's equally adept at spotting fitting material in unlikely places; an early 90s Shelby Lynne CD was the source for “Slow Me Down”—“it's always stuck in my head as something that would make a great bluegrass song for Barb to sing lead on; I told her, ‘This is the kind of song you should be singing!'” she says with a laugh, while “Some Old Side Road” came from Keith Whitley's classic Don't Close Your Eyes album.
Yet even the best material matters little if it isn't played and sung with finesse, energy and soul—attributes that virtually define 3 Fox Drive's musicians. Whether it's the elegant fiddle that punctuates the verses of “Short Walk To The Moon,” the fierce banjo that pushes “Eye For An Eye” to its chilling conclusion, the fluid mandolin that kicks off “Red Rose Bouquet,” the funky rhythms of the bass underpinning “It Always Rains When I'm Lonesome,” or the mellow tone of guest Randy Kohrs' Dobro, the music here is full of perfect, insightful yet emotionally compelling touches—and the same is true for the heartfelt singing of Kim, Joel and Barb Fox. ‘Grass, country, and a little bit of rock'n'roll—on Listen To The Music, 3 Fox Drive blends it all into a unique, deeply satisfying whole.
|
