The sounds of newgrass with The New Hip

By: Courtney Benton

Posted: 10/27/09

On Oct. 8, Missy Raines and the New Hip performed a concert at the Irwin County Auditorium in Ocilla, Georgia.

Locals from the community as well as fans and students from ABAC came to this event to experience the sound of Newgrass. The concert was the second of many to come for the ABAC Art Connection's First Tuesday Series.

"[Missy Raines] is dynamic. It is fun watching her perform because she has so much fun doing what she is doing." Wayne Jones the Interim Director of the ABAC Arts Connection said.

The group sang a mixture of bluegrass, contemporary country and even some progressive jazz.

"Bluegrass is good music, it takes a lot of talent to play it but I'm more of the rock style, some of the heavier stuff they played I liked," Will Jerkins, a voice major at ABAC, said.

Raines' started her career with the experimental bluegrass group "Cloud Valley". She joined the group, upon graduating high school in her home town of Short Gap, West Virginia. Later she toured and recorded with the "Brother Boys," a band she says expanded her mind about what could be achieved by a band playing spontaneously and communicatively.

Soon after her tour she showed her bass skills to the "Masters" (Adcock, Kenny Baker, Josh Graves and Jesse McReynolds). Then in 1995, Missy joined Claire Lynch's popular Front Porch Band. In the late 90s, she won the first of her seven IBMA awards, released her first solo album, and also worked a as duo with band mate Jim Hurst.

"That was integral in getting to where I am," Raines said. "because it changed the way I approach music. Taking the bass out of the background and leading off songs with it and writing songs on it - that was something people hadn't seen much of. That put it right in their face, and they responded to it."

Through these experiences much knowledge about different genres of music and more talent give her music more value. She is now stepping out to make a longtime dream come true. Raines and The New Hip have included the talent of bluegrass, jazz and ambitious songs with deep feeling into their performances.

"This has been in my head for a long, long time," Raines said. "As early as 1990 when my husband and I first moved to Nashville and I was working for (bluegrass banjo player) Eddie Adcock, I thought that I would love to have a band one day and that it would have drums. How I was going to do that as a bluegrass bass player I didn't know, but I could see it happening."

The New Hip's name is at once a subtle tribute to "Birth Of The Cool," the 1950 album by Miles Davis that Raines cherishes, as well as a sardonic joke about a life-changing surgery that has allowed Raines to play in her physical style without pain for the first time in decades. That liberation resembles the musical freedom enjoyed by band. The New Hip lets Raines compose and exchange ideas with four players ranging in age from 17 to 27 who grew up enchanted by traditional American roots music and its modern offshoots.

The project's first release is a 5-song EP featuring two instrumentals and three songs that showcase Raines' tepid and all-encompassing voice. A full album is in the works, and the live show, slated for prestigious stages in 2008 and beyond, is a balanced diet of the arranged and the improvised, the sung and the picked.

The band consists of several members, including dobro player Michael Witcher and his brother Gabe Witcher. Mandolin player and guitarist Ethan Ballinger, 22, is a son of Kris and Dale of the appreciated band the Cluster Pluckers, and he grew up surrounded by traditional music. The very young Dillon Hodges recently won the Winfield Flat-picking Championship at age 17. Drummer veterans, Doug Belote and Tommy Giampietro share duties on the percussion side.

"It's invigorating to be surrounded by that much excitement and drive and expertise," Raines said. "They challenge me all of the time. It helps me remember what it was like for me at that age and keeps me motivated and on task."

For songs, Raines turned among other places to former Brother Boys band mate Ed Snodderly, a songwriter's songwriter whose "Basket of Singing Birds," recorded on the album with amazing grace. The New Hip's instrumentals are by Missy and/or the band, including the entertaining harmonies of "Stop, Drop and Wiggle."

"We've only begun creating new sounds," Raines said, "everybody in the band writes, and I sought them out for that reason, because I wanted a band sound. I've always imagined it having the input of everybody and featuring everyone's talents."