I have always had a place in my heart for Cary Fridley. That voice is pure beauty.
I had mentioned Cary previously in a past blog on titled “The Lost Art of Bluegrass Singing” (https://wordpress.com/post/luegra.design.blog/45), where I talked about the video Vocal Techniques for Old-Time Mountain Music that she did for Homespun Tapes. I fell in love with her voice the first time I heard her singing with The Freight Hoppers. After leaving the band, she recorded a number of solo albums as well as played bass in a few other bands. To see her history, I recommend going to her website at https://caryfridleymusic.com/.
I recently found her album Down South and put it in the CD player. It hit me why I love this girl’s voice. It is so pure, comfortable singing folk, bluegrass, traditional country, and blues. Looking at her bio, she works with so many bands, as well as teaching vocals and traditional music theory at the Junior Appalachian Music programs and the Black Mountain Center for the Arts. Additionally, she is an adjunct faculty for the Fine Arts at the AB-Tech College in Asheville, North Carolina. This girl keeps busy!
You can tell it is all because of her love and passion for traditional music. Cary truly puts her heart and soul into her work. I have subscribed to her YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/cfridley) For a few years now, and along with videos of past performances with The Freight Hoppers, she has posted a number of lessons that she gives to her classes at the college and the JAM programs. Her latest video is what got me to loving her again, so to speak. It consists of a shot of a CD player, and it is playing her album Fare You Well in its entirety (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRRJWDCUsbo&t=366). I wonder how many other people who are this passionate about Appalachian music work as hard as Cary.
I am going to keep this blog short, as I only really want you to spend some time checking out Cary’s videos. You may learn a few things!
Next week, the blog will be late, as I will be attending the last day of the Milan Bluegrass Festival. Hopefully, I will have a few good stories to tell.
Chew on it and comment.
Luegra 