4 To Watch For

Adrienne Young & Little Sadie’s debut is called Plow To The End Of The Row, and lest anyone think this old-time/bluegrass band’s money isn’t where their acoustic-instrument-accompanied mouths are, every copy of the self-released CD comes with a packet of wildflower seeds. That little gift is nearly as much of an unexpected-but-welcome surprise as the collection’s stunningly well-executed bouquet of traditional and deeply rooted original music—music born of the fertile imagination of singer/songwriter/ clawhammer banjo player/organic gardener Adrienne Young.

“Acoustic music has a very pure energy,” says Young, a Clearwater, Fla., native and onetime jazz vocalist who was bitten by the old-timey bug after moving to Nashville to attend Belmont University for music business studies. “It comes from a very honest place, and over the last few years, as I’ve gotten more and more into it … well, I still feel like a novice, but I guess the passion of the new devotee comes across in my music.”

That it does—and no more strikingly than on “Sadie’s Song,” a daring take on the classic American Gothic murder ballad “Little Sadie” that tells the story from the vantage point of the doomed Appalachian lass. “So often in these time-honored standards, women get killed by their men, and we never find out why,” says Young. “I didn’t want to make it reactive; I wanted to try and reflect the sense of trust—understandable trust—that the girl has in her lover. Which, of course, makes her death more tragic.”

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Co-authored with country tunesmith Mark D. Sanders, “Sadie’s Song” took first-place honors in the bluegrass category of the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at MerleFest 2003—significantly, just days after finished copies of Young’s self-made Plow To The End Of The Row arrived at her home. “Because of winning the contest, a lot of eyes were suddenly on me,” she recalls, “And here I had a record to immediately give out to people. Right after that we performed at [last fall’s] Americana Music Convention, and radio really took off from there. The timing was extremely serendipitous.”

Released on Young’s own Addie Belle imprint, Plow became a staple on the AMA charts, even though, remarkably, it’s only just begun receiving national distribution. Like role model Ani DiFranco, Young would rather operate her own record label than sign to a major-label deal—especially after her post-graduation experiences working as a temp at a number of Music Row record companies. “I saw firsthand how little power most artists have. From what producers you work with to what pictures get used … how can you present a complete vision of who you are as an artist unless you have control?”

Accordingly, Plow To The End Of The Row does precisely that, from its striking look (the album received a Grammy nomination for Best Recording Package) to its equally distinctive contents. Co-produced by guitarist Will Kimbrough, Plow features such standout originals as “Home Remedy” (about love’s healing powers), “I Cannot Justify” (about reincarnation), and “Blinded by Stars” (about misguided patriotism). Her skillful band also offers driving renditions of such old-time warhorses as “Leather Britches” and “Soldier’s Joy.” Young’s Little Album That Could sends a strong, inspiring message to musicians and listeners alike.

“I feel a lot of problems our society has is because we’re so disconnected from what it’s all about,” says Young. “The more my music can do to help people just go outside, maybe take a walk in the woods, the better.”

And don’t forget to plant those seeds, either.