Biography

COMMON STRINGS are husband and wife music partners Darron & Vanessa Nichols. Vanessa Nichols is a true coal miner’s daughter, who’s father is sill a miner, from the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. Vanessa was blessed with an amazing voice and an appreciation for the old-time mountain songs her mother and grandmother shared with her over the years. Her husband Darron Nichols is a seventh generation settler from the Georgia Mountains. Darron, (who is a very talented singer, musician and songwriter), was blessed with a strong love of the musical heritage passed down over seven generations and a desire to preserve the songs of Appalachia for future generations.

SOMEWHERE IN GLORY is a collection of songs, sung and played much the same way over the past seven generations in Appalachia. Some of these songs were written in the early seventeen hundreds, and one was written while on a ship sailing to the new world. Even the new songs written by Vanessa’s father, Wayne King “Beyond The Mist Of Blue”, “The Revelation” and Darron’s original songs “Glorious Power” and “Golden Streets of Home” have a very old, mountain sound.

Darron & Vanessa call on their very talented Bluegrass friends and fellow mountain neighbors to capture the authentic sounds of Appalachia. Sammy Shelor (Lonesome River Band and Producer) hail from the mountains of Virginia. Dale Ann Bradley (harmony vocals) is a native of Bell County Kentucky. Steve Gulley (harmony vocals) lives just through the Cumberland Gap on the Tennessee side and Mark Hodges, (owner of Mountain Fever Studios and Engineer). The guest musicians did a fantastic job interpreting the sounds of Appalachia. This is especially evident on “The Revelation” with Mike Hartgrove’s haunting fiddle work and Sammy Shelor’s banjo on “The Message of His Coming”.

The life of an Appalachian settler was that of toil and strife. Every day was a struggle for survival against hunger, the elements, and isolation. It was only through their faith in God and the sweat of their brow that they lived and prospered. The proof of this is heard in their music and stories still today. It is with this mindset and understanding of the mountain people that COMMON STRINGS embarked on the making of this recording.

COMMON STRINGS and their top Bluegrass friends share with us their joy and proud Mountain heritage through their faith and love of Appalachian music on SOMEWHERE IN GLORY.