Biography

There are more famous bluegrass bands, but you’d be hard pressed to find one that plays and sings with more feeling and heart than this extraordinary ensemble. NewFound Road’s second collection for Rounder Records, Same Old Place, following their well-received 2006 CD Life in a Song, tells you all you need to know about this group’s depth of emotion. It’s chock full of driving rhythms, haunting ballads and classic bluegrass, all brought into sharp focus by the band’s instrumental prowess and the soulful vocals of Tim Shelton.

The muscular, assertive banjo of Junior Williams drives such pulse-quickening performances as “Love Stay Away from Me.” Slippery, silvery mandolin notes from Joe Booher are woven throughout the album’s finest tracks. The bass of Randy Barnes is the heartbeat of the rollicking “My Shoes Sure Know How to Get Around” as well as the other tunes.

Guests Justin Moses, Brandon Godman and Jim VanCleve provide the perfect sonic compliments to NewFound Road’s instrumental prowess. And everyone gets a turn to shine in the lightning-flashing instrumental “Piledriver.”

Perhaps most obviously, there is not a more soulful bluegrass lead singer than NewFound Road’s Tim Shelton. He is effortlessly affecting on the heartbreaking ballad “Same Old Place.” Like all great country singers, he communicates straight from his emotional core on tunes like the haunting, minor-key gem “River of Pain.” Tim lets fly with bent notes, curlicue phrasing and melody-toying vocal acrobatics in “On the Back Row,” a honky-tonk song stripped to its acoustic roots.

Same Old Place

1. Try to Be 2:28
2. Same Old Place 3:28
3. My Shoes Sure Know How to Get Around 2:24
4. River of Pain 2:53
5. Love Stay Away from Me 3:09
6. On the Back Row 2:48
7. Brand New Broken Heart 2:56
8. Give Me Jesus 2:27
9. I Am the Man Thomas 2:59
10. Lonesome River 3:48
11. Piledriver 2:40
12. Full Circle 4:33

Produced by Jim VanCleve and NewFound Road
Recorded and engineered by David Hall
Assistant engineer: Rory Rositas
Additional recording by John Saylor and Jim VanCleve
Mixed by David Hall
Additional mixing by Jim VanCleve
Recorded at Omni Sound Studios and 1808 Studios, Nashville, Tennessee
Mastered by Benny Quinn
Production Coordinator: Tim Shelton

Photography by Erick Anderson
Design by Rachael Sullivan
Notes by Robert K. Oermann

Jim Van Cleve appears courtesy of Rural Rhythm Records

NewFound Road proudly uses D’Addario Strings and Colorado Cases.
Randy Barnes uses NS Design Basses.
Joe Booher uses Dearstone Mandolins and Cedar Creek Custom Cases.
Tim Shelton uses Edmonds Guitars.
Jr. Williams uses Hatfield Banjos and Gathright Guitars.

Booking: The Andrea Roberts Agency, 615-867-4468

Visit:
www.newfoundroad.com
www.myspace.com/newfoundroad

Thanks to all of our families and friends at home for the love and support while we’re away. Thanks to all of the fans and friends on the road.
Special thanks to Ken Irwin, Marian Leighton, Bill Nowlin, Brad San Martin, David Schlichting, Brad Paul, Susan Margaca , the Rounder PR team and the entire Rounder staff, Andrea Roberts, Rob Baker, Justin Moses, Brandon Godman, the staff at Omni Sound and 1808 Studios, Loretta at Direct Out Audio, all of our friends and DJs at satellite, terrestrial and internet radio for the airplay, all of the promoters that we worked with, David Crow, Randy Lake, Greg Pyrtle.
Very special thanks to Tim Parks for your support, generosity and friendship.
To Jim VanCleve – Thank you for all of the effort, the great ear, the great ideas and for sharing your amazing talent. You Rock! Haah!!
To David Hall – Thank you for the great sounds and tones, the hard work and for your sense of humor! You’re an incredible engineer!

Also available:
Rounder 11661-0576-2 Life in a Song


When it comes from NewFound Road, it comes from the soul.
There are more famous bluegrass bands, but you’d be hard pressed to find one that plays and sings with more feeling and heart than this extraordinary ensemble from little Franklin, Ohio. NewFound Road’s second collection for Rounder Records, Same Old Place, tells you all you need to know about this group’s depth of emotion.
The muscular, assertive banjo of member Junior Williams drives such pulse-quickening performances as “Love Stay Away from Me.” Slippery, silvery mandolin notes from Joe Booher are woven throughout the album’s finest tracks. The bass of Randy Barnes is the heartbeat of the rollicking “My Shoes Sure Know How to Get Around” as well as the other tunes.
Guests Justin Moses, Brandon Godman and Jim VanCleve provide the perfect sonic compliments to NewFound Road’s instrumental prowess. And everyone gets a turn to shine in the lightning-flashing instrumental “Piledriver.”
Perhaps most obviously, there is not a more soulful bluegrass lead singer than NewFound Road’s Tim Shelton. He is effortlessly affecting on the heartbreaking ballad “Same Old Place.” Like all great country singers, he communicates straight from his emotional core on tunes like the haunting, minor-key gem “River of Pain.” Tim lets fly with bent notes, curlicue phrasing and melody-toying vocal acrobatics in “On the Back Row,” a honky-tonk song stripped to its acoustic roots.
His soul-piercing improvisations bring the classic “Lonesome River” back to life. And Tim is nowhere more breathtaking than in the gentle, gorgeous “Full Circle.”
That “soul” in NewFound Road might have its roots in the band’s gospel origins. Indeed, it was with a great deal of introspection and consideration that the group decided to make the transition from strictly religious lyrics to mainstream bluegrass five years ago. As one listen to the a cappella quartet singing in “Give Me Jesus” or the inspirational tone of “Try to Be” reveals, NewFound Road still swells with power on spiritual numbers. “I Am the Man (Thomas)” was actually previously recorded by the group on its 2005 gospel CD. The new version on Same Old Place is truly the collection’s “Hallelujah” moment.
Others have written of this band’s “refreshing clarity,” its “sense of honesty,” its “purity of vision” and its “fire and intensity.” Yes, NewFound Road has all of that.
But listen closely. There is something much more in this gifted group’s sound. There aren’t many bands who can shake you to your emotional core the way this one can. There are even fewer who can do it as consistently as NewFound Road does on Same Old Place. Call it spirit. Call it feeling. Or call it what it is…soul.
More than anything else, it is that elusive and special quality that has put NewFound Road on a fast track to bluegrass stardom.
Listen and believe.

Robert K. Oermann
Nashville, TN