Biography

The Road Headin’ Home spent several months ranking in at #1 on Bluegrass Unlimited’s National Bluegrass Survey and was #1 on the Bluegrass Music Profiles chart. The album’s single, “Dixie Flyer,” also sat at #1 on the singles’ chart on Bluegrass Unlimited’s National Bluegrass Survey and again #1 on the Bluegrass Music Profiles chart for several months. The 34th Annual SPBGMA Bluegrass Music Awards hosted in February 2008 honored Grasstowne with Album of the Year, as well as Dobro Player of the Year going to Grasstowne member, Phil Leadbetter.
Phil Leadbetter, Steve Gulley, and Alan Bibey began their musical careers in different touring bands, but fate brought them together to form the unique venture known as Grasstowne. Grasstowne is meant to infer the roost of their beginnings and their future, in one shot. “Bluegrass music with a 21st century edge,” sums up the essence of the band according to Phil Leadbetter. With the addition of Jason Davis on Banjo, and Jamey Booher on upright bass, the band was formed. According to Tom Henderson, from the syndicated radio program This is Bluegrass, “Grasstowne is the future of bluegrass and the future is now.”