Biography

With more than 16 years between his teenaged debut album and his follow-up, last year’s Leaving Is Believing, singer/songwriter/mandolinist Ashby Frank is making up for lost time. An esteemed member of the bluegrass community who’s long enjoyed chart success as a songwriter and, more recently, as an artist, Frank’s among its busiest musicians, sandwiching recording sessions between appearances as a member of fusion-grass favorites, Mountain Heart, and fill-in gigs with the award-winning Earls of Leicester, labelmates Sister Sadie and Chris Jones and more. His first single of the new year is an instrumental tribute to friend, mentor and banjo legend Terry Baucom.

For more than half a century now, the word “bluegrass” has been followed by “community” almost as often as it has been followed by “music”—no surprise for a music shared between devotees spanning generations, regions and cultures. When Mountain Home Music Company’s Ashby Frank entered the studio for a recording session at the end of 2023, that sense of community was foremost on his mind, and “Knee Deep In Bluegrass,” his first single since the release of last year’s Leaving Is Believing, is both a tribute to a beloved member of that community and a compelling example of the musical power that created and sustained it.

“‘Knee Deep in Bluegrass’ is a tune written and originally recorded by my friend and former Mashville Brigade bandmate, banjo legend Terry Baucom,” Frank offers. “Sadly, Terry passed away in December. When we recently gathered to start recording my next album, it happened to be the day after his funeral. All of us had Bauc and his wife, Cindy, on our minds. Remembering this song, I messaged Cindy, asking if it would be ok to record a slightly modified version of ‘Knee Deep’ as a tribute to him, and she graciously approved.”

That “slightly modified” can be chalked up more to Frank’s attention to detail than to wholesale revision. For while his arrangement’s tautly rhythmic prelude and stripped down initial statement of Baucom’s memorable theme are new, what follows is the deepest kind of bluegrass tribute—one that pays homage in a sophisticated, nuanced way, resorting neither to simple imitation nor gratuitous re-imagining, but instead serving up an irresistible blend of deeply informed nods to the original and fresh, new touches that honor its creative spirit. And though “Knee Deep in Bluegrass” was born as a banjo tune, Frank and his mandolin are the animating forces behind each of his collaborators—banjoist Matt Menefee, Jim VanCleve (fiddle), guitarist Seth Taylor and a rhythm section of drumming legend Tony Creasman and bassist Travis Anderson—as the soloists take their turns front and center.

“Bauc was performing at the first festival I ever attended in Denton, NC,” Ashby Frank recalls. “His style and persona has been an inspiration to me ever since that first meeting. I think Matt, Travis, Jim, Seth and Tony really nailed their parts on the tune. I hope our recording brings back fond memories for anyone who knew Terry and will honor him as he so richly deserves.”

About Ashby Frank
North Carolina-raised, Nashville-based singer/songwriter/mandolinist Ashby Frank stands out from the crowd. Since his arrival in Nashville in the early part of the century, Frank has become known as one of Music City’s most valuable collaborators, and now he’s begun releasing music of his own with Mountain Home Music Company. His first single with the label, “Midnight Highway,” quickly topped Bluegrass radio charts as a broad range of listeners became acquainted with talents that industry observers have known of for years. Frank’s resume includes stints as a collaborative member of the Mashville Brigade and the Likely Culprits, as well as recordings and performances with a wide array of bluegrass and roots music mainstays, including the Earls of Leicester, John Cowan’s HercuLeons, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, the Marty Raybon Band and Special Consensus. He’s scored as a songwriter, too, penning songs for Junior Sisk, Amanda Cook, Dale Ann Bradley, Lindley Creek and more, and even taken on the world of comedy as a member of the Darrell Brothers.