Biography

Turn This Heart Around
Missy Werner
July 2014
Produced by Jon Weisberger
Recorded & mixed by Ben Surratt at The Rec Room, Nashville, TN
Mastered by Alex McCollough at Yes Master, Nashville, TN

1. I Always Do (3:29)
(Ashby Frank)
Missy Werner - lead vocals,
Artie Werner - harmony vocals,
Stephen Mougin -harmony vocals,
Sierra Hull - mandolin, Megan McCormick - guitar
Jon Weisberger - bass, Maggie Estes White - fiddle
Thomas Wywrot - banjo, guitar

2. The Heart You Break (2:47)
(Paula Breedlove-Bob Morrison)
Missy Werner - mandolin, lead vocals,
Artie Werner - bass, harmony vocals
Tim Strong - guitar, harmony vocals,
Jeff Roberts - banjo, Brandon Godman - fiddle

3. Main Street (3:47)
(Gretchen Peters)
Sierra Hull - octave mandolin, Megan McCormick - guitar, Jon Weisberger - bass
Maggie Estes White - fiddle, Thomas Wywrot - guitar

4. Wish I Was (3:21)
(Sarah Siskind)
Missy Werner - lead vocals,
Artie Werner - harmony vocals,
Sarah Siskind - harmony vocals
Sierra Hull - mandolin, Megan McCormick - guitar,
Jon Weisberger - bass
Maggie Estes White - fiddle, Thomas Wywrot - banjo

5. Rough Edges (2:13)
(Randall Hylton)
Missy Werner - mandolin, lead vocals,
Artie Werner - bass, harmony vocals
Tim Strong - guitar, harmony vocals, Jeff Roberts - banjo

6. You’ll Never Care (2:48)
(Janet Beazley)
Missy Werner - mandolin, lead vocals, Artie Werner - bass,
Tim Strong - guitar, harmony vocals
Jeff Roberts - banjo, harmony vocals,
Brandon Godman - fiddle

7. Travelin' Light (2:50)
(Rick Lang - Jon Weisberger)
Missy Werner - tenor vocal,
Jeremy Garrett - lead vocal,
Artie Werner - baritone vocal
Glen Garrett - bass vocal,
Charlie Cushman - guitars, Jon Weisberger - bass


8. Cloudless Blue (3:52)
(Mark Simos)
Missy Werner - lead vocals,
Artie Werner - harmony vocals, Sierra Hull - mandolin,
Megan McCormick - guitar, Jon Weisberger - bass,
Maggie Estes White - fiddle, Thomas Wywrot - banjo

9. A Song That I Love (2:56)
(Sierra Hull-Thomm Jutz-Jon Weisberger)
Missy Werner - mandolin, lead vocals,
Artie Werner - bass, harmony vocals,
Tim Strong - guitar, harmony vocals,
Jeff Roberts - banjo-dobro, harmony vocals

10. Rocks In The River (2:32)
(Eric Gibson)
Missy Werner - mandolin, lead vocals,
Artie Werner - bass, harmony vocals,
Tim Strong - guitar, harmony vocals,
Jeff Roberts - banjo, Brandon Godman - fiddle

11. Dead Man Walking (3:59)
(Larry Cordle-Erin Enderlin)
Missy Werner - lead vocals, Larry Cordle, harmony vocals, Val Storey, harmony vocals, Sierra Hull - mandolin,
Megan McCormick - guitar, Jon Weisberger - bass
Maggie Estes White - fiddle, Thomas Wywrot - guitar

12. Snake In The Grass (2:53)
(Jeff Roberts)
Missy Werner - mandolin, Artie Werner - bass,
Tim Strong - guitar, Jeff Roberts - banjo,
Brandon Godman - fiddle

13. Come Back To Me (3:28)
(Jeremy Garrett-Jon Weisberger)
Missy Werner - lead vocals, Sierra Hull - mandolin,
Megan McCormick - guitar,Jon Weisberger - bass,
Maggie Estes White - fiddle

14. I Just Got Wise (2:25)
(Carter Stanley)
Missy Werner - mandolin, lead vocals,
Artie Werner - bass, harmony vocals,
Tim Strong - guitar, harmony vocals, Jeff Roberts - banjo


Song publishers:

1.Carolina Necktunes/BMI 2.Southern Days Music/ASCAP 3.Warner-Chappell Music/ASCAP 4.Red Request Music/BMI 5.Dennis Morgan Music (A Div. of Morgan Music Group, Inc.)/BMI-Paul Craft Music (co Morgan Music Group, Inc.)/BMI 6.Four O Five Music/BMI 7.Haley Anna Music/BMI-Use Your Words Music/BMI 8.Devachan Music/BMI 9.Tugboat Sis Music/ASCAP-Thomm Songs/SESAC-Use Your Words Music/BMI 10.Brown Bird Songs/BMI 11.New Songs Of Sea Gayle/BMI-World House Of Hits/ASCAP 12.Granny’s Creek Publishing/BMI 13.Obsidian Flow/BMI-Wise Kings Global Entertainment Ventures & Stuff/BMI 14.Fort Knox Music/BMI-Trio Music/BMI

Sierra Hull appears courtesy of Rounder Records

Press Release:

MISSY WERNER - TURN THIS HEART AROUND
If your earliest childhood memory is dancing around in your room with a doll, singing along to Loretta Lynn, it’s a safe bet you were born to play music. In MISSY WERNER’s case she’s never stopped playing, though she’s traded the doll for a mandolin and an effortlessly powerful voice. After being brought up in and around the music of her family, she now releases her latest album of bluegrass and Americana songs, TURN THIS HEART AROUND, pulling together some of the brightest lights in American roots music to help her realize her vision.

Born to Kentucky natives, Werner was raised in Cincinnati, OH. Both her parents played in a bluegrass band and their music rubbed off on her from a young age. She learned guitar from age eight, studied fiddle in her adolescence, and eventually joined the band with her parents at 15. In her junior year of college she got a call from her father telling her that the band’s mandolinist quit and that she’d need to learn the instrument for a show only six-weeks away. So she grabbed the mandolin her uncle once won at a raffle for $5, and, as if studying for exams weren’t enough, she threw herself at the instrument. “It never occurred to Daddy that I might not be able to do it,” she says. “His faith in me inspired faith in myself. I’ve been playing mandolin ever since.”

In addition to her mandolin and lead vocals, Missy Werner’s band includes Tim Strong on guitar, Jeff Roberts on banjo, long-time friend and occasional bandmate Brandon Godman on fiddle, and Missy’s husband Artie Werner on bass, with all of them sharing their voices as well. But true to the bluegrass community, there are plenty more fingers at play here. “I love bluegrass because it is so inclusive,” Werner says. “Join in and pick up an instrument. Anywhere you see bluegrass, you are likely to see someone showing someone else a chord or a phrase, whether it be at the beginner level or beyond.” Werner’s joy for bluegrass oozes with genuine humility; in her eyes her success is owed to the sharing, teaching, and learning community of which she’s a part. But don’t be fooled: Missy Werner is as strong a musician as they come, both as a vocalist and an instrumentalist, and her wisdom as an artist shows itself in aligning with producer and long-time friend Jon Weisberger (IBMA Songwriter of the Year 2012), who curates and pulls together mostly-new songs from at least eighteen songwriters. They include Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame nominee Bob Morrison, reigning IBMA songwriter of the year Eric Gibson, Paula Breedlove (Brad Davis, Marie Osmond), Mark Simos (Alison Krauss, Laurie Lewis), and Gretchen Peters (Martina McBride). Plus, Weisberger contributes a few of his own compositions as well.

On Turn This Heart Around, Werner is joined by some very special guests, like bluegrass wunderkind Sierra Hull who lends her talents on mandolin and octave mandolin and one of her own co-compositions, “A Song That I Love.” The voice of Americana songwriter Sarah Siskind (Alison Krauss, Bon Iver) joins Missy on her haunting song, “Wish I Was.” Larry Cordle, who co-wrote “Dead Man Walking,” also joins Werner on the song. Jeremy Garrett (The Infamous Stringdusters) sings lead on an all-quartet Gospel song, “Travelin’ Light”, with Charlie Cushman accompanying on finger-style guitar. This is quite the august musical collective and the album is full of surprises around every corner.

Turn This Heart Around is not just about family, or tradition, or even great music, though it is certainly all of those things and more. It is bluegrass at its core, always teaching, always learning, always sharing. It’s a father’s confidence that his daughter can learn on the fly. Turn This Heart Around is no album of covers, but rather the fruit of a community ideology of bluegrass music that reaches back many years, as vibrant today as it’s ever been, and Missy Werner’s voice owns every word and commands every note on this album. This is what she was raised to know and love.

Bluegrass Unlimited Review:

Steeped in the musical traditions of the heartland, Kentucky and Ohio-native Missy Werner recalls classic moments of loneliness, spirituality, love, and time gone by in her latest release. In songs penned by some of the country’s brightest writers, seamlessly produced (Jon Weisberger), and sung passionately with a power reminiscent of Union Station, Werner’s music takes the listener on an enjoyable journey that ranges from fast-paced bluegrass to emotive country ballads, with meticulously blended harmonies. And, by the way, Werner can really sing. Her pristine vocals are polished, tender, and emotive.

Most of the songs dwell on the heart, from the unrequited love of the slow ballad “You Never Care” to the mid-tempo kick-off number “I Always Do,” a song of devotion and loneliness. Many of the 14 songs on this CD are slow- to mid-tempo stories, some revealing the desolation of development, as in “Main Street,” while others reveal what it’s like to live in the moment in “Cloudless Blue.”

Werner plays mandolin and gets fine backing instrumentally and vocally from her band: Artie Werner (bass), Tim Strong (guitar), Jeff Roberts (banjo, banjo-resonator guitar), and Brandon Godman (fiddle). More than a half-dozen others join her, as well, from Sierra Hull who provides the soulful ballad “A Song That I Love” to Larry Cordle’s harmonies in “Dead Man Walking.” Fans looking for straight-up bluegrass will enjoy Carter Stanley’s snappy classic “I Just Got Wise,” Eric Gibson’s fast-paced “Rocks In The River,” and the deftly-crafted harmonies of the gospel-infused “Travelin’ Light,” a Rick Lang/Weisberger song set to cross-picked guitar (Charlie Cushman). The mournful instrumental “Snake In The Grass” and “The Heart You Break” add a quick pace to this well-rounded collection. Whether you like your bluegrass fast, slow, or someplace in-between, Werner’s CD is likely to turn your heart around in short order and make you a fan.