Melonie Cannon - Melonie Cannon (CD)

A singer of breathtaking ability

By Joe  Oct 11, 2004

Pros: Top session musicians

Cons: Nashvillized music that misses the "warts" of a real bluegrass band; Only ten songs

The production of Melonie Cannon’s acoustic county and bluegrass album is first rate. A singer of breathtaking ability, Melonie vocalizes with a soft touch of satin and silk. She sings with honesty and conviction in an unadulterated and soulful styl...e. Her memorable songs are drawn from some top songwriters – Kim Fox, Ronnie Bowman, Buddy Cannon, John Scott Sherrill, Bill Anderson, Harley Allen, and others. She mixes up the set nicely. The sounds of this crossover fusion of bluegrass and country utilize standard acoustic instrumentation with percussion, with fiddle and dobro taking very central roles for breaks and fills. The folks who assume these key roles are top session musicians. Deanie Richardson or Stuart Duncan play fiddle. Rob Ickes, Jerry Douglas or Randy Kohrs are on dobro. Other string wizards featured here and there include Dan Tyminski, Ronnie Bowman, Jesse Cobb, Wyatt Rice, and Jeff White. Banjo played by Dave Talbot, Elmer Buchett or Robbie McCoury appears on four tracks. The central focus, however, is Melonie and her singing which evokes considerable confidence, faith and persuasion.Hailing from Tennessee, Melonie is the daughter of record producer Buddy Cannon. Raised in the wings of the Grand Ole Opry, Melonie mingled as a young girl with the Olympians of country music in a city known as “The Athens of the South.” She sang at her first recording session (with Dean Dillon) at age 14. A few years later, she sang a duet with Sammy Kershaw on “Cry, Cry Darlin'.” After a stint in the U.S. Army where she learned respect for not only herself but also for others, Melonie returned to Nashville and befriended Ronnie Bowman. Her lead vocals for this album were cut live with the band, without any separate overdubbing. After Ricky Skaggs heard some of Melonie’s singing on WSM-AM radio, he asked her to be on his record label. Skaggs also invited her to open for him at the Ryman Auditorium.Melonie Cannon is proud of the reception she’s received in Nashville, also called “The Dimple of the Universe” because of the beauty of the city’s rolling hills, pleasant seasons, and long, white picket-fences, and farms with horses and cattle. Melonie and her beautiful singing are two more reasons for Nashville’s special place in the Universe. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now) Read more Less