Roots Music Report

About the Band

Byron Hill was raised in North Carolina. By the time he was ten years old, his bluegrass, folk, and country beginnings grew by learning to play along with his Dad who loved to sing songs by The Carter Family, Bill Monroe, Jimmie Rodgers, Flatt and Scruggs, and others.

Years later, while in college at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, Byron was introduced to some different styles of picking, particularly the music of Doc Watson. It was there in 1972 that Byron joined multi-instrumentalist Gene Wooten for a couple of years performing bluegrass around the Boone, Valle Crusis, and Banner Elk areas of NC, at fire halls, clogging and square dances, various local events. and they had a regular gig at the (then) Village Inn on Beech Mountain. After college Gene Wooten moved to Nashville, to play dobro for Wilma Lee Cooper, the Osborne Brothers, and Del and Ronnie McCoury, and Byron returned to his hometown of Winston-Salem, NC and started a trio called Red Cloud, performing many shows in the area 1974-1975.

Byron began taking his songs to Nashville in 1976, and moved to Nashville in 1978 jumping straight into a publishing deal at ATV Music Group writing songs for a wide-range of artists. Bluegrass music remained deeply set in his musical DNA, and over the years his songs have been recorded by many bluegrass artists including Doc & Merle Watson, The Whites, Keith Whitley, Dusty Miller, The Special Consensus, Rhonda Vincent, Lonesome River Band, The Grascals, Bluegrass Etc., The Chapmans, The Seldom Scene, Mo Pitney, Trevor Watson, Dailey & Vincent, Darin & Brooke Aldridge, The Wisemen, Fast Track, and many others.

Byron’s songwriting turned out a long list of hits and recordings by some of the greatest country artists of the time including George Strait (“Fool Hearted Memory”), Johnny Lee (“Pickin’ Up Strangers”), Sammy Kershaw (“Politics, Religion And Her”), Gary Allan (“Nothing On But The Radio”), Alabama (“Born Country”), George Jones (“High-Tech Redneck”), Neal McCoy (“If I Was A Drinkin’ Man”), Tracy Byrd (“Lifestyles Of The Not So Rich And Famous”), Anne Murray (“Over You”), Larry Stewart, Joe Nichols, Ed Bruce, Mila Mason, Ray Charles, Kenny Rogers, Reba McEntire, Don Williams, John Michael Montgomery, Juice Newton, Randy Travis, Jason Aldean, Trace Adkins, Conway Twitty, Jeff Bates, Highway 101, Barbara Mandrell, Mel McDaniel, Mark Chesnutt, Rhett Akins, The Oak Ridge Boys, Ricky Van Shelton, The Seekers, Colt Ford, Blackhawk, Asleep At The Wheel, Toby Keith, Gene Watson, Margo Smith, Tom Wopat, Mark Wills, The Kendalls, Moe Bandy, Joe Diffie, Hank Thompson, Mila Mason, Doug Supernaw, Charley Pride, Doug Stone, Hey Romeo (Canada), Gil Grand (Canada), Gord Bamford (Canada), Charles Esten & Connie Britton (from the Nashville TV series), and many others. To date, eighteen Country Music Hall of Fame members have recorded his songs. Byron was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018.

Byron teamed up with the great multi-instrumentalist songwriter Glen Duncan for regular weekly co-writing sessions. Seven of those Hill/Duncan songs comprise Byron’s forthcoming 2024 album entitled That Old Mountain. The project includes a stellar list of musicians; Cody Kilby on Acoustic Guitar (The Travelin’ McCourys, Ricky Skaggs, Bruce Hornsby, The Chieftans, the Dixie Chicks, Dolly Parton, Alison Krauss), Evan Winsor on Bass (Josh Turner, Rhonda Vincent, John Mayer, Doyle Lawson), Jonah Horton on Mandolin (The Kruger Brothers, The Trailblazers, Scott Vestal, John Cowan), Tim Crouch on Fiddle (The Dillards, Alan Jackson, Tom Paxton, Rhonda Vincent, Marty Raybon), and Scott Vestal on Banjo (Dolly Parton, Sturgill Simpson, John Cowan, Sam Bush, Billy Ray Cyrus, Dwight Yoakam, Continental Divide, Livewire, Doyle Lawson, Larry Sparks).

Discography

change album image	That Old Mountain Details Label: BHP Recordings Genres: Bluegrass Styles: Contemporary Bluegrass Songs on the Album Track # Song Title Style Genre 1 Mountain Folks Are Always High - details Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 2 Younger - details Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 3 The Thinker - details Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 4 But Not Today - details Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 5 Nobody Knows but Me - details Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 6 The Storm - details Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 7 That Old Mountain - details Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass
change album image	Red Leather Couch Label: BHP Recordings Genres: Country Styles: Country, Hot Country, Contemporary Country Songs on the Album Track # Song Title Style Genre 1 Can't Think of Nothing but You Hot Country Country 2 Love is Not a Crime Hot Country Country 3 It’s Just a Song Hot Country Country 4 Red Leather Couch Contemporary Country Country 5 Then There's That Hot Country Country 6 Dark Side of Town Hot Country Country 7 Could Have Stayed Hot Country Country 8 Two Twenty-Five Maple Street Hot Country Country 9 Good News Hot Country Country 10 Love's a Tough Town Hot Country Country 11 Right As Rain Hot Country Country 12 What Makes Me Want You So Hot Country Country 13 I Have You Hot Country Country 14 Beautiful Ride Hot Country Country 15 Long Fade Hot Country Country
change album image	Radio Songs Label: Self-Release Genres: Bluegrass Styles: Contemporary Bluegrass Songs on the Album Track # Song Title Style Genre 1 Out of Your Mind Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 2 Pickin' Up Strangers Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 3 Fool Hearted Memory Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 4 Nights Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 5 The Pages of My Mind Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 6 Born Country Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 7 Alright Already Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 8 High-Tech Redneck Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 9 Lifestyles of the Not So Rich and Famous Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 10 Over You Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 11 If I Was a Drinkin' Man Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 12 Politics, Religion and Her Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 13 Nothing on but the Radio Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass 14 Size Matters Contemporary Bluegrass Bluegrass