Bryan Sutton Shares ‘Musical Conversations’ On New Album ‘From Roots to Branches, Vol. 1’

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Bryan Sutton is releasing From Roots to Branches, Vol. 1, a collection of duets from Mountain Home Music Company, on Aug. 28.

The collection’s focus track is a previously unreleased, early 2000s duet with Tony Rice on the venerable Carter Family song, “Storms Are on the Ocean,” which Sutton says honors the memory of Mountain Home Founder Mickey Gamble, who passed away earlier this year.

“When I was leaving high school,” Sutton recalls, “I was hanging out at the Hear Here recording studio in Asheville, where Mickey Gamble would hire Tony to come in and produce records – and Tony did his great Crossings gospel record there with David Johnson and Tim Surrett. So it was a really neat place to be; I was trying to find my feet right out of high school, trying to make a career, and here’s Tony Rice hanging out. I would have coffee with him at the studio, or go to lunch and sit in his car and listen to Earl Klugh. So I see, in this new Tony Rice song, a connection both with Not Too Far From the Tree and with Mickey, who helped us meet each other so many years ago, and it feels like a cool way of bringing it all together.”

The project also includes previously unreleased duets from since-departed legends (Doc Watson, Tony Rice); exchanges with colleagues from beyond the bluegrass realm (Joe Bonamassa, Tommy Emmanuel); and a sizeable assortment of bluegrass colleagues ranging from Kenny Smith to next generation players Trey Hensley, Sierra Hull, Jake Stargel, Chris Eldridge, Cody Kilby and Billy Strings, whose collaboration on “The Devil Went Down to Deep Gap” features a full band backing Sutton’s and Strings’ flatpicking and heavy metal exchanges that are as much duels as duets.

“I feel fortunate to be able to share what I’ve called these sort of ‘musical conversations’ with friends of mine,” Sutton says. “I am as much of a fan of any of these people as any other guitarist out there, or any music fan. And so to take the opportunity to sit more intimately, with just two guitars…what we have here in this project is kind of unique. So I’m excited to share that with people and to see people enjoy it.”

Lorie Hollabaugh
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