Ali Shumate Band

Every Bit of Ali Shumate
by Emerald Butler

Ali Shumate fell in love with music at a young age in her home of Pocahontas, Virginia. “My family has always been musical. We always had Bluegrass playing on Sunday on the radio, and that’s just what took my heart away,” Ali remembers. Her grandparents had been in local military bands and piano players at the local Pocahontas Opry house. Ali herself began performing at local events when she was in her teens. In her 20s she began playing with various groups, but she soon set her music career aside to focus on motherhood and work in the healthcare industry. Two years ago, however, Ali started taking her music career more seriously. She began writing again and found a great co-writer and teammate in Donna Ulisse. Ali released her album Every Bit of Me in June of last year.
“I just fell back in love with this season of my life and the opportunity to get out and make music again. I’m so happy to be back at it in a serious way.” Ali was writing with only a couple of people when she ran across an ad for Donna Ulisse’s songwriter’s workshop. “I said you know, it’s been a while since I wrote with somebody that I don’t know, so let me just take a step just for fun. We just clicked!” Ali stated. “We found that our styles were similar, and we just really hit it off.” A few months later Ali was offered an exclusive songwriting agreement and recording contract with Uncle Hadley Music and Hadley Music Group. The group is owned by Donna Ulisse and partner Kathy Sacra-Anderson. Ali shared that this has given her the opportunity to focus more on the writing craft.
“I’m so fortunate to have this opportunity. I absolutely love it! It gives me the opportunity to work with other people on their projects. When you’re writing for your own project you know kind of what you love and what is meaningful to you. When you’re writing for other people it opens your mind and gives you such an opportunity to see things from a different perspective. Writing with one or two other people; it just opens the room. I will write till my fingers don’t work anymore” Ali laughed.
The songwriter shared that her songwriting process can differ depending on who else is in the room with her. “I will come up with the song starts. I could be sweeping my floor, or it’ll wake me up in the middle of the night. I’ll jot down something that catches my eye or my ear. I’ll put those little “hooks” as we call them down on my iPad, and then when I sit down, I have something serious that I can write toward. I can pull that little list of hooks out and think ‘what am I feeling right now?’ Writing as a business, you want to try to take a stab at writing every day because A- it keeps you fresh, and B- you want to be able to keep that up.”
Luckily for her fans, Ali has been able to keep that up. These songs beautifully turned into Every Bit of Me an album that pieces together all of the bits of Ali Shumate.
“There seems to be a common theme here. It’s sort of like the kind of experiences that a woman would have throughout her life,” Ali shares. “Being a girl in a bluegrass business and having lived through having a child and raising a child; having been a professional like a nurse; having experiences with my own mother; my husband. I wrote a love song on there about him. There’s a sprinkling of different things, but it covers everything from the birth of my son to my faith.”
The album has continued to climb the Weekly Top 12, Weekly Top Gospel, and the Bluegrass Today charts. - The Bluegrass Standard

12. Ali Shumate, Every Bit Of Me. Ali is one of those success stories that gives hope to aspiring writers and performers everywhere. She was discovered at one of Donna Ulisse’s writing workshops and, in short order, signed a writing deal and a recording deal with Hadley Music Group. This CD offers the first fruit of that venture, and sweet fruit it is.
My faves: Mama’s Bible and I’ll Dance Forever With You. - Bluegrass Today

(#9 spot is Ali Shumate and "Jezebel")

Closing out our years-end charts for 2019, here are the Top 30 Gospel songs as played on bluegrass radio last year. The chart is generated by combing all the results from our Bluegrass Today Weekly Gospel Airplay chart.

ARTIST
TITLE
LABEL
SONGWRITERS
TOTAL
1
Alan Bibey & Grasstowne
When Jesus Swings The Wrecking Ball
Mountain Fever
Rick Stanley, Donna Ulisse
3761
2
Peter Rowan
A Crown He Wore
Rebel
Lois Mann and Mac Odell
1817
3
Clay Hess Band
Tougher Than Nails
Pinecastle
Ron Block
1687
4
Ralph Stanley II & the Clinch Mountain Boys
Beautiful Hills of Home
Stanley Family Records
Billy Wise, Joan Wise
1539
5
Billy Droze With The Isaacs
Till I Get Home
RBR
Billy Droze, Ronnie Bowman
1375
6
Crowe Brothers
Don’t Leave Him Hangin’
Mountain Fever
Carl Jackson, Kathy Louvin, Chuck Pearson
1266
7
Claire Lynch
Gonna Sing, Gonna Shout
Billy Blue
Rick Lang
1251
8
Farm Hands
Hillbilly Graham
Pinecastle
Songwriter credits are not listed on AirPlay Direct
1199
9
Ali Shumate
Jezebel
Hadley Music Group
Ali Shumate, Donna Ulisse, David Haley Lauver, Rick Stanley
1094
10
Balsam Range
Angel Too Soon
Mountain Home
William M Maddox, Paul W Thorn
1074
11
Terry Baucom’s Dukes of Drive
Even Somebody Like Me
John Boy & Billy
Milan Miller, Thomm Jutz
1049
12
The Churchmen
I’d Like To Be Your Neighbor
Morning Glory
Carroll Arnn
826
13
Alan Bibey & Grasstowne
Gonna Rise and Shine
Mountain Fever
Barney Rogers
742
14
King James Boys
More Than Enough
Morning Glory
Danny Roberts, Daryl Mosley
691
15
Sister Sadie
Since I Laid My Burden Down
Pinecastle
Public Domain
657
16
Balsam Range
Let My Life Be A Light
Mountain Home
J. R. Varner
635
17
High Fidelity
My Saviour’s Train
Rebel
Songwriter credits are not listed on AirPlay Direct
595
18
Aaron Frosty Foster
When I Wake Up To Sleep No More
Beehive
Marion Easterling
589
19
Merle Monroe
He Will Roll You Over The Tide
Pinecastle
Kyla Rowland
573
20
Blue Highway
That Sounds More Like Heaven To Me
Rounder
Songwriter credits are not listed in AirPlay Direct
571
21
King James Boys
The Master’s Standing By
Pinecastle
Songwriter credits are not listed in AirPlay Direct
558
22
Turning Ground
I’ve Lived A Good Life
Bonfire
Nathan Arnett
533
23
Chigger Hill Boys & Terri
Songs Like Those (For Days Like These)

Terri Argot Gore, Mike Richards, Ricky Gore
520
24
Nothin’ Fancy
That Home Far Away
Mountain Fever
Ruby Rakes
447
25
Joe Hott
Cry From The Cross
Rural Rhythm
Johnnie Masters
427
26
Chris Jones & The Night Drivers
Glimpse Of The Kingdom
Mountain Home
Chris Jones, Jon Weisberger
416
27
Turning Ground
I’m Gonna Wear A Crown
Bonfire
Nathan Arnett
414
28
Larry Cordle
Scared The Hell Out Of Me
Mighty Cord
Larry Cordle, Larry Shell
370
29
Rhonda Vincent
How Can You Refuse Him Now
Upper Management
Hank Williams
363
30
Audie Blaylock & Redline
The Gate Called Beautiful
615 Hideaway Records
Reed Jones
35 - Bluegrass Today