Missy Raines & The New Hip

Missy Raines and The New Hip 4 Stars

"...a seductive amalgam of folk, country, bluegrass, and rock, recalling the earliest platters by Lucinda Williams and Rosanne Cash. Her warm, willowy, winsome vocals and overall style evoke Alison Kraus but she’s mos def no imitator—they might till the same soil but in their own respective, estimable ways." -ICON Magazine

These platters are examples of performers “redefining” themselves without chucking out their pasts entirely. (Hands: How many remember when Tori Amos was a metal- lite chick?) Missy Raines is an award-winning bluegrass bassist and Eleanor Friedberger is of the brother-sister indie rock duo Fiery Furnaces, but their latest discs find them as engaging, moody (in the best ways) songsters. On Raines’ second set as a leader, acoustic bluegrass influences dominate, but there’s drums, electric guitar (restrained and smol- dering, in fact), and the songs are a seductive amalgam of folk, country, bluegrass, and rock, recalling the earliest platters by Lucinda Williams and Rosanne Cash. Her warm, willowy, winsome vocals and overall style evoke Alison Kraus but she’s mos def no imitator—they might till the same soil but in their own respective, estimable ways.

Friendberger’s second solo set rocks more than Raines’ but there are similarities—both draw the listener in on the strength of their story-like songs, and both richly draw forth definite moods. She harnesses the song-craft of Elvis Costello and Carly Simon but with some lean, indie rock spunkiness and her sharp, slight husky singing somewhat recalls the young Simon. Personal Record goes for a very full but un- cluttered sound with plenty of variety, from the bossa nova- tinged “Echo or Encore” to the booming Hall & Oates-meet- Motown swagger of “She’s A Mirror.” Friedberger’s songs stick to the ribs, and are, also like Raines, so very comforting and human. compassrecords.com / mergerecords.com - Mark Keresman, ICON Magazine - ICON Magazine

Bluegrass Bass Star Missy Raines Puts Out an Intriguing, Original Rock Album

"It turns out that Raines is not only a superb bassist but also an excellent singer, with a matter-of-fact, low-key delivery that’s sometimes hushed, sometimes seductive, sometimes channeling a simmering unease."

Bassist Missy Raines is a star in the bluegrass world, but her album New Frontier with her band the New Hip is an electric rock record. Much of it is 80s rock. Those songs sounds a lot like the Smiths, but with an emphasis on Johnny Marr guitar (Ethan Ballinger’s lingering, unresolved chords, surf allusions and distant angst) rather than what the Bushwick blog-pop groups steal from that band (cross your legs daintily and repeat with the proper affectation: “Oh, Bryce darling, it was nothing!”). The rest of the album is more straight-up janglerock than it is Americana-flavored. It turns out that Raines is not only a superb bassist but also an excellent singer, with a matter-of-fact, low-key delivery that’s sometimes hushed, sometimes seductive, sometimes channeling a simmering unease.

The opening track, Learn, shifts from a catchy, swaying verse with a hint of a trip-hop beat to an echoing, broodingly anthemic late 80s Britrock chorus. Raines follows that with Blackest Crow, a methodically swaying, understatedly ominous goodbye anthem, like Liz Tormes fronting the Room. The album’s title track works a ringing two-chord vamp that reminds of the Railway Children, Jarrod Walker’s mandolin and Ballinger’s guitar trading off elegantly. Nightingale traces a night ride through Florida with an Angel from Montgomery type hook that grows more mysterious and seductively lush on the chorus – it would be a standout Sheryl Crow song.

Long Way Back Home uneasily contemplates the temptations of fame and everything that comes with it – maybe you don’t become what you dream of being after all. Where You Found Me ramps up the ominousness with its resonant pools of guitar, like Lush with a gently resolute American accent, and Raines’ opaque lyrics: is this a story being told from beyond the grave? Likewise, Kites, a slow, brooding ballad, like a harder-edged Mazzy Star.

When the Day Is Done works a slowly swaying, moody blend of Americana and 80s Britrock. What’s the Callin’ For begins with a hint of bluegrass but then becomes a growling highway rock tune lit up by a searing guitar solo, part country and part dreampop: it’s a neat touch. The album ends with American Crow, a somber, metaphorically-charged bird-on-a-wire tableau. It’s quite a change of pace for Raines, but like all good musicians, she’s obviously listened and played far outside her regular style: she could be a fish out of water here, but she’s not. - New York Music Daily

Bluegrass Bass Star Missy Raines Puts Out an Intriguing, Original Rock Album
by delarue

Bassist Missy Raines is a star in the bluegrass world, but her album New Frontier with her band the New Hip is an electric rock record. Much of it is 80s rock. Those songs sounds a lot like the Smiths, but with an emphasis on Johnny Marr guitar (Ethan Ballinger’s lingering, unresolved chords, surf allusions and distant angst) rather than what the Bushwick blog-pop groups steal from that band (cross your legs daintily and repeat with the proper affectation: “Oh, Bryce darling, it was nothing!”). The rest of the album is more straight-up janglerock than it is Americana-flavored. It turns out that Raines is not only a superb bassist but also an excellent singer, with a matter-of-fact, low-key delivery that’s sometimes hushed, sometimes seductive, sometimes channeling a simmering unease.

The opening track, Learn, shifts from a catchy, swaying verse with a hint of a trip-hop beat to an echoing, broodingly anthemic late 80s Britrock chorus. Raines follows that with Blackest Crow, a methodically swaying, understatedly ominous goodbye anthem, like Liz Tormes fronting the Room. The album’s title track works a ringing two-chord vamp that reminds of the Railway Children, Jarrod Walker’s mandolin and Ballinger’s guitar trading off elegantly. Nightingale traces a night ride through Florida with an Angel from Montgomery type hook that grows more mysterious and seductively lush on the chorus – it would be a standout Sheryl Crow song.

Long Way Back Home uneasily contemplates the temptations of fame and everything that comes with it – maybe you don’t become what you dream of being after all. Where You Found Me ramps up the ominousness with its resonant pools of guitar, like Lush with a gently resolute American accent, and Raines’ opaque lyrics: is this a story being told from beyond the grave? Likewise, Kites, a slow, brooding ballad, like a harder-edged Mazzy Star.

When the Day Is Done works a slowly swaying, moody blend of Americana and 80s Britrock. What’s the Callin’ For begins with a hint of bluegrass but then becomes a growling highway rock tune lit up by a searing guitar solo, part country and part dreampop: it’s a neat touch. The album ends with American Crow, a somber, metaphorically-charged bird-on-a-wire tableau. It’s quite a change of pace for Raines, but like all good musicians, she’s obviously listened and played far outside her regular style: she could be a fish out of water here, but she’s not. - New York Music Daily

Bluegrass star Missy Raines and her band leave their comfort zone in the dust on a new album.

“It’s been a long time coming, but I knew you’d find me here.” – title track of “New Frontier”

On Missy Raines And The New Hip’s “New Frontier,” Missy Raines presents a drastically changed sound that’s more Radiohead than Earl Scruggs. In a move that Raines attributes to her natural musician’s curiosity, she hops on the indie Newgrass train to light out for new territory, along with bands like The Avett Brothers, The Civil Wars and The Lumineers, who have helped to popularize Americana and bluegrass by seamlessly blending their mandolins, banjos and heartfelt lyrics with harmonic guitars and pop sound structures.

A West Virginia native, Raines alone boasts impeccable bluegrass credentials, as a seven-time winner of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Bass Player of the Year Award. After touring as a bassist with Jim Hurst and the Claire Lynch band, Raines formed a band of her own with Ethan Ballinger, Dillon Hodges and Michael Witcher, who released “Inside Out“ in 2009. While “New Frontier,” a Kickstarter-supported effort, serves as a definitive departure from her bluegrass roots, Raines and the New Hip, along with guests such as Zach Bevill of The Farewell Drifters, sound like indie veterans, seamlessly incorporating Americana, garage rock and acoustic jazz.

“New Frontier” serves as the first all-vocal album from the Nashville-based outfit, where Raines’s voice, at times plaintive and pleading, fierce and blustery, really shines. The New Hip also makes excellent use of a ringing, almost distant electric guitar, layering Strokes-esque solos with bluegrass staples, such as mandolins and acoustic guitars. It makes for an incredibly interesting, multi-faceted sound, where Raines really proves that polished experimentation is possible. “New Frontier” is most impressive in its ability to pay homage to the band’s bluegrass roots while incorporating a panoply of new influences and instruments.

Raines comes out strong, baptizing old fans with fire on the first track, I Learn. With a noticeable absence of traditional bluegrass instrumentation, The New Hip starts with a garage rock-inspired number with a throbbing bass line and blistering guitars. What’s the Calling For also features driving guitars, along with a brilliant incorporation of the mandolin – like a Newgrass Black Dog. Raines’s self-professed love for indie rock can also be heard on Kite, Where You Found Me and the title track New Frontier, with the latter seeming like an outtake from a Bon Iver album.

As you might expect from an album called “New Frontier,” many of the songs are devoted lyrically to the idea of moving on, from not only bad boyfriends and relationships, but also the stagnant, the toxic, the former. On the mostly acoustic Long Way Back Home, Raines hearkens back to the spiritual imagery often found in bluegrass while also acknowledging the uncertainty that comes with moving forward. “Sometimes the only difference from a pilgrim and a prodigal son is the dream that you began and the thing that you’ve become,” she croons.

Many of Raines’s more contemplative pieces feature minor tonality and jazzy, ringing guitars, like Nightingale and When The Day Is Done. The latter features a killer stripped-down verse, with Raines carrying the song in her dusky alto almost alone. Long Way Back Home and American Crow are also largely stripped-down affairs, while also paying homage to The New Hip’s bluegrass roots. American Crow in particular closes the album magnificently by bringing the sound back around to its roots, finishing “New Frontier” on a drastically different, much softer note than opener I Learn.

“New Frontier” covers a ton of ground, as Raines experiments with sound and expands her musical horizons, inviting listeners to ride along with her on this artistic expansion. Raines’s voice really sets the album apart, keeping the feel at times fierce and almost aggressive and then dialing down to a much more vulnerable, contemplative place. The juxtaposition of pop orchestration, lo-fi guitars and mandolins make for an incredibly interesting, layered sound.

The New Hip not only tag along with bands such as the Avetts and Churchill, but also add their own brilliance to the swiftly growing collection of Newgrass artists that have brought Southern music to the mainstream. The New Hip leaves fans and listeners at a fantastic crossroads: the Missy Raines they’re used to, and her New Frontier.

“New Frontier” will be digitally released by Compass Records on August 27 and is currently available for pre-order here. See Missy Raines and The New Hip on September 14 in Nashville for their CD release party, September 16 in Knoxville and October 4 in Juliette, Georgia. - Deep South Magazine

Sometimes, you just have to chase a dream, even if it threatens to push you – or your fans — out of the comfort zone. That’s what Missy Raines did on New Frontier, the latest Compass Records release from Missy Raines and the New Hip.

The results, to this listener, are incredibly satisfying. They won’t be to everybody, because there are very few hints of bluegrass in this 10-song collection. But she makes no apologies, and shouldn’t have to. As Missy noted in a blog post, “Even though it was going to be something very different than folks were expecting to hear, I had to say, ‘This is what I want to do, and I have to do it.’”

This article will be different, too. It’s not an objective review of the CD. It can’t be. I’ve taken bass lessons and workshops from Missy, and I count her as a mentor and a friend. Plus, I took the rare step, for me, of donating to her Kickstarter campaign that raised money for this record.

So let’s call this an appreciation rather than a review. And, let me tell you, there’s a lot to appreciate from Missy and her bandmates Ethan Ballinger, Jarrod Walker and Josh Fox.

First of all, the biggest change to me isn’t that these 10 songs have more of an indie rock edge to them than her previous recordings (though they do). The biggest – and best – difference is that Missy sings on every song. You won’t miss the driving instrumentals that are staples of New Hip collections. The voice, smoky and smooth at the same time, calls to mind Stevie Nicks, but without the flowing capes and all the baggage and angst she brought to the stage with Fleetwood Mac. This is a solid vocal performance, from start to finish, and it leaves me wanting to hear more.



The other big change from her past work is that the 10 songs collected here have a clearly defined common theme. These offerings are all about self-discovery and inevitability. The theme is laid out immediately, in the opening cut, I Learn, written by Zach Bevill of the Farewell Drifters. And it continues in the opening lines of the title cut, another Bevill contribution: “It’s been a long time coming, but you knew you’d find me here.”

But the point is driven home most convincingly in the chorus of LongWay Back Home, written by Pierce Pettis and Gordon Kennedy: “Sometimes the only difference ‘tween a pilgrim and a prodigal son is just the difference ‘tween the dream that you began and the thing that you’ve become.”

Missy’s dream, of course, began in bluegrass. Her seven IBMA bass player of the year statues make her the most-decorated female instrumentalist in the genre. And the thing that she’s become is a strong, independent band leader, unafraid to venture outside the bounds of a particular genre. For proof of that last statement, look no further than the strongest song on the CD, Ed Snodderly’s What’s the Callin’ For. This is a straight-ahead rocker, with Missy sharing vocals with Sam Bush, who also plays mandolin and slide mandolin on the track. You’ll hear this one on the radio, and it will no doubt bring new fans into her camp.

And if this is a little too edgy for you? Fear not. Missy is still planning an all-bluegrass album at some point. It’s a new frontier, but she hasn’t forgotten her roots.
- Bluegrass Today

“With a string of high profile gigs and seven bluegrass Bassist of the Year awards behind her—Raines offers her solo debut, Inside Out. The CD showcases the range of Missy’s talent, as she leads her quintet of young acoustic aces through bluegrass, newgrass, pop, and jazz terrains with solid yet inventive support, fluid solos, and engaging vocals.”
-Bass Player Magazine


- Bass Player Magazine

“MerleFest Bands To Watch” “Missy Raines and the New Hip are another much-buzzed-about band on the scene these days. Pulling from contemporary country, jazz, bluegrass, and their own imaginations, their music is smooth and sweet.”
-About.com

- About.com

“Raines continues to reach far beyond the confines of bluegrass with her inventiveness…Her roots remain distinctively bluegrass, while her originals and arrangements reflect her eclectic taste.” -Strings Magazine

- Strings Magazine

“Raines continues to reach far beyond the confines of bluegrass with her inventiveness…Her roots remain distinctively bluegrass, while her originals and arrangements reflect her eclectic taste.” -Strings Magazine

- Strings Magazine

“…The New Hip features some deft singer-songwriter vocal change-ups, as well as
musically witty instrumentals that cross over into what could just as
well be labeled progressive jazz.”
-Wall Street Journal
- Wall Street Journal

“…The New Hip features some deft singer-songwriter vocal change-ups, as well as
musically witty instrumentals that cross over into what could just as
well be labeled progressive jazz.”
-Wall Street Journal
- Wall Street Journal