HanaLena

Press Release

May 13,2013 Meridian,Mississippi

For immediate release:



For more information please contact Betty Lou Jones at bebestuartjones@comcast.net, 601-917-4344



JIMMIE RODGERS FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES CD RELEASE

In recognition of the 80th Anniversary of the death of “The Father of Country Music”, Meridian native son Jimmie Rodgers and in celebration of the 60th Anniversary of The Jimmie Rodgers Festival, a Meridian tradition, the Jimmie Rodgers Foundation is announcing the release of a new and unique CD recorded in the Jimmie Rodgers Museum featuring Jimmie Rodgers favorite guitar “the 000-45 Martin”, the music of Jimmie Rodgers, Elsie McWilliams piano, a microphone from Montgomery,Alabama believed to have been used by Hank Williams with Britt Gully and his company of musicians sitting on Jimmie Rodgers personal furniture.

“This project developed when Jimmie Rodgers fans and members of The Jimmie Rodgers Foundation brainstormed ways that we could pay tribute to Jimmie Rodgers and his significant contribution to the development of American music. We want to share Jimmie’s legacy and the fact that in Meridian and at the Jimmie Rodgers Museum, ‘IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC’. What better way to share his legacy than sharing his music a this museum featuring his favorite guitar!” announced Betty Lou Jones, President of The Jimmie Rodgers Foundation.



Producer of the CD, Allen Delk, owner of Allen Delk Management & Production Works LLC of Columbus, Mississippi sound production engineer and photographer stated “from the technical production aspect of this project, we wanted the listener to hear as close as possible the actual sound that made Jimmie Rodgers so popular in his day and even 80 years after his death. This live recording captures the authentic sound with acoustic instruments just like he was heard in his live shows.”

Britt Gully, singer, songwriter and guitar picker from Cow Creek, Mississippi is the featured vocalist on the CD. Britt grew up listening to the music of Jimmie Rodgers and has a special feel for it. In his own words, “ I enjoy singing it, playing it, arranging it and updating it but always remaining true to its original spirit.”

When time came to assemble the “company of musicians”for this project we realized how blessed we were to have musicians we needed“close at hand”.

We recruited David Zettler and Tommy Ethridgeon percussion and bass. Both are from esteemed musical families from Meridian. They lock in on the tightest of grooves on any type of music.

Classically trained Amy Lott, is also a Meridianite. She plays just about everything and any kind of music. Her duties here include clarinet, piano, harmonica, flute, and accordion.

Steve Smithson plays blues harp better than most anybody. He draws from the early roots of blues and country and brings that sound right up where you need it.

Hannah and Caroline Melby, originally from Starkville and now living in Nashville are from the band, HanaLena. They bring fiddle, mandolin and harmony vocals to this project. They are young but in the world of music they are veterans and have been playing for years.

We crossed the Alabama border to get our upright bass player Rodney Turner. He is a multi-instrumentalist and has played everything from rock and roll to gospel.

We are excited to have two Grammy winners playing on this project. They are:Mac McAnally , singer, songwriter adding his guitar talents to “Nobody Knows But Me” and Carl Jackson playing a beautiful guitar part on “Miss the Mississippi and You”. Kirk”Jelly Roll Johnson” adds his distinctive soulful style of harmonica.

Carl Jackson is an award winning producer,musician, singer and song writer. He has been described by Bluegrass Unlimited magazine as “Bluegrass Music’s MVP”. The Mississippi Musician’s Hall of Fame member was recently inducted into the SPBGMA Preservation Hall of Greats. In 2012, he was honored with the Governor’s Art Excellence Award by Governor Phil Bryant.

Mac McAnally is a grammy award winner and was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in2007. He was named the Country Music Association Musician of the Year for four years in a row and is a member of the Mississippi Musicians Hall ofFame. He was given the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts by Governor Haley Barbour.

Kirk “Jelly Roll” Johnson’s distinctive style of harmonica has earned him critical acclaim, numerous awards, anda place among Nashville’s top session musicians. In 1998, Jelly Roll won the Nashville Music Award for Best Wind Instrumentalist. After receiving nominations for 1998 and 2000, hewon the Best Specialty Instrument Award for 2003and 2008 from the Academy of Country Music.

Radio personality and seasoned broadcaster Ken Rainey had the opportunity to get a “sneak peek”of the CD yesterday. Ken has this to say about the project. “Congratulations! Outstanding! This is the best… using the world fa - Jimmie Rodgers Foundation

HANALENA NEW TO YOU...
I first came across Hannah and Caroline Melby when they led their
bluegrass group Nash Street to national success across America
as the Best New Act in Country Music at the 2008 Colgate
Country Showdown in the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. I was
suitably impressed with their self-released CARRY ON album and
the way these two talented youngsters were pursuing their career without
the aid of a major record label or big management company. Determined
and ambitious, they have made music on their own terms, and after more
than a dozen years of leading Nash Street—I should mention that they set
up their first band the Goat Ropers as pre-teens—they decided to become a
duo under the name HanaLena.
Though I’ve spoken to both of these young women on the phone, I’d
never met them in person until this past September when we met at the
famed Puckett’s Grocery Store in Downtown Nashville for a traditional
meal of southern fried chicken and to talk about what else … but country
music. It was a busy night at the eaterie with a female singer-songwriter
trying valiantly to connect above all the din. Hannah and Caroline talked
enthusiastically about their music, their life in Nashville and their
career ambitions.
Hannah (fiddle) and Caroline (mandolin) were born and grew up on Nash
Street, in the small town of Starkville, Mississippi. It was a typical southern
upbringing in a deeply religious and music-loving family. Though they
were weaned on country and bluegrass music, they’ve absorbed a blend
of southern roots music from blues to soul to southern rock to gospel in
addition to the country and bluegrass.
As we talked both girls became more animated, often finishing sentences
for each other, smiling continually and totally immersed in their music.
Caroline, some 18 months younger than Hannah, is currently attending the
acclaimed Belmont University in Nashville, whilst her big sister holds down
a job in which she’s allowed time off to pursue their musical ambitions.
They still have a band for playing gigs, both in and around Nashville and
back home in Mississippi, where they have built a loyal and growing
fan base.
HanaLena has recently released a new mini-album, HANALENA FROM
NASH STREET, a five-track CD based around their self-penned Kiss Me In
Mississippi, a delightfully infectious love song with superb lead vocals by
Caroline and exquisite harmonies by Hannah. Production is by Grammy
award winning producer/engineer, Bil Vorndick and he has given them a
clean, uncluttered sound that perfectly enhances their deep south vocals.
The name of the duo comes back from the girls’ enterprising
childhood days. As young sisters, Hannah and Caroline began their first
entrepenuership with a cut flower sale and delivery service to patrons and
restaurants in town. By combining a name and a nickname, they called
their first business together The HanaLena Flower Company. It seemed the
ideal name for their latest musical venture which has all the signs of taking
these two beautiful sisters to the next level in their career.
“We do all of our arranging, and I really like that we get to do that,”
explains Hannah “Even in a cover song, we’ll do it and make it our own
arrangement and that’s great to be able to have a hand in that and to
make it truly unique.”
Though they are still building their career in America, they are both
eagerly looking forward to the time when they can bring their music to the
UK and Europe as Caroline enthuses.“We would love to come to the UK.
We’ve always dreamed of coming that way and to travel around the world
and get people to listen to what we sound like, because we believe we
have a unique sound. If people like that then we want to share that. It’s all
about pleasing other people—it’s not for us, we get our enjoyment out of it
by seeing the enjoyment we offer other people in listening to our sound,
and that’s what makes it fun.” Alan Cackett
www.hanalena.com - Maverick Magazine by hand media

"They’re a gifted and exciting ensemble, among the better playing and singing units to emerge in the contemporary end of the genre"

--Alan Cackett, editor of Maverick Magazine - Maverick Magazine

"They’re a gifted and exciting ensemble, among the better playing and singing units to emerge in the contemporary end of the genre"

--Alan Cackett, editor of Maverick Magazine - Maverick Magazine

click on link to access article; page 71-72 - Town and Gown Magazine

click on link to access article; page 71-72 - Town and Gown Magazine

Great write up about “The 1861 Project” in The Dispatch, the local paper in Caroline and Hannah Melby’s hometown of Starksville, Mississippi:

It’s been a long time since Hannah and Caroline Melby were a “sister act” — since their days as youngsters singing in church, harmonizing with dad, Pete, and mom, Cindy, at the piano.

The Starkville siblings, now 25 and 21 respectively, are usually on stage with their longtime band, Nash Street. But a unique side project with songwriter/producer Thomm Jutz in Nashville, Tenn., recently gave the Melby girls a chance to be part of a stellar collaboration.

Jutz, who has worked with Nanci Griffith, Mary Gauthier, chose the two to sing a track on “The 1861 Project,” a collection of new, original songs that imagines the stories of the real people who fought and lived through the Civil War.

“The South’s On Fire,” recorded by the Melbys, is a fast-paced, powerful song that “invokes Sherman’s rampage from Atlanta to Savannah.”

“If you listen to the words, it’s very visual,” said Hannah Friday, in Starkville for a rare few days. The band is now based in Nashville. “You can picture the destruction, the fires. You can smell it and feel it. Being from the South, this was a special project for us.” - Columbus Dispatch

Great write up about “The 1861 Project” in The Dispatch, the local paper in Caroline and Hannah Melby’s hometown of Starksville, Mississippi:

It’s been a long time since Hannah and Caroline Melby were a “sister act” — since their days as youngsters singing in church, harmonizing with dad, Pete, and mom, Cindy, at the piano.

The Starkville siblings, now 25 and 21 respectively, are usually on stage with their longtime band, Nash Street. But a unique side project with songwriter/producer Thomm Jutz in Nashville, Tenn., recently gave the Melby girls a chance to be part of a stellar collaboration.

Jutz, who has worked with Nanci Griffith, Mary Gauthier, chose the two to sing a track on “The 1861 Project,” a collection of new, original songs that imagines the stories of the real people who fought and lived through the Civil War.

“The South’s On Fire,” recorded by the Melbys, is a fast-paced, powerful song that “invokes Sherman’s rampage from Atlanta to Savannah.”

“If you listen to the words, it’s very visual,” said Hannah Friday, in Starkville for a rare few days. The band is now based in Nashville. “You can picture the destruction, the fires. You can smell it and feel it. Being from the South, this was a special project for us.” - Columbus Dispatch

By Al Showers - bio | email





WAVELAND, MS (WLOX) -
Students at Waveland Elementary School got a lesson in the culture of traditional Southern Bluegrass music Thursday. The two month long study culminated with a live performance from the Mississippi singing group HannaLena. It was a lesson the students will likely never forget.

The school playground was transformed into blue grass festival grounds.

Sister duo and their group HanaLena provided the music that was a big hit with the students.

"Every time you hear it ,you just want to get up and move to the beat," said second grade student Kaleaha Dailey.

But it wasn't just about the lyrics and the beat. Students learned a lot about the history and art of bluegrass music in their art class.

"We started about two months ago just talking about bluegrass culture where the music came from Kentucky and Tennessee, and how people who work really hard want to play really hard and relax. Just some options for entertainment besides video games," explained art teacher Dale Pohl.

Through their art work, students studied the many instruments used to perform bluegrass music.

"When I showed the students a photo of an actual bluegrass festival, it's funny because it's just people sitting around in lawn chairs, but they were holding the fans. So some kids caught onto that and we decided that would be a clever way to use bluegrass art work and keep ourselves cool during the concert," Pohl said.

The bluegrass art lesson even helped to add color to the stage.

"We started some weaving projects. That's so good for hand-eye coordination and it's the concept that if you grasp it, you've got it. So we wove scraps of fabric. The kids brought in old towels and T-shirts and cut those up. We've woven a design, a fiber arts instillation out there on the fence. That's our back-drop for the concert," said Pohl.

For most of the students, it was a real learning experience. Many had never heard bluegrass music.

"It is a very good type of music and I like it way better than country. It's way faster. It goes a little faster. I have never heard of bluegrass before," said second grade student Trevor Ellington.

He said thanks to art and the bluegrass artists, that's no longer the case.

Thursday evening HannaLena, performed a free concert for the community at the Mocking Bird Cafe' in downtown Bay St. Louis. The event also included an art show where the students' art work was on display.

Copyright 2013 WLOX. All rights reserved. - WLOX13