Rhonda Vincent

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Rhonda Vincent
Giant
  • Rounder
  • Upper Management Music
  • Member ofRhonda Vincent & The Rage
    Spouse(s)
    Herb Sandker
    (m. 1983)
    WebsiteOfficial website

    Rhonda Lea Vincent (born July 13, 1962) is an American bluegrass singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.[1]

    Vincent's music career began when she was a child in her family's band The Sally Mountain Show, and it has spanned more than four decades. Vincent first achieved success in the bluegrass genre in the 1970s and 1980s, earning the respect of her mostly male peers for her mastery of the progressive chord structures and multi-range, fast-paced vocals intrinsic to bluegrass music. In media, Vincent has been dubbed the "Queen of Bluegrass" by several sources.[2] Vincent is an in-demand guest vocalist for other bluegrass and country music performers, appearing on recordings by Dolly Parton, Alan Jackson, Tanya Tucker, Joe Diffie, Faith Hill and other notables.[3]

    Vincent is an eight-time

    Grammy nominee, winning the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2017.[4] In 2020, she was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry.[5]

    Early years

    Vincent was born in

    Midwest in the 1970s and early 1980s. Except for living in Texas for a short time in 1974, and two summers (1977, 1978) spent employed as musicians at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, the Vincent family used the Greentop area as home base.[8] The Vincent children all attended Schuyler County R-1 schools, and following high school Vincent later attended Northeast Missouri State University, majoring in accounting.[citation needed
    ]

    Solo career

    Vincent’s life of music evolved into a successful career in bluegrass music after being discovered by Grand Ole Opry Star Jim Ed Brown, and later spending what she calls her musical college years recording for Giant Record. She learned about the music business from Nashville’s best like James Stroud, Jack McFadden, and Stan Barnett. Even while Vincent was still performing regularly with the Sally Mountain Show, she released her first solo album New Dreams and Sunshine in 1988. In 1985, Vincent had competed in the TV series You Can Be a Star on the original version of The Nashville Network. After winning the competition, she was signed to a recording contract; her first professional performance was with country singer and Grand Ole Opry star Jim Ed Brown. In the 1990s Vincent branched out into mainstream country music, releasing a pair of albums on the Giant Records label, but did not have success there.

    Rhonda Vincent on the Watson Stage, MerleFest, 2010

    With the release of her album Back Home Again in 2000, Vincent returned to bluegrass with the goal of expanding both the musical reach and the accessibility of the genre. The International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) accorded her its Female Vocalist of the Year award for the years 2000 – 2006, plus IBMA Entertainer of the Year in 2001. The Society for Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA) designated her its Entertainer of the Year for 2002 – 2006 inclusive.[9] She also performs with her band, Rhonda Vincent & the Rage.

    On February 19, 2010, Vincent parted from

    Top Bluegrass Albums chart at No. 1.[11]

    On June 7, 2011, Vincent and country legend Gene Watson released a duet album on Upper Management entitled Your Money and My Good Looks. The album entered the U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums chart at number 71.

    Sunday Mornin' Singin', an album of old-time gospel standards, was released on July 10, 2012.

    On April 1, 2017, Vincent's duet with a fellow country singer Richard Lynch was released as a track on Lynch's album "Mending Fences".[12]

    During an appearance at the Grand Ole Opry on April 27, Vincent announced that she and Daryle Singletary had spent the previous months recording a duets album, with further details to follow during CMA week. She then introduced Singletary and the two performed a couple of George Jones and Tammy Wynette songs – "Golden Ring" and "One".

    It was her pivotal bluegrass album, “Back Home Again” on Rounder Records, that transformed Vincent into the All American Bluegrass Girl. She was crowned the New Queen of Bluegrass by “The Wall Street Journal” in 2000. She is a multi-award winner, with a 2017 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, an Entertainer of the Year 2001, Song of the Year 2004, and unprecedented seven consecutive Female Vocalist of the Year awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association 2000 – 2006.

    Her powerful vocal style transcends the boundaries of bluegrass music, as evidenced in her collaboration with Dolly Parton on the Elton John / Bernie Taupin Tribute Project “Restoration” 2018. She was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry on February 28, 2020.

    Touring

    In 2008, Vincent's band performed at Centennial Hall in London, Ontario, at a concert organized by the Thames Valley Bluegrass Association.[13]

    Gospel DVD

    In a 2011 interview with television station KTVO Vincent announced that she and her band had recently filmed a live all-gospel DVD at a church in her hometown of Greentop, Missouri.[14] The DVD was expected to be released sometime in 2012.

    Family life

    Vincent married Herb Sandker on Christmas Eve 1983.[3] While it might have been more convenient to be based out of someplace like Nashville, Vincent chose to remain close to her Missouri roots: "My husband and I made the decision early on. I loved being in my home area. My parents are there, our relatives are there. We wanted to raise our children there. So I made the decision to commute."[7] For a period of time in the late 1990s and early 2000s, they owned, and Sandker managed, a popular restaurant in Kirksville, Missouri, called Bogies. [15]

    Vincent's elder daughter Sally wed her mother's fiddle player, Hunter Berry, in Greentop, Missouri, in 2010. Younger daughter Tensel married her mother's dobro player, Brent Burke, in 2013. Sally and Tensel have since performed with their mother, and have begun their own group with their husbands named Next Best Thing.[16]

    Since 1987, Rhonda and the entire Vincent family have hosted a large yearly bluegrass festival on land just west of Queen City, Missouri. The Sally Mountain Bluegrass Festival is traditionally held around the 4th of July and attracts music fans from across the U.S. and the world.

    A highway sign in Queen City, Missouri directing attendees to the annual Sally Mountain Bluegrass Festival

    Discography

    Awards

    To date, Vincent and her band, The Rage, have won one

    Grammy, nineteen IBMA Awards
    (including the top Entertainer of the Year honor in 2001 and consecutive Female Vocalist of the year wins between 2000 and 2006) and eighty nine SPBGMA Awards.

    Year Association Category Nominated Work Result
    1974 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Single of the Year Muleskinner Blues Won
    1999 International Bluegrass Music Association Recorded Event of the Year Clinch Mountain Country Won
    2000 International Bluegrass Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2001 International Bluegrass Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2001 International Bluegrass Music Association Recorded Event of the Year Follow Me Back to the Fold: A Tribute to Women in Bluegrass Won
    2001 International Bluegrass Music Association Entertainer of the Year
    Rhonda Vincent & The Rage
    Won
    2002 International Bluegrass Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2003 International Bluegrass Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2004 International Bluegrass Music Association Song of the Year Kentucky Borderline Won
    2004 International Bluegrass Music Association Recorded Event of the Year Livin', Lovin', Losin': Songs of the Louvin Brothers Won
    2004 International Bluegrass Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2004 Grammy Awards Best Bluegrass Album One Step Ahead Nominated
    2005 International Bluegrass Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2006 Grammy Awards Best Bluegrass Album Ragin' Live Nominated
    2006 International Bluegrass Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2007 Grammy Awards Best Bluegrass Album All American Bluegrass Girl Nominated
    Best Country Collaboration with Vocals
    Midnight Angel (with Bobby Osborne) Nominated
    2010 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Entertainer of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2010 Grammy Awards Best Bluegrass Album Destination Life Nominated
    2011 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Entertainer of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2012 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Contemporary Female Vocalist of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2012 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Vocal Group of the Year Rhonda Vincent & The Rage Nominated
    2012 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Bluegrass Band of the Year Rhonda Vincent & The Rage Nominated
    2012 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Song of the Year The Court of Love Nominated
    2013 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Entertainer of the Year Rhonda Vincent Nominated
    2013 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Contemporary Female Vocalist of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2013 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Bluegrass Hall of Greats Rhonda Vincent Won
    2013 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Bluegrass Album of the Year Sunday Morning Signin' Nominated
    2013 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Instrumental Group of the Year Rhonda Vincent & The Rage Nominated
    2014 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Bluegrass Hall of Greats Rhonda Vincent Inducted
    2014 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Instrumental Group of the Year Rhonda Vincent & The Rage Won
    2014 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Entertainer of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2015 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Contemporary Female Vocalist of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2015 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Bluegrass Band of the Year Rhonda Vincent & The Rage Won
    2015 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Entertainer of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2015 Grammy Awards Best Bluegrass Album Only Me Nominated
    2015 International Bluegrass Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2016 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Entertainer of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2016 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Female Vocalist of the Year Rhonda Vincent Won
    2016 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Instrumental Group of the Year Rhonda Vincent & The Rage Won
    2018 Grammy Awards Best Bluegrass Album All The Rage: Volume One Won
    2022 Grammy Awards Music Is What I See Nominated

    Other honors

    • Missouri Walk of Fame 2012 inductee[17]
    • Bluegrass Star Award, Inaugural Recipient (October 16, 2010), presented by the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation of Dallas Texas. The award is bestowed upon bluegrass artists who do an exemplary job of advancing traditional bluegrass music and bringing it to new audiences while preserving its character and heritage.[18]
    • Champion, Celebrity Division, National Cornbread Festival cookoff. Rhonda and husband Herb are the previous owners and operators of a popular restaurant in Kirksville, Missouri.[citation needed]
    • Missouri Music Hall of Fame 2017 inductee
    • Member of the Grand Ole Opry

    References

    1. ^ [1]
    2. ^ "Biography". Rhonda Vincent. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2012.
    3. ^ a b "Rhonda Vincent fact sheet". Retrieved June 20, 2012.
    4. ^ "Awards Winners & Nominees Best Bluegrass Album". Grammy.com. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
    5. ^ "WATCH: Rhonda Vincent Invited to Join the Grand Ole Opry". Theboot.com. February 29, 2020. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
    6. vol.2 p. 661
    7. ^ a b Boone, Dennis (April 2012). "50 Missourians you should know". Ingrams magazine. Volume 38, No. 4. Archived from the original on May 12, 2014. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
    8. ^ Janie Shriver & Jennie Higgins, It's a Family Affair. Published in The Chariton Collector magazine, Spring 1982. Pg. 30–31
    9. ^ [2]
    10. ^ "CMT : News : Rhonda Vincent leaves Rounder Records". CMT News. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
    11. ^ "Rhonda Vincent biography". Vincent official website. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
    12. ^ Papadatos, Marcos (April 2017). "Review: Richard Lynch back with new country single 'Cut And Paste'". Digital Journal. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
    13. ^ Strings, newsletter of the Pineridge Bluegrass Folklore Society, June 2008
    14. ^ "Bluegrass Queen performs for the Heartland". KTVO-TV website. November 1, 2011. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
    15. ^ Righi, Len (June 9, 2000). "Home on the Web: Rhonda Vincent Turns to the Internet to Bond With Traditional Bluegrass Fans". MCall.com. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
    16. ^ Lawless, John (August 4, 2008). "The Next Best Thing". Bluegrasstoday.com. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
    17. ^ "Inductee list". Cherry Blossom Festival. 2012. Retrieved April 29, 2012.
    18. ^ "Bluegrass Heritage Foundation official website". Bluegrassheritage.org. 2010. Retrieved December 28, 2015.

    External links