New duet-album by Rhonda Vincent and Daryle Singletary “American Grandstand” out in July – it’s “Above And Beyond” classic country

A partner picture from their recording session announced it in August of last year, “Queen of Bluegrass” (according to the Wall Street Journal) Rhonda Vincent and mid 1990’s traditionalist Daryle Singletary got together to record a duet album, called “American Grandstand.” It’s release date is set for July 7th.

On his self titled debut album, Daryle Singletary for Giant Records, he had Rhonda singing background vocals on “Would These Arms Be In Your Way” (written by Hank Cochran, Vern Gosdin, Red Lane) and asked her to do so on his later indie releases as well. According to a press release, Singletary mostly wanted to keep up with the tradition in country music to record duet albums, like the legends did before him and Rhonda:

“If you love traditional country music, and remember songs originally sung by well-known duet partners like George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn, and Merle Haggard and Bonnie Owens, this is a must-have CD that we are extremely excited about.”

Rhonda, who ventured from Bluegrass into traditional Country Music before, like on her 2014 album “Only Me” where she recorded six Bluegrass & six Country songs, praised Singletary as one of the best singers in this generation of country music. She was especially smitten with the task to harmonize with Daryle’s voice:

“It’s so fun to sing with someone who challenges me as a singer. The songs were given great thought, along with one that was totally unexpected. It’s one of the best projects I’ve ever been part of. I am so proud of this recording, and I cannot wait for the world to hear our wonderful creation, American Grandstand.”

Even though, there is almost a full month, before “American Grandstand” will be available, Singletary and Vincent have already started to heavily promote their new collaboration with several shows during CMA week (formerly Fan Fair) in Nashville. Even “Rolling Stone” magazine pressed its readers to not miss the duo and featured them as one of 20 acts not to miss during the busy CMA week.

One of the shows they performed together was the “Music City Roots – Live From the Factory” Show in Franklin, outside of Nashville, hosted by Jim Lauderdale on June 7th. The opening track of “American Grandstand,” the Harlan Howard written classic “Above And Beyond” recorded live at the show, is now featured on YouTube. “Above And Beyond,” first recorded by Wynn Stewart as a single in 1960, followed by Buck Owens later that same year and then Rodney Crowell in the 80’s, who celebrated his fifth #1 song with the classic, is one of my all time favorites. It’s nice to see that timeless composition done as a duet and giving it a new realm.

“Besides “Above And Beyond” and their current radio single “One” the whole tracklist of “American Grandstand” can be found below. By the way, the title track is a new song written by Rhonda Vincent as part of this collaboration.

American Grandstand
Track By Track:

1. Above and Beyond
2. One
3. After The Fire Is Gone
4. American Grandstand
5. Slowly But Surely
6. As We Kiss Our World Goodbye
7. Can’t Live Life
8. Golden Ring
9. We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds
10. Louisiana Woman Mississippi Man
11. A Picture of Me Without You
12. Up This Hill and Down

If you would like to pre-order the “American Grandstand” and get an immediate download of “One,” you can click here.

For more information about Music City Roots – Live From the Factory in Franklin, Tennessee, for a schedule of upcoming artists performing on that show and a direct link to see a streaming video, visit their official website – you may also find information on their facebook page.

Sources: YouTube; musiccityroots.com; Webster PR; rollingstone.com; rhondavincent.com; darylesingletary.net, billboard,