Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising

 

 

BMP: Tell us a little about your current group, list the members and mention any new or upcoming news.

 

Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising is currently enjoying their 5th year together with a full summer of appearances including the three biggest parties in the state of Oregon – the Portland Rose Festival, the Oregon State Fair and four days with 55,000 or our closest friends at the internationally famous Pendleton Roundup. 

 

Comprised of bass player and band leader Kathy Boyd, mandolin/fiddle/guitar player Tim Crosby, banjo/Dobra player Tom Tower and guitar/harmonica player Dennis Nelson (who is the current Roots Music Association Bluegrass Songwriter of the Year), the band focuses on two things – crafting songs that will appeal to a large cross-section of humanity and providing a highly entertaining stage show that will keep audiences coming back for more.

 

Our goal for 2011 is to expand our performance area and bring our stage show to folks who up to this point have only had the opportunity to hear our music on the radio.

 

Information about the band can be found at http://www.phoenixrisingband.org

 

 

 

 BMP:  What would you like readers to know about your latest CD?

  

You can find all three CD’s at http://www.cdbaby.com/artist/kathyboydphoenixrising    

 

 BMP: What other music have you been listening to lately?

A friend sent me a copy what may be the only CD Horace Scruggs ever appeared on.  I’ve been having fun with that and also with singing along to a CD given to me at a recent concert by a local Americana band called Hudson Ridge.  Because I’ve been doing a round of internet radio interviews lately I’ve had the opportunity to listen in on a variety of shows – which of course host quite a wide variety of bluegrass music.  It’s always fun to see what’s out there and what it catching people’s attention. 

 

BMP:   What would you do if you weren’t a musician?

We come from a variety of backgrounds including hospice, sales, mechanics, counseling and flying.  I have always held the belief that a being a musician is not something you do – but rather something that you are.  If you are a musician, the music is going to find a way to be expressed through you, whether onstage as a performer, singing in your church choir, or even by simply being the best shower singer you can be.  If it’s feeds your soul, you are a musician – no matter what your “day job” is. 

 

 

BMP: What’s your favorite summer activity?

I am a huge gardening fanatic!  Whenever I’m home I’m out in the yard.  I recently built a greenhouse, which is proving to be a lot of fun and very satisfying.  I’ve got “the gardening bug” so bad that I have been known to weed the flowerbeds of folks who have put us up as we travel.

 

Click here to listen to Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising’s song Righteous Road: