Billy Blue Records Announces New Focus Track from Carolina Blue 'Raining In Roanoke'

Billy Blue Records announces the release of a new focus track from Carolina Blue's chart-topping album, Take Me Back. Written by the band's co-founder Bobby Powell, "Raining In Roanoke" is the third single from their highly successful project that reached #1 on the National Bluegrass Survey's Top 15 Albums chart in January and February.

"The idea for this song came to me early one morning while driving through Roanoke, Virginia, on the way home from a weekend out on the road," explains Powell. "It was pouring rain and the rest of the band was sleeping. The line popped into my head, 'It's raining in Roanoke and I'm leaving here this morning,' so I woke Tim (Jones) up in the shotgun seat to write it down for me. The whole song came out like that. Line after line, he'd type them into his phone and before long the song was written. I think what makes this song great is the way Tim sings it. He and I were sitting down to arrange the material before we went into the studio and when he started singing the chorus, he jumped up a whole octave and it really knocked my socks off! Sometimes what makes a song really great is the singer and I think that's the case with 'Raining in Roanoke.'"

"Raining In Roanoke" is one of eight songs on the 12-track album contributed by the band's co-founders, Powell and Jones. "Grown Cold" (Powell), the album's spirited opening track and first single, made an impressive statement including a rapid rise in just three months on the National Bluegrass Survey's Top 30 Songs chart. The achingly beautiful "Take Me To the Mountains That I Love," (Jones) the Stanley Brothers styled "Lost And Lonely," (Jones), and "Number 73987," (Powell/Jones) a song told from the perspective of Bill Monroe's infamous mandolin, are excellent examples of the wide range of creativity flowing freely from Carolina Blue. And although the band produces much of their own material, they are quick to recognize a great song from outsourced writers, as well. The second single, "Too Wet To Plow," was written by noted song-smith David Stewart and is a perfect fit for the group, as is "Country Lovin' Son Of A Gun" written by Dewitt Johnson, and "Blue Grass" crafted by hit writers Larry Cordle and Mike Anthony. The album is chock full of the Monroe-esque goodness the band is most recognized for, and features award-winning fiddler Aynsley Porchak, James McDowell on banjo, and Reese Combs on bass.

Take Me Back and the new focus track, "Raining In Roanoke" are available on Billy Blue Records. For more information, visit www.CarolinaBlueBand.com and www.BillyBlueRecords.com.

Formed in 2007, Carolina Blue lays claim to a Top 5 Billboard album multiple charting songs later, three International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) award nominations and being named Entertainer of the Year by the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America (SPBGMA) along with winning the coveted Bluegrass Band of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year and Album of the Year honors, also from SPBGMA. The band presents bluegrass music like Bill Monroe intended, without being a Bill Monroe cover band. The sound is marked by heavy fiddle and mandolin work; and complex harmony from a group that enjoys sincere engagement with fans. Bobby Powell (guitar and vocals) said he and the Carolina Blue band members, which includes Timmy Jones (mandolin and vocals), James McDowell (banjo and vocals), Reese Combs (upright bass and vocals) and Aynsley Porchak (fiddle, recipient of the 2018 IBMA Momentum Instrumentalist Award), "are on the same page when it comes to music and lifestyle. We're not a partying band. We're all conservative Christians and we reflect that as a band, too." The band's attire is a throwback to the 1940s and 50s. That periodic style of dress was influenced by two of Bobby and Tim's North Carolina mentors - Roy Chapman and Joe Byers. "They taught us to try to dress better than the folks who are paying money to see us play," Powell says. "They told us to respect our audience."

Billy Blue Records is a boutique bluegrass label, home to an award-winning roster of artists including Alan Bibey and Grasstowne, Appalachian Road Show, Carolina Blue, Darin & Brooke Aldridge, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Donna Ulisse, Jason Barie, Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers, and the Grammy-nominated recording "Gonna Sing Gonna Shout." Founded in 2018 by Jerry Salley, Ed Leonard, and Dottie Leonard Miller, Billy Blue is distributed to retail by the Orchard (Sony) and New Day Distribution.

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