​(Bluegrass) Queen Rhonda Vincent Crowned New Opry Member (Eventually)Trailblazing artist talks waiting games, new music, performance anxiety, mandolins gone virtual and more

by Melissa Coker ​

 

Mandolin virtuoso Rhonda Vincent has a way of pulling at strings (including those of the heart variety). And throughout the past year, this respected recipient of the Uncle Dave Macon Days's "Trailblazer" award has traveled a long and winding road. But finally this February she can once again take the stage to proudly prove that long and winding road leads back to the Opry House's door. Maybe even that road is a country one, taking her home, to the place where she belongs.

On Feb. 28, 2020 - fate (in the form of Opry member Jeannie Seely) found a gasping, "Thank you Lord"-ing Vincent surprised with an invitation to join the storied institution of the Grand Ole Opry. Her gloriously ravishing Facebook cover photo serves well in capturing the elation of that moment. Initially, that official induction ceremony was set to happen one month later. Fast forward (almost) one full year...and that membership remains unofficial. This "queen of Bluegrass" is one woman who's earned those membership dues. Vincent shared her thankful thoughts about that, new music, her favorite go-to excuse for when plans go awry, movie soundtracks, and where to hear/see her in this exclusive.

But the waiting is the hardest part. The sold-out show takes place Feb. 6 and can be seen via Circle All Access on TV, online and of course heard around the world on 650 AM, WSM.

"It's kind of cool. It's historic," she says of the wait with a smile. "I was hoping that the Opry would be open completely - but hey, I'm just glad to become a member, so whenever they want to do it is fine with me," she laughs joyfully. "I waited this long, so I was happy when they called [with a tentative time frame]...people are coming in from EVERYwhere. They're coming from New York State to Oregon State. It's crazy! I mean, my childhood friends, people that I just never would even expect...from every aspect of my life, from my personal life to my public life. Every aspect - there are people from everywhere...how amazing is it that these people have all come together to say we have to be there? I would have never dreamed it all."

When plans don't pan out, she says, she has a very optimistic by-the-numbers reason to blame as to why. 

"Most everything I do, it's never the norm. And I was born on Friday the 13th. So I always credit that and say 'well, that's my lucky day. It's the rest of the days I have trouble with. That's usually my reasoning for the answer to 'what's happened now?'".

"That I haven't decided," she said when asked [in the meantime before induction] what songs she'd perform for the grand event. "I have a new album that's coming out and people say 'well, you should do songs from the new album' but then someone says you should do your most popular song, like 'Kentucky Borderline'...so, I haven't decided on that. And I don't use a set list. So I might switch it up literally before I walk out. Now, I recorded a bluegrass version of 'Unchained Melody' [complete with banjo!] on the new album. I would love to be able to do that. I've only sang it once on stage and they gave me a standing ovation. So it was a really good time. But I was shaking when I got done singing it and I don't really want to go out there and do something where I might just fall into the floor because my nerves would take over," she contemplates in anticipation. "But then on the other hand what a great place to debut a brand new song and 'Unchained Melody' of all songs."

She chalks up some of the nervousness to her and her band the Rage being off of the road. Despite the lack of road Rage, though; Vincent's kept herself busy with musical endeavors aplenty. She was an integral part of 2020's digital-only Roots Rendezvous festival (organized by the folks behind the Uncle Dave Macon Days festival) and elsewhere in the interim has helped fill another niche's virtual void by offering a pretty unheard of combination - mandolin webinars.

"I'd never done it before," she shares excitedly. "My daughter kept urging me to do something like that. And I'm so glad I did. People are inquiring, like what are we doing for the next one because they want to learn more chords. And I also had hosted last time a jam night where I just sat and played songs and we used the chords that we learned to play some songs. So I will probably gear those up."

During some recent season's greetings she sang on a song with Justin Peters in the opening scene for the TV movie The Farmer and the Belle: Saving Santaland (and its soundtrack) which was released last year. But that's not her first brush with Hollywood. Before Belle she dipped her toes into the movie business with Dumplin', the 2018 acclaimed Netlfix original movie starring Jennifer Aniston and featuring songs by Dolly Parton.  

"This is actually my second time for a movie," she exudes in reflection of Santaland. "And that was the hilarious thing. This is two years in a row in December that I have had my voice in a movie. But in Dumplin' we sang the song 'If We Don't'. And I did the song with Dolly. It ended up being a trio. I played mandolin and sang harmony and then Alison Krauss also played fiddle and sang harmony on it. So it was a trio with Dolly, Allison and I. I knew it was in the soundtrack for the movie. But I had NO idea that the song would be in the movie. I'm watching the movie and 40 minutes into the movie, that song comes on. I said, 'now, this is cool. Wow.'"

But back to the basics of merriment in lands a little less far away - the Opry jubilation is cause for plenty of celebration and as luck would have it, Vincent and the Rage are in for a Middle Tennessee music-making triple-play. On the Friday night before, the Rage take the stage at Nashville's infamous bluegrass haunt The Station Inn (and she has confirmed she "will be in the crowd that night"). Then it's time for the big night...but after, she's hatched plans to play right across the street to record a full hour with special guest Vernon Lee Johnson for 650's radio show "The Midnite Jamboree" (coincidentally, the world's longest-running radio show second to the Grand Ole Opry) at the Texas Troubadour Theatre on Music Valley Drive. The taping will take place at 10 p.m., is free and open to the public, complete with meet and greet. That show will hit the air soon after (at, you guessed it - the stroke of midnight). 

Following her No. 1 Bluegrass hit "Like I Could" (written by Jeannie Seely, Erin Enderlin and Bobby Tomberlin) Vincent is currently closing in on a sound decision as to what her next single will be and hopes to release her new album shortly - complete with a red carpet rollout fit for a queen and worthy of more certain times.

*a version of this article/interview also appears in The Murfreesboro Pulse
#Bluegrass #Opry #RhondaVincent #NewMusic

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