Ragsdale will sing new and preloved stuff at Grimey's

Ragsdale

Music has been part of Suzi Ragsdale's life since childhood, when she was heard in the chorus of her award-winning father Ray Stevens' classic tune "Everything is Beautiful" as a five-year-old.

By her teen years, Ragsdale was doing demos, and she's gone on to become an established presence in Music City circles as a songwriter and performer. She'll be performing songs from her double EP release Best Regards/Less Of The Same Tuesday night at Grimey's New and Preloved Records.

In case you're wondering, Ragsdale is quick to credit her famous father with giving her the training and impetus to pursue music as a career.

"He's been absolutely nothing but encouraging from the very beginning," Ragsdale said. "In fact more people are shocked that my older sister didn't go into the business than they are surprised that I did. He gave me piano lessons, and would bring songs home from other writers and have me do the demos.

"He's been such an inspiration and so wonderful, yet he's also never tried to be controlling or tell me that I should be doing this rather than that. He's just fantastic."

Ragsdale's amassed some impressive credits on her own. She's appeared on more than 60 albums as a vocalist, and was a regular member for several years of groups led by Guy Clark and later Darrell Scott. She's been featured on recordings by Clark, Scott, Suzy Bogguss, Hank Williams Jr., Ian Tyson and Tom Paxton among others, while Anne Murray, Billy Dean, Lani White and Lisa Brokop are just a few of the performers who've recorded Ragsdale's songs.

As a vocalist she's a confident, versatile stylist whose multiple influences are reflected in the thematic diversity on Best Regards/Less of the Same. Bandleader, pianist and vocalist Gabe Dixon (who'll be a special guest at Tuesday's event) joins her on the stirring duet "Full Light." "Troublemaker" spotlights her country/folk/Americana side in a strong collaboration with Rodney Crowell.

Other songs alternate between bluesy, soulful elaborations and country-tinged narratives, with each number also indicative of the musical bond between Ragsdale and longtime producer, keyboardist and accordion player Tim Lauer.

"Tim and I have been working together so long that we can be freally frank and open with each other about songs," Ragsdale continued. "I'll hook up the microphones to the piano and cut the demos directly, then give them to Tim. He can listen to them and immediately tell me whether we need to cut back on the piano and add some fiddle, or whether there's too much happening in a section or not enough. Other times he'll say that one's just right like it is, and we'll just move on to something else."

Lauer will be part of the group accompanying Ragsdale Tuesday at Grimey's. They will be joined by bassist Michael Rhodes, drummer Ben Phillips, and guitarist Kyle Ryan. The set will be available both on Ragsdale's website (suziragsdale.com) and at selected retail locations as well as being sold at Tuesday's in-store performance.

"We really planned to just put out two separate EPs at first," Ragsdale concluded. "But then we got a distributor and they really don't like to put out projects anymore that aren't at least 10 songs. We had all this material, and it actually worked out more like a conventional double album. One side presents one side of my personality, the other EP covers a different area and it's almost like turning the album over to Side B, only in this case it's EP one and EP two."

IF YOU GO

What: EP release and in-store for singer/songwriter Suzi Ragsdale's Best Regards/Less Of The Same
When: 6 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Grimey's New and Preloved Records, 1604 8th Ave. S.
Cost: Free
Info: 254-4801