Although Bluegrass music has branched off into different paths down through the years, as other music has done, some things are better (at times) just left alone. That is the feeling of Tennessee Skyline’s members. Their own songs have the flavor and taste of material that is from a bygone era. Respect for traditional music is well-represented here.

Nothing describes this band better than the statement on their business card - “Where Traditional Music is a Way of Life.” Each member of Tennessee Skyline certainly has his head focused in that direction.

NOTE: Quotes in blue below are from Jack Tottle, Director Emeritus of the Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music Program at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN. They were created as liner notes for the new CD.

Billy Baker - Fiddle

Billy Baker may be recognized by bluegrass fans as a former fiddler for Bill Monroe and Del McCoury. Fiddling runs in his family, as he is the cousin of the famous fiddler Kenny Baker, who also played with Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys. Billy is a welcome addition to Tennessee Skyline’s sound. His playing reflects the traditional Appalachian style that is the heart of Tennessee Skyline.

Audey Ratliff - Mandolin

Audey Ratliff of Church Hill, TN, has brought to the band tasteful notes and arrangements on the mandolin. Audey is a well-balanced musician who has always added to any group he has worked with, and none more than here.

“Audey Ratliff is both a fine mandolin player and master instrument builder. Ratliff mandolins have been played by the likes of James Alan Shelton (with Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys), Tammy Rogers, Adam Steffey, Jennifer Banks McLain, and Dino DiGiacomo (of the excellent Italian bluegrass band, Red Wine). Audey has played previously with Tim Stafford, Adam Steffey, Barry Bales, and Tom Ratliff (Audey’s Dad) in the Boys in the Band, and subsequently with G.C. Matlock in Leisure Tyme.”

J.C. Radford - Bass, Vocals

J.C. Radford is originally from Roanoke, VA, but now resides in Kingsport, TN. He has the gift of songwriting to add to his vocals, bass playing and spontanious stage presence.  J. C. is always a “plus” in any group. No one works harder at his job.

“Bass player and singer, J. C. Radford, is a long time veteran of the group, Inheritance, based in J. C.’s home area of Roanoke, Virginia. He is the composer of numerous songs, including “Five Mile Mountain Road”, as recorded by the Bluegrass Brothers. Several more of J. C.’s songs are included here. The description of receiving a phone message from a racehorse in “It Turned Off Cold” is one of the cleverer twists in the long history of musical male-female relationships.

Matt Hurd - Dobro, Vocals

Matt comes from a very musical family who has been greatly influenced by Bill Monroe, Del McCoury and... being from Sneedville, Tennessee in Hancock County... the great Jimmy Martin. 

His dad, brother, uncles, aunts and cousins all play music, and are very good at it. Matt brings the dobro and guitar to the

 

band, along with a very good and strong tenor voice. He was a former member of the Dry Valley Grass and is now a WELCOMED member of Tennessee Skyline.

G. C. Matlock - Guitar

G. C. Matlock of Kingsport, TN makes one wonder how a man can find so much tone in a guitar. A lifetime of music is what you hear when this man walks out on a stage and steps up to the mic. Also known as “The Rock”, G. C. can be described as “man says little - guitar says much.”

“G. C. Matlock’s magnificent rhythm and lead guitar playing has won him countless fans since the 1970’s with the bands Hard Times, Leisure Tyme and the East Tennessee State University Bluegrass Band. It’s a pleasure to hear him again in this new context. G. C. has, in recent years, begun teaching aspiring young players. Among them is Trey Hensley, who has appeared on the Grand Ole Opry periodically since his Opry debut as a pre-teenager playing with Marty Stuart and Earl Scruggs.”

Tommy Freeman - Banjo, Guitar, Vocals

From Surgoinsville, TN, Tommy was raised in a musical family where music was as much a part of life as cutting stove wood. He is also a songwriter to go along with his vocals and guitar playing. From “the old school”, he is “His Own Man” in bluegrass music.

“Rhythm guitarist Tommy Freeman contributes vocals, original songs, and some stellar Scruggs-style fingerpicked lead guitar on “Won’t It Be Glad”[“Over There”]. A native of Scott County, Virginia, hes previous experience includes two years with the Alabama-based Warrior River Boys. That band’s recording of Tommy’s song “Today’s the Day I Get My Gold Watch and Chain” reached the #10 position on the Bluegrass Unlimited national chart.”
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