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Tim
Hensley
bio click here for pdf download of BIO Tim Hensley is a journeyman in every sense of the word: a man whose love of music led him from Cincinnati, Ohio to extended tenures with Ricky Skaggs, Patty Loveless and Kenny Chesney - and in that diversity, he's expanded his sense of what organic music can be. With Long Monday, the very first record to emerge from this long path, the acoustic guitar-playing tenor marries classic American singer/songwriters with dirt floor church standards and traditional bluegrass for a collection of songs that sounds like they could be old friends, snapshots from back when and the sweetest parts of right now. "I think we just
looked for not only the best songs," says Hensley, "but songs
that felt like somewhere I'd been... whether it was the gospel I'd grown
up on, the farm I bought right after I got married, walks through New
York City in the winter. I don't know enough to sing much more than what
I've experienced. But, hopefully, that oughta be enough." "When Tim sang 'Dear Departed' in the
studio, it just knocked us all back," recalls Chesney, who was
inspired by his bandmate's passion to co-produce Long Monday during
breaks in his own frenetic schedule. "There is an honesty to his
voice that transcends tone or technique... 'Dear Departed' was a one
take performance, and it put me right back in the middle of the sweaty
summer months, walking through the hallways of the venues trying to get
to the bus after our shows. He's just that real." Whether it's Rodney Crowell's dignity
beneath the outward appearances of the homeless that tempers
"Riding Out The Storm," John Scott Sherrill's loss of
long-standing family farms "Five Generations" or the
time-honored gospel truth of "Two Coats," these songs come
from very real places for the man who has spent his career supporting
the music of others'. Growing up in a Pentecostal family, Hensley
started out singing for the Lord - "Uncloudy Day,"
"Amazing Grace," whatever his grandparents or the pastor
wanted. From that cornerstone, he found the Beatles and learned to sing
harmony like Paul McCartney. Between persistence and passion, the kid
who grew up in walking distance to Cincinnati's stadium and would often
stand outside listening to the big rock shows and marvel, found his way
into the Altar Way Gospel Singers, playing little churches in places
that wouldn't even be considered towns. From there, it was the straight bluegrass of
the Lickin' Valley Boys and countless hours practicing guitar and
sitting in with anyone who'd let him. Local band Coal Train picked the
20 year old up, to play steel and sit outside the clubs on breaks - and
that led to a stint with Cimarron and recording little tapes on a 4
track in his bedroom. With the grace afforded to the innocent and
the truly dreamstruck, Hensley started sending those tapes out. A friend
of someone turned someone else onto the crude recordings, and Hensley
loaded up his 1977 Volare and headed South, getting a ticket in
Louisville and a blow-out between Louisville and Bowling Green. But no
catastrophe could stop him. After a few days at the Hendersonville Inn,
jamming with the various friends and friends of friends, he found a
place. Pam Gadd said he oughta call Carl Jackson, who was about to give
up his slot with Ricky Skaggs - and so the odyssey began. The few weeks it took for Hensley to be
summoned to a studio to jam with the bluegrass superstar and
soon-to-be-CMA Entertainer of the Year was nothing compared to the few
months it took Skaggs to settle on his next tenor singer. But when he
did, Hensley was in a magical place. "With Ricky, it was pretty
structured... I was singing Emmylou's parts, and I was worried about
tone," he concedes. "But the cool thing about Ricky was
getting to hang with Bill Monroe some, getting to spend time with him -
and being part of that band at such an incredible time." Four years later, he was lured away by high
mountain tenor Patty Loveless, a woman re-igniting seriously traditional
country infused with the soul of Appalachia. Not only was he the fulcrum
harmony singer, but he found himself coming into his own as part of the
multiple ACM and CMA Female Vocalist's sound. "With Patty, I was freer... I could
boost out a little more power and was really encouraged to express
myself, to show the emotions of the song. We had a lot in common, how we
were raised and she was really coming into her own." Though Hensley left to be part of the short-lived Cactus Choir, then serving as a hired gun for Sonya Isaacs, Billy Yates, Jason Sellers and Matt King, he was still a part of Loveless' musical circle - and shared the video of his grandparents in church singing "Two Coats," which inspired the treatment of the standard on Loveless' Mountain Soul, which Hensley sang all over. |
official websites:
www.myspace.com/timhensleymusic album
view Quotes (email to request PDF file)
Photo Credit: Glen Rose Photography
more available upon request |
Tim
Hensley
