Natalie Jo Gray
Audio By Carbonatix
Ever since their first performance at McAwesome Fest in May 2021, the members of all-female bluegrass band Big Richard have been having a blast. “It was crazy chemistry right from the start, like we had played together for a lot longer,” says Joy Adams (cello and vocals).
The four Front Range musicians – Adams, Bonnie Sims (mandolin and vocals), Emma Rose (upright bass, guitar and vocals) and Eve Panning (fiddle) – took that initial momentum and ran. They have been playing constantly since that first show. They signed with Thundering Herd Artists in February 2022 and have now filled their summer and fall with shows, festivals and a West Coast tour. On Thursday, March 31, they will release their second single, a cover of Peter Rowan’s “Walls of Time,” while en route to Big Sky Fest in Montana.
“We speak this really specific dialogue of music that allows us to freely converse,” Sims says. “We’ve spent our lives playing this music.”
All four women picked up instruments during their childhoods. Both Sims and Rose were the children of musicians, and Adams and Panning had family bands. Adams estimates that collectively, they have about 100 years of experience.
More recently, Sims has played country rock and soul music in Bonnie & Taylor Sims, Everybody Loves an Outlaw and Bonnie and the Clydes. Adams has performed cello with Nathaniel Rateliff, Darol Anger and Half Pelican (a duo that performs on top of fourteeners and while skiing, among other places). Rose has started a solo project called Sound of Honey, as well as accompanying folk acts such as Daniel Rodriguez and Whippoorwill. And Panning fiddles with modern bluegrass band the Lonesome Days.
All four love the “high-energy, punch you in the gut” quality of bluegrass, Adams notes. “It’s a full-send vibe,” which she likens to a sportsman’s commitment to technique, speed and drive. Sims calls it a “spank it to the wall” style.
But despite, or perhaps because of, their years of experience, Big Richard’s members aren’t playing bluegrass to prove their skill. “There’s so much ego and proving yourself [in music], because you want others to take you seriously,” Sims explains. “We’re lampooning that. You can believe it or not – we’re just going to have a blast. It’s freeing.”
Since its formation, Big Richard has shrugged off the definition as purely a “ladies of bluegrass” band. Despite the fact that it’s rare to find all-female bands, it’s not rare to find great women musicians who have been playing for decades, Sims and Adams point out. They look up to acts such as Uncle Earl, Molly Tuttle and Sierra Hull.
Big Richard songs range from years-old traditional tunes to more recent bluegrass numbers to pop renditions done with a bluegrass twist. There are currently around fifty to sixty songs in the band’s repertoire, and the members are starting to work on more original collaborations.
“When someone brings in a song,” Adams explains, “it’s very much a communal effort. Everyone knows what their strengths are, and we’re really good at amplifying those strengths.”
“Everyone’s such a good listener,” Sims adds. And it’s different from other bands in the sense that there aren’t prescribed roles. Everyone is an equal, and “everyone has a moment to shine.”
Sims suggested that Big Richard cover “Walls of Time.” The song was originally written by Rowan, a well-known bluegrass songwriter, in the 1980s, and it reflects a man wishing to reunite with his lover, who has passed away. Sims has performed the song for a long time on her own, but once Rose and Adams joined in with three-part harmony, it took on a heartfelt, bluesy, raunchy tone.
“It has a deep-pocket groove that would make you swing your hips real low,” Adams adds. “It’s the perfect vibe for Big Richard.”
Aside from the powerful vocals, Sims loves the ambiguity of singing a song written from a male perspective. “I hate the idea of gendered songwriting,” she says, pointing to lyrics such as “see her on the other side.” In the past, she’s listened to women edit lyrics to make them sound as though it’s a woman pining for a man. “Sometimes that messes up the rhyme scheme,” she says. “I don’t need to change it and worry what people are going to think about the genre and sexuality.”
“Walls of Time” is Big Richard’s second single release, following a cover of “The Blackest Crow.” Both were recorded live by John McVery and Kyle Donovan at Cinder Sound Studio in December 2021. In addition, Big Richard has released four live videos – “Caleb Meyer,” “Greasy Coat,” “Try Me One More Time” and “Wind & Rain.” All were recorded at Cinder Sound, as well.
The band hopes to spend next winter working on a full-length album, but in the meantime, the women will be busy performing and finding all sorts of reasons to laugh. “Sometimes we laugh so hard, we have to stop to collect ourselves,” Adams says. Playing in a band, she notes, is “usually not this fun.”
Listen to Big Richard’s cover of “Walls of Time” on Spotify or check out its music videos on YouTube. Big Richard posts all its upcoming shows on its website bigrichard.com and Instagram.
