Arden, NC - Multi-award winning vocal group, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver has completed work on a brand new recording. Help Is On The Way officially hits stores on Tuesday, March 18 on the Horizon Records label and will be distributed nationwide to retailers by Crossroads Music Distribution.
A deep love for music was instilled in the life of Quicksilver leader Doyle Lawson as a small boy growing up in the hills of East Tennessee. Lawson’s earliest memories center around music and listening to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights. By age 12 he had learned to play mandolin and during his teen years became accomplished in other instruments, as well. By the time he reached his late teens he had his first full-time job playing banjo for Jimmy Martin, and throughout the next 16 years played with a variety of talented musicians before forming his own group in 1979. Over the past three decades, Lawson and his celebrated band have received practically every honor known to bluegrass music, including Vocal Group of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association for the past seven years, as well as IBMA’s Gospel Performance of the Year for the past three years. He is recognized as one of the industry’s most celebrated musicians, having released nearly 40 recordings to date.
Help Is On The Way, produced by Lawson, is highlighted by 14 songs, including the title cut, “Help Is On The Way,” which serves as the central theme for the recording. “The theme for the recording started when I heard ‘Help Is On The Way,’” Lawson recalls. “I had already gathered a number of songs I thought were really good, but when I heard ‘Help,’ I knew it was the one to build on.” The song has already been shipped to radio stations nationwide and recently made its debut among the Top 10 New Releases, sitting at Number Five, as reported by The Singing News Magazine, Southern Gospel Music’s leading fan and trade publication. Prolific writers contributing to the recording include Dee Gaskins, Rob Mills, Michael Reed, Randy Swift, Fred Rose and Odell McLeod, as well as Ed, James and Russell Easter.
Help Is On The Way, recorded during the latter part of 2007 and early 2008, features Lawson on mandolin & vocals, Darren Beachly on guitar and vocals, Carl White on bass & vocals, Josh Swift on resonator guitar and vocals, Joey Cox on banjo and Alan Johnson on fiddle. The recording marks the first collaboration for this particular combination of musicians and vocalists. The combination has proven to be a winning one, as the recording is already receiving rave reviews from industry insiders, who are commenting that the recording offers a freshness and energy that listeners are certain to embrace and love.
The positive response to Help Is On The Way is music to Lawson’s ears. “I spend a lot of time collecting and listening to songs as I prepare to make a recording,” Lawson explains. “I review literally hundreds of songs before narrowing it down to 12 or 14 songs. I like for each song to mesh with others and create a collection of songs I feel work well together. There are some new songs, as well as some older songs, but I think they all have a positive message, each in their own way.”
In support of the release of Help Is On The Way, Lawson’s 2008 Spring touring schedule includes stops in Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, Georgia, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Connecticut and Washington, DC. A complete touring schedule is available at www.doylelawson.com.