Glenn Lawson
Hendersonville, TN
Glenn and his many siblings grew up in Spencer County Kentucky working a family farm. His mom and dad would get up long before the sun and while his mom rolled out the biscuits his dad would pick up the guitar and sing old country standards. The benefit of growing up with Hank Williams for breakfast every morning is the total comfort Glenn has in expressing his feelings in song. While earning a BA in communications at Berea College Glenn developed a lifelong interest in song writing. His job was performing at the campus pub. Glenn’s first full time job in music was with The Bluegrass Alliance in Louisville KY. He began to draw national attention when he joined J. D. Crowe and The New South in the fall of 1975. Two years later Glenn and Jim Geaudreau left the New South to form Spectrum, along with Bela Fleck and Mark Shatz. Spectrum was the hot new grass band with great Vocals. He recorded five original compositions on various projects while with these bands. Glenn earned a MA in accounting from U of L in the early eighties and has spent the last 15 years as an insurance auditor while he and his wife Nancy raised their children in a normal life setting. Glenn has a great reputation as a singer, performer and entertainer from his seven years as a touring professional however “The Human Condition” is his debut project as the primary songwriter. It features ten of his new songs that are well crafted and offer a unique perspective on the maturing process between adolescence and middle age.

Lead Vocals: tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15
Harmony: tracks 1, 3, 4, 10, 13, 15
Rhythm Guitar: tracks 2, 3, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14
Lead Guitar: track 13

Hugh Sturgill
Deep Gap, NC
Lexington KY was my home for the first forty years of my life. I have been a resident of Northwestern North Carolinas’ beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains for the past twenty-five years. Santa brought my first pickin’ instrument at age eight along with a Hank Williams songbook. Southern Baptist singin’ with my family on Sundays and Hank Williams for the rest of the week accounts for my eclectic taste in music. 1975 thru 1980 I had the opportunity to manage and produce for various Bluegrass performers including Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, J.D. Crowe, Bob Slone, Terry Baucom, Wes Golden, Vince Gill, Glenn Lawson, Jim Gaudreau, Mark Shatz & Bela Fleck. Many of these men have developed stellar careers and I cherish the experience I shared with them. From the first day in 1981 when I unloaded the moving van in Boone, NC I had the strange feeling that I belonged here. To my great surprise I discovered my family had settled in Ashe Co, NC in 1770. The second and bigger surprise was the prolific number of world-class pickers that pursued music as an avocation. Generational tradition has produced a pure love of music participation. One of the best said he was a freshman at NC State before he realized everyone did not spend Sunday afternoon pickin’ on the front porch. The Mountain Music Machine is an informal association of some of these great musicians that gather for recordings and occasional concert performances without the confusion of outside needs or agendas. It is the most fun and rewarding endeavor I have ever experienced.

Producer.

Bass vocals: tracks 4, 10
Rhythm Guitar: track 1

Resophonic Guitar (Dobro): tracks 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 13

Katy Taylor
Jefferson, NC
Katy is flat out a super singer and is equally proficient with leads or harmony. Check out her solo project “Warm Covers for Cold Nights” that was released two years ago. Katy has made the long trek from small church child prodigy to polished singer with regional groups, Windy Hill and Alternate Roots. She has finally found her vocal soul mates in Glenn and Scott. I have been sitting behind concert and recording consoles for more than thirty years and have never worked with a blend this good. Attaining this level of proficiency in a very short amount of time is a harbinger of exciting music in the future. Katy is finishing a MA in Gerontology at Appalachian State which is good for me since I am beginning to show signs of “Log aria Dementia” (non stop verbal babbling- age related). She doesn’t like to hear me say that but we all know it is pretty close to the truth. Katy is a world-class singer and an all around good ole gal!

Lead Vocal: tracks 4, 10
Harmony: tracks 4, 6, 10

Lead Guitar: tracks 2, 5, 7, 11, 13
Rhythm Guitar: tracks 4, 5, 9, 10, 11
Banjo: tracks 1, 10

Lead Vocal: track 10
Harmony: tracks 6, 10
Mandolin: tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
Fiddle: tracks 1, 3, 6, 7, 12, 14

Tony Testerman
West Jefferson NC
Tony enrolled at Berea College one year after Glenn Lawson graduated.
He also played bass in the same campus pub band than Glenn had started five years earlier. They had never been introduced and when Glenn listened to the new bass tracks he said this guy has a real feeling for the project. Turns out they had a whole lot more in common than a shared musical taste.
Tony grew up on top of Mt. Rogers (Whitetop, VA. very close to the intersect point of VA, TN and NC). His mom was principal of Mt Rogers School, with less than 150 students in grades K thru 12, and their basketball pep band was an old time string band. How cool is that? He has played bass with several area bands including Ricochet, Alternate Roots and with Wayne Henderson at various venues including Wolf Trap. Tony is a career banker with the USDA. He is also the administrative guru of The Mountain Music Machine.

Bass: tracks  1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14

Edwin Lacy
Edwin Lacy was born and raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. True to his Appalachian heritage, he learned the banjo as a boy at his father’s knee, and has been playing clawhammer banjo for more than 30 years. For 15 years he played professionally with Old Time, Bluegrass, and Folk groups throughout the United States and the British Isles – most notably with the crossover Traditional Appalachian/Bluegrass band, “Skeeter and the Skidmarks.” He has enjoyed the privilege of performing and/or giving banjo workshops with such musical luminaries as Grandpa Jones, Tony Trischka, David Holt, John McCutcheon, The Red Clay Ramblers, Butch Robins, Steve Lewis, and Bob Carlin.
Producer Note: I will admit that I was not a fan of any “open back” banjo style until I heard Edwin Lacy. His timing, dynamic control and tone pallet are off the chart. When packaged with his unique melodic composition skill, Edwin presents a musical template that most “flat headed, resonator Bluegrass banjo pickers” should emulate. I am looking forward, with great anticipation, to the planned spring sessions that will complete the Lacy, Lewis, Freeman and Scott project. Two of their cuts are featured on “The Human Condition”, tracks #5 and #11.
I would also like to thank The Arnold and Roten Family Gospel Band for lending us Wendy Roten Arnold to help with the vocals on track #4. Wendy and her 6-year-old son Zack along with grand pa Carol Roten will be making a memorable contribution to our all Gospel project to be released in the fall of 2006.

For 2-minute samples of all tracks and purchasing information, please visit CD BABY