Asheville-based blues troubadour Leigh Glass put the first lineup of her band together in 2003, but her own musical history goes back much farther. "I took piano lessons when I was little...but it didn't stick," she laughs. With deep roots in Western North Carolina -- her family is from Bethel (Cold Mountain) in Haywood County -- she proudly notes her musical pedigree. "My great aunts and uncles and my grandfather were big-time bluegrassers; in the 1940s they played in the Carpenter Family Band, and they performed in Asheville at the venue that was here before the Civic Center was built.
For herself, Leigh didn't pick up the guitar until about ten years ago ("I decided I needed an instrument I could take around with me," she quips). Leigh's original songs are built upon an electric blues musical foundation, with healthy ladies of country (and country-blues) influences added. A list of her musical heroes covers a wide spectrum of American artists and genres: Ann Wilson (rock), Gillian Welch (Americana), Tina Turner (blues and soul), Emmylou Harris (country) and Leontyne Price (opera). Leigh's style distills all of these and more into the blues idiom, but her lyrics are always prominent in the mix.
Leigh offers, "My songs are all stories that run the gamut of emotions and characters." Audiences follow her lyrics closely, and onstage Leigh delivers them with gusto: "I tell people, if you sit in the front row, you're gonna get (accidentally) spit on!"
In June the band plays the prestigious Orange Peel, made famous by Smashing Pumpkins and Beastie Boys. July live dates in WNC for the Leigh Glass Band include Jack of the Wood (July 10) and the WNC Ribfest (July 12). And when the album comes out, a CD release party will be scheduled locally. Audio selections from the group's energetic live show are available at www.leighglassband.com.