The winners are Andy Bing and Mike Foley
AUGUST 27 TRIVIA QUESTION
Famous Non-Bluegrass Female Singers Who “Dabbled”
Over the decades bluegrass has attracted a number of famous non-bluegrass performers who “guested” or “dabbled” in our wonderful music. Slumming? A desperate act to save a faltering career? Who can tell?
Which of the following famous female singers “guested” or “dabbled” in bluegrass on recordings by well-known bluegrass groups?
A. Linda Ronstadt with the Seldom Scene
B. Joan Baez with Flatt & Scruggs
C. Whitney Houston with Rhonda Vincent & the Rage
D. Carole King with Allison Krauss+ Union Station
E. Aretha Franklin with the Nashville Bluegrass Band
F. None of the above
Additional Bowden Comments
Andy and Mike got it, Linda Ronstadt sang on some cuts with The Seldom Scene, back in the 1970s. I don’t know how she got acquainted with the band, but she BELTED out some high baritone choruses on “California Earthquake” and “Bottom of the Glass”. In the days well before Emmy Lou Harris ventured into the bluegrass world. Linda’s harmony was about the only imaginable contender against John Duffey’s voice.
I thought someone might guess Joan Baez, because she entered the “folk” world about the same time as Flatt & Scruggs. There’s a funny story about F&S at the Newport Folk Festival for the first time, when this little slip of a girl in a simple white gown and bare feet approached Lester & Earl and asked if she could go on stage with them. Earl instantly replied “NOOO!” Joan and Earl later became friends and she appears in the first movie about Earl, when he had started up the decidedly non-bluegrass Earl Scruggs Revue with his sons.
Whitney Houston hasn’t gotten into bluegrass that I know of, but she did have a HUGE hit with Dolly Parton’s composition “I Will Always Love You” (originally dedicated to Dolly’s boss Porter Wagoner).
Carole King and Allison Krauss? Plausible. I suppose it might happen.
Aretha Franklin with the Nashville Bluegrass Band? No.
And, I actually thought someone might try good ol’ None of the Above.
A. Linda Ronstadt appeared as a guest on several recordings by the Seldom Scene.
I’m going with (a), Linda Ronstadt.