02/18/2007

Accidental album

Cadillac native is part of Grammy excitement

By GARRET ELLISON

gellison@record-eagle.com

Special to the Record-Eagle
Brian Glenn

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The lesson here is that you always, always record.

Had the sound technician not been sharp during Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives' ad hoc bluegrass show at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium in July 2004, the Grammy nominated performance — featuring Cadillac native Brian Glenn on bass and backing vocals — would have been just another gig.

But the sound guy was on the ball and the band came away from a performance for which they'd barely rehearsed with a set of tapes begging to be released as an album.

"After it was over, he said, 'You guys gotta listen to this,” Glenn said. "We listened to it on our next bus trip and were pleasantly surprised at how good it sounded.

The recordings became "Live at the Ryman,” Stuart's first bluegrass album, which was nominated for a 2007 Best Bluegrass Album Grammy. The album was released on Stuart's own label, Superlatone Records. It didn't win during last week's awards ceremony — Ricky Skaggs And Kentucky Thunder took the honor — but the nomination itself was a surprise.

The show where the album was taped was one in a series called Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman Auditorium. The Nashville landmark is the original home of the Grand Ole' Opry. The band called a couple local bluegrass ringers they knew and did an acoustic set.

Glenn said having everything come together like that was quite rare.

"Usually a live record is intentional,” he laughed. "There's a lot of fanfare and extra audio equipment brought in to make a live record work — I don't think this was even recorded in stereo.”

The nomination caught them unaware on several fronts. One: they aren't normally a bluegrass band. Two: they figured if anything would get a nomination, it would be Stuart's 2005 gospel release "Soul's Chapel.”

"That was quite a surprise,” Glenn said. "And here we are with a Grammy nomination for something that really started out as an accident.”

Glenn is known as a prolific singer and instrumentalist in the country music world. He hails from Cadillac and grew up in a very musical and artistic family, the Nolfs. Glenn is his middle name.

"Growing up a Nolf in northern Michigan certainly meant something where music was concerned,” he said. "There's a lot of musicians in my family, so making the transition to Nashville, musically, was opening up a box of candies for me.”

He started performing at the age of 11, touring the state with cousins Kelly and Valarie Nolf. The trio moved to Nashville in the early '90s, working with acts like Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson and Reba McEntire.

When the family band split in 1996, Glenn stuck around, singing with the house band at the Broken Spoke Saloon and starting his own band, Hunker Down. A regular at the Grand Ole' Opry, he's been featured on the Opry television program several dozen times.

He has also provided vocals for more than 2,000 country and Christian publisher demos and sound-alike cover tracks. He got the call from Marty Stuart in 2002.

Glenn has been openly gay in Nashville and said that has not been an issue in his career as a backing performer.

"Most people are willing to put it aside and say, he's a great musician, he does good work, he's responsible, he shows up on time, he's professional,” Glenn said, "If there's been any watercooler talk, or 3 a.m. talk sitting at the bar about me, I haven't caught wind of it and that's fine.”

Glenn said it was his father and Ricky Skaggs' "Highway 40 Blues” that put him on the path to country. He has a new album, called "Original Intent,” and a Web site, www.brianglenn.com.

"It's a very wide variety of music, mostly country,” Glenn said. "But some of it's very contemporary, some of it's very traditional sounding. There's even a few songs with horns on it.”

Unfortunately, none of the band was able to attend the Grammy awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Feb. 11. The band had a show in Florida on that date.

"It would be great to go,” Glenn said prior to the Grammys, but Nashville had an event for their Grammy nominees, "so, we've had a chance to enjoy some fanfare about it.”