Deeper Roots: Where the Bluegrass Grows

The first sound I remember as a little barefoot boy was my daddy's Martin guitar and a five-string banjo.

My earliest memories of growing up in Paducah, Kentucky are woven together with the sound of bluegrass and folk music, with my dad on guitar and his good buddies, Scotty Henson on the banjo and Jack Curtis Martin (which is where my middle name came from) on the dobro. I loved that sound and couldn't wait to learn to play the guitar and join in!

By the time I was eight years old, I was playing and singing in Church with my dad Herb, Sr., my brother Herb, Jr., and my mom Judy. I loved the sound of our voices harmonizing together. The hymns and "Gospel songs" we sang together, filled with theology (even before I had heard that Word) and truth about God's grace and love, planted the seeds that would grow and become the "fruit" of so many of the songs I've written and recorded over the years.

So, a few years ago I had the opportunity to record a Bluegrass record called Deep Roots and honor this important part of my story. I loved it so much that I wanted to do it again.

And here you have it...Deep Roots: Where the Bluegrass Grows, featuring performances by my bluegrass hero, Ricky Scaggs, my good friend and incredible singer Gary Levox (of Rascal Flatts), my son Caleb Chapman, and my daughter-in-law Jillian Edwards Chapman. And I couldn't have done this without my dad and brother, Herb, Sr. and Herb, Jr. We recorded a few of these songs live, the three of us sitting around a microphone just like we did when we'd gather around our kitchen table all those years ago.