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Chanteuse
Country US née à Pikeville (Tennessee).
Carrie
Hassler & Hard Rain came out of nowhere — actually Crossville TN — in 2006 when
their debut album for the Rural Rhythm label, Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain,
took the bluegrass world by storm coming onto the Billboard Top Bluegrass Top
Album Charts at number 11 and charting regularly for the next two years. It
earned enough airplay to spend nine months on the Bluegrass Unlimited National
Bluegrass Survey Top 15 Album Chart, and the album's first single, "Seven Miles
from Wichita," went to number one on Sirius Radio's Bluegrass Top 40 and spent
ten months on the Bluegrass Unlimited Top 30 Chart, crossing over to country
radio as well. To top it all off, the gospel flavored track, "Least That I Can
Do," spent a year on Bluegrass Now Magazine's Gospel Truths Chart. Not too bad
for an album that was originally made to give away as a gift to family and
friends.
Hassler was a stay at home mom with a husband and young son and although she
enjoyed singing and performing, getting a record deal was the furthest thing
from her mind. She was born in Chattanooga and raised in the small town of
Pikeville, TN. Her mother was a piano teacher and everyone in her extended
family sings and plays music. Her father worked the soundboard for a local
gospel group, so Hassler was well versed in various styles of gospel music as a
child. She was a shy, quiet girl, but when she started singing in the church
choir at the age of nine, she shocked family members with the power and clarity
of her voice. All she ever wanted to do was sing, but school, and later on
raising her family, took precedence over her desire to be on-stage.
Hassler sang with a few bands doing covers of country music hits and had a low-key
local career playing weddings, fairs, and private parties. She took some Vocals
training in junior high with gospel singer John Blassingame who taught at
Chattanooga State College, but when he passed on she never went back and relies
on her innate music sense for her Vocals style. In 2004, she had a part in a
review that payed tribute to Patsy Cline.
A bluegrass band was on the bill and she asked them if she could sing a song
with them. Both the band and Hassler were blown away by the power of her
performance. Pikeville hosts three bluegrass festivals every year, so Hassler
had grown up loving bluegrass and gospel, but never thought about singing with a
bluegrass group. The reaction to her performance was immediate. She started
playing local bluegrass shows with a loose coalition of players, most of them
older pickers. When friends and family suggested making an album she warmed to
the idea. Hassler met fiddler Jim VanCleve of Mountain Heart and he offered to
produce a CD for her and her still unnamed band. The sessions were a patchwork
affair; some tunes were cut with Hassler's regular group and some with musicians
VanCleve brought in. Five of the new players — Kevin McKinnon, mandolin; Keith
McKinnon, guitar; Travis Anderson, bass; Josh Miller, banjo, and Dennis Harper,
Dobro — soon became Hassler's regular backing band. "Hard Rain" was the name of
one of the strongest tracks they cut for the album and it became the name of the
band. Shortly after Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain was finished, fiddler
Jamie Harper stepped in to replace Dennis Harper, who was leaving to play with
Doyle Lawson's band.
Even before the sessions for Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain were over, Rural
Rhythm expressed interest and when the album came out its unexpected success was
a surprise to everyone. CHHR took to the road and logged over 150 dates with
Hassler's husband and son joining mom on the road in her new career. With
Hassler's emotive alto a clear match for any country diva you might want to
compare her to and a smoking band, CHHR shot to the top echelon of live
bluegrass bands.
In 2008, the band cut Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain 2 produced again by
VanCleve. It entered Billboard's Top 50 Bluegrass Chart at number five.
Hassler's Vocals have been compared to gospel singer Sheri Easter, Etta James,
Patsy Cline, Dale Ann Bradley, and
Alison Krauss, but she has her own
style of down-home soul. The songs were all road tested and many were written by
banjo ace Josh Miller, who finely balances traditional bluegrass and
contemporary country instincts in his tunes, although the band has no plans to
make any overt crossover moves. In early 2009, CHHR were already writing new
material and planning album three.
Talents : Vocals
Style musical : Bluegrass, Contemporary Country
Years in activity :
| 1910 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 2000 | 10 | 20 |
DISCOGRAPHY
Albums
| 09/2006 | CD RURAL RHYTHM 1028 (US) |
 |
CARRIE HASSLER & HARD RAIN - Restless State Of Mind / Seven Miles From Wichita / Our Last Goodbye / Going On The Next Train / Leavin' On Your Mind / Leaving You Behind / Sensabaugh Tunnel / Least That I Can Do / Hard Rain / Now That She's Gone / Love Is Our Business |
| 07/2008 | CD RURAL RHYTHM 1037 (US) |
 |
CHHR 2 - I Can Go Back Anytime / Faith And Hope / Country Strong / Fickle Heart / I Don't Want To Wake Up / Second Chances / Devil's Den / One Way Track To Nowhere / If These Walls Could Talk / Turn The Page / She's A Stranger In His Mind / 1800 Miles / Where's Carrie? [Jam] |
| 04/2012 | CD RURAL RHYTHM 1092 (US) |
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The Distance - Luxury Liner / All I Have To Do Is Breathe / Catch My Breath / Keep Your Memory Warm / Eugene & Diane / Give My Love / Get Me Over You / The Distance |
© Rocky Productions 9/06/2014
