Born in Louisville and raised in central and southwestern Kentucky as well as Meridian, Mississippi, Rhody's has been a life of constant movement. His 30-year musical career has taken him to all corners of North America. In addition to his songwriting, recording and performing career, his is an accomplished painter and a scholarship graduate of the Art Center School in Louisville and exhibits his work on a regular basis.
But, more than anything else, he is a "Road Scholar."
His music is the culmination of a life of staying true to one's belief's and to one's art. He has spent three decades writing and singing with the passion of someone who is not only highly gifted, but who is driven to create. In the process he has released seven independent recordings, toured constantly and built a devoted following. His most recent performances have moved audiences to tears as well as cheers. He can have you laughing one minute and shaken with reality the next within a single composition. In addition, his poignant ballads, narratives and gutsy rockers have also garnered over a hundred recordings by a long list of major artists in country, folk, and bluegrass.
The new album, "Rhody In Black & White" (Ashwood Recordings), is a 21 song retrospective ranging from his beginnings in the Canadian folk scene of the early seventies through brand new material and his own arrangements of his "hits" by others including Del McCoury, Lorrie Morgan, Murray McLauchlan, Kevin Welch, Hoyt Axton, The Oak Ridge Boys and Tanya Tucker. This wonderful overview is a vivid illustration of one of the best in the acoustic world today.
His previous album, "Journey" (2003) from which there are only three selections on "Rhody In Black & White", was included in the Top Twelve Independent Releases of summer, 2004 in Performing Songwriter Magazine and features duets with John Prine and Maura O'Connell, as well as guest appearances from the late John Hartford and son Jamie.
Now, for the first time, a book of his original material has just been made available!
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