Singer-songwriter-producer-guitarist Jill King was born and raised in the small town of Arab, Ala. She wanted to be singer before she could walk or talk. “I’ve always wanted to perform and I have, since I was little,” King says. “My mother told me when I was 18 months old riding in the car, I’d start singing so high-pitched my daddy would roll down the windows. I don’t know if it was a song, but it was loud.”

At the age of 3, King was singing solos in the church her grandfather helped build. “My grandfather liked gospel music and sang ‘I’ll Fly away.’ My dad was a chicken farmer and now is a preacher that owns and runs a plastic bag company. My mom was a third-grade schoolteacher. Today, she has an antique business. I had cousins in gospel quartets, and my grandmother was a yodeler and sang at fiddling conventions, but there wasn’t a musical environment in our home. I sang in church and listened to Top 40 radio.”

For Thomm Jutz, living and making music in Nashville, Tennessee has always seemed like the most natural thing in the world. The emerging producer/engineer/guitarist/songwriter had made up his mind by the time he was a 12-year-old guitar student that he was absolutely headed for Music City, USA. The fact the he grew up in a "tiny village" in the south of Germany was never an obstacle for Jutz, who has turned it all to his creative advantage, bringing a uniquely musical perspective and a classical discipline to the music he makes and to every project he produces. These days, he splits his time between TJ Tunes, his busy Nashville recording studio, and regular tours as guitarist for Folkabilly Queen, Nanci Griffith. Other artists Jutz has played and/or recorded with include David Olney, Steve Young, Mary Gauthier and Michael Johnson.

and are very excited to be a part of what they each will be contributing to the world of southern gospel music next.  With a history of many classic hits already between them, you will want to stay tuned for what’s next.

Growing up the son of the local teacher and church choir director, Jutz was reading music before he could read books. From there, it was the piano and the flute, where he rose as a youngster to competition level. But his musical education began in earnest the day he discovered the Canadian Forces and American Forces Networks, both broadcasting a wide variety of real country music to surrounding military bases. With his guitar always in hand, Jutz absorbed all of it – every song and every guitar lick on the fly –long before he ever knew what the singer was actually singing about. By the age of 15, he was leading local bands through endless gigs at those same military bases.

He was living a double life – studying classical guitar at university during the day and playing in smoky clubs into the night – when he first heard the music of Townes Van Zandt. The discovery was a creative turning point for Jutz. With a growing resume of prestigious gigs and production successes in his home country, Jutz made the move to Nashville in 2003, and he hasn't stopped since. Working with many of the musicians, writers, and artists he grew up listening to, he retains that ability to hear through to the heart of a song. With an unerring ear, a guitarist's touch, and a songwriter’s soul, Thomm Jutz is right where he belongs.

Recently, Thomm produced Nanci Griffith's new record "The Loving Kind". He co-wrote 5 songs for the record with Nanci and Charley Stefl, as well as one with Nanci and Pat McInereny.

He has 12 co-writes on German star Marc Marshall's first solo record "Nimm dir Zeit" and 5 co-writes on the upcoming Marshall&Alexander record.  Furthermore Thomm has 2 co-writes on the upcoming duo record of Scottish Rock Stars Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh of Deacon Blue fame and has just finished writing and recording a soundtrack for a thriller that will hit international film festivals summer ‘09.

Charley Stefl signing with Brumley Music Group (L-R: Tim Fink - SESAC, Dave, Charley, Amy Beth Hale - SESAC, Terence.)

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Other cuts appear on CDs by the Grammy Award nominated Grascals (The Grascals), Eddy Arnold (Seven Decades of Hits), the Grammy Award winning Del McCoury Band (Del and the Boys & It's Just The Night), Nanci Griffith (Hearts In Mind), Bobby Osborne (Where I Come From), Jerry Salley (New Songs, Old Friends), Lonesome River Band (Road With No End), and many more. His current cuts include "What I Wouldn't Give," co-written with Tommy Karlas and Charlie Brown on Blake Shelton's recent CD "Pure B.S," "Keep On Walkin," co-written with Brumley’s own Jamie Johnson, on the fantastic Grascals CD of the same name.

Recently released are: "And The Wheels Turn," title cut on Melonie Cannon's fine new CD, along with two others co-written with Melonie and her sister Marla Cannon-Goodman, and the Lonesome River Band's new single, co-written with Brandon Rickman, "Dime Store Rings," on that renowned bluegrass band's great CD, "No Turning Back." "Bad Money" also co-written with Brandon, is Jeanette Williams' new single from her fine CD "Thank You For Caring."

Since moving to Nashville in 1984, Charley Stefl's songwriting credits include "Everytime That It Rains" on Garth Brooks' first album, co-written with Garth and Ty England, and "Walk Outside the Lines," co-written with Garth for the Marshall Tucker Band CD of the same name. The next year, the legendary George Jones had a hit with "The Visit," co-written with Brad Rodgers and Gene Ellsworth, a tune Chad Brock also took into the Top 20, six years later. Lee Ann Womack had her first Number 1 with Charley's "The Fool," co-written with Marla Cannon Goodman and Gene Ellsworth.

Up and coming for 2009 is the eagerly anticipated project by Grammy Award winner Nanci Griffith, "The Loving Kind", to be released on June 9, with five songs co-written with Nanci and her guitarist/co-producer/fellow Brumlley writer, Thomm Jutz. Also in 2009, is a new song co-written with Richard Dobson, "Winners," on the celebrated Texas songwriter's just-released, twentieth album "XX, and a new co-write with Brandon Rickman on his CD to be released at the end of June.

“I’m strong as the ground I was raised up on,” Susanne Mumpower sings in “Dirt Poor,” and once you know who she is and where she’s from, the simple truth of both sides of that image is undeniable.  Born and raised where the East Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky state lines intersect in the heart of the Appalachians, she’s a singer and a songwriter for whom a deft turn of phrase or a memorable melody exists to serve a point: to tell the truth of what she’s seen, where she’s going—and, always, where she’s been.  “If you stood in the middle of Big Stone Gap, Viginia, where my parents’ families are from,” she says, “you could look at the people, look at the stores, look at the cars going by, look at anything at all, and you’d know where I got the ideas for my songs—and you’d know that there’s something there that can’t be learned; it’s something that has to be lived.”

Yet surprisingly, while her music come straight from her life and from the heart, it wasn’t Susanne Mumpower’s first love.  Though an avid

music listener as a youngster, it was athletics that first stirred her aspirations, and it wasn’t until injuries put an end to a promising college basketball career that she turned to singing, playing and writing songs—and right from the start, she says, it was country music that drew her in.  “I loved every type of music,” she confesses, “But my favorite was country—old country, and stuff like the Carter Family –being from around their area, I heard that a lot.  I remember that even before I started playing, I was paying close attention to the words of songs; I was always interested in the way they were written, and I always looked at who wrote them; that was important to me.  And what drew me into country was the lyrics – it was about real life, it was about friends of mine, it was about my friends’ parents.  So when I started writing, that’s what came out.”

Within a matter of months she was appearing on stage and on the air at the VA-KY Opry based in nearby Norton, Virginia—and anywhere else she could find.  Yet even as she was building an audience there, she knew that Nashville was her ultimate destination, and in 1998 she moved there.  In short order she was attending—and soon appearing at—writers’ nights around the city, making friends, learning the ins and outs of the business and beginning to write with colleagues.  Over the years, she

deepened her insights and developed her skills as a songwriter while continuing to give periodic performances both around Nashville and back in East Tennessee and Virginia.  The hard work paid off in 2005 when a song she’d co-written became the first video from 3 Fox Drive’s Listen To The Music and two more appeared on Grammy-nominated bluegrass albums—“I Never Knew Life” on the Del McCoury Band’s The Company We Keep, which won the grammy and “Mourning Dove” on The Grascals’ self-titled debut.

A founding member of the Wildwood Valley Boys, Jamie Johnson was also one of the Boys From Indiana in the 1990s. Johnson has penned songsfor Bobby Osborne, and has sung with Gail Davies' Band, the Sidemen. Otherartists whose work he's contributed to include Trent Summar, Ricky Van Shelton,and Melonie Cannon.  Jamie has alsorecorded with Dolly Parton, Hank Williams, Jr., Charlie Daniels, Vince Gill,George Jones, Diers Bentley, Tanya Tucker, and Ricky Van Shelton. Jamie iscurrently the frontman in the successful traditional band, The Grascals, whoare signed to Rounder Records. The Grascals have played The Grand Ole Opry over100 times, as well as shows at the Radio City Music Hall, and even The WhiteHouse, where they were invited to play for then-President George Bush.

Jamie has received a multitude of accolades as both asongwriter and as a member of The Grascals, including:

 2 timeGrammy Nominated

2 timeIBMA Entertainer of the year

2 timeSGMA Band of the year

2 timeDove Nominated

SongsRecorded By: The Grascals , Ronnie Bowman , Bobby Osborne, and Lonesome RiverBand

Two # 1songs on bluegrass charts

Peter Cronin has been writing songs since he was a little kid. Growing up in a musical household, his piano-playing mom was – and still is – his biggest influence. After that came the Beach Boys, followed quickly by the Beatles. His fate was sealed. An endless series of garage bands through high school and college eventually gave way to a professional career, playing and singing five nights a week for a decade in a number of popular bands and as a solo act all around the Northeast. Moving to New York City in the mid-'80s, Cronin worked as an Editor for Musician magazine, meeting and writing about his heroes while constantly pursuing his music on the side.

In 1993, he accepted an editorial position at Billboard's Nashville office and moved his young family to Music City. Going on to Creative Director positions at Madonna's Maverick Music, Bug Music Publishing and SESAC, Cronin honed his craft, working with some of country music's finest songwriters while widening his circle of contacts. With several of his songs enjoying success in the international market, Cronin turned to songwriting fulltime, signing with Brumley Music Publishing in 2008. He is currently three minutes away from his first chart-topping song.

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At 10, King took first place in an Our Little Miss pageant. “I liked doing the pageants because I got to sing. When I won, The New York Daily News called me up for an interview. I was thinking ‘I’m 10, and I’ve made it’.” She’d also discovered guitar and started writing songs. “I had an Ovation bow-back that I could hardly keep on my lap,” she says. “I started writing as soon as I knew a few chords. My dad knew a bit about music and encouraged me. When I was 10, he helped me record my first songs at a local studio.”

King met her partners in Blue Diamond Records at Tootsie’s and cut her first album, JILLBILLY, for the company in 2003. “We were managers, publicists, promotion staff, bookers and artists and put together tours of France, Sweden and Japan.” JILLBILLY earned great reviews, with critics raving about the album’s honky-tonk rockabilly flavor and King’s powerful singing and fine songwriting. The first single, “One Mississippi,” made the Billboard, R&R and Music Row charts, and the video went into medium rotation at GAC. Her second album, SOMEBODY NEW, was co-produced by King and Derek Bason (Engineer for Reba, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Rascal Flatts) and got good reviews, but it was completed and came out in early 2008, just as Blue Diamond was imploding. “I’m proud of what we did, but we were all new to the business and couldn’t get things in line, although ignorance is no excuse,” King says firmly.

    Not one to look back, King assembled a new creative team and launched Foundher Records. She began writing, and in a creative frenzy, the songs that became RAIN ON FIRE came pouring out. King and Flanders will tour heavily with a band and King will reinstate jillking.com to support the album. “I’ll have a blog,” she says, “and there will be more of a two-way conversation with fans to build a community. Music has always helped me. It makes me feel less alone in the hard and easy times and connects me to the world outside of myself. That’s what I want my music to do for other people.”

(From www.jillking.com)