Bluegrass Gospel Favorites
The history of this group dates back to the Spring of 1980 when Margaret, Kris and Dale first sang together at a pickin party. There was an immediate feeling of "kinship" in the music that they shared. They soon joined forces with world champion fiddler, Frazier Moss, who taught them the spirit in which this music should be played and enjoyed. In 1982 Margaret, Kris and Dale performed as a trio, and later with Frazier Moss at the Folklife Festival Exhibition during the Worlds Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 1984 Kris and Dale performed with fiddler Junior Daughtery at Carnegie Hall as part of a special American Folk Roots Concert Series. In 1986 Kris and Margarets vocal harmony came together to "swing" with Vassar Clements Hillbilly Jazz Band. They sang on two of the groups albums and toured the country. The group performed on The Nashville Network television shows "Nashville Now" and "New Country". Margarets work with The Nashville Network inspired the co-writing (with Chet Atkins) of the song "Would Jesus Wear A Rolex", which was recorded by Ray Stevens and was nominated for a Grammy Award. This thought provoking song was talked about on everything from radio (Paul Harvey), to television (Johnny Carson Show), to magazines (Newsweek). In 1987 Mark Howard came into the musical paths of Margaret, Kris and Dale. It took the genius of songwriter Billy Edd Wheeler to give them their distinctive name, and in 1988 The Cluster Pluckers were hatched. Mark Howard is a multi-talented artist-musician who plays the guitar, mandolin and banjo. He has performed and recorded with such greats as Kathy Matea, John Hartford, Johnny Cash, Vassar Clements, the Carter Family, Earl Scruggs, Nanci Griffith, Riders in the Sky, and many, many more. Marks talents in the recording studio are not limited to playing instruments. He has engineered and produced recordings for several of the above mentioned artists as well as writing string arrangements for the Nashville Symphony and others. Them Other Pluckers, Brent Truitt, Blaine Sprouse and Richard Bailey, are respected in the "bluegrass world" as some of the finest instrumentalists playing today. They have toured and recorded with some of the living legends in bluegrass music, as well as with some of the top current acts in country music.