Nu-Blu's sound innovative, yet comforting

Date: January 27, 2011
Source: CAROLE PERKINS

When I was a teenager, the band at my high school dance broke into a rendition of the classic bluegrass song, "Tennessee Stud." Unexpectedly, the cutest guy in school hooked his arm with mine and swung me around in a dos-a-dos. I mentally clicked my heels up in the air like a lucky leprechaun, savoring every moment. I felt the same sense of elation listening to the CD "Nights," the first release from the husband/wife band, Nu-Blu. With Carolyn Routh on bass and vocals, Daniel Routh on guitar and vocals, Levi Austin on banjo and vocals, and Kendall Gales on mandolin, Nu-Blu of Siler City creates a unique sound that is at once comfortably traditional but at the same time freshly innovative.

Radio and media have embraced the 2010 release of "Nights" as evidenced by its debut on the Euro Americana Chart at No. 10, spending more than five weeks on the Americana Music Association's Top 40 chart and staying on the Roots Music Bluegrass Report's top 50 songs for more than 5 months. And in 2010, Pinecastle Record artist Nu-Blu won the coveted Carolina Music Award for Country Band of the Year, and their single, "Christmas in Dixie," an Alabama cover song, hit No. 1 on the Airplay Direct Top Bluegrass Album Chart.

The road to these successes wasn't exactly an easy one.

A few years ago, Carolyn suffered two strokes. Her right side was paralyzed, and she was unable to speak.

It began with the headaches.

Carolyn didn't think too much about them, but as they worsened, she ended up in the hospital taking blood thinners to control what the doctors thought were migraines. On Thanksgiving morning 2001, Carolyn's neurologist was standing by her bed as she first lost her ability to speak, then suffered the first of the strokes due to a blockage in her brain. Quick medical care insured no permanent damage, but with the inability to speak and under a fog of medication, Carolyn didn't know that. In her nightmare of silence, Carolyn thought she caused the stoke by neglecting her diabetes.

"My doctor had warned me over and over to take better care of myself because I could cause permanent damage. I thought it was my blood sugar and that I had done this to myself," Carolyn says.

Carolyn regained her speech within days of the strokes but needed physical therapy to learn how to use her right side again. Carolyn's best friend, Daniel, was with her through it all.

The two met in 2001 when Carolyn needed a bass player for her contemporary Christian band, Faithful Journey, and Daniel stopped by to eat lunch at her family's restaurant, Johnsons, Siler City. Carolyn mentioned she needed a bass player for an already existing band, and although Daniel didn't know how to play bass, he said he could learn. Thus began the beginning of a life-long commitment to each other and to a dream becoming a reality.

Their friendship grew as they tried various genres of music, with a stab at a Christian rock band, then classic rock and finally bluegrass with Nu-Blu.

In the early part of 2006, Daniel started teaching Carolyn how to play bass, a skill that she learned quickly with the same determination she used to regain the use of her right side.

"From the time she put her hands on a bass she played five weeks later in a show," Daniel says, in admiration.

Perched on a stool in their recording studio, Red Squared Studio, in Siler City, Daniel reflects on the years since Carolyn's strokes and recovery and says he believes everything happened for a reason. Creating the band allowed them to reach out to people through their music, especially through some of their Gospel songs. He shares how determined Carolyn was to regain use of her right hand and how she was released from physical therapy early because she was doing so well.

"Even before she was released from the hospital everything she was told she wouldn't be able to do she was already pushing herself to do," Daniel says.

Back at home, Daniel helped Carolyn with her physical needs, bringing her food and medication when her head hurt too much to sit up or even watch TV. Daniel slept in a recliner and set his alarm for every two hours to make sure Carolyn's blood sugar didn't drop too low. He got up early every morning to go to work and called Carolyn every chance he got.

"I really don't know what I would have done without Daniel," Carolyn says. "He was my nurse, cheerleader and drill sergeant who pushed me hard to reach the next level, but was also there when I needed a shoulder to cry on."

But most importantly, Daniel was the person who pushed her to succeed with the goals she had set for herself.

An eternal optimist, Carolyn said she kept striving to take the next step to recovery because she really wanted to do everything she had been able to do before, especially with their music and Nu-Blu.

Within several months, Carolyn regained the use of her right hand and made a full recovery.

"The only side effect is her memory loss," Daniel says, as Carolyn pretends to knock him off of his stool. (Carolyn never actually suffered memory loss.)

In 2006, Carolyn and Daniel married in a no-frills ceremony: no rings or proposal, just a trip to the magistrate one morning and the newlyweds attending a show at a biker bar on their honeymoon night so Daniel could run sound for the band.

"It didn't really hit me that we were getting married until Daniel introduced me at work as his fiancée," Carolyn says. "It just started with the music, and we became best friends."

While Carolyn, Daniel and Austin are all songwriters, the majority of the tunes on "Nights" were written by national songwriters they connected with at bluegrass festivals.

The Rouths say they like to pick the best songs available that fit their style but also fit with the flow and direction of the project.

Part of the magic of Nu-Blu's sound is the exemplary style of Austin's banjo playing. Influenced by bluegrass greats such as Earl Scruggs and Sammy Shelor, Austin has won numerous banjo and guitar awards, including The Galax Fiddler's Convention Award in 2007, the nation's longest-running fiddler's convention. During that trip to Galax, Va., Austin got a call from Carolyn saying she had a dream he played a certain song and that he'd won. Austin chose to play the song in Carolyn's dream, the instrumental bluegrass classic, "Sled Ride," earning him the award.

Together with Gales' mandolin playing, the group creates a different sound that turns former nonbluegrass lovers into fans.

"The No. 1 compliment that we get is when someone says they really don't like bluegrass, but they really like us," Daniel says. "We work hard and play together a lot."

Austin says that being close-knit helps because they can be critical of each other's work without hurting feelings.

As they currently work on a new CD to follow "Nights," the trust they share is evident. Carolyn is laying down a vocal track while Daniel and Austin engineer. Then, they all switch places and offer helpful criticism.

"When I'm in the booth playing my guitar, I listen back to what I play, but it's more about what Levi and Carolyn say," Daniel says.

The success of Nu-Blu comes not only from their music but from hard work and smart marketing strategies. In the bluegrass world, Nu-Blu is known as the band that introduces new techniques such as online marketing and social networking , which directly connects Nu-Blu with their fans.

Carolyn and Daniel have hopes for a European tour in 2011, but in the meantime, they are excited about a planned 2011 tour starting in North Carolina and ending in Canada.

As best friends and constant companions with a lucrative music career before them, they are savoring every moment, and no doubt kicking up their heels like lucky leprechauns.

"There's nothing sweeter than taking the stage with your best friend and love standing right beside you," Carolyn says. "I'm having the time of my life!"

Contact Carole Perkins at CPGuilford@aol.com Want to go?