She Means It: Argo Native Releases Debut Album

Published 11:27 am Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Argo native Heather Sanders recently released her first bluegrass CD, “I Meant It” and she said that her love of bluegrass music came from her father, who would listen to it when she was a child.

When she was 11 she learned how to play guitar and by the time she graduated high school, she was already mastering the mandolin. “I love it,” she said of playing bluegrass music.

She said that playing fast on the eight stringed mandolin is her favorite part of performing. Though she sings in a soothing, sultry voice, she said that she enjoys instrumentals more than songs where she sings.

One instrumental on her album, “Sadie Elaine,” named after her niece, features her fast, staccato picking.

She has tried her hand at banjo, too. “I did okay,” she said. “Though I taught myself when I was 14, I’ve forgotten pretty much everything about it.”

Music is a big part of Heather’s family. Her grandmother, Romona Carroll, plays piano and tried to foster an interest in the 88 keys in Heather. “She paid for me to take piano lessons at one time. It was fun, but I wasn’t that good at it,” she said with a laugh. “But she plays a little bit of everything and is very good at it.”

Heather said that a love of music brought her parents together. This past Thanksgiving, about 50 members of her family got together at her grandmother’s to eat, socialize and play music.

That folksy lifestyle is evident in Heather’s music. Stories about love, loss and southern living are all featured on “I Meant It.”

She said that friends wrote most of the tracks on her CD, while some of them are from popular songwriters in the bluegrass field. She wrote the title track of her album and the instrumental “Sadie Elaine.”

She said that the title track, “I Meant It” was a spur of the moment song that came to her as she was wrapping up her album. “It’s the first time that’s happened. The first and only time,” she laughed.

Mike Toppins, who plays in country singer Pam Tillis’s band, recorded “I Meant It” just outside of Nashville.

Lately, Heather has also just finished an album with Acoustic Rain, a quartet which features local bluegrass artists that she has been playing with for a while. The group features Heather singing and playing mandolin, Mark Scott on banjo, Stan Dailey on bass and Mark Whitehead on guitar. They recorded the album at a Sand Mountain studio and hope to have it out soon.

Heather said that she thanks her parents, Robin and Terry, her grandmother, sister Shelly Latham, nieces Sadie and Ellie as well as her whole family for her success.