Awards and Reviews
After we moved on to blues and Americana around 2011 we have received many nice reviews from folks around the planet and for which we are both humbled and grateful. At some point I'll quit being lazing and list some here! We've won PG Music's User Show Award each year from 2012 to 2023. PG Music is a popular music production software company and their recognition and support as been much appreciated by us over the years. www.pgmusic.com
In 2023 Janice was featured by Don's Tunes which is a popular blues website and playlist on Spotify. Several of her songs are on his Best Blues/Jazz Female Vocalists. Below is a link to her bio on their website: www.donstunes.com/janice-merritt/
After we moved on to blues and Americana around 2011 we have received many nice reviews from folks around the planet and for which we are both humbled and grateful. At some point I'll quit being lazing and list some here! We've won PG Music's User Show Award each year from 2012 to 2023. PG Music is a popular music production software company and their recognition and support as been much appreciated by us over the years. www.pgmusic.com
In 2023 Janice was featured by Don's Tunes which is a popular blues website and playlist on Spotify. Several of her songs are on his Best Blues/Jazz Female Vocalists. Below is a link to her bio on their website: www.donstunes.com/janice-merritt/
Reviews from way back in our bluegrass years ...
Just Plain Folks
Just Plain Folks Music Awards has grown to become the largest Music Awards program in the world. For the 2006 Awards over 350,000 songs and 5,000 albums in 70+ genres from 100 Countries were considered. The awards were announced in a ceremony on November 4th, 2006 in Santa Ana California. Our CD "Dear Mama" place second in the Roots category and our song "Heading West" was a nominee in the Bluegrass category.
The "Best of Independent Country 2002" CD featured our song “Dear Mama” as the lead song and included the following promo:
These "People's Choice Winners" thrilled thousands of listeners at Garageband. Music for the free and the brave. Take a chance on these rising American stars from Garageband's Country genre and you'll hear tracks that could kick boots with the likes of Dixie Chicks, Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam, Merle Haggard and even Tom Petty.
Editor's Review from CNET
Crank up the Victrola and give a listen as bluegrass-folk outfit the Merritts run through this series of rural, laid-back songs, recorded at home with their late pal, champion fiddler and Nashville session player Randy Howard. The music's low-tech but beautiful, highlighted by melancholy singing and top-shelf picking. Featured artist at CNET's second anniversary party -
Other reviews of our first CD
The perfect natural expression of bittersweet longing
This is an intensely personal song with its heart out on its sleeve. The expertly fingerpicked guitar, fiddle and mandolin add to that mood. There are no synthesizers to be found here, this is "au naturel" and the better for it. The longing and sadness in this song is very real, as a smooth-voiced female singer pines for her family. "I wish I was home with you and Daddy," the hook goes. Just when you think your heart is aching, this performer tightens the vice. By the third verse "I saw you and little sister in my dreams last night / And I wondered why you were crying / while your face glowed in candlelight" you're gonna be misty, whether you like it or not! There must not be a dry eye in the house when this song is played live.
Traditional, and yet fresh!
This song captivated me from the get go with its exquisite mandolin work and fiddle in the intro. Instrumentally, the musicians managed to vary their playing throughout the song with surprises around every corner. Lyrically strong in its storytelling, which concerns a letter written to mom and dad telling them how she missed them. Topping all of this with wonderful vocals from the two ladies that are on par with the likes of the Dixie Chicks, and their clones in the contemporary country scene. But here it is better since here we have a song written that stays true to its traditional roots, and yet feels fresh, not stuffy. I honestly can't wait to hear who is behind this music. I am quite likely to seek their album!
Stripped down and pure
Wow! Just a mandolin and fiddle... Okay, I can barely hear a guitar in the background, but it doesn't need it. Great missive song delivered by a great, authentic voice. This is what folk music is all about.
The perfect natural expression of bittersweet longing
This is an intensely personal song with its heart out on its sleeve. The expertly finger-picked guitar, fiddle and mandolin add to that mood. There are no synthesizers to be found here, this is "au naturel" and the better for it. The longing and sadness in this song is very real, as a smooth-voiced female singer pines for her family. "I wish I was home with you and Daddy," the hook goes. Just when you think your heart is aching, this performer tightens the vice. By the third verse "I saw you and little sister in my dreams last night / And I wondered why you were crying / while your face glowed in candlelight" you're gonna be misty, whether you like it or not! There must not be a dry eye in the house when this song is played live.
Perfect Perfection
I don't know how you did this but it is the epitome of perfection. My group has been trying to do this for years and has come close. Our singer is really good but the vocalist on this track is just ooozing with soul. I love what you have done here. It is simple and effective songwriting delivered with soul.
Great old country sound!
Simple vocals with an angelic tinge. The guitar is beautiful... as is the fiddle.. very well written song...great hook chorus! I really enjoyed all the aspects of this song! Great job and I look forward to more from you!
nice use of mandolin and fiddle
I've always been a big fan of rootsier music. The vocals on this cut remind me of the Be Good Tanyas and Gillian Welch. Tasty mando picking and fiddle. Nice hook on the chorus.
love it
reminds me of my home town adventures growing up in a small town in texas. also reminds me of john prines "paradise." please dont go big time glitter country, stay the way you are, i love it.
A slow ride down a river on a sunny afternoon
I love it....simple, pure, clean. There isn't too much going on to clutter up the song. The fiddle is excellent. The way this song moves is great- good job. Female vocals are good too.
Great
A piece of traditional country. Recorded really well. Love the song and all the parts. Vocalist got my attention.
Lost Treasured Memory
I have to admit to being a sucker for traditional music like this. This song stays true to its roots with its simple arrangement. While the mandolin mainly kept steady beat, the fiddle maintained a sweet, but playful backdrop to the vocals as it reinforced the lyrics storytelling. I was captivated by the vocalist whose voice was beautiful, but not syrupy, having a ring of authenticity, coupled with an ability to tell this story of a daughter attempting attempting to revisit (or better, relive) childhood memories of her father, symbolized by a swimming hole that is overgrown beyond recognition. It is an almost archetypal image of all of our human longings to return to our childhood, to innocence, to Eden. Hence, this song for me took on a universal quality since, who of us has not /does not experience the same longing. This ability to write a song, stripped to its essentials, and which not only has a traditional feel to it, but also a timeless quality, places this singer-songwriter in the ranks of Gillian Welch.
Just Plain Folks
Just Plain Folks Music Awards has grown to become the largest Music Awards program in the world. For the 2006 Awards over 350,000 songs and 5,000 albums in 70+ genres from 100 Countries were considered. The awards were announced in a ceremony on November 4th, 2006 in Santa Ana California. Our CD "Dear Mama" place second in the Roots category and our song "Heading West" was a nominee in the Bluegrass category.
The "Best of Independent Country 2002" CD featured our song “Dear Mama” as the lead song and included the following promo:
These "People's Choice Winners" thrilled thousands of listeners at Garageband. Music for the free and the brave. Take a chance on these rising American stars from Garageband's Country genre and you'll hear tracks that could kick boots with the likes of Dixie Chicks, Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam, Merle Haggard and even Tom Petty.
Editor's Review from CNET
Crank up the Victrola and give a listen as bluegrass-folk outfit the Merritts run through this series of rural, laid-back songs, recorded at home with their late pal, champion fiddler and Nashville session player Randy Howard. The music's low-tech but beautiful, highlighted by melancholy singing and top-shelf picking. Featured artist at CNET's second anniversary party -
Other reviews of our first CD
The perfect natural expression of bittersweet longing
This is an intensely personal song with its heart out on its sleeve. The expertly fingerpicked guitar, fiddle and mandolin add to that mood. There are no synthesizers to be found here, this is "au naturel" and the better for it. The longing and sadness in this song is very real, as a smooth-voiced female singer pines for her family. "I wish I was home with you and Daddy," the hook goes. Just when you think your heart is aching, this performer tightens the vice. By the third verse "I saw you and little sister in my dreams last night / And I wondered why you were crying / while your face glowed in candlelight" you're gonna be misty, whether you like it or not! There must not be a dry eye in the house when this song is played live.
Traditional, and yet fresh!
This song captivated me from the get go with its exquisite mandolin work and fiddle in the intro. Instrumentally, the musicians managed to vary their playing throughout the song with surprises around every corner. Lyrically strong in its storytelling, which concerns a letter written to mom and dad telling them how she missed them. Topping all of this with wonderful vocals from the two ladies that are on par with the likes of the Dixie Chicks, and their clones in the contemporary country scene. But here it is better since here we have a song written that stays true to its traditional roots, and yet feels fresh, not stuffy. I honestly can't wait to hear who is behind this music. I am quite likely to seek their album!
Stripped down and pure
Wow! Just a mandolin and fiddle... Okay, I can barely hear a guitar in the background, but it doesn't need it. Great missive song delivered by a great, authentic voice. This is what folk music is all about.
The perfect natural expression of bittersweet longing
This is an intensely personal song with its heart out on its sleeve. The expertly finger-picked guitar, fiddle and mandolin add to that mood. There are no synthesizers to be found here, this is "au naturel" and the better for it. The longing and sadness in this song is very real, as a smooth-voiced female singer pines for her family. "I wish I was home with you and Daddy," the hook goes. Just when you think your heart is aching, this performer tightens the vice. By the third verse "I saw you and little sister in my dreams last night / And I wondered why you were crying / while your face glowed in candlelight" you're gonna be misty, whether you like it or not! There must not be a dry eye in the house when this song is played live.
Perfect Perfection
I don't know how you did this but it is the epitome of perfection. My group has been trying to do this for years and has come close. Our singer is really good but the vocalist on this track is just ooozing with soul. I love what you have done here. It is simple and effective songwriting delivered with soul.
Great old country sound!
Simple vocals with an angelic tinge. The guitar is beautiful... as is the fiddle.. very well written song...great hook chorus! I really enjoyed all the aspects of this song! Great job and I look forward to more from you!
nice use of mandolin and fiddle
I've always been a big fan of rootsier music. The vocals on this cut remind me of the Be Good Tanyas and Gillian Welch. Tasty mando picking and fiddle. Nice hook on the chorus.
love it
reminds me of my home town adventures growing up in a small town in texas. also reminds me of john prines "paradise." please dont go big time glitter country, stay the way you are, i love it.
A slow ride down a river on a sunny afternoon
I love it....simple, pure, clean. There isn't too much going on to clutter up the song. The fiddle is excellent. The way this song moves is great- good job. Female vocals are good too.
Great
A piece of traditional country. Recorded really well. Love the song and all the parts. Vocalist got my attention.
Lost Treasured Memory
I have to admit to being a sucker for traditional music like this. This song stays true to its roots with its simple arrangement. While the mandolin mainly kept steady beat, the fiddle maintained a sweet, but playful backdrop to the vocals as it reinforced the lyrics storytelling. I was captivated by the vocalist whose voice was beautiful, but not syrupy, having a ring of authenticity, coupled with an ability to tell this story of a daughter attempting attempting to revisit (or better, relive) childhood memories of her father, symbolized by a swimming hole that is overgrown beyond recognition. It is an almost archetypal image of all of our human longings to return to our childhood, to innocence, to Eden. Hence, this song for me took on a universal quality since, who of us has not /does not experience the same longing. This ability to write a song, stripped to its essentials, and which not only has a traditional feel to it, but also a timeless quality, places this singer-songwriter in the ranks of Gillian Welch.