First of all, they're just funny. Blesser Heart is Ruth Brown, Cindy Hassil, Vicki Heidle and Sarah Motes Ashley and they have been making each other laugh for a long time. Then there's the sound. Did you know that a group of altos is called a "ganache?" It is for them, anyway; four altos make a pretty rich sound and they just like to roll around in it.
They met as Alto IIs in the Knoxville Choral Society, and now they're singing some pretty cool songs by Sarah Motes Ashley. An award-winning songwriter, she has songs playing in retail stores and videos and on Texas country radio and who knows where else - "they never really tell me, I just get the checks," she says.
What kind of music is it? It's acoustic kinda pop. It's folk without the depressing. It's showtunes without the vibrato. It's vocal harmony with uke or guitar, sometimes it's covers or a cappella jazz with their designated grownup Harold Nagge on bass.
Their last gig before COVID was January 31, 2020 at Vienna Coffee in Maryville, and they were really looking forward to performing at the Casual Pint Downtown in April. But, along with a lot of things, that didn't happen. They spent the pandemic Zooming and singing outside six feet apart.
For their first gig after the pandemic, they sang at the Tennessee Theatre in May 2022. Their recording plans kept on falling through, so they created the "Living Room Sessions" rehearsal videos. To be honest, the rehearsal vids are way more fun than the sanitized studio stuff anyway.
The second set of videos is called "Other Songs," because they're some of Sarah's... other songs. Blesser Heart may or may not decide to sing those too.
