Bluegrass Songbird Dale Ann Bradley Returns with "Pocket Full of Keys"

By Timothy Yap May 11, 2015 07:07 PM EDT

Five time IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year, Dale Ann Bradley has a brand new album on Pinecastle Records. To be released in June 2015, the album entitled "Pocket Full of Keys" is preceded by the bluegrass cum rustic country hit "Til I Hear It From You." This will be her first album in four years proceeding from 2011's "Somewhere South of Crazy."

:"Bluegrass can go anywhere, do anything, rip your heart out and make you laugh," says Bradley. "The songs are true and full of passion. The artists love it like their families, which in reality is where all the emotion comes from. The roots of this tree are strong and the branches are blooming." Through all the ups and downs, happy and sad times, Dale Ann has always had a song. No one has handed her anything. She has garnered international success doing the kind of music she loves.

Bradley was born in southeastern Kentucky. Her father was a coal-mining Baptist minister. She grew up without running water or electricity until she was a senior in high school.She also lived with heavy religious restrictions with her father being a minister. She received her first guitar at the age of 14, making a guitar pick out of a milk jug to play.

As a junior in high school, Bradley met a childhood friend of her mother who was also her new band director at school. Him and his wife sang at Pine Mountain State Park in the summers and invited Bradley to perform with them. She played with the band (Backporch Grass) and recorded a few singles and had the opportunity to perform in front of live audiences.

Bradley auditioned for the New Coon Creek Girls in 1988 but was unsuccessful. For the next couple of years, she worked as a solo artist before finally joining the group in 1991. She released her first solo album, "East Kentucky Morning," in 1997. The album was top ten on both the Bluegrass Unlimited chart and the Gavin Americana chart.