Taken

by James Christopher MongerBluegrass veteran Rhonda Vincent parted ways with Rounder after 2009’s Destination Life, choosing the relative freedom of her own label, studio, and production team to churn out her 2010 independent follow-up, Taken. Deftly straddling the line between contemporary country and modern bluegrass, Taken picks right up where Destination Life ended, adding another 12 tracks of impeccable picking, fiddling, and crooning to her already impressive canon. Vincent called in more than a few friends, along with her top-notch band, the Rage, to assist her this time around, including her daughters, the duo known as the Next Best Thing. Richard Marx lends his radio-ready pipes to the ballad “Taken,” Dolly Parton stops on by and offers up her unmistakable soprano to the chorus of “In the Garden by the Fountain,” and award-winning bluegrass guitarist Bryan Sutton paints the heartbreak ballad “A Little at a Time” with some subtle, weepy slide work. Toss in a spirited version of the trucker staple "Tonight My Baby’s Coming Home,” a hit for Barbara Mandrell in 1971, and you’ve got another fine collection of homey Sunday-afternoon goodness from this dependable bandleader, player, and singer.