About Rhonda Vincent
Rhonda Lea Vincent is an American bluegrass singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.
Vincent's music career began when she was a child in her family's band The Sally Mountain Show, and it has spanned more than four decades. Vincent first achieved success in the bluegrass genre in the 1970s and 1980s, earning the respect of her mostly male peers for her mastery of the progressive chord structures and multi-range, fast-paced vocals intrinsic to bluegrass music. In media, Vincent has been dubbed the "Queen of Bluegrass" by several sources. Vincent is an in-demand guest vocalist for other bluegrass and country music performers, appearing on recordings by Dolly Parton, Alan Jackson, Tanya Tucker, Joe Diffie, Faith Hill and other notables.
Vincent is an eight-time Grammy nominee, winning the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2017. In 2020, she was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
Vincent was born in Kirksville, Missouri, on July 13, 1962, and raised in nearby Greentop, Missouri. She is the oldest of three children, and the only daughter of Johnny and Carolyn Vincent. Her brother Darrin is a member of the Award-winning bluegrass group Dailey & Vincent. Her youngest brother Brian played with the family group, but is now a top executive with the Bimeda Corporation. A fifth-generation musician, Rhonda's musical career started at age five when she sang gospel songs with her family's band, which was later known as the "Sally Mountain Show". Her father bought her a snare drum for her sixth birthday. At age eight, Vincent started playing mandolin. She later added fiddle to her list of instruments at 12. In an interview with Ingrams magazine, she said, "Dad used to pick me up after school, and Grandpa would come over and we played until after dinner almost every night. There wasn’t a lot going on in Greentop, but it was always hopping at the Vincent house." Vincent recorded her first single, a version of "Mule Skinner Blues", in 1970. The family, including the younger brothers when they were old enough to play instruments, traveled and performed extensively across the Midwest in the 1970s and early 1980s. Except for living in Texas for a short time in 1974, and two summers spent employed as musicians at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, the Vincent family used the Greentop area as home base. The Vincent children all attended Schuyler County R-1 schools, and following high school Vincent later attended Northeast Missouri State University, majoring in accounting.
Vincent’s life of music evolved into a successful career in bluegrass music after being discovered by Grand Ole Opry Star Jim Ed Brown, and later spending what she calls her musical college years recording for Giant Record. She learned about the music business from Nashville’s best like James Stroud, Jack McFadden, and Stan Barnett. Even while Vincent was still performing regularly with the Sally Mountain Show, she released her first solo album New Dreams and Sunshine in 1988. In 1985, Vincent had competed in the TV series You Can Be a Star on the original version of The Nashville Network. After winning the competition, she was signed to a recording contract; her first professional performance was with country singer and Grand Ole Opry star Jim Ed Brown. In the 1990s Vincent branched out into mainstream country music, releasing a pair of albums on the Giant Records label, but did not have success there.
With the release of her album Back Home Again in 2000, Vincent returned to bluegrass with the goal of expanding both the musical reach and the accessibility of the genre. The International Bluegrass Music Association accorded her its Female Vocalist of the Year award for the years 2000 – 2006, plus IBMA Entertainer of the Year in 2001. The Society for Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America designated her its Entertainer of the Year for 2002 – 2006 inclusive. She also performs with her band, Rhonda Vincent & the Rage.
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