Hailing from Knoxville, in the mountains of East Tennessee, Alex Leach has a dual career as a musician and radio DJ. While he was building his reputation as one of the leading radio voices in bluegrass, Alex was developing his skills as a guitarist and banjo player.
He began his professional career as a musician at the age of 19, and was recruited a few years later by Ralph Stanley II, the son of legendary bluegrass pioneer, Ralph Stanley, with whom he had the opportunity to play banjo on the Grand Ole Opry in 2014.
In the years that followed, Alex toured widely with “Two,” earning critical accolades for his playing, his compelling lead and harmony vocals, and for his additions to the bluegrass canon with songs like “Mountain Heartache.”
In late 2019, Leach took another giant step in his career when he and his wife, singer Miranda Jo, formed The Alex Leach Band, a quintet that includes JT Coleman (bass), Joshua Gooding (mandolin, vocals) and Brandon Masur (banjo). With influences ranging from The Stanley Brothers to The Beach Boys, and Curtis Mayfield to Porter Wagoner, Alex Leach’s music is both traditional and original, nostalgic and forward-looking, highlighting the sound of a new generation of bluegrass artists.
In November 2021, The Alex Leach Band released two singles. On the bluegrass side, “Up To You,” written with producer Jon Weisberger, delved deeper into progressive and newgrass-flavored sounds. The band art the time included Miranda Leach (vocals), Joshua Gooding (mandolin, vocals), Jason Johnson (banjo) and JT Coleman (bass), along with guest violinist Chris Sexton of Nothin’ Fancy and drummer Tony Creasman.
“I am very excited to release ‘Up To You,’” noted Leach. “I brought the idea to Jon a few months back about an optimist and a pessimist on a trip together, and how each of them viewed a stressful situation. After writing for a bit, we decided to let the listener be the one to decide if they thought of themselves as a positive thinker or a negative thinker. I also want to compliment how tastefully the band played and sang on this track. I hope this song will cause the listener to think about how they deal with situations, all while groovin’ to the music — but at the end of the day, take it exactly how you want, it’s completely ‘up to you.’”
In contrast to the original song “Up To You,” the Alex Leach Band’s cover of Paul Simon’s “Slip Slidin’ Away” steers away from the bluegrass accents of the banjo and focuses instead on the singing of Alex and Miranda.
“I have always had a broad taste in music, and regardless of what genre it’s thrown into, a good song is a good song in my book,” Leach observed. “Simon and Garfunkel always caught my ear with their harmonies, and even though Paul Simon recorded ‘Slip Slidin’ Away’ as a solo track, he and Art sang it as a duet years after it was released. It was the duet version that gave me the inspiration for our arrangement, with the instrumentation and crisscrossed harmony parts between Miranda and me. It was so fun to record and I think it broadens the spectrum for the band and their versatility”.
The two singles appear in The Alex Leach Band’s album “All The Way” (Mountain Home Music Company, 2022).
As indicated earlier, Alex is also a bluegrass DJ. He works for Knoxville radio station WDVX.
Discography:
I’m The Happiest When I’m Moving (Mountain Home Music Company, 2021)
All The Way (Mountain Home Music Company, 2022)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.