Story by Deb Peterson | Photographed by LC Creative Productions
I’ve been singing “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve” ever since I popped Annette Bailey’s new CD, “Home for the Holidays in Tennessee,” into my car stereo.
The song is a little quirky, which is why it’s still playing in my head when I wake at 2 a.m. The legendary Larry Gatlin sings the high parts, and then Annette’s rich and beautiful contralto joins in. She has a voice everyone can sing along with, and that’s exactly what she hoped would happen when she chose to record classic Christmas standards.
“I wanted to make a record of songs people know and can sing along to while they’re driving down the highway,” Annette says.
People have been singing along with Annette for years at Twin Lakes Baptist Church in Mountain Home, where she produces the annual Living Christmas Trees musical event.
“After the trees, I always come in the house singing ‘What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve,'” she says. “It’s what’s between the trees and New Year’s.”
The CD is Annette’s first. At 55, she decided it was time to realize the dream she had nurtured for many years.
The daughter of a Jewish father and Christian mother, Annette grew up in Tennessee with all kinds of music, both secular and sacred. Her mother took Annette to Graceland on a whim when she was two, and Elvis wrote on Annette’s arm, “I love you, Elvis.” She seems destined to rub elbows with musical greats.
Descendants of the Blackwood Brothers and the Jordanaires, groups that performed with Elvis, participate on Annette’s CD, and Aubrey Haynie, the Academy of Country Music 2010 Fiddle Player of the Year, plays fiddle.
Larry Gatlin entered Annette’s life after a medical procedure he had at the North American Spine Center, co-founded by Sam and Annette Bailey and other partners, that brought Gatlin relief from back pain he had suffered from for 40 years.
Larry and his wife, Janice, became friends of the Baileys, and when Sam suggested a duet, Larry was on board.
“Tell me the time and place, and I’ll be there,” Sam remembers Larry saying.
Annette first had to be vetted by Larry’s record company, Curb Records.
“They wouldn’t let him sing with just anyone,” Sam says smiling.
While Annette’s CD is for everyone, her primary audience is her children—Benjamin, Andrew, and Joseph—and their families.
“If you have a talent,” Annette says, “give it away. Don’t ever let that music in your heart die, whatever your music is. It’s not fair to you or your family. You can do it.”
You can find Annette’s CD at Harp’s and at annettebailey.net.
M! Dec 2011/Jan 2012
Leave a Reply