There is a story about the Ball Sisters Band on page 116 of the new book, Grass Roots, A Musical Heritage of East Tennessee.

We released "Dixie", our Civil War CD on April 1. We're excited about the response to this project! (04/07/08)

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Reviews of "Old Lonesome Sounds" have been recently published in Bluegrass Music News and Bluegrass Unlimited.(10/25/07)

We are mentioned in the July issue of Bluegrass Unlimited. (07/10/07)

We were recently named as a "Gold Artist" award winner by radioindy.com. (07/09/07)

Jessica can be heard on the new CD, "Song of the Mountains, Vol. 1". She played fiddle on track one, "Cherokee Shuffle", by the ETSU Pride Band. (06/30/07)

We've finished recording out next CD, "Old Lonesome Sounds". We hope to have it available by May 1. (04/04/07)

Over the last few months, three of Randy's songs have been cut by independent artists.(02/15/07)

Jessica and her ETSU group have been performing Randy's song "Old Lonesome Sounds".(01/08/07)

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Cris was named Outstanding Senior Band Student and Outstanding Choir Student shortly before her graduation from Cherokee High School. (05/27/06)

Jessica was awarded The Lester Seaton Scholarship from the ETSU Bluegrass Program. This is the second time she has won this scholarship.  (04/25/06)

Jessica has played shows with Raymond McClain and E.C. Miller recently. (04/20/06)

Jessica attended a fiddle workshop taught by Andy Leftwich. (03/24/06)

Cris has begun teaching guitar at The Fret Store in Morristown, Tennessee. (03/20/06)

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Cris was voted "Most Talented" in her Senior class at Cherokee High School. (10/14/05)

Cris attended a mandolin workshop led by Sam Bush on September 10. (09/12/05)

Jessica was awarded the Benny Sims Scholarship from the ETSU Bluegrass Program on April 26, 2005. She was one of three students awarded scholarships by the program. (04/29/05)

Randy won third place in the "Workin' Fools Songwriting Contest", which was held in Aspen, Colorado. Randy's entry, "Rose of Tennessee", won $750.00 for third place.(04/06/05)

We learned that in August we will be the opening act for The Dillards! On August 13, we'll be playing at 6:00pm before the Dillards show at 7:00pm at Ritters Farms in Bean Station, TN. (03/30/05)

Jessica will be touring in England and Scotland in January 2005 with a bluegrass  group from ETSU, in conjuntion with the Johnson City Chamber of Commerce.(12/27/04)

"Rose of Tennessee" was one of eight songs selected to be featured on "The Songwriters Network" radio show on Cyberstation USA on 01/16/05.

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Quote from the "Oddio Overplay" website regarding The Ball Sisters Band: ".... these Appalachian girls can play! Boy howdy!". (08/20/04)

On June 1, the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) announced that Randy is one of ten songwriters selected to participate in the Songwriters Showcase at the "World of Bluegrass 2004", in Louisville, KY on October 5. (06/06/04)

"Der Sponsor", a learning software company in Heidelburg, Germany, will be using some of our recordings as background music on some of their products. (06/06/04)

Statue Records of Los Angeles will release a CD based on songs from our Soundclick website on July 2, 2004. It will be entitled "Cold Frosty Morning". (06/06/04)

Cris won first place in the mandolin competition at the Scott Coumty, VA, Fiddlers Convention in June. It was her second consecutive year as the winner. She also won third in the guitar competition, while Jessica placed second in fiddle.(06/23/04)
 
On April 20, 2004 at The Down Home in Johnson City, Tennessee, Jessica was awarded The Lester Seaton Scholarship Award from the ETSU Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music Program. She was one of three students awarded scholarships. She also played during the show with "Long Holler" and the "ETSU Pride Band". (04/23/04)

 

We were on the first episode of "The Roudup", a new country music show on Charter Channel 13 in the tri-cities. It aired on March 21, 2004. (03/22/04)

We have some exciting news in the works regarding our Christmas CD. It has been repackaged and retitled "Christmas with The Ball Sisters Band", and will be marketed and distributed by Doobie Shea Productions. Doobie Shea is the label of The Dan Tyminski Band and the Lonesome River Band. We are very excited about this project!  (09/30/03)

Jessica is now at ETSU, and is a member of the Bluegrass program. She is also in the  flute choir and the wind ensemble.(10/03)

Cris is in the marching band and the Bluegrass club at Cherokee High School.(10/03)

We are mentioned in the October 2003 issue of "Bluegrass Unlimited" on pages 54 & 94.(10/03)

In the "Bluegrass Rules" top 100 Websites voting recently, our site finished eighth in July and seventh in August. In September 2003, our site finished first with over 380 votes! Thanks to those who voted for our site! (10/03)

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Mack Clark recently wrote an article on the group for Tricities.com, after watching the Heritage Days show in Rogersville. Some quotes from the article:

  "As darn good on stage as in the studio, the band comes through with variations of tunes from country, rock, bluegrass and gospel."

   "Family & Friends highlights on of the best Bluegrass-written songs of the past several years, Grandpa's Hands" (10/03)
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"11W South", our side group, made it's first appearence at the Appalachian District Fair in Gray. For this show, Larry Bass joined us as we played in the 4H building at the fair.
(08/03)

We were saddened that our friend Jim Bowman left the group in July due to health concerns. We wish him the best, and will continue on as a four-piece group.(08/03)
 
Fiddle Lessons.... Jessica is teaching fiddle lessons in Kingsport and Rogersville. She teaches at The School of Music in Kingsport on Tuesdays and at Music Palace in Rogersville on Saturdays. (08/03)