Carolyn Eyerly’s debut album The Sunny Side of Life piqued my curiosity when it appeared on the Roots Music Report’s Top 50 Bluegrass Albums Chart in early 2021. A Northern Virginia native, Eyerly has produced a very appealing project with bluegrass gospel favorites and seven of her own compositions. She’s accompanied by Danny Knicely (mandolin), Chris Luquette (guitar), Mike Munford (banjo), Ronnie Simpkins (bass), Ron Stewart (fiddle), and Fred Travers (Dobro). Vocal harmonies are sung by Mary DeGuire Romagnoli and Janine Lewis.

Eyerly’s alluring voice has beautiful tone on classics like “Over in the Glory Land,” “Angel Band” and “Keep on the Sunny Side.” With joy and optimism, she digs reverently into the lyrics she interprets. The juxtaposition of The Carter Family’s song with her passionate cover of Curtis Mayfield’s soul-infused “People Get Ready” displays Eyerly’s eclectic musical tastes.  Seven tightly crafted originals have her distinctive, traditional stamp on interesting contemporary material. Self-penned gospel material, “Heavenly Flow,” “As Though They Were King” and the ¾-time “Take Me Home, Lord” are presented with heartfelt, emotional messages. “Grandpa’s Garden” is a beautiful visionary tale of discovery of a moss-covered glen where her grandfather now resides in the sweet yonder. In a similar vein, “Red Toad Road” is a cautionary tale that tells of a mysterious place where secrets and temptations abound. “Your Anger is a Wall” is a powerful, bluesy lament of love-gone-wrong, and “Christmas in a Dive Bar” presents light-hearted holiday fare. Along with a four-voice women’s choir, Carolyn Eyerly closes the album with an a cappella cover of Leon Patillo’s “Go” and proclaims, “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, go, go, go. Baptizing them in the name of the Father. The Son and Holy Ghost, go, go, go.”        

Carolyn Eyerly co-founded the D.C.-area folk group, Shenandoah Run. Now, she performs with Sweet Yonder, an all-women bluegrass quintet that received 2019 WAMMIE award nominations for Best Bluegrass Band and Best Bluegrass Album. Using music for ministry, Carolyn and her bandmates sing “comfort music” to the homeless.  Besides presenting a positive outlook for the future, her debut album The Sunny Side of Life also has liner notes that encourage use to reduce, reuse, recycle and refuse in an effort to curb plastics pollution. All in all, a very nice album that introduces us to Carolyn Eyerly, her music and messages.  (Joe Ross, Roots Music Report)