Alisa McCance
Alisa McCance is no stranger to the stage or studio. She’s been a supporting act for artists like Lady A, Little Big Town and Asleep at the Wheel performing at some of the greatest venues in the country, including Red Rocks. As a recording artist, she’s a regular to Nashville studios having released a steady stream of music since 2020 with some of the town’s leading engineers, producers and facilities. How did all this happen? Her talent and work ethic. Rosin up your bow and check your tuning, here’s our review of “Another Chance to Fly.”
Written by Alisa and Robert K. Wolf, the track starts with a live count in, two guitars and light percussion. Love it right off the bat because we know we’re listening to a live take. As the first verse drops we’re taken aback by Alisa’s clear voice and exceptional pronunciation. It’s a hopeful lyrical start, discussing the beauty and mystery of the morning. Love the chord progression right away too, particularly the use of the flat seven chord - nice unexpected twist. The chorus picks up the pace in lyrical delivery and chord progression. BG’s are subtle and effective, and the additional instrumentation of a mandolin, her fiddle and some soft key pads really round it out nicely. Second verse has a full bluegrass band feel, but it keeps everything soft and in the pocket - great production. Second chorus maintains the energy beautifully and then we’re into a brief fiddle solo and breakdown bridge before we’re back to the final round of choruses. Structurally there are no surprises to the form, but that’s fine by us. This is a lovely track with positive vibes, as warm as a summer warming.
The production is as solid as anything you’d hear from Alison Krauss or Ricky Skaggs. It’s hard to mix bluegrass - the snare needs a different eq than most genre’s because of the abundance of acoustic overtones. The bass can’t be as boomy and commanding as you typically hear it, and it requires a different compression. Whoever mixed this, given them our regards, well done! This is definitely one to spin on the nice tube speakers at home, but listen to it again with your best set of cans and you’ll pick up on the gems of her voice and acoustic tones, and what sounds like a barely there synth riff (maybe that’s a slide part, right before the second verse?).
Make sure you scroll down to check out her socials and other tracks. If you live in the Nashville area, you might be fortunate enough to catch her at The Listening Room or City Winery, among other places. On her website there’s some great videos of her playing with one of our favorite country artists, Radney Foster (from Foster & Lloyd, and a hundred other projects). If you dig bluegrass, you’ll love this artist!