Note from Valerie Hines

This music is what I resonate with... when I sing it I feel like I am connected with where I come from. And if you don't know where you come from...you can't know where you are going. On any given day you would see in South Carolina, out in the country...folks on the back of ther truck going to pick cotton or crop tobacco...Waving at ya from the side of the road ...going to take a lunch at a one room country store... going to get a Royal Crown, Pepsi or Coke, a "sammich" and a honeybun :for desert ....yall don't hear me....This where I come from... When the weekend came you would hear the blues, somebody gonna have a beer more than they can handle and somebody gonna get cussed out! Pumping and Grinding to the blues was a no brainer where I come from.... I am proud to be from South Cackey Lackey (down near the beach)...where shaggin just ain't the same as in England...but we get the job done! I get so happy playing this music I could fly. I truly appreciate the artistry of Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Taj Mahal, Keb Mo' makes me feel so close to the root of American Music. The music sounds grounded not fly by night. So much of today's music is transitory.... when I came along hits came out and they lived...and keep on living. I am in total agreement with Duke Ellington..."There are only two kinds of music....good and bad" I wanna make goooood, so baaaaaaad! Here's the skinny... I'm not gonna serve you, what I don't want to be served.

That's that!