The Daily Star Journal
“Music, Family And Friend Blend For Nace Brothers”
By
“Trouble on the Hill”
is more than the name of the Nace Brothers’ new CD. It signals there is a track called “The
Ballad of Lizzie Heard” that refers to a little family history that involves a
And there is another
song about a familiar local woman on the CD, “Miss Arzetta.” That is a tribute to Arzetta
Kenyon, a woman who is known to many as a dearly remembered babysitter from
their youth.
The next few days
promise to be busy ones for them. Their
new CD will be in stores on Nov. 7 and a big CD release party is set for the
Uptown Theater in
They also are
performing locally for a fund-raising event for
Tomorrow night, they
will be at the
At least 20 years
have passed since the Nace Brothers first took to the stage. And when they did, they were following in the
footsteps of another family performer, their father – Johnny Nace – just a
different sound.
Over time they have
refined that sound and their style has evolved into what Jimmy Nace refers to
as “roots rock.”
“We are glad to be
making records and making a living,” Jimmy Nace said.
They do a lot of
traveling, 50,000 miles a year and play a lot of dates, more than 200.
While Jimmy plays
guitar, brother David plays drums and percussion. Tim Williams, another local musician, plays bass
and fiddle and the newest addition, T.J. Erhardt, is
on keyboards. All perform vocals.
Talking about a
couple of the tracks, Jimmy called Miss Arzetta “good
people.” And he said as soon as they
heard the tale of murder involving their grandfather’s sister,
they knew it had to be turned into a song.
The story is that
Lizzie Lamb and Alta Nace had married brothers named Heard.
The murder occurred
one June evening two miles northeast of Burtville
when Lizzie Heard was fatally stabbed with a case knife by her sister-in-law,
Alta Nace Heard.
Jimmy said the rumor
was that Lizzie was married to one brother and sleeping with the other.
According to the
history of Burtville compiled by Mary Brown Rainey,
Alta Heard was freed after the coroner’s jury ruled that Alta Nace Heard had
killed the other woman in self defense.
The Burtville history states, “As well as we can learn the murder
is the result of a drunken brawl. A jug
of whiskey had been received by express the day of the tragedy and the occasion
was being celebrated.”
The women quarreled,
the account said. It said Alta was
afraid of her sister-in-law and tried to avoid her, but the other followed her
about her home and attacked her. When
Lizzie struck at Alta with an old boot, Alta reportedly struck Lizzie twice
with a case knife, cutting her arm and also striking her just below the collar
bone and above the rib, severing an artery.
The victim expired immediately, bleeding to death.
The account at the
time said the knife hardly looked that is could be made to “do such a
deed. It is simply an old, worn case
knife, worn very thing and without a handle.”
Although self-defense
had been ruled by the coroner’s jury, a trial later was held and Alta Heard was
acquitted. The account said when the
verdict was returned, the parents of the victim cried bitterly.
Just as it did with
this story that was turned into lyrics, sometimes the music comes almost
automatically. Jimmy said they already
have almost enough material for another CD.
The CD will be
available here at
The Nace Brothers
have become a fixture at Bodie’s when they are off
tour. They play to a varied audience,
from the new people just discovering their music to fans of their late father.
“We are just happy to
be in the business,” Jimmy said.
“Hopefully the best is yet to come.
We have sifted out the hard part, I am hoping.”