Dolly Mae Bradshaw, playing bass and singing harmony vocal in Blue Lonesome, was born in Jackson County, Indiana. Dolly was raised in a musical family were she learn to play and sing at a very early age. She contributes her love for the music to her musically gifted mother and grandmother as they encouraged her to carry on the Trowbridge family tradition. Also a major influence vocally was the small country Nazarene church where singing harmony just came naturally and attending church every time the doors were opened, since her mother was the church pianist, didn’t hurt. Dolly still has her grandmothers’ 1925 mandolin she started playing as a little girl in church and at family gatherings. As a child family reunions were filled with guitar, fiddle, mandolin and heaps of singing. In school Dolly played in band and sang in choir. She learned to play piano by listening and watching her mother and years later took music theory and piano in college. As time passed Dolly started playing guitar in Oregon and after moving to south Texas took up playing rhythm for a newly formed bluegrass band All Traditional in San Antonio, Texas.

Playing bass came many years later after fading in and out of bluegrass and country music and dance. It started accidently as she was tricked into taking on learning bass in order to help out the Arizona band Open Road when a player dropped out suddenly. After three weeks of practice, she started playing a steady Friday night gig that turned out to change her musical path. Just to name a few, Dolly has played bass for Bluegrass Redlines and Silverado in California and most recently for Jake Brown & Blueline in southern Indiana. She is a Lifetime member of IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association), long time member of CBA (California Bluegrass Association) served as an active board member of SWBA (Southwest Bluegrass Association) and ABA (Arizona Bluegrass Association). Dolly has spent many hours volunteering in the music field and shared responsibility in founding the Pioneer Bluegrass Festival near Phoenix Arizona.

Dolly’s professional career in Infrared Electro Optics has offered her the opportunity to relocate to several states including the last major move back home to the Midwest in November 2006. She currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio working for L-3 Communications.

As the newest member of Blue Lonesome she is excited to provide the solid bass sound for the band, add her vocal backup and is looking forward to releasing their first recording project in early 2011.