Recipes and Road Stories (Color)

By the time Hannah was in the 11th grade and Caroline was in the 7th grade, the Melby sisters were touring the country in bluegrass bands, with Hannah on fiddle and Caroline on mandolin. Today the sisters are the front persons of a very popular Nashville-based country music touring band named HanaLena.

Do they ever have some great stories to tell about coming of age on the concert trail

Recipes and Road Stories: Life on the Road with Sisters Hannah and Caroline Melby of the duo HanaLena blends touching and rollicking road stories with an assortment of tasty recipes, and then tops everything off with plenty of exciting photographs.

Also contributing recipes are friends they made on the road, including Rhonda Vincent, a 5-time Grammy nominee who has been called the "Queen of Bluegrass," and Claire Lynch, who is the reigning Female Vocalist of the Year for the International Bluegrass Association.

The sisters, who grew up in Starkville, Mississippi, performed from an early age-Hannah is now 28, Caroline is 24-evolving from bluegrass to progressive country as they perfected their songwriting and performance skills out on the road. In 2008 they won the "Best New Act in Country Music" competition at the Colgate Country Showdown in the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville-and took home a check for a cool $100,000 presented by country music star LeAnn Rimes. On the road they have opened for stars such as Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, and performed with Grand Ole Opry member Charlie Louvin and the "King of Bluegrass" Jimmy Martin, who was a frequent performer on the Opry before his death in 2005.

In their off-hours, the sisters focused on the business end of music, with Hannah receiving a degree in public relations from Mississippi State University and Caroline receiving a degree in music business from Belmont University in Nashville.

"Nicely illustrated with occasional period photos, "Recipes and Road Stories" is solid entertainment and a fascinating read from beginning to end. Each of the four chapters comprising "Recipes and Road Stories" begins with specific stories of the girls' adventures and encounters, followed by a roster of recipes provided by themselves and their friends. A joy to simply browse through, "Recipes and Road Stories" will be a mandatory 'must read' for their legions of fans and is an ideal for browsing through repeatedly . .. "Recipes and Road Stories" will prove to be a popular addition to community library collections."-The Midwest Book Review