by Jedd Ferris

Adrienne Young has quickly become one of Nashville's most promising up and comers, mainly for the way she can take so many genres of acoustic music and twist them into her own. The graceful rootsy songstress grew up in rural Florida learning church songs, but lately, along with her tight backing outfit Little Sadie, she's taking Music City by storm for a prowess to pick polished bluegrass, reinvent old-time hollers, dabble in bouncy zydeco, shout gospel chants and sing emotional country ballads.

On her latest album, "The Art of Virtue," which was co-produced with Will Kimbrough and released on her own Addie Bell record label, Young blends well-crafted modern folk songs with respectfully irreverent takes on familiar traditionals like "Bonaparte's Retreat" and an inspiring conclusion with a cover of the Grateful Dead's touching renewal anthem "Brokedown Palace."

"What I would like us to evolve to is a real original identifiable sound that has openly built creative identity on the shoulders of those before and not been afraid to say so," she says. "We're all post-modern at this point; it's just re-conglomeration."

Although the sound is strikingly familiar, Young never lets herself get too polished. She's a crunchy activist at heart - proudly preaching about protecting the environment, supporting local farmers, and her disappointment in America's current political climate, which initially sparked her admiration for Benjamin Franklin.

The album's title track came to Young as she was reading Franklin's "Thirteen Virtues," which include sincerity, tranquility, and humility. In the song Young calls herself to action: "Gonna start a revolution, made of action not of words. Practicing the art of virtue, a joy ride on a learning curve."

"For me family values are about the common man and caring about the environment," Young explains. "After the last election, I felt sorrow because I knew my values wouldn't be represented by the current administration. I started diving into Benjamin Franklin's writings and found them encouraging, especially his idea to have a nonpartisan political party that only required members to dedicate their lives to the greater good.

"The Virtues are a good starting point to get on handle on the development of one's integrity as a human, and have been a very pivotal point in my journey toward enlightenment."

To help grapple with such big concepts Young gives her listeners more than the average singer-songwriter with a fresh thought and a guitar. Inside the album's packaging she includes a small replica booklet of Franklin's virtues with journal space for "personal exploration." It's a creative, thought-provoking tactic from a talented artist that will certainly make a lasting impression on the future of the evolving Americana landscape.

"The only reason I'm here is to transmit something and make people feel good," Young says. "If I open the door and show them that it's easy, then I've fulfilled my purpose."

Young and Little Sadie, which includes Hans Holzen on guitar, Kyle Kegerreis on bass, Eric Merrill on fiddle and banjo and Eric Platz on drums, have been touring extensively all year on the acoustic music circuit. The band makes a debut stop at the Grey Eagle on Wednesday night