CUMBERLAND GAP, Tenn. — A bluegrass star and Pineville native recently filmed a music video in Cumberland Gap, Tenn., and Pineville. While she’s traveled the world with her soaring, soulful voice, the experience of shooting a video was surprisingly new for Dale Ann Bradley.

“This is the first video I had ever done,” said Bradley, who has won “Female Vocalist of the Year” at the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards the past two years in a row. “And you don’t know exactly how well it’s going to turn out.”

Bradley was contacted by a production company called Zervos Productions to do a four-day shoot for her new song “Don’t Turn Your Back,” which is due out on her new album in May. Bradley said that the filmmaker’s mother was a fan of her music and passed it along to her son —who then called Bradley.

According to Sue Webb, owner of Webb’s Country Kitchen in downtown Cumberland Gap, the five-person production crew was “a family thing.” Webb said the filmmaker, who has also done work for ESPN, brought his whole family to help out with the shoot.

“It turned out really good on their part,” said Bradley, who was born in Pineville and started playing music in Bell County and at Pine Mountain State Resort Park.

She also hopes to get some publicity buzzing with the video.

“He’ll have it done in two weeks and we’ll try to get it synched up with the release of the album,” said Bradley. She said they hope to get the video on Great American Country (GAC) and even Country Music Television (CMT). Bradley hopes to have the new album out in May.

Regarding her decision to shoot in historic Cumberland Gap, Bradley said it was easy.

“When you’re in it (the music business) for so many years and you’re just who you are, I really wanted to depict exactly where I was from. So, that’s important to all three of us. Authenticity,” she said, referring to Steve Gulley, another famous local musician who joined Bradley in her performance Tuesday night at the Cumberland Gap Convention Center, and Sue Webb, a longtime promoter of bluegrass in the region.

For Bradley, actually shooting the video was the hardest part — instead of singing, she had to lip sync with the music. She said she would perform the song multiple times at each film location, so the film crew could get different angles and shots. Zervos Productions will then edit the various shots into a short music video.

The film crew shot Bradley at popular locations in Cumberland Gap and in Pineville: in front of the water mill in the Gap, in the community of Tipprell, walking down the street in Cumberland Gap by Webb’s Country Kitchen, at the entrance to the train tunnel, and then in Pineville near Wallsend.

Bradley described the whole process of making the video as a homecoming.

“What was so ironic, we ended up in Pineville across the bridge there that goes up to Straight Creek, right across from Wallsend,” said Bradley. “It was a ‘full circle’ video for me. Thirty years to the day is when I started playing music. There I was, at the foot of Pine Mountain... I stood on the tracks and I just about started crying. I thought, you know, I left this place and I’m back, in a lot of ways. I’m getting closer and closer to being back for the right reasons.”

Stephen Woodward is a Staff Writer for the Daily News. He may be contacted at swoodward@middlesborodailynews.com.