Her singles reached the top ten of the Billboard country songs charts with regularity and she won several major industry awards.

VornDick brought in bluegrass session pickers including David Talbot, Randy Kohrs, Andy Leftwich, Glen Duncan and Jimmy Mattingly.

It also featured re-recordings of the top ten Billboard songs "Down to My Last Broken Heart" (1981), "I'll Need Someone to Hold Me (When I Cry)", "Do Me with Love" (1981), and "She's Single Again" (1985).

[11] The original release of the album received limited promotional, which ultimately drew little attention to the project.

In its original 2004 release, the album received one review from AllMusic's Greg Adams, who gave it a 4.5 out of 5 star rating: "It is seldom a major event when a veteran performer re-records his or her old hits, but Janie Fricke's The Bluegrass Sessions is a happy exception.

As the title indicates, Fricke didn't merely re-record her best-known songs -- she reinterpreted them with bluegrass instrumentation and completely new arrangements that differ considerably from the slick country-pop of the originals.

Jim Moulton of No Depression called it "a real refreshing sound" and found it to have an "excellent bluegrass style".

"In an era in which contemporary bluegrass continues embracing country and pop, those comments should not suggest that this recording is weak or lacking in interest.

Janie Fricke still has a wonderful, flexible voice that can slide from growling to twangy to sultry to pop, and there are a number of good tracks," they concluded.

[8] Ken Tucker of NPR gave Country Side of Bluegrass a mostly positive response in his review.