Nick Keen has officially accepted the mandolin position with The Josh Williams Band. He has actually been touring with Josh for the past month, and has now been announced as the newest member.

A North Carolina resident and native, Nick had been performing with Galax, VA-based Broken Wire and worked previously with Bradley Walker. He’s picked up his share of trophies on the contest scene.

Josh is delighted with their new hire.

“Nick’s melodic perfection and solid performances transcend any genre of music which has made him the best choice for JWB.  His tone and timing surpass most and we are excited to have him on board.”

The band will be on hand for much of this month’s IBMA goings on, and will appear at the Fan Fest on October 2. You can find their full schedule online.

September 9 marked the 14th anniversary of Bill Monroe’s passing , and NPR’s All Thing’s Considered took the occasion to remember Big Mon in a piece about the Bluegrass Boys reunion at the International Bluegrass Music Museum earlier this summer.

NPR’s Micah Schweizer interviewed a number of former Monroe hires assembled at the ROMP fest this past June in Owensboro, KY and includes their thoughts and comments in this 5 minute piece.

Listen to the segment online at www.npr.org.

Serious students of the 5 string banjo have long been plagued by a malady known as flyaway fingers. This dread disease afflicts those whose right hand fingers refuse to conform to recommended standards, which suggest keeping the fingers close to the strings they will need to strike. Instead, they “fly away” after picking a note, rising up into an extended, “pointing” position, which costs them in mechanical efficiency and can lead to problems with timing as well.

Not all banjo pickers experience this distress, but it can be quite problematic for those who do.

But relief is in sight! The folks at Banjo FlyAway Finger have devised an apparatus that is part medieval torture device, and part Golbergian genius – the product of practical ingenuity and can-do entrepreneurism.

Once attached to your banjo’s resonator and flange, two adjustable arms can be positioned to restrict upward movement of the index and middle finger of your right hand. The idea is to defeat the involuntary movement of flyaway fingers, much as double-sided tape can be employed to train the ring and little fingers to stay down on the head.

After you have defeated these involuntary movements, you can abandon the device and pick with the desired level of efficiency and smoothness. Training wheels for your banjo!

You can find more details about this clever contraption at www.banjoflyawayfinger.com, including additional photos and a demonstration video.

Video from yesterday’s appearance by Steve Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers on Good Morning America is now available on the ABC web site. They performed two songs from Steve’s 2009 CD, The Crow.

Woody Platt, guitarist and vocalist with Steep Canyon tells us that they had a blast on the GMA set in New York.

“It was great fun…..quite easy, except for the 5:45 am sound check.”

You can watch the videos here:

• The Crow
• Late For School