If any of you have been following the Van Heffer documentary podcasts from Wichita Rutherford, then you may already know that the CD is going to be released on Feb 7th. This may just be a first for a bluegrass record, but it’s going to be an iTunes exclusive, meaning you can only purchase it online through Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Now Van Heffer is not your usual bluegrass record in other ways as well. It’s…well…you know what, I’m gonna have to ask Wichita about it. I think I’ll head over to his place and see if I can get an interview with him. If I can, we’ll feature it in this week’s GrassCast.

Anyone heading to Nashville for the SPBGMA convention this weekend might want to catch a special benefit show on Thursday night. The show is the McReynolds Memorial Bluegrass Music Spectacular and will be held on Thursday February 2 at The Gallatin Civic Center in Gallatin, TN. Proceeds from the concert will go to help defray medical expenses for bluegrass legend, Josh Graves, former Flatt & Scruggs dobroist, who has suffered from a crippling series of health crises in recent years.

The show will feature performances by Jesse McReynolds and the Virginia Boys, Luke McKnight, Southern Xpress, Marty Raybon, Tim Graves & Cherokee, Leroy Troy, Jimmy Bowen & Santa Fe and many more special guests. Tickets are only $15 and more details on the show, and how to get tickets, can be found on the Jesse McReynolds web site.

Fans of Uncle Josh, or Flatt & Scruggs, will enjoy viewing the many great photos on his web site.

Banjo NewsLetter subscribers are encouraged to complete the 2006 BNL Reader’s Survey online. The survey involves a few dozen questions about subscribers’ musical interests, skill level, and length of time studying/playing the banjo, as well as instrument and accessory preferences. There are also a number of questions about the magazine’s content and what readers might like to see included in future issues of BNL.

The information is not shared with any entity outside of Banjo NewsLetter, though the aggregate data will be displayed in an upcoming issue of the magazine. Any subscriber who completes the survey will be entered into a drawing with grand prizes of either a Ritter banjo gig bag or an Elliott capo. 75 sets of D’Addario banjo strings and 5 BNL subscription renewals will also be awarded in the drawing.

The survey can be completed online, or subscribers (current or past) may choose to download a PDF version which can be returned by postal mail (Banjo Newsletter Survey, P.O. Box 3418, Annapolis, MD 21403).

Survey responses must be received by March 15, 2006 to be eligible for the prize drawing.

We just got a note from BNL publisher Don Nitchie about the February 2006 ssue, about to be mailed to subscribers.

“This month we feature Jody Stecher”s interview with Steve Arkin, who plays clawhammer with the Troublesome Creek String Band. We also feature Aaron Youngberg, who plays banjo with the band Hit & Run Bluegrass; Roger Siminoff”s column “Tech Talk” about banjo rims; Steve Garner”s transcription column “Listen Up!;” Jack Hatfield”s “Concepts and Systems,” about composing for banjo; Bob Piekiel”s “Earl”s Way;” Steve Harvey”s profile of two-finger player Chip Arnold, and two arrangements of John Reischman”s tune “The Eighth of February” (one by Alan Munde, and one by Dennis Caplinger).”

The February edition of Bluegrass Unlimited contains an article that might be of interest about Mac Wiseman. Here’s an excerpt to whet your appetite.

In the last year or two, as he’s rounded the curve of 80, he’s recorded as a guest with the likes of Johnny Cash and Charlie Daniels. And he maintains a steady, though limited, touring schedule. Perhaps most notably, Wiseman recently recorded three CDs worth of the great old songs he loves to sing.

We have posted several times recently about Berklee College Of Music’s acceptance of traditional stringed instruments like banjo and mandolin as principal instruments of study at the school. One of the architects of this change was August Watters, Associate Professor at Berklee, and an accomplished mandolinist outside of his work teaching Ear Training at Berklee. Along with String Department Chair Matt Glaser and Ensemble Professor David Hollender, Watters worked for several years to help convince the administration of the need to embrace these instruments to keep faith with Berklee’s commitment to offer serious college training in all styles of commercial music.

On Wednesday, February 1, August will perform in a faculty recital at Berklee, featuring a mix of bluegrass, swing, jazz, Celtic, klezmer and Brazilian Choro music. Joining him for this concert will be a number of Berklee faculty members and noted northeastern mandolinists in a program largely involving music written and/or arranged by Watters. He tells us that he means for the recital to be at times serious and respectful, and at other times irreverent, playful and fun.

“The concert reflects not only diverse mandolin styles, but also different ways of approaching a mandolin ensemble — from a lead sheet approach where everyone contributes to the arrangement, and nothing is written down, to a completely written-out approach. Most tunes are hybrids of the two extremes: written arrangements with room for improvisation in the solo sections as well as the accompaniments, or lead sheets with most parts improvised, and only a few ensemble figures notated.” (more…)

In little over a month one of the largest jam sessions and pickin’ parties will take place at the Holiday Inn and Convention Center in Hampton, VA. It’s the Cabin Fever Pickin’ Party. The event takes place March 3-5, 2006. If you’ve never been this may be the time to check it out and make some plans.

Brad Davis’ name should be familiar to regular readers of The Bluegrass Blog. He has served as one of our Guest Contributors, and we have posted a number of times about his various exploits as a performer, guitar instructor, songwriter and sideman.

The folks at Flatpicking Guitar Magazine have just released a new book/DVD/CD package which features Brad as instructor. Flatpicking The Blues is designed to both introduce the form and vocabulary of traditional 12 bar blues to flatpickers, and also show them how to incorporate these techniques into bluegrass and fiddle style flatpick guitar. Brad’s goal was to give experienced flatpickers enough of a feel for the blues to enable them to comfortably jam in that setting, and to show guitarists of any stylistic bent how to add a blues influence to their playing.

The package contains an 88 page book, with all the exercises and song examples from the DVD lesson shown in both tab and standard notation, plus a play-along audio CD with the various tunes from the video. To supplement the course material in the book and on the disks, Brad and Flatpicking Guitar Magazine have launched a new web site to provide ongoing and continuing areas of study for anyone wanting to explore blues guitar playing from a flatpicker’s perspective.

Brad Davis spoke with Bill Bay (of Mel Bay Publications) at the recent NAMM show and he told Brad that this was the most comprehensive and well organized instructional product he had ever seen. According to Bill:

“This is a great approach to teaching the blues to guitar players with a different background. It also helps them incorporate the blues accents into the other styles they play.”

Brad is excited about this course, and encourages everyone to make use of the additional materials provided on the supporting website.

Dan Miller of Flatpicking Guitar is offering a discounted price on Flatpicking The Blues for all orders received prior to February 1. More details and ordering info can be found on their web site.

The Bluegrass Ireland Blog recently reported about a new site that Wayne Rice has made available online. It contains an alphabetical of bluegrass bios. Wayne uses this for background info for his radio show and I thought it might be of interest to those of you who host similar shows. You can find it here.

Just a quick reminder to our readers who enjoy listening to The GrassCast, our weekly audio podcast, that you can use Apple’s popular iTunes software to subscribe to the podcast. The use of the word subscribe may confuse some folks, as it suggests the likelihood of a fee - but there is no charge to subscribe to The GrassCast, and doing so could save you some time and trouble.

What subscribing means in this context is that you elect to have our weekly podcast monitored by the iTunes software, and each time you open iTunes while connected to the Internet, it will check to see if any editions of The GrassCast are available, and not yet downloaded. If so, it will download them into iTunes in the background, ready for you to listen when it is convenient for you. You will find them in the iTunes podcast directory.

If you also use an Apple iPod, you can identify The GrassCast to be updated when you connect your iPod to your computer, meaning that you won’t need to check for new editions of the podcast. If you enjoy our interviews each week, use iTunes and the iPod to make sure that each new edition of The GrassCast is there waiting for you when it is released.

Find our podcast subscribe info here.

The Foothills Bluegrass Music Society in Calgary, Alberta is hosting their 1st Annual Chinookgrass Academy at the Sheraton Cavalier Hotel in Calgary on February 11-12, 2006. Instructors include Bill Evans (banjo), John Reischman (mandolin), Eric Thompson (guitar), Trisha Gagnon (bass), Jimmy Heffernan (dobro) and Suzy Thompson (fiddle).

Tuition for both days is only $75 (Canadian) but probably does not include hotel accommodations. Workshops will be offered over two full days, followed by a concert featuring the camp faculty.

Details can be obtained by contacting FBMS Workshop Director Bert Jackson by email.

IBMA Broadcaster of the Year Cindy Baucom has announced the addition of several new affiliate stations that are now carrying her show Knee-Deep In Bluegrass. The new stations are:

• WDKN, Dickson, TN
• WFFF, Columbia, MS
• WIXE, Monroe, NC
• WABO, Waynesboro, MS
• KLTF, Little Falls, MN
• WPRN, Butler, AL
• WXAB/WIGG, Wiggins, MS

If you live in an area to pick up one of these stations then you are in for some fine bluegrass programming. Otherwise, check KneeDeepInBluegrass.com for a full station listing to find a station in your area.

I contacted Cindy and asked her to comment on the addition of these new stations.

I’ve been working very hard to contact radio stations and talk with them about adding more Bluegrass to their programming. The efforts have paid off with 8 new radio stations adding “Knee-Deep In Bluegrass” over the past couple of months. This brings a total of 61 radio stations airing “Knee-Deep In Bluegrass” every week. I count it a real priviledge to get to present quality Bluegrass talent on the radio to such a large audience each week. I am very selective of material I use on the show. It is very important to me to help grow the audience of Bluegrass and I think to best do that, a high standard has to be set in the production of the show and the music that is heard. My plans for this year are to continue searching for stations wanting to expand their programming to include Bluegrass and to put out the best show possible every week.

We posted a few months ago about the stage show produced at Barter Theater in Abingdon, VA about the life of The Stanley Brothers, called Man Of Constant Sorrow. At that time, we mentioned that the show, while only appearing then at Barter Theater, would be touring the US with a professional company later in 2006.

That company is now being assembled, and auditions are still open. Casting is being handled by Paul Russell Casting in New York, and they are currently seeking three principal characters:

RALPH STANLEY Early 30″s to mid 40″s. Great banjo player. Actor must be able to sing high bluegrass harmonies for which Ralph is famous and play banjo well. A man of subtle humor and deep thoughts, Ralph is soft spoken with a big voice. Good comic delivery a must plus charisma as a performer. Ralph had a strong bond with his brother, Carter. Southwestern Virginia Appalachian accent a must”

FIDDLE PLAYER / RECORD EXECUTIVE / ANGEL OF DEATH Early 30″s to mid 40″s. An actor-musician who can play bluegrass / country fiddle well, sing harmonies and do character work. Southwestern Virginia Appalachian accent a must. Actor portrays one of the musicians from The Clinch Mountain Boys (one of the Stanley Brothers singing groups). Actor also plays a slick record label executive and the Angel of Death. The last two personas are not to be confused as one”

ACTOR WHO PLAYS STAND-UP BASS Early 30″s to late 40″s. A male actor-musician who can play stand-up bass well, sing harmonies and do character work. Actor portrays one of the musicians from The Clinch Mountain Boys. Southwestern Virginia Appalachian accent a must”

The tour is expected to run from the middle of September through November 2006, and then resume again for a second run January-March 2007. Resumes need to be submitted to Paul Russell Casting by February 2006.

You can find submission details on their web site.

I’ve told you about this before here and here, but Brad Davis will be the host of a new tv program called Commerce County Line. The show is all about songwriting. Brad interviews a singer-songwriter and that artist performs some of his or her songs, sometimes with Brad accompanying them.

They have now added a songwriting competition segment. Two songwriters each perform one song, and the TV audience gets to vote on their favorite.

The pilot airs in the Dallas/Ft Worth area on iTelevision (formerly PaxTV) KPXD Channel 68. It will be shown for two consecutive weekends. Here are the air times:

• Feb 3- 10:30 pm
• Feb 4- 10:30 pm
• Feb 5- 1:30 pm
• Feb 10- 10:30 pm
• Feb 11- 10:30 pm
• Feb 12- 1:30 pm

If the show is picked up for a full season and Brad is able to find advertisers to support it, he hopes iTelevision will take the show to other markets. If you are in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, be sure to tune in.

Gracie Muldoon will be interviewing Kim Fox of 3 Fox Drive during her show this afternoon (1/27) on The Original Country Radio Network. The show, Muldoon In The Afternoon, runs from 4:00-6:00 p.m. (EST) and the Fox interview will be featured at approximately 4:30 p.m.

You can find the links for audio streaming on the OCRN web site, with links for a variety of connection speeds and audio streaming software preferences. You’ll need to scroll down the page to find the links.

The GrassCast episode #13 features John’s interview with David Talbot and Terry Eldredge of The Grascals. They talk about the making of their new music video for the IBMA Song of the Year Me And John And Paul, which is currently in rotation on GAC and featured on CMT.com. Also discussed is their tour with Dolly Parton and opening for Brooks and Dunn.

GAC show times

This GrassCast is 12 minutes in length and the file download size is 11 MB.

Direct Download: ep13_grascals.mp3
Subscribe with:
Free Download: The GrassCast iPodder software

To subscribe with your own podcatching software, copy and past this url into the appropriate entry box in your software: http://www.thegrasscast.com/rss

NOTE: This post is open to comments, so please share your thoughts about this episode here. Also feel free to share with us your thoughts about The GrassCast in general.

Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Steve Smith, based in Las Cruces, New Mexico, will be bringing his music - and his band, Hard Road - back east for a number of shows in February 2006. Steve is a native of eastern Virginia, and adept at interpreting a variety of bluegrass and traditional folk music styles, as showcased on his four solo CD projects.

Steve is a popular solo artist in the southwest, and is often chosen as an instructor at major mandolin camps and workshops. He is joined in Hard Road by Bob Hull on guitar, Elijah Copeland on bass, Chris Sanders on vocals, and Wayne Shrubsall on banjo. Smith is mandolinist with the group.

They will be doing concerts in MD, WV and VA during the first week of February. Details can be found on Steve’s web site.

MP3 audio files from a number of Steve’s recordings can also be found on his web site.

We received a note from Clyde Scott at BluegrassRadio.org marking their second anniversary providing bluegrass music programming on the web.

“The success of the past two years has been overwhelming to say the least. I look forward to many more years streaming “Bluegrass Radio” to the thousands of listeners that connect everyday.

Just want to thank everyone for their continued support and for listening to the very best music anywhere, bluegrass.”

Clyde takes great pride in ensuring artists that BluegrassRadio.org webcasts are fully licensed with BMI, ASCAP, SESAC & Sound Exchange through Live365.com.

Bobby Osborne, and the Rocky Top X-Press, were in the studio last year working on a new CD titled Try a Little Kindness. He is planning a release date of February 28, 2006, on the Rounder Records label.

I was able to speak with Bobby via email and he told me that the CD features some of his current and former band members along with Glen Duncan on fiddles and vocals. Glen is also the producer of the CD. So here is the line up for the CD, and the song list: (more…)

We posted last week about the Monroe Style Mandolin Camp which will be hosted this fall by the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, KY. Among the instructors chosen for this new event is Red Henry, who passed along some thoughts about the importance of this event.

When Justin Holt called and told me about the camp, I was really glad to hear about it. To me, especially since Bill has been gone, bluegrass mandolin seems to have lost some of its focus. Lots of guys out on the circuit can really play mandolin well, but year by year, bluegrass mandolin in general may be losing some of its original impact and emotional content. Bill Monroe’s revolutionary, very creative attitude seems to be getting lost.

I welcome this Monroe Style workshop as an opportunity to expose interested students to some of the techniques and (more importantly) some artistic aspects of Bill’s music. I’m not talking about just copying Monroe’s playing. That may be fun to do occasionally, but somebody– Bill– has already played his music better than anyone else ever will. I’m talking about studying some of the notes, yes, but also applying some of Bill’s musical attitudes– sometimes aggressive, sometimes sensitive, sometimes mischievous, but always original– to put energy and life into bluegrass mandolin playing.

Our Red & Murphy band has been off the road for quite a few years, and I owe my inclusion on the faculty to a kind recommendation from a great player. Along with myself, I also plan to bring along my son Christopher, who is a terrific Monroe-style player in his own right (those who have seen him performing with 1946, Audie Blaylock, or the Sidemen will testify to that). Chris is an experienced teacher as well, having taught for several years, including instructing at camps such as Augusta Heritage Week. Our family business is the Murphy Method tapes, and Chris recorded our Bill Monroe-Style Mandolin Video, on which he teaches several of Bill’s greatest tunes literally note-by-note.

Come prepared to learn, and to pick. The Monroe Style Mandolin Camp ought to be a very good time.

Nickel Creek will be the musical guest on tonight’s edition of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC. They will perform Jealous Of The Moon from their current CD release Why Should The Fire Die? The show airs at 11:35 p.m. (EST) on NBC affiliates throughout the US.