The popular Internet video sharing service YouTube was in the news last week, as a Los Angeles journalist filed suit against them for copyright infringement after a YouTube user posted video shot by the reporter on his YouTube page. The whole purpose of YouTube is to allow users to easily post video content for widespread distribution, something that many bluegrass artists and businesses have used to great advantage.

I mention the copyright infringement issue as it came to mind when I found these wonderful clips of the original Fincastle bluegrass music festival held in 1965, and widely regarded as having launched the festival phenomenon we now take for granted. The user who posted this content is not identified on the site, but has a good many classic clips of bluegrass video and audio, most of it focused on the music of Don Reno.

It may be that this YouTube user, identified only as “renopicker,” may have the rights to distribute all of these clips, but it may be that the sort of infringement suit that was initiated in LA could spill over to this type of thing as well. YouTube expresses confidence that they are immune from the legal ramifications, but they become more strict with what it allows to be posted if any suits are successful, or settled to YouTube’s disadvantage.

In any event, bluegrass lovers may enjoy having a look at these many video bits, many of them 8-10 minutes in length.

We made mention of the launch of Fretboard Journal late last year, when the inaugural issue was set to be published. We have just received word that their third edition is being mailed now to subscribers, with a publication date of August 1.

The 8/06 issue will feature an interview with Wade Mainer, a seminal banjo pioneer who merged old time and early three finger styles, and a detailed interview with Bill Collings of Collings Guitars. The cover story is one on Nashville songwriter Guy Clark, and the new issue also includes a report on Loar Fest West (which we mentioned earlier as well).

The editors like to describe this publication as a coffee-table style magazine, and focus much of their attention to providing a visually entertaining presentation along with the text content of each issue. They proudly point out that the magazine is published on archival quality paper, and full color is used throughout. They make no stylistic distinctions, and intend to simply cover acoustic music and the instruments used to create it.

Subscription details can be found on their site.

Voila!! After much consternation, trial and error, and long distance coaching, it appears that I have successfully uploaded what should have been last week’s edition of The GrassCast. My apology for the delay. Hopefully this week’s episode will be uploaded on time.

Episode #38 features my discussion with young banjo terror Chris Pandolfi of The Infamous Stringdusters. We spoke last fall during the IBMA convention in Nashville about what he had been doing, and about his education at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Chris is a fascinating young man, not only for his skill as an instrumentalist, but also for his clear understanding of what making music a career entails, and his level-headed approach to doing so in his own life.

This GrassCast is 8.5 minutes in length and the file download size is 10 MB.

Below is an mp3 file for you to listen here or download. The GrassCast is also available in the iTunes music store as an enhanced podcast containing photos and hyperlinks relative to the subject matter being discussed in the interview.

Listen now:
Direct Download: ep38_chris_pandolfi.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

Just last week, Lonesome River Band celebrated the release of The Road With No End, their tenth project as a band, and their first with the newly-reconstituted membership. Bandleader Sammy Shelor has brought former Lost & Found lead singer Barry Berrier aboard on bass, and perennial sideman Shannon Slaughter (Larry Stephenson, Melonie Cannon) in on guitar, to join Shelor on banjo and veteran LRB mandolinist/vocalist Jeff Parker for this new CD on Mountain Home Records.

Together with the CD’s release, they have launched their new online store. Not only can LRB fans order CDs and other merchandise online, they can purchase MP3 audio files for download. MP3 downloads are available for the last three releases, including the new one, plus the Huber Banjos Team Flathead CD on which Sammy was featured. The audio files are fully compatible with iTunes, iPod and other popular MP3 players and devices, and are priced according to the iTunes model. Track and album names, times, genre and even cover artwork will be imported when you bring the files into iTunes.

Individual tracks and full album projects can be purchased, with the files available for immediate download. They hope that Lonesome River Band fans will appreciate being able to obtain audio files for purchase in this manner, while also supporting the band directly with their purchase.

Of course, fans who prefer to purchase manufactured CDs can do so from the band’s store as well, and audio samples from all their releases are accessible in the store. Sammy Shelor’s instructional materials are also available on the site, as are his signature stainless steel banjo picks.

The American Made Banjo Co, Inc. based in Boston, MA, has been quite active this past year. Owner Tom Mirisola reactivated the Kel Kroydon brand, and has been offering both replicas of these pre war banjos, and more modern variants on this style, since February of 2006. He contacted us last week with word of two new product announcements from American Made Banjo.

Tom has been experimenting with the cryogenic process and banjo strings, and is now offering a set that has undergone this treatment. He wanted to investigate whether this process, long known to make metals more durable, might help strings last longer as well.

“The Cryogenic Process is freezing the metal to approximately -300 degrees and controlling the warming process. This process is widely used in automobile engines, bearings, gears and any metal that is subject to wear. The extended life of cryogenically treated metal parts can be in excess of 400%. The ironic part to this story is the cryogenic process also improved the sound of the strings. Lower lows and brighter highs accompanied by better note separation is what I have heard back in reports from banjo pickers worldwide.”

The strings are not currently available from the Kel Kroydon web site, but Tom invites both individuals and dealers interested in the strings to contact him by email for more details and ordering information.

Tom has also been hard at work developing a new banjo tone ring for use in his Kel Kroydon Banjos. Taking advantage of Boston’s status as a center for scientific research, he has enlisted the help of experts at MIT to determine the grain (dendritic) structure and shrinkage porosity of the metal in a 1934 flathead tone ring. He has produced three prototype rings, and hopes to have them ready to offer in his banjos, and to consumers/builders directly by October.

He plans to make them in limited quantity as the Dannick Tone Ring, with one out of ten rings sent back to the metallurgist for analysis of the grain structure. Tom is convinced that this is a crucial component in reproducing the tone and response of the highly-prized pre war flathead banjos, in addition to the alloy composition.

Pricing for these rings has not been determined, but Tom insists they will come in well below the $1000 limited production rings currently being offered by some small banjo shops. Details should be available on the Kel Kroydon site by late August.

Click the image below to see a larger photo of one of the prototype Dannicks.

 

  

Dannick tone ring from Kel Kroydon Banjo
© 2006 The Bluegrass Blog

 

Gracie Muldoon has two interviews coming up in the early part of this week. Later today (7/24), she will welcome Jim VanCleve of Mountain Heart as her guest. They will surely talk about his current solo release, No Apologies, and the newest from Mountain Heart, Wide Open. Expect Gracie to play cuts from both CDs and discuss them with Jim, along with whatever news he may have to share about their travels and future plans.

Her show, Muldoon In The Afternoon, runs Monday-Friday from 4:00-6:00 p.m. on WorldWideBluegrass.com, and she generally schedules her interviews for 4:30. You can listen live via streaming audio, using WinAmp, Real Media, Windows Media, and now Quicktime as well. The feed is offered in both a 128K and 32K stream depending on your connection speed.

Tomorrow (7/25), Gracie will be joined by Jeanette Williams, who has some exciting news about guest artists on her upcoming release.

Note to bluegrass radio hosts: If you offer interviews or any special features on your show, and it is available widely (via Internet streaming, for example), please let us know so that we can make spread the word to our readers.

Your humble authors of The Bluegrass Blog are featured in a profile in today’s edition of The Roanoke Times, our hometown newspaper. It was written by Ralph Berrier, one-time features writer for the paper, more recently on sabbatical, and now preparing to return to the Times staff full time.

Berrier is a very valuable part of our regional music media, as he is both a fiddler and a serious student of old time music who brings a level of genuine expertise to his coverage of traditional music in our area. We have linked to Ralph’s pieces in the past, most particularly his in-depth series of articles about the efforts of the state of Virginia to establish and promote The Heritage Music Trail, a series of traditional music attractions in SW VA, as a tourist destination for folks interested in the music, and Appalachian culture.

His story in today’s paper marks the upcoming one year anniversary of The Bluegrass Blog, and is drawn from my recent conversation with Ralph about how the site came to be, and what we have in mind for the future.

You can read the full article on The Roanoke Times web site. There is a small glitch in the article online, where several paragraphs of text are repeated at the end of the piece, but that shouldn’t provide much of a distraction for those interested in reading it.

He mentioned at one point in the article, my thoughts on the international nature of our readership, and how the internet has helped fuel continued growth in interest for all things bluegrass online. We watch those stats (country of origin) with great interest, and they never fail to provide encouragement about the expansion of our music worldwide.

As you may expect, the largest percentage of our readers come from the US, east of the Mississippi, with another large percentage in Europe. What has been interesting is the number we find in Asia. Japan and Australia are not a surprise, as their interest in bluegrass music is well-documented, but we are delighted to consistently see readers in Viet Nam, Thailand, Philippines, Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong and even mainland China. We have regular readers in India, and several in northern Africa and Ethiopia.

Of particular interest of late has been our readership in the Middle East. Just today, we have had visits from cyber surfers in Qatar, Kuwait, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Iran. About ten days ago, as open warfare was breaking out, we found simultaneous visitors online in Tel Aviv and Beirut.

Perhaps Del McCoury could be dispatched as a roving ambassador?

We have mentioned a few times this past month that CMT had visited The Lewis Family in the studio while they were recording their recently released CD, Flying High.

That feature is scheduled to be a part of CMT’s Insider program today (7/22) at 1:30 p.m. (ET/PT). The show will re-air on Sunday (7/23) at 11:00 a.m. and again on Monday (7/24) at 11:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. (ET/PT).

The IBMA has announced that the host for this year’s International Bluegrass Music Awards show will be Marty Stuart. The show will be held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville on September 28, 2006, at which time the winners of the 2006 IBMA Awards will be announced, and trophies presented.

Stuart got his start as a bluegrass artist, performing with Lester Flatt & The Nashville Grass as a young teen, returning to his bluegrass roots after a successful country music career with his newest CD, Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives - Live at the Ryman.

Tickets for the show will go on sale August 11, with details appearing soon on the IBMA web site.

Fiddler Richard Greene established himself as among the leading lights on his instrument when his stellar Duets album was released on Rounder in 1977. Not that he wasn’t already a major player. He had done his time with Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys (along with Peter Rowan and Bill Keith), and been a part of seminal 60s/70’s acts like Jim Kweskin’s Jug Band and Seatrain (again with Rowan).

Duets set a high bar, as it was an entire album of just that, Greene performing in duet with a “who’s who” of progressive bluegrass and acoustic artists at the time. Tony Rice, David Grisman, Tony Trischka and JD Crowe are featured, along with jazz pianist Dave Frishberg. The material is primarily taken from the traditional fiddle tune repertoire, but the arrangements and the playing are daring and inventive - especially by 1970s standards.

Rounder has resurrected this gem, set for an online exclusive release on July 25. These online releases are available as an audio CD, but not sold through outside distributors, available only on the Rounder web site.

If you have cherished this fine recording since its original release, this will be a welcome opportunity to purchase its digital counterpart. If you are unfamiliar with the project, and follow Greene’s fiddle work, or that of the various guest artists - or simply appreciate adventurous improvisational acoustic music - you’ll want Duets in your collection.

No audio samples up yet on the Rounder site, but pre-ordering is enabled.

Sorry folks… I have been unable to get this week’s GrassCast episode encoded and uploaded for delivery. The next three episodes have been recorded and edited, with the expectation that I could set them for delivery during Brance’s absence, Unfortunately, it seems there is a technical obstacle which I have been unable to overcome.

I’ll spare you the lengthy description of the file-corruption-during-ftp-transfer problems I have encountered, and simply say that if Brance is able to find Internet access when he stops over in Germany tonight, or when he arrives in Poland on Sunday, I will get the next few GrassCast episodes ready for distribution.

Failing that, we’ll make them available all at once when Brance is safely back in the studio - where I need him desperately!

Please accept my most sincere apology for the delay.

Blue Moon Rising will be all over the radio today - but not on your broadcast dial. First off, they will be Kyle Cantrell’s guest on his Studio Special series on XM Satellite Radio’s Bluegrass Junction (Channel 14) all this next week. The show debuts this morning (9/21) at 8:00 a.m. (EDT), and will feature the band performing live in the studio, and speaking with Kyle about their latest CD, On The Rise, which has spent quite a bit of time on the charts this year.

Then, later this afternoon, BMR dobro and fiddle man Justin Moses will join Gracie Muldoon on WorldWideBluegrass.com for a live interview during her Muldoon In The Afternoon show, streamed live over the Internet between 4:00-6:00 p.m. Gracie usually does her interviews around 4:30 p.m.

You can listen to WWB online via streaming audio.

If you miss Blue Moon Rising on XM this morning, you can catch it several more times over the next five days. Airtimes for the Studio Special broadcasts are:

All times shown are Eastern.

XM subscribers can listen online when away from their XM receives, and non-subscribers can register online for a free, 3 day online trial subscription to sample XM’s service.

You can find some audio samples from On The Rise on the band’s web site.

Continuing with today’s video theme, here is a link to a Jimmy Martin interview available on YouTube. It is provided on the YouTube site of James Reams & The Barnstormers, who included the interview as a part of a DVD they released last year and distributed along with their Troubled Times CD.

The DVD contained a 20 minute preview of a documentary on the first generation of bluegrass artists, entitled Pioneers Of Bluegrass. It is still in production, with a release expected in 2007, and is directed by James Reams along with Joe Copp and David Fassno. The YouTube clip is taken from that preview.

Their YouTube page also features a number of studio performances of James Reams & The Barnstormers. They include Winsboro Cotton Mill, Coal Dust In My Soul and Black Mountain Blues.

The first video from the new Rhonda Vincent CD (which we posted about last month) is scheduled to debut today (7/20) on CMT. The video is for the song Heartbreaker’s Alibi, and features an appearance by Dolly Parton, who sings harmony on this song with Rhonda on the new CD. It is an unapologetic bluegrass tune - not an attempt at a country crossover - and sure to warm the hearts of bluegrass fans who become frustrated when bluegrass artists try to achieve more mainstream success with music they don’t find comfortable describing as bluegrass.

The video is slated to appear during CMT’s Top 20 Countdown show today at 4:00 and 11:30 p.m., on Friday at 12:30 p.m., Saturday at 11:00 a.m. and Sunday at 11:30 a.m. All times are Eastern Daylight Time.

Unless you are on a Macintosh computer, you can view the video on CMT.com. Unfortunately, the digital rights management scheme which CMT has chosen to employ is not supported on Macs, and some Windows users have also reported problems with this CMT.com video display system.

CMT viewers will have the opportunity to vote for this video during the countdown. The phone number to call will be displayed on screen during the show.

We just got a note from our buddy, Wichita Rutherford, alerting us to the fact that a clip from the VanHeffer movie could be viewed on YouTube.

The movie, Van Heffer - a Bluegrass tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, was chosen as a fan favorite at The Nashville Film Festival this year and has become a cult favorite underground DVD. Wichita swears it can be found on every tour bus from The Del McCoury Band to Dierks Bentley, Metallica, 50 Cent, Kanye West and Tom Petty - and that Tommy Lee made 3 references to Van Heffer on his reality TV show, Tommy Goes to College.

According to Wichita:

“The 3 minute clip on YouTube features some of the giants of bluegrass, Doc Watson, Del McCoury, Ricky Skaggs, Sam Bush as well as country music’s Vince Gill. The soundtrack album, Van Heffer - a Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, is selling like there’s no tomorrow. It’s an iTunes exclusive.”

The CD is a set of bluegrass covers of Ozzy Osborne songs, and features performances from Andy Hall, Tim May and Kyle Wood, plus a duet by Ronnie McCoury and jazz sensation Cyndi Wheeler. It was produced by Scott Rouse, who has been quite prolific in bluegrass circles of late, most recently producing Blue Highway’s stellar Marbletown CD.

We asked Wichita if we would ever see the Van Heffer CD in stores.

“We’d love to have it in stores, we’re just waiting for a label to ask us.”

For now, you can sample the audio or buy the CD for download on iTunes.

Well, I’m heading out this morning for about two weeks in Poland. I don’t expect to have much in the way of Internet access, nor much of a chance to keep tabs on the bluegrass news, so I’ll have to leave you guys in John’s capable hands. I know that he has his plate full right now, so please be patient if posts on The Bluegrass Blog are a bit lighter than usual, or appear a little later in the day while I’m away.

My wife, Lauren, and I will be escorting the youth group from our church to Lwowek Slaski in Poland for a mission trip, and should be back on August 3.

If I see or hear any bluegrass while I’m there, I’ll fill you all in upon my return.

John adds: We’ll see how capable my hands may be when I try to convert and post this afternoon’s GrassCast. I have the training, but not the experience. This is clearly Brance’s milieu.

If you have caught Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder at a live performance this past year or so, you may have noticed that they have been including new instrumentals which Ricky has written in the show. The band has been in the studio as time allows since last summer recording a number of these songs, and now their first all-instrumental CD is due for an August 1 release on Skaggs Family Records.

The CD is entitled Instrumentals, appropriately enough, and includes 11 tracks, 9 of them Skaggs compositions. The current members of Kentucky Thunder are all featured: Cody Kilby on guitar, Jim Mills on banjo, Darrin Vincent on guitar, Mark Fain on bass, Paul Brewster on guitars, Andy Leftwich on fiddle, and Ricky Skaggs on mandolin, a variety of guitars, mandocello and clawhammer banjo. Guest performances are also included from Jeff Taylor (accordion and pennywhistle), Andy Statman (clarinet) and The Nashville String Machine.

We can’t find any audio samples up yet, but will be sure to let you know when they are available.

Jim Mills talked to us about this project a few months ago, and discussed it during his GrassCast interview which we posted in May. You can hear the interview here.

There has been a great deal of speculation, and a fair amount of misinformation, concerning the status of Audie Blaylock & Redline. We reported back in April that Michael Cleveland had launched a group of his own called Flamekeeper, when he announced that he would be leaving Dale Ann Bradley, which we also covered in the Spring.

At that time, Michael indicated that Audie would be a part of this new group, leaving many to wonder about Audie’s own band, Redline. I had a chance to speak with Audie about all this yesterday, and he gave me the straight scoop on the two groups, and where his attention would be focused.

At this point, both groups are active, but they will be folded into one starting in January of 2007. Currently, Michael Cleveland is playing mandolin and some fiddle with Redline, along with Patrick McAvinue on fiddle, Barry Reed on bass and Evan Ward on banjo. Both Evan and Patrick will be attending college full time next year, at which time Redline will morph into Flamekeeper.

Audie describes this switch as more of a name change than a new band, which will officially be booked as Michael Cleveland and FlameKeeper featuring Audie Blaylock. One imagines that this will eventually be abbreviated to Flamekeeper, once their identification is solidified in the bluegrass public’s mind.

Flamekeeper will move Michael to fiddle, and bring in Pete Kelly on banjo and Jeff Guersney on mandolin, according to current plans. Barry Reed will stay on bass, and Audie, of course, on guitar and vocals. He hopes that they will be able to start recording a new project as Flamekeeper later this year, though they don’t anticipate a release before late 2007 at the earliest.

He is excited about the possibilities, and the people he has been, and will be appearing with on stage.

“We’ve been having fun for the last several months. It’s been a great time, and it really helps when you have everyone on the same page musically. These guys all enjoy this kind of music, and are committed to working together to create our group sound.”

Audie’s schedule can be viewed on his web site, with shows booked as Michael Cleveland and FlameKeeper featuring Audie Blaylock posted in red for clarity. His expectation is that shows booked after February 2007 as Audie Blaylock & Redline will most probably be performed with Flamekeeper.

He mentioned that Patrick and Evan will be with the band for the ETA Bluegrass Cruise in February 2007, but otherwise, all shows next year will be with the new configuration.

Valerie and Liberty Pike are soon to release their first all gospel album Wash Away Your Troubles on Bell Buckle Records. Having also produced her first two projects, Patchwork Heart and Turtle Wings, Alan O’ Bryant returns again to the producer’s chair for this CD.

The release date for the new CD is September 12, 2006. Right now they are running a special pre-order sale. You can pre-order a copy for $12 and that includes shipping. The special ends August 31, 2006.

No audio samples are available online at this time.

The folks at Banjo.com, in close cooperation with the promotions staff of The Atlanta Braves, are organizing an attempt to break the Guinness Book record for Largest Musical Instrument Ensemble - using banjo players! The event is billed as A Tribute To Earl Scruggs, and is scheduled for September 13, 2006 as a pre-game show at Turner Field in Atlanta, just ahead of the game between the Braves and the Phillies.

All banjo players are invited to take part, and not surprisingly, Foggy Mountain Breakdown has been chosen as the piece to be played for the record setting attempt. While all pickers are invited, only those who can demonstrate the ability to perform Foggy Mountain Breakdown can be counted towards the record.

Participants must register in advance, and will need to arrive at the stadium by noon on 9/13 in order to be a part of the attempt. Guinness Book rules in this ensemble category are quite strict, and the performers must be rehearsed and under the direction of a conductor in order for the record to be certified. There will be two short rehearsals that afternoon, and an orientation with Braves staff to ensure that the group can be quickly brought on and off the field for this pre-game show.

Instruments will be checked and supervised by stadium staff so that participants can also enjoy the game that evening.

John Drummond of Banjo.com is a banjo player himself, and his company is a retail operation providing instruments, accessories and instructional materials for banjo pickers. He is understandably excited about the event, and the opportunity to pay a tribute to Earl Scruggs, who has been invited to attend.

“I”ve enjoyed countless hours of picking, either by my hands or by someone else”s. I wonder if the banjo in the bluegrass genre would be where it is today, if not for Mr. Scruggs. The passion we all have for the banjo sound came from his fingertips.”

Drummond thanks his friends Jim Adkins and Brad Laird of the Cedar Hill band in Atlanta for the initial suggestion that led to the scheduling of this attempt.

You can find all necessary details about joining this record setting bid on the Banjo.com web site, including travel and accommodations information, and contact info for the Braves staff.

Thanks to our friend Rick Briggs who first brought this to our attention.