Just as we did last year, The Bluegrass Blog is hosting an online poll that mirrors the final IBMA Awards ballot. Visitors to our site can cast their vote for any of the nominees, and see how their choices stack up against other readers of The Bluegrass Blog, and ultimately against the voting membership of the IBMA.

The Bluegrass Blog Awards Poll is completely unofficial, and is not affiliated with IBMA or their official balloting process in any way. It’s just for grins, but it was a lot of fun last year, and our readers did a good job of choosing among the IBMA nominees in making their aggregate selections.

You need to register (or log in) in order to cast a vote, and only one vote per registered user is allowed, just to make it as representative as possible. Registration is free and there are no strings attached to becoming a registered user.

Take a look at how our readers did in 2005 as compared to the IBMA voters in this review of last year’s outcomes.

Come on in and cast your vote, and let’s see how The Bluegrass Blog readers match up in ‘06 with the voting membership of IBMA when it comes to handing out awards.

Register here
Vote here - The Bluegrass Blog Awards Poll
Vote tallies - The Bluegrass Blog Awards Poll Results

Copper Creek Records has a new compilation project, designed to showcase a wide assortment of artists and music which have been featured on Copper Creek releases over the past 28 years. Entitled Blockbuster Bluegrass, it includes two CDs with 25 different tracks each, and a 20 page booklet, offered at a bonus retail price of only $12.98.

The music includes bluegrass, old time and gospel - vocal and instrumental - from both celebrated icons like Curly Seckler and The Blue Sky Boys, to up-and-comers like Josh Williams and Michelle Nixon. There are also tracks from The McPeake Brothers, Ken Perlam, Tom, Brad & Alice, Pete Pike, The Bluegrass Patriots, Lost & Found, John Reischman & the Jaybirds, James Leva and more than thirty others.

There are even two tracks featuring your humble blog author - one each from Five & Dime and On A Farm. How could anyone resist armed with that piece of info?

You can find the complete track listing, and order directly from Copper Creek, by visiting their web site. It will also be available from most bluegrass music outlets, and big box resellers.

Our GrassCast interview with Rhonda Vincent earlier this week included some discussion of her upcoming Christmas CD, due in mid-October on Rounder. Some details about the project, Beautiful Star: A Christmas Collection, are now up on the Rounder web site.

No audio samples up yet, but there is a track listing and a pre-order option. The site indicates that pre-ordered CDs wil be shipped on October 17.

She mentioned during the GrassCast interview that the material was mostly comprised of traditional Christmas music, and included a recording of The Twelve Days Of Chrsitmas “like you have never heard before.” She suggested that this cut may set the record for the largest number of individual tracks on a bluegrass recording.

Rhonda also told us that she had cut a version of Mel Torme’s classic, The Christmas Song, long regarded as a particularly challenging song for any vocalist to tackle. It is a lovely melody, with a more jazzlike chord progression, and I’m sure that her take on this will be a memorable one.

Listen to the full 15 minute interview with Rhonda here.

As we did last year, we will be publishing the full schedule for IBMA’s World Of Bluegrass and Fan Fest in a searchable, printable format here on The Bluegrass Blog. This will allow attendees to pre-plan both their daytime and after-hours schedule, a big help during such a busy, and event-rich week of activities.

If you or your organization will be hosting events during the Business Conference, Trade Show or Fan Fest portions of the week (9/25-10/1), please be sure to send us the details as soon as possible.

The complete schedule will be available within the next two weeks, and we will highlight some tidbits here and there as we become aware of them. Here are a couple of note:

3 Fox Drive has been tapped to kickoff the Awards Show at The Grand Ole Opry House on September 28. As always (at least since 2001), the show begins with a rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, and 3 Fox Drive is sure to do a bang up job with that.

Chris Thile will showcase on Tuesday (9/26) in support of his (by then) new Sugar Hill release, How To Grow A Woman From The Ground. He will perform material from the CD with the same band as he used on the recording on the main showcase stage at 10:05 p.m., followed by a similar performance on the Roots & Branches stage at midnight.

That midnight show will also include The Infamous Stringdusters, and spontaneous jamming would seem to be a foregone conclusion.

UPDATE 4:30 p.m.: Thanks to Dan and Nancy at IBMA, who corrected my faulty memory about the Awards Show opening. In 2001, Sonny Osborne opened the show with a solo banjo rendition of America The Beautiful, and last year (2005) the Isaacs opened with the National Anthem.

Dan Hays also shared this tidbit about this year’s awards show:

We are planning a patriotic tribute this year involving Rhonda Vincent and the US Navy Band Country Current Bluegrass Unit.

For those of you in Ireland and Sweden, this weekend presents an opportunity to hear some great bluegrass music. Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver wll be performing at the Ulster American Folk Park in Castletown, Omagh County, Tyrone Ireland on September 2 & 3, 2006. The following evening, September 4th, 2006, they will be at Gamla Tryckeriet in Bromma, Sweden.

Doyle, his wife Suzanne, and Jamie Dailey left Sunday to do some sight seeing (and secure some work permits for the rest of guys). You can keep up with what they are doing on Doyle’s message board at his site (registration is required). Here’s little story that Suzanne related on the board yesterday.

Mon when we got outside the airport and Doyle got a taxi and the driver got the luggage loaded, Jamie went to the front right side of the car and started to sit down. That’s the driver’s spot!

Terry Baucom, Mike Hartgrove, Darren Beachley and sound engineer, Key Chang, depart Charlotte, NC for Dublin this Thursday afternoon and will meet up with Doyle and Jamie.

We posted earlier this month with news that Vince Gill’s upcoming tour would be including some bluegrass in the show. CMT.com has a news feature posted yesterday which expands on this story a bit.

We had mentioned in that earlier post that Gill was set to release a mighty ambitious project, a box set which will include four CDs (43 tracks), all of which are new recordings of songs which he had written or co-written. CMT explains that each of the four disks is themed, and one is entitled Little Brother - The Acoustic Record.

The tour, starting 10/16 in New York, will be segmented into four “acts,” matching the four themed CDs in the box set release, ensuring that multi-instrumentalist Charlie Cushman, who has been booked for the tour, will have his hands full on stage. Bluegrasser Jeff White, a regular member of Gill’s band, will be on guitar for this tour, which will also include fiddler Deanie Richardson, who has been touring with Dale Ann Bradley this season.

Read the story in full on CMT.com.

Mandolin hero and jam grass senasation Sam Bush has just launched a new web site. The URL hasn’t changed (www.sambush.com), but the look and structure of his online home has been heavily modified, with some new features added.

As you would expect, you can find his tour schedule, info about Sam and his band, see a list of recordings and even make online purchases. One nice addition is a Sam Bush Jukebox where you can listen to his entire new CD, Laps In Seven, in a flash-based popup player. These aren’t short audio samples, but the entire tracks, which can be played (but not downloaded) while you browse the site.

Look for the jukebox link at the top of each page - click the Hear The Music link.

Sam is also asking fans to submit photos for the site’s photo gallery page. If you have any photos of Sam and the band from recent shows, they would love to see them, and they could end up posted on the new web site.

We told you last week that the new IIIrd Tyme Out CD, Round III at the MAC, was due for release in a matter of days. It has made its debut on the band’s web site, with audio samples and online ordering enabled.

This is, as the title suggests, their third live recording from the Mountain Arts Center (the MAC), in Prestonburg, KY. The performance, recorded last November, was also filmed for a future release on DVD. The material includes some bluegrass favorites (John Henry, The Moonshiner, Think Of What You’ve Done), some new songs, and even live cuts of songs from previous studio releases (John & Mary).

Find all the detail, hear the sample audio, and order a copy from the IIIrd Tyme Out web site.

Our new episode features an interview John did with Rhonda Vincent about two weeks ago in Nashville. Rhonda spoke with us just after the IBMA Awards Nominations press conference on August 15, and the discussion covered an interesting range of topics.

She spoke in some detail about the process of writing two songs from her current CD, the title track, All American Bluegrass Girl, and God Bless The Soldier. There is also a discussion about some of the changes in the way she operates the business side of her music, and how taking charge of that personally has made a substantial impact on her career.

She also describes her upcoming Christmas CD, Beautiful Star: A Christmas Collection, due in mid-October from Rounder and gives a few hints about what will be included.

The GrassCast is configured to be delivered in a variety of formats. You can listen right now within this window, subscribe for free via Apple’s iTunes Music Store to receive each new episode as it is published, or download the file to your computer to listen at your convenience. All those instructions and link can be found below.

This episode is 15 minutes in length, with a download size of 17.5 MB (for the MP3 file).

Just click the Listen now link below to hear the interview now. The GrassCast available through the iTunes music store as an enhanced podcast containing photos and hyperlinks relative to the subject matter being discussed in the interview.

*NOTE: If you are using IE you will need to click the player below once to activate it, and a second time to start it playing. It may take a few moments for the audio to begin. If you are using a standards compliant browser such as Firefox you should be fine.*

Listen now:

Direct Download: ep43_rhonda_vincent.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

Cindy Baucom, host of Knee-Deep In Bluegrass, has just announced the addition of two new radio affiliates - WBRF-FM, Galax, VA Blue Ridge Country and KQBR-FM, Lubbock, TX The Bear.

WBRF-FM has a long history of Bluegrass and Traditional Music support and programming. They will be airing Knee-Deep In Bluegrass each Tuesday evening from 6 until 8. The 100,000 watt station reaches into 4 states-Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina-and over 50 counties. For those outside the WBRF listening area, they are beginning webstreaming in the very near future. Check their website for more details at blueridgecountry98.com.

KQBR-FM is in the Clear Channel Family of Broadcast Stations, providing New and Classic Country Favorites to west Texas. Program Director, Kidd Manning said,

We enjoyed Cindy’s “Knee-Deep In Bluegrass” a lot and wanted to add it to our programming line-up.

For more information on the station you can visit kqbr.com.

This brings to 66 the total of radio stations across the country that currently air Knee-Deep In Bluegrass.

Nashville-based Vietti Foods Company is using the hot sounds of bluegrass and country artists to supplement the marketing of their spicy canned Vietti Chili brand. Cherryholmes, The Grascals and The Isaacs are involved in this promotion, along with Pat Flynn, Riders In The Sky and John Corbett.

Each featured artist will have their photo printed on cans of Vietti Chili, and will offer free downloads of their music from the Vietti Vinyl web site. Visitors to the site sign up for the free downloads by providing an email address and some basic contact information.

They also have MP3 audio samples for each featured artist available on the site, along with links to the bands’ web sites, tour schedules and bio.

Vietti has indicated that they like the “homegrown” tie in between bluegrass music and their all natural chili, and hope that the fierce loyalty of bluegrass music fans will convince them to try the chili after sampling some of the online audio.

Vietti started out making spaghetti sauce, based on a family recipe from their native Italy, which forms the basis for their chili as well. They have been a Nashville fixture since 1898, whose products are distributed in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee.

The International Bluegrass Music Museum recently sent out a press release about the implementation of multilingual signs at the Museum. The displays at the museum now feature information in seven major languages including English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Czech and Japanese. The self-guided tour of the museum has now been translated in Japanese and Czech in its entirety, and other translations will be following in the future.

This project, long in the planning stages, was given a major boost when Leslie Hast, a summer intern at the museum, volunteered to spearhead its implementation. Ms. Hast, a junior English major at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, has studied both Spanish and French. Two Centre professors, David Slade and Karin Ciholas, advised Hast on the Spanish, French, German and Italian translations. Toru and Ikuko Okuno of Yokohama-Shi, Kanagawa-Prii provided the Japanese translations, and Olomouc resident Vendula Jaburkova, translator for the Czech Republic?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s bluegrass band Hermanek, supplied the Czech translations.

At the museum?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s recent bluegrass celebration, ROMP, five international bands were featured among the 42 acts present. The museum also opened a new exhibit during the festival, entitled The History of Bluegrass in Europe and Japan.

Part I showcases bluegrass publications, posters, and other paper memorabilia from all over the world in many languages; visitors follow a narrative that describes how bluegrass music reached all corners of the globe. In this cumulative three-year exhibit, Part #II will focus on international bluegrass festivals, and Part #III will feature bluegrass instruments from around the world. Each new addition to the exhibit will open at ROMP.

The museum also plans to offer translations of it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s website in the near future.

I spoke with Mike Lawing at the museum and he related this story to me.

Today we had a guy in from Paris who was really pleased and surprised to see French translations in the Bluegrass Museum! He bought Stanley Brothers and Delmore Brothers CDs in the gift shop which is now offering some items on bluegrass-museum.org.

While you are checking out their site remember that you can join the International Bluegrass Music Museum and receive an exclusive DVD of the Legends Concert featuring performances by Curly Seckler, Kenny Baker, Josh Graves, Jesse McReynolds and Wade & Julia Mainer.

Mike also asked me to remind those of you traveling to and from this year’s IBMA World of Bluegrass event in Nashville, that you can stop by the IBMM on your way through Owensboro. The museum will have a booth at the WOB trade show as well, so be sure to stop by and say hello while you’re in Nashville.

Bobby Osborne is on the cover of the new issue of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine, in the mail now to subscribers. The title, and the theme of the article is On His Own, referencing Bobby’s having embarked on a career as a solo artist and bandleader after half a century performing with his brother Sonny.

They get right to the point as the piece begins:

“When my brother decided to quit the road and completely retire, the days of the Osborne Brothers were over,” Bobby said. “I couldn’t see any point in me trying to just keep the Osborne Brothers as just one brother.” Left with the choice to step down from the business or venture out on his own, the elder brother, 74, didn’t hesitate on his future. “I’m not going to [retire] myself. I’m going to go on as long as I can. I feel like I was put here to sing, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

The bulk of the article is about Bobby’s new direction, new CD (Try A Little Kindness) and his new band (Rocky Top X-Press), but he also responds to some questions about the legacy of The Osborne Brotehrs, and the impact they have had on bluegrass and country music.

The September issue also includes features on The Steep Canyon Rangers, Nothin’ Fancy fiddler Chris Sexton, and Chris Stuart & Backcountry’s trip to perform in the Sultanate of Oman (which we posted about earlier this year).

You will be able to find more details about the new issue on the Bluegrass Unlimited web site when the September 1 issue date rolls around, where you can also find subscription information and search their archives.

Billboard Magazine is reporting that Nickel Creek will put the band into “an indefinite hiatus in late 2007.”

From the article on the Billboard site:

“After seven years straight of touring and three records behind us, it’s in our best interest to suspend Nickel Creek by the end of next year,” says group member Chris Thile, noting that he and Sara Watkins have been in Nickel Creek since they were eight years old.”

Read the whole article here.

Brance adds: Rex Hammock has a nice post about this on his blog.

We expect that readers of The Bluegrass Blog know Sammy Shelor as the award-winning banjo player and manager of Lonesome River Band. Some may be aware of his work with the state of Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, more commonly known as The Crooked Road, and a few may even realize that his wife, Sue, operates a small crafts business, Mountain Meadow Farm and Crafts Market.

Not many will know that he is set to open a music-themed tourist attraction this weekend, not far from his home in Patrick County, VA. It will be known as the Corn Acoustics Corn Maze, and is located on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Meadows of Dan, VA. Sam was inspired to create the maze by the efforts of his friend John Arnold of the Lonesome Highway Bluegrass Band, who does a similar maze himself each year near Romney, WV.

The Grand Opening is scheduled for September 2, in conjunction with the 2nd Annual Chinquapin Festival in Meadows Of Dan. Visitors can try their hand at navigating the maze, cut to resemble the official Crooked Trail logo, which is styled in the shape of a banjo.

The maze was planted in May of this year, and they have a number of photos of the proces of planting and cutting the maze up on their web site, along with tips for solving it should you want to give it a try.

You can find the Corn Acoustics Corn Maze along the Crooked Road, adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway near Milepost 178 on State Route 795 (Concord Road). Hours, admission fees and contact info are available on the Mountain Meadow web site.

The staff and management of Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend have announced that their annual youth scholarship has been named in honor of Charlie Derrington. Charlie was a valued, long-time employee of Gibson, who sponsors the scholarship, and a friend to Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend co-host Herschel Sizemore.

When Derrington was killed in a tragic accident last month, the idea to give his name to the scholarship seemed like a fine way for Sizemore to honor his friend.

“Charlie was a friend to anyone took the mandolin seriously, and we are very pleased to play a small part in keeping his memory alive. We hope that the young bluegrass players who apply for, and receive the Charlie Derrington Memorial Scholarship each year will take a moment to learn about his important contributions, and we thank Joe Vest at Gibson for consenting to rename the scholarship for Charlie.

The scholarship is open to young bluegrass pickers between the ages of 13 and 24, and will cover their tuition, meals, accomodations and (in some cases) travel expenses for them to spend three days at the annual Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend instructional seminar.

Interested students/parents can find the scholarship details and an application form on the RBW web site. The application deadline is September 15.

The scholarship is funded by a raffle for a new RB-250 banjo, donated by Gibson. Raffle chances can be purchased online, by phone or by mail. Contact information for mail or phone purchases can be found online.

Previous posts on Charlie Derrington:
Gibson established Charlie Derrington Memorial Fund
Charlie Derrington accident in Nashville paper
Charlie Derrington drunk driving victim

Our apologies to anyone who tried to visit The Bluegrass Blog on Sunday, and was unable to reach us. Those issues have been resolved. We are still finishing some major software and domain upgrades, however, and may be a bit late in getting new posts up today.

We have a terrific GrassCast interview with Rhonda Vincent that will be posted later today, so be sure to check back and listen.

Thanks, everyone, for your patience.

Rob and Lisa McCoury celebrated the birth of their second child, and first son, just a few days ago. Del Mercer Davis McCoury was born on August 23, at 8:47 a.m. Congratulations to the happy parents, and the whole McCoury clan.

There are some photos up on the Del McCouy Band web site.

Earl Scruggs is on the cover of the September/October issue of Bluegrass Music Profiles, now on its way to subscribers. The magazine features a lengthy, personal interview with the legendary father of bluegrass banjo, where he talks about a great many things of interest to banjo pickers and bluegrass fans alike.

BMP Publisher Kevin Kerfoot described the Scruggs feature thusly:

“This is a wonderful seven-page interview like no other. Earl gets personal with BMP discussing his health, his banjo, Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, the early days, The Ryman, Josh Graves, the Beverly Hillbillies, Earl Scruggs Revue, his sons, his late wife Louise, The Three Pickers project, his Hollywood Walk of Fame, his favorite sport, his dog Bonnie, Jimmy Martin, and more.”

The fall issue also includes features on John Cowan, who talks about his new release, New Tattoo, and Aubrey Holt, whose latest CD with The Wildwood Valley Boys, Daylight’s Burnin’ was released earlier this year.

There is a short preview of the Scruggs interview up on the BMP web site, where you can also find both single issue purchase and subscription details.

Folks I’m working hard on some website maintenance issues. The GrassCast this week will be late in coming as I probably won’t get to it till tomorrow morning.

I’ll working on the site this evening and making some fairly major changes, all on the back-end. I don’t expect any interruptions in service for you, but I wanted to warn you up front that this would be taking place.

The changes I’m making require that I temporarily disable user registration, so if you haven’t registered yet and you want to, you’ll need to wait till tomorrow.

Thanks