Planet Bluegrass has announced the preliminary artist lineup for it’s 34th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival. This festival has become a destination festival that people travel from all over the world to attend. After looking at the lineup for next year, one can see why.

Alison Krauss & Union Station * Sam Bush Band * Chick Corea & Bela Fleck * Emmylou Harris * Telluride House Band featuring Béla, Edgar, Jerry, Sam, Bryan * Tony Rice & Alison Krauss & Union Station * Yonder Mountain String Band * Béla Fleck & the Flecktones * Chris Thile & How to Grow a Band featuring Bryan Sutton * Jerry Douglas Band * Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile * John Cowan Band * Peter Rowan & Crucial Country * Dougie MacLean Band * Jackie Green * Mike Marshall & Hamilton de Holanda * Sparrow Quartet * Crooked Still * Infamous Stringdusters * Avett Brothers * Greensky Bluegrass * many more still to be announced…

The festival will run June 21-24, 2007 and is, of course, held in Telluride, CO. Tickets are on sale now.

The sister festival, Rockygrass, held in Lyons, CO is usually more bluegrass in nature and the lineup for the 2007 Rockygrass festival is just as impressive (maybe more so for a hard core bluegrass fan).

Nickel Creek * Sam Bush Bluegrass Band * Del McCoury Band * Marty Stuart & the Fabulous Superlatives * Peter Rowan and Tony Rice Quartet * Chris Thile & the How to Grow a Band * Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver * Claire Lynch Band * Kruger Brothers * Cherryholmes * Biscuit Burners * Bearfoot Bluegrass * Red Molly * Long Road Home * many more…

Once again, tickets are on sale now and available for purchase online.

Bull and Tammy Harman will again be hosting their weekend guitar and banjo workshop in 2007. St. Louis Flatpick will be held March 9-11, 2007 at Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel in St. Louis, MO.

There will be two days of guitar workshops, with Kenny Smith teaching on Saturday (3/10) and John Chapman on Sunday (3/11). The banjo class is a one day only workshop, taught by Sammy Shelor.

All of the instructors, plus host Bull Harman, will participate in a Saturday night concert. You can find all the registration details on the St. Louis Flatpick web site.

Songwriter Louisa Branscomb’s name is a familiar one in bluegrass circles. As a songwriter, she holds the record for the longest consecutive run on the Bluegrass Unlimited singles chart for the Alison Krauss recording of Steel Rails.

Louisa has a track (Fools Gold) on Back To The Well, the IBMA’s Recorded Event Of The Year for 2006, and has had her songs recorded by many other artists in recent years.

She has also been a contributing writer for Bluegrass Unlimited magazine, and has been an active member of the International Bluegrass Music Association for some time. Though she spent many years performing, Louisa is no longer a full time music professional, and is a clinical psychologist in her “real life.”

A special honor came her way just recently with an induction into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame. We caught up with Louisa and she shared some thoughts on this distinction, and on songwriting.

It’s a real honor to be inducted into the Hall of Honor of the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame, along with some of my long-time friends in the bluegrass/country community in Georgia. The Hall of Honor requires a 25 year commitment and contribution to music in Georgia, and includes friends Mindy Rakestraw and Frances Mooney (Daughters of Bluegrass and co-band members of mine as far back as 1979).

The Hall of Fame “proper” houses many first generation country stars whose names are familiar to all, such as Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers, Vern Gosdin, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, and Johnny Paycheck, along with poeple who have made a lasting contribution to bluegrass in Georgia such as J.N. and Oni Baxter and Mike Fleming, who has done so much for IBMA. A special treat this year was the induction of Terri Gibbs to the Hall of Fame. I was influenced by Terri’s song, “Somebody’s Knockin’,” in the 70’s, when I fell in love with country music–the creative songwriting–changing from majors to minors, the challenging message of the song.

I think when people think of country music, they think of Tennessee. (more…)

Last month, we passed along some information about The Sparrow Quartet’s lengthy tour of China. The quartet includes Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck on banjo, Casey Driessen on fiddle, and Ben Sollee on cello.

Casey created a slide show of photos he took while in China, and it can be viewed on the Sugar Hill Records web site. The photos are not so much of the musicians, but more in the travelogue vein.

There is a video from the tour available as well on YouTube.

The 2007 International Folk Alliance Conference has invited two bluegrass acts to their official showcases, both female or female-fronted bands.

The Claire Lynch Band and The Lovell Sisters will represent bluegrass music at the conference, held in Memphis, TN February 21-15, 2007 at The Cook Convention Center and The Marriott Convention Center Hotel. Unlike the IBMA’s annual convention, which is held each year in Nashville, Folk Alliance chooses a new convention site each year.

You can find convention information (registration, schedule, etc) on the Folk Alliance web site.

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This week on The GrassCast we continue our theme of interviewing members of the new band Grasstowne. Last week we interviewed Phil Leadbetter. This week John interviews Alan Bibey. Alan has been fronting the band Blueridge for the last 6 years or so. He now leaves that band to join Phil and Steve Gulley to form Grasstowne.

Alan discusses with John why he made this decision. This interview was recorded Wednesday afternoon Dec 6th, less than a week after the announcement of Grasstowne.

Direct Download: ep56_alan_bibey.mp3

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The Society for the Preservation of BlueGrass Music of America has announced the nominees for it’s 24th Annual Bluegrass Music Awards. The convention is scheduled to be held at the Sheraton Music City Hotel in Nashville, TN on February 1-4, 2007.

In addition to the awards, the convention also features a showcase of bands, workshops, and trade exhibits by promoters and talent buyers, agencies, record companies, and more.

The hotel is usually jam packed. I mean that literally, walk in the front door and you’re in the middle of a jam. There are jams all over the hotel all weekend. If you are looking for a midwinter bluegrass event, this may be something you should consider attending.

You can find the band lineup and show schedule here.

No one who has attended one of Bill Evans’ banjo workshops, or studied using one of his popular AcuTab banjo DVDs, would ever accuse him of being a dummy. In addition to his prominent work in music as a teacher, performer, composer, producer and booking agent, Bill holds a Master’s Degree in Music from UC Berkeley, and has taught courses in ethnomusicology at San Francisco State University, The University of Virginia and Duke University.

Now add “author” to the list of credentials for this erudite California banjo player. Bill is spending this winter writing Banjo for Dummies for Wiley Publishing, the ubiquitous yellow and black book publishers with sales in excess of 46 million worldwide.

“The first reaction I get from banjo players or bluegrass fans is that it’s a natural! We’re used to being perceived as being real dummies by the outside world, so why not a Dummies book?”

Banjo for Dummies is Wiley Publishing’s first venture into bluegrass and acoustic music and, like most of their titles, will be available at virtually every bookstore in the country following its publication in summer of 2007. The banjo book will follow the typical Dummies format, providing a whimsical and informal introduction to the world of the banjo in 380 pages while also imparting a lot of useful information and musical instruction.

“There will not only be beginners’ sections on clawhammer and bluegrass styles, but Wiley has also asked me to present short instructional sections on minstrel banjo, classic banjo and progressive bluegrass styles. This will hopefully make the book of interest to all players, not just newcomers. It should be a very inclusive introduction to the world of the banjo.”

Bill says that Banjo for Dummies will also include a buyer’s guide, a guide to accessories, an introduction to bluegrass festivals and the famous Dummies’ “List of Tens,” which in this case will include ten important, trend setting players and ten valuable resources to become a better player. A CD will accompany the book with a separate DVD in the works.

This is just the first book that Bill will be writing for Wiley. (more…)

The Chris Thile music video we teased about in October has been released, and can be viewed on CMT.com. It’s for the song Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground from his How To Grow A Woman From The Ground CD.

The flash player utilized by CMT requires access to Windows DRM, so Mac users are out of luck. Sugar Hill often posts these videos on YouTube as well, but we haven’t seen this one there yet.

The International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, KY is offering a special bonus for anyone enrolling or renewing a membership during 2006. It’s a 90 minute DVD of the Legends Concert at their River Of Music Party in 2005. It features performances by Josh Graves, Kenny Baker, Wade & Julia Mainer, Jesse McReynolds, Curly Seckler, Tom Gray, Allen Shelton, Tony Ellis, Gerald McCormick, and Les Woodie, as well as candid footage of rehearsals, back stage conversations, and a group discussion forum.

The offer expires on December 31, and the Museum wants to remind everyone of this opportunity to support their work by joining (or renewing), and perhaps get a nice gift for someone who would enjoy this look at some of the true legends of our music.

You can join or renew on the Museum web site.

The IBMM has also recently become involved in a program called Shop For Museums, which donates a portion of items you purchase online to the museum of your choice. To support them with your holiday shopping, simply visit the Shop For Museum’s IBMM page, and select IBMM as your museum partner.

You can then make purchases from retailers like Barnes & Noble, Hickory Farms and CompUSA as well as eBay, iTunes, Amazon.com and many others. You can visit the Shop For Museums site when you anticipate making an online purchase, and search for the store you expect to patronize to see if a portion of your purchase can be donated to the IBMM.

If you’ve been following this hotly contested election you’ll know that we’ve been trying to obtain a photo of the elusive Mr. Trent Dobbins for some time now. As we told you in the last update, Mr. Dobbins is an importer of organic salmon living in Beverly Hills.

This morning one of our operatives sent in this photo that shows Mr. Dobbins and his opponent, podcasting superstar Wichita Rutherford, locked in combat for the office of Mayor of Bluegrass.

Dennis Jones over at WNCW has let us know that the station is running a contest for their Top 100 list of 2006. All you have to do is visit the station’s website and cast your votes for your favorite discs of the year. You can also vote for your favorite five discs in Bluegrass, Blues, Celtic, Reggae, And Regional Artists. One contestant will win the Top 100 CD’s of the year and nine others will win a grab-bag of CDs hand picked by the folks at WNCW.

The deadline for casting your vote is midnight Monday, December 18th 2006.

Editor’s Note: If you host a bluegrass radio show that is available nationwide, either on-air or on-line, be sure to send us your news for publication.

The Cincinnati Enquirer has an obituary in today’s edition for noted instrument builder, Homer Ledford, who died this past Monday evening.

He is credited with building hundreds of fine banjos and guitars, and will also be remembered for his work with The Cabin Creek Band, who performed for nearly 20 years together.

Homer’s music, and a number of his instruments, are maintained at The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

Hard core fans of bluegrass supergroup Seldom Scene are inclined to the sort of internecine squabbles that occur among folks fiercely loyal to their favorite sports team. To wit, the familiar arguments about which edition of the team was the best, and whether the boys on the field in the 60s would have beaten those from the 80s.

For Scene fans, the disputes are about whether the original band (Starling, Auldridge, Eldridge, Duffey and Gray) has ever been eclipsed by the many fine lineups that followed, or the first rate band now performing under that name, with Ben Eldridge the sole founding member on stage.

Taking no side in this dispute, I can predict that Seldom Scene originalists will have much to cheer in the February release of Slidin’ Home, from John Starling & Carolina Star. In addition to Starling, the band includes Scene founders Mike Auldridge and Tom Gray, plus Jimmie Gaudreau and Ricky Simpkins.

They were assisted on the new CD by Emmy Lou Harris, who has been a long time duet partner with Starling. She joins him on In My Hour Of Darkness, a song she co-wrote with Gram Parsons. Other tracks include Starling’s take on Lowell George’s classic anthem, Willin’ and Waitin’ For A Train.

Starling says that they dedicated a lot of effort to utilizing modern recording technology in ways that would enhance a live, living room sort of feel.

“For the new project, we felt that modern, high-resolution digital recording and mixing techniques, a good acoustic environment and musician practice prior to, not on, recording day, would once again make the process fun for everybody. And I knew Mike and Tom were the type of world-class musicians who could pull this off.

We were able to really capture the energy and excitement that comes from playing live. We had really high expectations going into this, but I think the new record exceeds everything we wanted to accomplish.”

There are a couple of audio samples from Slidin’ Home on the band’s MySpace page, which also lists some show dates where the band will be appearing next year.

Slidin’ Home is scheduled for a February 20, 2007 release on Rebel Records. Radio service is anticipated shortly after the new year.

In the wake of Alan Bibey leaving BlueRidge to help form Grasstowne with Phil Leadbetter and Steve Gulley, the remaining members of the group have elected to disband after fulfilling some dates in early 2007. Alan tells us that they have some shows in January, and a couple in early February. After those, BlueRidge will cease to exist.

Wildfire, however, has a statement on their web site saying that they will be carrying on as a band, with announcements forthcoming about a new band member and new representation.

Mountain Heart is also expected to have an announcement soon about a new hire.

Alan said that for a limited time, all the BlueRidge recordings will remain available from the band’s online store, which will itself be shut down at the end of January.

This has been quite a year for banjo picker Kristin Scott Benson. When 2006 dawned, she was a member of Larry Cordle & Lonesome Standard Time, and teaching in the bluegrass music program at the East Tennesse State University in Johnson City. In June, it was announced that she and her husband, Wayne Benson (mandolinist with The John Cowan Band), were expecting their first child.

That news led her to pass on the teaching job, and continue performing until the arrival of their son, Hogan, in October. Kristin left Lonesome Standard Time to be with the baby, but she has now returned to the stage, in familiar surroundings.

Kristin has accepted the job playing banjo and singing with The Larry Stephenson Band, with whom she traveled for nearly five years while she was in college. Both she and Larry are delighted to be working together again.

You can find their schedule on the official band web site.

UPDATE 1:15 p.m. Dreama Stephenson tells us that Kristin never actually left LST when Hogan was born. It just turned out that there was a hole in the band schedule at that time. Kristin was still a memebr of LST when she left to join Larry Stephenson.

IBMA is currently seeking showcase artists for the 2007 WOB Business Conference. The 2007 event is scheduled for Oct 1-4, 2007 in Nashville, TN. You are not required to be an IBMA member to submit an application. If you are chosen to showcase however, you will need to become an IBMA member at that time in order to accept the showcase invitation.

There is a $15 application fee. If chosen to showcase you must pay an additional $150 showcase fee, but your band will be given registration for the full conference.
The deadline for application is January 12, 2007.

The showcases are designed to introduce any one or all of the following to the bluegrass industry:

• Emerging talent capable and willing to broaden their market
• Established bands who have significant changes in their act
• Artists who have significant, new recorded product

The board-appointed Talent Committee’s selection process involves a fair but subjective evaluation based on each applicant’s entertainment value, level of professionalism, potential appeal and quality of work. Depending on the number of acts which apply, the selection process takes approximately three months. IBMA makes the full selection criteria available upon request.

If you want to apply you will need to submit to IBMA, by the deadline, five complete promotional packages including the following: (more…)

There is a nice remembrance of Dempsey Young in today’s edition of The Roanoke Times. Allen Mills reflects briefly on missing his friend, and Herschel Sizemore comments on Dempsey’s unique approach to the mandolin.

Read the article on The Roanoke Times web site, where Dempsey’s obituary can also be found.

The New York Times recently (Nov 28, 2006) ran an article titled String Theory: New Approaches to Instrument Design. You do have to register in order to read the article, but it’s free and painless. The story’s focus is on on fiddles and guitars built with new design ideas or materials such as graphic and carbon fiber. They do limit the scope to acoustic instruments. Much of the focus is on individuals who are building by hand, but some coverage is given to companies, such as RainSong, that have used new material ideas in the construction of instruments.

It’s a three page article with photos and video clips and should be of interest to anyone who is interested in instrument construction.

Hat Tip: String Theory Media Blog

Allen Mills of The Lost & Found asked that we post this for him, in response to the many folks who have expressed condolences regarding the death on Sunday morning of their dear friend and bandmate, Dempsey Young.

The out-pouring of love - the calls, emails, thoughts and prayers from our friends and fans has been absolutely overwhelming. We sincerely appreciate everyone and everything, for accepting and enjoying our 33 years of music together. Our fans and our God will determine our future…continue to keep us in your prayers.

The Lost & Found Band
Allen Mills, Scottie Sparks, Ronald Smith and Jerry Williamson
The Young Family