The Greencards are a trio of young pickers on the borders of bluegrass music playing what might appropriately be termed Americana music, or as I read on one site “underground folk with a bluegrass influence.” Two of the three, Warner and Young, are Australian while the third member, McLoughlin, is English. The three first met in Austin, TX at a recording session and the music was there from that moment on. They’ve been around for several years now and have released two previous albums. Currently on the verge of releasing their third, they’ve announced a promotional endeavor that includes the gifting of a Collings MT (A style) mandolin and a video iPod.

The new recording is titled Viridian and much of the instrumental magic on the project comes from the able fingers of mandolinist Kim Warner. Kim plays a Collings mandolin much of the time, though he also plays a Gilchrist at times. Based on Kim’s association with Collings this seems like a great way to promote the new recording.

Viridian consists of 12 tracks, many written or co-written by the band members. The disc also features special guests Bryan Sutton, Larry Attamanuik, Jedd Hughes, Andrea Zonn, Viktor Krauss, Doug Lancio, and Chris Carmichael. For the most part this isn’t a bluegrass album, but if you like Americana and bluegrass related acoustic music centered around vocals and mandolin, then this is an album you’ll want to check out. I will point out one particular tune that, even minus the banjo, is a great driving bluegrass tune. Lonesome Side Of Town was written by Kim Warner and Jerry Salley, and could very well be a tune you’ll hear in jam sessions not long after the albums release.

Viridian will be released on Dualtone records with a street date of March 6, 2007. Pre-orders are being accepted at this time from CDBaby.com.

The band is currently running an email promotion through their Myspace page in which the winner will receive a new Collings MT (A style) mandolin, courtesy of Collings. The promotion is a “Tell A Friend” kind of thing where you enter your name and email address, as well as the email addresses of your friends. The promotion entry page states that you are forwarding the page to a friend when you do this.

Those who forward this page to the most people will be eligible to receive prizes.

The wording of the page suggests your friends will receive an email with a link to the page so they can enter themselves, and one would hope that is all the marketing that will be done without their permission.

Prizes in the promotion include the mandolin mentioned above for 1st place. 2nd place is a video ipod, 3rd place is tickets to a show, and five 4th place winners will be given an autographed poster and copy of the new cd. All winners will be selected April 2nd.

The International Bluegrass Music Museum (located in Owensboro, KY) has just entered a promotional partnership with WSM-AM 650 (home of The Grand Ole Opry) and the Owensboro-Daviess County Tourist Commission to promote bluegrass music, the museum, and regional tourism.

Beginning tomorrow night, February 1, 2007, the Bluegrass Museum and the Tourist Commission will become sponsors of The Eddie Stubbs Show. The show airs three times weekly on Monday, Thursday, and Friday at 7 PM CT.

This is a natural partnership, a formidable union of the historic radio voice of bluegrass and the only international bluegrass museum in the world, preserving the history of bluegrass as it was in the beginning, capturing and gathering it now as it occurs. Eddie Stubbs has been of great assistance to the Bluegrass Museum as interviewer on many of our Video Oral Histories of bluegrass music’s first generation, including that of Earl Scruggs, sponsored by none other than WSM.

Gabrielle Gray, Executive Director of the Bluegrass Museum

The reciprocal nature of the partnership includes WSM as a sponsor of the museum’s annual music festival, ROMP. The festival takes place June 21-23, 2007 at the museum in downtown Owensboro and at Yellow Creek Park just outside town. More information about the festival is available here.

The museum and the tourist commission will have both sponsorships on Grand Ole Opry broadcasts which feature bluegrass artists, and banner ads on the station’s website.

WSM Broadcasts at 650-AM to 39 States and on the web at www.wsmonline.com

Rounder Records has just posted audio samples from the upcoming release from Uncle Earl, Waterloo, Tennessee, their second for Rounder. It was produced by John Paul Jones (of Led Zeppelin fame) and features the same brand of raucous old time and folk music as their debut project, She Waits for Night.

The new CD is set for release on March 13, and pre-orders are being accepted on the Rounder site.

The band consists of Abigail Washburn (banjo), KC Groves (mandolin, bass and guitar), Rayna Gellert (fiddle), and Kristin Andreassen (fiddle and guitar). All four ladies contribute to the group’s vocals.

You can find the g’Earls’ (as they put it) tour schedule on the band’s web site, along with a number of live performances on video.

Just about a year ago, we posted about a new, two year college program to study bluegrass music being launched in Kentucky. At the time, we noted that the first class was not to be enrolled until the Fall ‘07 semester.

With that first class in mind, the Kentucky Community & Technical College System has posted staff positions for two instructors at the Kentucky School of Bluegrass & Traditional Music, to be housed at the Hazard Community & Technical College in Hazard, KY. Both are full time (10 month) faculty positions. Applications are being accepted now, and will continue to be reviewed (starting March 1) until both vacancies are filled.

The official posting lists the position as follows:

Responsible for instruction in all general areas of Bluegrass & Traditional Music with emphasis on Instrumental Technique, Studio/Sound Recording and Enhancement and Music Business & Marketing. Must be able to teach individual group lessons as well as facilitate and organize workshops and seminars. Must be willing to balance the demands of full-time instructor with any professional touring or recording activities. (It is expected that such activities will generally take place during the summer months.)

Qualifications: Applicants should be "creative workers" (educator, song writer, performer, music producer, etc.) and well known, trusted and respected in the music community and/or larger Bluegrass community. Must possess a Masters degree in a field of music or performance and higher education teaching experience or an extensive career as a professional musician. Qualified candidates will exhibit excellent skills in one or more of the following areas (please specify proficiency and include evidence of musical expertise along with application): Instrumental Performance and Instruction on Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin, Fiddle, Bass and Resophonic Guitar; Bluegrass and/or Traditional Music Vocals-Lead and Harmony Structure; Songwriting; Studio Recording (Engineering and In-Studio Techniques) and Music Business such as small business management, copyright law etc. Qualified candidates will possess business character, strong work ethic and passion for music. Demonstrated excellence in oral communication will be required. Experience in similar programs and schools helpful.

Salary: Commensurate with education and experience. Minimum salary $38,000.

Signed KCTCS applications should be directed to:

A KCTCS faculty application can be downloaded as a PDF file.