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.

We posted last month about Slidin’ Home, the Rebel release from John Starling & Carolina Star due out on February 20. Assisting John in Carolina Star are fellow original Seldom Scene members Tom Gray and Mike Auldridge, with a guest appearance from Emmy Lou Harris.

The publicist for this new project, Lotos Nile Media, has posted a video interview with both Starling and Harris which includes audio from the new CD, and discussion and remembrances of their early days in the Washington, DC folk and bluegrass music scene, as well as the genesis of their collaboration on Slidin’ Home.

The interview is conducted with George Massenberg, who produced the new CD, as well as several Seldom Scene projects and The Trio CD with Emmy Lou, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt for which he won a Grammy in 1988. Starling speaks quite highly of his experiences with Massenberg.

“George recorded the Seldom Scene’s Act 3 and Old Train, demonstrating to us that a ‘live’ approach could also sound ‘slick,’ using multi-track recording. As time passed, we, as did others, became addicted to the slick, layered approach offered by multi-track, and strayed from the live studio approach. 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, could once again make the process fun for everybody.”

Go to the Lotos Nile site to watch the full interview.

You can hear audio samples from Slidin’ Home on the band’s MySpace page, where you will also find their 2007 show dates.

We heard yesterday from Alan Bibey, fresh from a week of recording with his new band, Grasstowne. He reports that they are about halfway finished with the new project, as yet untitled, which has already been set for a June 15 release on Pinecastle.

Alan voiced excitement, not only about recording with such talented musicians as Steve Gulley, Phil Leadbetter, Jason David and Lee Sawyer - with guest appearances from Stuart Duncan and Tim Crouch on fiddle - but also for the material they were cutting, and the arrangements.

The songs we have for this project are the strongest of any recording I have done. There are three Steve Gulley tunes, one from Tim Stafford, and a Craig Market song.

I wrote a new instrumental for this project, called Grasstowne City Limits. It’s a Monroe-feeling tune in B. I can’t wait for everybody to hear this CD!

Bibey said that he is singing three or four tunes, and Gulley the rest, and that almost all are never-before-recorded songs. He especially mentioned one remake, a high-lead version of Lizzie Lou, which the Osborne Brothers cut in 1974.

The band will make their official debut this weekend at the SPBGMA Convention in Nashville, appearing on Friday (2/2) at 6:30 p.m. (CST).

After that, they are back in the studio next week to try and complete overdubs and vocals, and put this highly-anticipated initial release in the can.

Blue Moon Rising won the Entertainer of the Year vote here in our unofficial reader poll last fall, and this year they’re getting off to a good start. The band is featured in two recent news stories, both of them complete with video footage.

KFYR channel 5 TV in Bismarck, ND ran a story 4 days ago about Blue Moon Rising playing in a local school and promoting bluegrass music. The band not only performed for the kids at the school, but also donated 10 guitars to the school’s music program. The story is here, and at the bottom there is a link to a two minute video clip of the news story, including comments from students and teachers, and performance shots of the band. Very nice!

Then 3 days ago KXMB TV, the CBS affiliate on channel 12 in Bismarck ran a story about the band’s appearance at Bismarck State College. The band performed Saturday at the school including not only a concert, but also workshops on fiddle, mandolin, and songwriting. This story also includes a video clip. I was unable to get the video to play on my Macbook, it probably works on a Windows PC though.

I’m excited to see bluegrass bands performing at high schools and colleges and spreading the music to a new generation. Thanks guys!

Today, January 30, is the official street release date for the Kenny & Amanda Smith CD Tell Someone, which we have been telling you about for some time. It’s their first all-Gospel bluegrass release, and it is generating a lot of attention outside of the expected bluegrass circles.

They have posted a couple of early reviews on their site, from Strictly Country, Country Standard Time and from Christian Music Central.

If you want to hear the CD, it can be found at CMT.com, where you can listen to the entire CD online. It is now avaialble for sale from most online and store front retailers, and in the iTunes Music Store. It can also be ordered directly from the band.

Kenny and Amanda also recently shot music videos for two songs on Tell Someone: I Know Why and Stepping On The Clouds. As soon as they are posted online, we’ll be sure to let you know.

I suppose it was only a matter of time…

Eric Uglum’s two mega-talented stepsons, Christian and Austin Ward, became members of Chris Stuart & Backcountry a few months back. Just recently, Chris’ Backcountry label released a new CD from Eric and his young wards, and now comes the announcement that Eric is the newest member of Backcountry.

Eric will be featured on both lead guitar and mandolin, and joins Christian Ward on fiddle, Austin Ward on bass, Janet Beazley on banjo, and bandleader (and chief songsmith) Chris Stuart on guitar.

Uglum had previously performed with Weary Hearts, Copperline and Lost Highway, and operates New Wine Studio in Hesperia, CA where all of the Backcountry releases have been recorded.

You can find the band’s schedule on their web site.

Tony Trischka picked up a couple of great reviews from major city papers over the weekend for his new CD, Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular. They appeared in Sunday’s Charlotte News & Observer, and The Washington Post as well (scroll down).

The CD features Tony in banjo duets with such stellar names as Earl Scruggs, Bela Fleck, Steve Martin and many others.

Audio samples for all 14 tracks can be found on the Rounder Records site, and in the iTunes Music Store, where the 15th bonus track can also be sampled.

Online instructional resource The Bluegrass College, has undergone a complete website revamp. Based on feedback from it’s ever-growing numbers of subscribers, the site owners have made changes intended to increase the site usability and ease of use.

Site navigation is now easier to use with large icons providing clear direction to different areas of the site.

Additionally, the hosts have added a monthly subscription option of $8.95 and the ability to buy gift memberships. Tweaks to the video, audio and tab have made them even easier to use.

The Lesson Library is updated each month with a new tune performed and taught by different bluegrass masters. January’s tune of the month is the Stanley classic, Clinch Mountain Backstep. The instructors for the tune are the members of the Infamous String Dusters with Travis Book (bass, vocal), Jesse Cobb (mandolin), Chris ‘Critter’ Eldridge (guitar), Jeremy Garrett (fiddle, vocal), Andy Hall (dobro, vocal) and Chris Pandolfi (banjo).

If you are intersted in an online learning opportunity then I encourage you to check out The Bluegrass College.

Brian Wicklund, one of the founders and instructors of the site, sent along a few quotes from students who recently joined the site.

This is just what I need to get to the next level. – mandolin student

It is REALLY helpful for those of us who are learning. I’ve been playing the dobro for about a year and a half and the learning process for these songs is really helping me put things together (and make some sense of this instrument). –dobro student

This is great!!! I’ve been playing banjo for 3 years now and there are no teachers where i live! This has been by far the most help i’ve gotten since i started. Thank you so much! –banjo student

This post is a contribution from Richard Thompson, a founding member of the British Bluegrass Music Association, and a semi-regular correspondent and contributor for The Bluegrass Blog. He is also a longstanding contributor to British Bluegrass News, a quarterly print publication where he also briefly served as editor.

Time-Life will release a three-CD boxed set from the Stanley Brothers in April. The Definitive Collection: 1947-1966 marks the 60th anniversary of the first recordings that Carter and Ralph Stanley did together and includes three previously unreleased tracks and three songs never before available on a CD. Highlights include The White Dove, Rank Strangers, How Mountain Girls Can Love, Pretty Polly and O Death. The project includes a special introduction by Ricky Skaggs and a biographical essay written by historian Gary Reid of Copper Creek Records, and also features many rare photos.

The Definitive Collection: 1947-1966 comprises 60 tracks in all. The previously unreleased cuts are all live recordings: Will You Be Loving Another Man - ca. 1955 - is from a performance at Bean Blossom, Indiana, Sugar Coated Love was recorded on July 4, 1961, at Oak Leaf Park in Luray, Virginia, and is a Carter Stanley/Bill Monroe duet and Tell Me Why My Daddy Don’t Come Home is from an August 1962 personal appearance at the Ash Grove in Hollywood, California.

The recordings new to CD include Hide Ye In The Blood, from the Wango archives, and Dust on the Bible from the Cabin Creek LP (CC 203). The booklet comprises 39 pages, with lots of photographs, including several that have never been published before.

Gary Reid shared a few comments about this new box set, and how he came to be involved.

“I had done some previous work with Time-Life in helping to put together their Classic Bluegrass Collection, an 8-CD/120 song collection that is being sold on half-hour infomercials on various TV stations. While working on that project, my point man at Time-Life, Joe Sasfy, told me of the label’s desire to do a career retrospective on the music of the Stanley Brothers.

While there have been boxed set collections on the music of Carter and Ralph, they have tended to document a certain era of their career (ie, the Mercury years, or the Starday and King years). This is the first collection to feature a complete overview from start to finish. In picking the tunes, we obviously wanted to get the essential tracks (ie, The White Dove, The Fields Have Turned Brown, Angel Band, Man of Constant Sorrow, etc.) but we also wanted to get some obscure things that even the most die-hard Stanley collectors wouldn’t have.”

Gary also mentioned that Ralph Stanley is aware of this retrospective, but had no hand in selecting the songs or photos.

Time-Life shows April 3, 2007 as the release date, and it will be available on their web site, and surely from other bluegrass resellers as well.

Bluegrass Gospel favorites The Churchmen have announced the addition of guitarist/vocalist David Guthrie to their lineup. David had been a member of Lorraine Jordan and The Carolina Road Band, and has a solo Gospel CD of his own, Man Of God, released in 2004.

While they welcome David to The Churchmen family, the band also shared some kind words for departing member, Charlie Oakley.

The Churchmen like to say thanks to Charlie Oakley who was with the band during 2006. Charlie is a great blessing to our group and we really regret that his work schedule will no longer allow him to continue as a full time member of the band.

The current edition of The Churchmen is now Freddy Rakes (banjo/vocals), Gerald Harbour (mandolin/vocals,) Keith Clark (bass/vocals), Ricky Keen (dobro) and Guthrie (guitar/vocals).

Check their schedule online to find a chance to see them in your part of the world.

The Kenny & Amanda Smith Band recently recorded a track by track interview with XM Radio’s Kyle Cantrell. During the interview they discuss each track on their new gospel CD Tell Someone. The interview portions will be edited together with the tracks from the CD and the segment will be aired tomorrow, Sunday January 28th, on XM’s bluegrass channel.

I talked to Kenny and Amanda yesterday and they tell me the program will air at 10 AM ET with an repeat airing on Wednesday the 31st at 9PM ET.

We’ve told you about this fantastic CD before and here’s your chance to hear the whole thing with commentary by the band.

After you’ve heard it maybe you’ll be inspired to Tell Someone!

For the months of April and May Alison Krauss and Union Station will be doing a number of dates with guitar legend, Tony Rice. When this was first announced it looked like it was limited to a very small number of shows, but it has now grown to a total of 11 dates during the two month period.

The performances on this tour will exclusively feature music that Rice has recorded over the course of his thirty-five year career in acoustic music. The band says that Tony has been an incredible influence not only on themselves, but also on an entire generation of bluegrass musicians who have grown up listening to his music.

And with so many great Rice recording to draw material from, Bary Bales says:

The hardest thing is not picking which songs to do – it’s deciding which songs not to do…

The 11 dates on this tour are spread across a total of six states and Washington DC. To find a show near you, visit the AKUS tour schedule.

David Royko had a nice feature on Andy Statman in yesterday’s edition of The Chicago Tribune. It was written primarily to preview and promote a Statman show in Chicago on February 5, but includes an overview of his music career, and highlights the two disparate styles of music that pull at his heartstrings.

Statman first came to prominence as a mandolinist who, while schooled in bluegrass, was pushing the envelope of the music’s outer edges in the 1970s. At the same time, he was immersed in the study of klezmer music on the clarinet. It is a rare combination, and rarer still to find a musician who can be widely recognized as a virtuoso in both styles, and on both instruments.

“Andy Statman is one of the greatest mandolinists of this–or any–era, and has been a hero of mine for decades,” says jazz mandolinist Don Stiernberg. “He thinks at the speed of light and can play whatever he thinks of. As an improviser he is fearless, and his musical vocabulary has no limitations. Andy really pulls everything together–technical mastery in service of spirit-driven music, highly personal musical statements stemming from thorough knowledge of traditions. Everyone should hear him play, not just those interested in the mandolin or various styles of music he’s associated with. There’s no one else like him and his depth and unique approach are something to behold.”

Read the full article on the Tribune site.

The newest release in the Crooked Road series from the Virginia Folklife program is just out. It is by Linda Lay, Sammy Shelor & Crooked Run, and entitled Taking The Crooked Road Home.

Linda Lay grew up in Bristol, VA singing and playing with her family’s string band since she was a small child. She later formed her own band, Appalachian Trail, which was a fixture at festivals in the Blue Ridge area for twenty years, and performs now with her husband David, and David McLaughlin as Springfield Exit.

Most of our readers know Sammy Shelor as the powerhouse banjo picker with Lonesome River Band, which has been his home for the past 17 years. He and Linda did a show at a folk festival a few years ago, and plans to record together were hatched not long after.

They are assisted on this CD by David McLaughlin and Jeff Parker on mandolin, David Lay on guitar, and Ron Stewart on fiddle. Though the sound is solid traditional bluegrass, most of the songs are new, with contributions from Tom T. and Dixie Hall, Mike Evans and Harley Allen.

Sammy said that recording this project was a blast for him.

“I love the way bluegrass music is played in southwest VA and east TN, and this project perfectly captures the drive, the power and the soul of that sound. Linda is the strongest vocalist I have ever worked with, and I think those who have never heard her sing are in for a surprise.”

Audio samples for all 12 tracks can be found online.

Like the last few Lonesome River Band releases, Taking The Crooked Road Home is available for purchase on the band’s site as an audio CD, or for immediate digital download as MP3 files.

Radio service is being handled by Sammy Shelor, so show hosts who would like a copy for airplay should contact Sammy via the LRB web site.

Kim Gardner, resophonic guitarist with Larry Cordle & Lonesome Standard Time, and his wife Geri welcomed their daughter, Karsten Rae Gardner, into the world on January 14, 2007. All are reported to be doing well.

Congratulations to the proud new parents!

More great bluegrass is on tap in this Saturday night’s Grand Ole Opry radio broadcast. The Del McCoury Band and Ralph Stanley and The Clinch Mountain Boys are featured this week, as are The Whites and Jesse McReynolds & The Virginia Boys.

GAC TV is running a live program on Grand Ole Opry Live this Saturday, but none of the bluegrass acts are slated during this 8:00-9:00 p.m. segment.

Ralph and The Whites will perform in the 7:30-8:00 and 11:00-11:30 slots, Del in the 9:00-9:30 and the midnight to 12:30 a.m. spots, and Jesse in the 10:30-11:00 segment (all times EST).

If you can catch WSM over the air - as a large portion of the south central US can do - you can tune in at 650 AM, broadcasting from Nashville. If not, you can catch the live WSM audio stream online to hear the program, which runs from 7:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 27.

Del and Ralph will also appear on tonight’s Friday Opry show (1/26), which is not broadcast. WSM does record the show, and audio from selected performances will be posted on their WSM audio archives page by early next week. Selections from Saturday night’s show will be posted there as well.

Ron Block has been a fixture in bluegrass music for a good while. From his work with the Weary Hearts to his current gig with Alison Krauss, Ron has inspired banjo and guitar players alike, and probably some songwriters as well.

A while back we mentioned that Ron was working on a new CD. I had a chance to chat with Ron via email recently about the recording. The new solo CD of original tunes is to be titled Doorway. The album features performances by all of Ron’s AKUS band members as well as many special guests.

The band is fueled mainly by my fellow bandmates in Alison Krauss and Union Station (Dan Tyminski, Barry Bales, Jerry Douglas), along with former Union Stationer Adam Steffey on mandolin (currently with Mountain Heart), along with Alison Krauss on viola and harmony vocals. Other musicians include Viktor Krauss on bass and Wurlitzer (he’s played bass for Lyle Lovett and Bill Frisell, among many others), Shannon Forrest (great and prolific Nashville drummer) on two tracks, Andy Hubbard (drummer with Little Big Town, Fernando Ortega) on a few, and the fiddle giant Stuart Duncan. Harmony vocals are provided by Sidney and Suzanne Cox, Homer, Lori, and Lisa of the Forbes Family, Alison Krauss, and of course Dan Tyminski.

That sounds like a great line up, but I noticed a couple of drummers listed, so I asked Ron about it. (more…)