We have written a good bit this year about Tony Trischka’s latest CD, Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular. Each of the project’s 14 tracks feature Tony performing in duet (with a full band) along with other prominent banjo pickers, including such luminaries as Earl Scruggs, Scott Vestal, Tom Adams and Bill Emerson.

Tony will be appearing this week on The Late Show with David Letterman with two of his other banjo co-conspirators from the CD, Béla Fleck and comedian/musician Steve Martin. They will perform The Crow, a tune written by Martin for Tony’s new release, on the Thursday, April 26 program, broadcast on CBS.

Trischka has also taken his double banjo show on the road, adding a variety of “second banjo” guests as may be available. The bulk of the dates feature either Crooked Still banjo man Greg Liszt, or Noam Pikelny, of Chris Thile’s Tensions Mountain Boys.

See the full tour schedule on Tony’s web site.

Last month John told you about the new release from the Isaacs, Big Sky. The CD is released today and is available for order from the Isaacs’ website.

Sonya Isaacs will be on the GAC show On the Streets, with host Suzanne Alexander, today at 1:30 pm and 10:00 pm. The show will re-air on April 25th at 2:00 am, and April 29th at 4:30 pm. All times are EST.

A new online entry in the social networking world has been launched. GRASSspace.com, as the name suggests, seeks to provide the connectivity and ease of use of MySpace to fans of bluegrass music.

Site developer and manager Skip Ogden said that his goal was to allow fans and artists to stay in touch with a network dedicated specifically to promote and nurture bluegrass music - and in a manner more in keeping with the expectations of bluegrass fans.

“We will not allow the sort of racy content that can be found on MySpace, so our users can be sure that they won’t encounter anything objectionable at GRASSspace.”

The network is configured to combine many of the features common to closed online communities, such as bulletin board discussions, polls, and the ability for users to post music and video clips, and communicate easily with other users. Bands and artists will be able to post the performance dates and communicate with fans in much the same manner they do at MySpace.

There is no charge to sign up as a user at GRASSspace.com, and new users are being welcomed now.

In a previous post, we told of Canadian banjo picker Jayme Stone’s journey through West Africa in preparation for an upcoming CD based on African banjo music. He has agreed to send us a series of updates from Africa - a banjo travelogue of sorts. Part 4 follows - with photos.

You can read all of his African journey posts here.

It’s been a while since my last broadcast. I’ve not had a spare moment since falling into the well of Bamako’s music scene last week. I started work at the National Institute for the Arts, an incredible resource, full to the brim with elder professors, wide-eyed students and an ambience of both high-brow education and down-home oral tradition. In a matter of hours I had interviewed Cheick Oumar Mara about the banjo’s roots, played with Toumani Diabate’s fiercely-talented fifteen-year-old son and magnetized an afternoon-long music session in the tree-shaded courtyard.

We went to renowned kora virtuoso Toumani Diabate’s house to pay our respects and he invited me to play that evening at his music haunt the Hogon. The show began at midnight, Toumani arrived after one and I joined his Symmetric Orchestra around two, playing well into the wee hours. It thoroughly rocked my world and I’d venture to say this is one of the most powerful bands in the world. Walk to (or click on) your favorite record store to buy their newly released album on Nonesuch: Boulevard of Independence. Incredible!

Spent the following day with Mama Sissoko, a legendary musician here who plays the ngoni ba, a large and dark-sounding brother to the ngoni. He was a joy to work with: wide smiles, eyes on fire and so so sweet. Evening found us at the annual Paris/Bamako Festival at the Institute for the Blind. Twelve hours of music including sets by Cheick Tidane Seck, Mamani Keita and of course the legendary Amadou and Miriam. An international crowd, fine street food, the dustiest air I’ve ever breathed and more dancing than your feet could know.

Having become entranced by the ngoni (and set on meeting ever player in town), we travelled in an early morning taxi to Lafiabougou to visit Adama Tounkara, Djelimady’s younger brother and first call ngonist. Adama is steeped in the traditional griot music and generously taught me one tune after another. The pedagogy here is as challenging as it is enlivening. People just start playing these rhythmically mysterious little melodies and just when you catch on, they throw in a variation, a countermelody, a blur of 32nd notes. It’s all done in time, with no chance to pause, practice or question. The music is alive!

More work at the INA this week and a series of sessions with a young maverick ngoni player named Abdoulaye Kone. Hope all’s well in your corner of the world!

Warmly,

J

Here’s another post from our all-the-more regular correspondent, Richard Thompson. He writes from England, where he is also a longstanding contributor to British Bluegrass News, a quarterly print publication where he also briefly served as editor.

The latest CD from bluegrass stalwart Paul Williams and his band, Where No One Stands Alone (Rebel REB 1822) will be released on May 22.

An very accomplished mandolin player, Paul Williams’ first job in bluegrass music was with the legendary Lonesome Pine Fiddlers in the 1950s. From there, he then went on to become one of Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys, staying with the group until the early 1960s. He wrote prolifically during those years and produced many bluegrass classics including Don’t Cry To Me, Prayer Bells Of Heaven and I Like To Hear Them Preach It.

In August of 1963 Williams retired from the bluegrass music circuit, to work for the US Postal Service. However, he continued to write songs and play in churches and radio broadcasts for the next thirty years or so.

In 1995 Paul Williams formed The Victory Trio and the group played in churches around his home town of Morristown, Tennessee. While the group was an immediate regional success, it took four years to achieve wider recognition. The big break came with their second self-produced recording, Old Ways & Old Paths, which was re-released on Rebel Records and subsequently was nominated for a Grammy award in 2000 in the Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album category.

Paul Williams and The Victory Trio have continued to release great bluegrass gospel albums through the years and their efforts have earned them several nominations for awards. For three consecutive years the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music (SPBGMA) and the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) nominated the band for Bluegrass Group of the Year, Bluegrass Gospel-Traditional Group of the Year and Bluegrass Vocal Group of the Year, respectively. In February this year the group were presented with the SPBGMA Bluegrass Gospel-Traditional Group of the Year award.

This new collection features 14 all new recordings done at Lasting Sounds Studio, Blountville, Tennessee, in October of last year. Of those, three are original songs penned by Williams; Beautiful Heaven, When We’re Living On The Other Side and I’m Getting Anxious. There are a further two songs where Williams shares co-writing credit; A Long Time Ago (with Susie Keys) and Can You Hear The Angels Sing? (with Joyce Williams).

Among the remainder is I Pressed Through The Crowd (penned by Joe Isaacs) and an Albert E Brumley song, I Know My Lord Is Going To Lead Me Out.

Thank You Jesus is the sole a cappella cut.

Williams has had a complete overhaul of supporting personnel since his last release, with Kelly McCord (guitar) and Rodney Worley (fiddle and guitar) both assisting Williams on vocals, and Kevin Bowen (banjo) and Matt Wallace (bass) rounding out the quintet.

All in all, the collection is more of the good traditional bluegrass gospel that one expects from Paul Williams and The Victory Trio.

To learn more about Paul Williams listen to GrassCast #53 and #54.

We failed to mention this when it was announced recently, but in case any readers don’t know about it, here it is.

The International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, KY is moving forward with plans for it’s second Monroe-Style Mandolin Camp. The museum held this camp last year and it was quite successful.

This year the dates for the camp are September 7-9, 2007.

The focus, of course, is the mandolin style of Bill Monroe. Accordingly, the museum is bringing in some of the best authorities on Monroe’s mandolin playing around. Instructors include: Frank Wakefield, Mike Compton, Roland White, Skip Gorman and David Long.

These prestigious yet accessible ambassadors of Monroe-sytle mandolin will present classes and workshops examining issues related to the development and execution of Monroe’s mandolin style, songwriting, musical influences, and other “Billisms.” Topics include specific eras in the evolution of Monroe’s style, right hand technique, and the blues, fiddle, and church music that helped to shape Monroe’s musical expression.

In addition to the instructional aspects of the camps, the faculty will perform a concert on September 8th with special guest Tom Ewing. Tom Ewing is a former Bluegrass Boy and will play guitar and sing. Tickets for the concert are available for $15 at the door, but Camp registrants get premium seats as part of the registration package.

Registration cost is $500 and includes all classes, mid-day meals each day, 2 nights of hotel rooms, the concert, a group picture and a road trip to Rosine, KY.

Registration is limited to 45 individuals on a first come first serve basis. To make your reservations call the museum at 1-888-692-2656 or visit bluegrass-museum.org.

Johnson Guitars has announced a new model for their Carolina series of acoustic guitars. The Carolina Cutaways feature a cutaway body and a Fishman EQ pickup system, and are available in either solid top or all-solid wood models, with the option of rosewood or mahogany back and sides.

Like the other models in the Carolina Series, the new cutaways were designed by master luthier Greg Rich. They feature fully scalloped forward-x bracing, grained ivoroid binding, Johnson’s original headstock inlays and come with a limited lifetime warranty.

The standard Carolina Cutaway model start just under $500, while the all solid wood models start at $799.

The Carolina Series guitars are offered in both dreadnaught and 000 body shapes, but the new cutaways seem to be only available as dreadnaughts at this time.

Find more details on all the Johnson instruments on their web site.

Here’s a CD release that slipped under the radar the end of last month. Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road have released a new self-titled CD, Carolina Road. The recording is on the Blue Circle Records label and was released on March 29, 2007.

The title cut on the CD was written by Dixie and Tom T. Hall and sung by new band member (guitar) Jerry Butler. Lorraine Jordan also contributes lead vocals and mandolin. Josh Goforth provided fiddle and vocals. Ben Greene played banjo and contributed vocals. Todd Meade holds down the low notes on the bass. Kim Gardner guests on dobro.

Tom T. Hall commented on the band:

We are proud and honored to claim Carolina Road, not only as Blue Circle recording artists, but as friends and heroes. Lorraine has made great choices with her selection of band members.

Audio samples are not yet available on the band’s website.

The following is a contribution from Julie Melrose, a music journalist and author in New England. She shares with us her discovery of the Tipitina’s Co-op and hopes that the bluegrass community might be inclined to support their efforts as well.

I discovered the Tipitina’s Music Co-op (part of the nonprofit Tipitina’s Foundation) during an internet search for a place in New Orleans to which I could donate my late father’s beat-up vintage trumpet. The Co-op was the only place I found that was accepting musical instruments in any condition that had the potential for repair. I e-mailed Co-op manager Mark Fowler, and he warmly responded that he would welcome the trumpet donation, especially as he currently had a waiting list for horns.

Out of curiosity about where my dad’s trumpet was heading, I began reading more about the Foundation and Co-op, and I was really impressed with what I learned. The mission of the Foundation was to restore the musical culture of New Orleans, which has contributed so much to U.S. music. It had simply never occurred to me before that New Orleans had lost virtually all of its thousands of musical instruments in Katrina, including school music program instruments and those of the city’s many working musicians.

How wonderful to have a foundation dedicated to not only replacing instruments, but to helping musicians get back on their feet, through a self-help business cooperative that also provides a sense of community to those who have suffered terrible loss. As trite as that saying, “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime” may be, a follow-up study has shown that musicians returning to New Orleans are definitely learning to fish as they gain business skills at the Co-op. Membership leads to an average 28% increase in music-related income. I think musicians in other communities can learn a great deal from this successful cooperative model in New Orleans.

For working musicians, instruments are a means of artistic expression, but they are also the tools of the trade. (more…)

Here’s another post from our all-the-more regular correspondent, Richard Thompson. He writes from England, where he is also a longstanding contributor to British Bluegrass News, a quarterly print publication where he also briefly served as editor.

Old time music pioneer Wade Mainer celebrates his 100th birthday today, Saturday, April 21, 2007. The celebration will take place at 4pm at the Fenton Community Center, Fenton, MI. Several guests, including Wade’s wife Julia, David Holt and Dick Spottswood among others, will attend.

Born April 21, 1907 in Buncombe County, North Carolina, on a farm a few miles from Ashville, Wade Mainer has been an influential figure for well over six decades, helping considerably in the development of modern bluegrass music. Among his innovations was a distinctive two-finger banjo picking style, emulated by young musicians like Ralph Stanley, Wiley Birchfield, Hoke Jenkins and Shannon Grayson, and crossing the traditional clawhammer with the modern three-finger picking style used by performers such as Earl Scruggs. Their respective versions of “Old Reuben” stand testimony to the similarity in styles.

As he grew up on a tiny mountain farm near Weaverville, North Carolina, Mainer listened to old mountain songs and was greatly influenced by the fiddling of Roscoe Banks, his brother-in-law. As a young man, he moved to Concord to work in a cotton mill. Later he and his brother J.E. [Joseph Emmett] formed Mainer Mountaineers with the Lay brothers Howard and Lester and began performing on radio. In 1935 the band comprised the two Mainer brothers and guitarists Zeke Morris and Daddy John Love. By this time Wade had become a smooth radio-friendly singer, with a distinct banjo sound that was identifiably his own.

That same year the Mainers were offered a chance to make records for the Bluebird label, their first session taking place in Atlanta on August 6, 1935, where they recorded several best-sellers, “This World Is Not My Home”, “New Curly Headed Baby”, “Lights in the Valley” and Wade’s memorable new arrangement of a nineteenth century tragic ballad, “Maple On the Hill”.

Wade remained with the band until 1937 when he and fellow band-mate Zeke Morris left to work as a duet, before expanding into a five-piece band with fiddler Steve Ledford and nephews Robert and Maurice Banks. The quintet did a further recording session for RCA.

In 1937, Mainer married singer Julia Brown, who performed under the name Hillbilly Lilly. Later they had five children.

Subsequently Mainer established a new band, the Sons of the Mountaineers. Members of the group included guitarists Jay Hugh Hall and Clyde Moody as well as the aforementioned Steve Ledford. Other members over the years included Jack and Curly Shelton and Tiny Dodson, among others. They performed on various radio stations, including WIS in Columbia, South Carolina, and WPTF Raleigh. They also recorded many songs for Bluebird, among them was “Sparkling Blue Eyes”, which was a good-sized hit in 1939. (more…)

This last Thursday morning weatherman Al Roker of the Today Show was in Nashville for the Lend A Hand Today program he has been involved with for the last six years.

The charity benefiting was the W.O. Smith/Nashville Community Music School. The school is a nonprofit that provides instruction to interested children from low income families for only $0.50 per lesson. The school boasts a staff of 100 volunteer instructors from the community, and over 350 students between the ages of 7 and 18.

Donors for the show included the Gibson Foundation which provided several pianos, along with a slew of guitars, mandolins and banjos.

Video of the segment is available for viewing online at MSNBC’s website. Just scroll down to “Day 4″ and click the “Launch” button.

Hat Tip: Katy Daley

The 2007 edition of Bluegrass Guide is now ready for mailing. This annual publication contains an extensive festival listing, plus band profiles. On the cover this year are The Gibson Brothers, and the new issue contains an in-depth interview conducted by Guide publisher, Candi Sawyer.

The Guide sells for only $10, and can be ordered online for immediate delivery.

Candi is still collecting recipes for her bluegrass cookbook, which should be released this summer. She had originally planned to include them in the ‘07 Bluegrass Guide, but has decided to assemble them in a separate edition.

Recipe submission can be sent by email.

We’re always pleased to see efforts to help worthwhile charitable organizations, and this is one of those times. In an effort to combat Parkinson’s desease, Washburn Guitars and Sam Ash Music have joined forces for the month of May, 2007.

The two companies have announced that ten percent of the sales price of all Washburn guitars sold through Sam Ash retail stores, and online at SamAsh.com, during May 2007, will be donated to the Parkinson’s Unity Walk. The organization is the largest grassroots fundraiser for Parkinson’s research in the US and guarantees that 100 percent of all donations goes directly to research.

Washburn Guitars was established in 1883 and is located new Chicago, IL. They also build banjos and mandolins.

Sam Ash Music was founded in Brooklyn, NY in 1924 and now operates 45 stores nationwide.

Dobro player Randy Kohrs will be joining the Mark Newton Band for at least three shows during the month of May. All three shows are in the state of Virginia.

Date: Thursday, May 3, 07
Venue: Ashland Coffee & Tea
City/State: Ashland, VA.
Time: 2-45 min. sets. 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Date: Friday, May 4, 07
Venue: Birchmere
City/State: Alexandria, VA.
Special note: This show is co-billed with Seldom Scene

Date: Sat., May 5, 07
Venue: Holy Cross Lutheran Church Concert Series
City/State: Herndon, VA.
Time: 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

In addition to these concerts, Randy and Clay Hess will also be conducting workshops on their respective instruments on May 5th at the Ashland Coffee & Tea in Ashland, VA. The workshop will start around 11:30 a.m. and will be approximately 2 hours in length.

I couldn’t find registration info, but you can contact the venue from their contact page.

UPDATE: I just heard from Randy’s fiddle player, Ashley Brown, and she tells me that those interested in the workshops should contact Wally at JAMinc.org or call him at (804) 320-7067.

Here’s another post from our all-the-more regular correspondent, Richard Thompson. He writes from England, where he is also a longstanding contributor to British Bluegrass News, a quarterly print publication where he also briefly served as editor.

Rounder Records will release a second anthology of material from the Dry Branch Fire Squad. Entitled Thirtieth Anniversary Special (Rounder 11661-0585-2) features 21 tracks from the group’s catalogue for the 20 year period since the release of their previous anthology, Tried And True (Rounder 11519).

The Dry Branch Fire Squad has been described as “like a missing link between old-time music and bluegrass, both in their selection of material and the way in which they approach it.” For three decades now, the beloved Dry Branch Fire Squad has been a bastion of mountain soul, bluegrass, and old-time music - carrying timeless traditions into the modern era with a blend of reverence, soul, and wit all their own.

Under the stewardship of Ron Thomason, Dry Branch Fire Squad has weathered the storms on the sea of time, all to forge an iron-clad brand of defiantly rugged old-time and traditional bluegrass music that imparts essential reminders of the past while unafraid to meet the future head-on.

So, it is not surprising that the collection contains a wide variety of songs, from a solo rendition of G B Grayson’s I Saw A Man At The Close Of Day and He’s Coming To Us Dead, both of which characterise the old time element of the band’s repertoire, the former with a spare fiddle and banjo accompaniment and the latter with just a banjo; a few modern ‘country’ songs. Carolyn At The Broken Wheel Inn and We Believe In Happy Endings, a Carter family song, several from the Public Domain or under the “Traditional” motif - the most notable in this category being The Honest Farmer, a vocal quartet with just fiddle and banjo accompaniment and Long Journey, with two keening voices and a single guitar; an a cappella quartet, Dip Your Fingers In The Water; Bruce Phillips’ Orphan Train, which is one of the group’s most requested songs; and a lesser-known Carter Stanley composition, Rollin’ On Rubber Wheels. (more…)

The Grand Ole Opry broadcasts this weekend will feature some terrific bluegrass music, worth the effort to find their signal on the radio (650 AM from Nashville), or catch the live cybercast at WSM online.

Friday’s show (4/20) will feature Cherryholmes during the 9:00-9:30 p.m. segment, and a very special Opry performance in the 10:30-11:00 slot from Alison Krauss & Union Station with Tony Rice.

The AKUS/Rice spot is the last warm up for their joint tour, which begins the next day, and runs through the month of May. The AKUS site describes the focus of the tour this way:

The tour will consist of a limited number of concerts comprised solely of Rice’s material. The performances will give audiences a rare opportunity to experience the depth and breadth of his distinguished career, and drawing from his full catalog, the concerts will feature Rice on guitar accompanied by the vocals and fiddle of Krauss; Dan Tyminski on guitar, mandolin and vocals; Ron Block on guitar, banjo and vocals; Barry Bales on bass; and longtime Rice associate Jerry Douglas on Dobro.

The Saturday (4/21) Opry show has a bluegrass feature as well, with The Grascals appearing in the 9:30-10:00 p.m. segment.

All times shown in Eastern Standard Time.

Highlights of the audio broadcast will be available early next week in the WSM audio archives if you miss the broadcasts.

The Knoxville Trivia Blog has posted an interview with Knoxville native, and current Carolina Road guitarist, Jerry Butler. They talk about Jerry’s early days with the Knoxville Newgrass Boys, life on the road, and the new CD with Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road, with the appropriate title, Carolina Road.

The site is dedicated to all things Knoxville, but since Byron, the site author, is a big bluegrass fan, there is a good bit of grassy content as well.

Last month, Knoxville Trivia Blog ran another lengthy bluegrass interview, that time with Phil Leadbetter of Grasstowne.

We just discovered that David Grier’s instructional video Superchared Flatpicking is now available on DVD. This video has been around for a number of years on VHS only. For all the flatpickers out there this is a classic must have.

The video is 60 minutes long and includes David teaching 11 of his original tunes. David explains the techniques involved as well as the musical choices made on each tune. A good number of close-ups are included so you can really see what he’s doing with each hand. A tab book is included with the DVD.

The instruction level seems oriented toward intermediate or above levels to me. A beginner would probably struggle with much of it.

Songs include:

• Wheeling
• Engagement Waltz
• The Old Hotel Rag
• Lone Soldier
• Smith Chapel
• Bluegrass Itch
• That’s Just Perfect
• Eye of the Hurricane
• Impulsive
• Shadowbrook
• Porkchops and Applesauce

The inclusion of Eye of the Hurricane makes this video worth having for me. That is my all time favorite David Grier tune.

The DVD is available for purchase from David’s website at “>DavidGrier.com

Bluegrass singer/songwriter/guitarist Steve Gulley will join Gracie Muldoon on WorldWideBluegrass.com on Friday (4/20) at 1:30 p.m. (EDT) for a wide-ranging interview.

They will surely talk about Steve’s new solo project, Sounds Like Home, recently released on Lonesome Day Records. In addition to Steve’s take on a number of bluegrass classics and some new compositions of his own, the CD also includes his stellar version of George Jones’, The Grand Tour, which was such a hit onstage when Steve was working with Mountain Heart.

Steve will surely also talk about his new band, Grasstowne, who also have a new CD scheduled for a June release on Pinecastle.

Gracie’s interview is cybercast live, and the audio stream can be accessed at no charge in either a Windows Media or Real Audio format. The stream is not archived, so be sure to tune in on Friday at 1:30.

WorldWideBluegrass.com streams bluegrass music 24/7/365.

The International Bluegrass Music Association has announced the list of acts which have been invited to showcase at the 2007 World Of Bluegrass convention in Nashville (October 1-7).

• Circuit Riders
• Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper featuring Audie Blaylock
• Grass Cats
• Grasstowne
• The Faris Family
• Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain
• Sierra Hull & Highway 111
• Claire Lynch
• Meantime
• Monroe Crossing
• Dan Paisley & Southern Grass
• Don Rigsby & Midnight Call
• Three Ring Circle

Six more acts will be selected shortly for label-sponsored “Special Showcases” which will also occur during the World Of Bluegrass event. Interested labels should contact IBMA for more details.

The gist of the selection process and the goal of the showcases is described by IBMA thusly:

The purpose of each presentation is to introduce their talent and material to event producers, broadcasters, labels, media and other prominent industry professionals attending the events. Those invited include artists with significant new recordings, emerging talent or established bands introducing significant changes to their act.

Congratulations to the 2007 IBMA Showcase Artists.