In a very disturbing piece of news, it seems someone is attempting to scam people with a fake festival site.

The promoters of the Mandolin Farm Bluegrass Festival are asking people to carefully check the url before purchasing tickets online. Their previous webmaster is using an old url to scam people into buying fake tickets. DO NOT purchase tickets for this festival from any url other than:

http://www.mandolinfarmbluegrass.net

The urls to the scam website are:

• http://www.mandolinfarm.com
• http://www.mandolinfarm.net

I’m not linking for obvious reasons.

None of the sites, including the real one, appear to be selling tickets online at this time. I hope that means that nobody has been scammed yet. The perpetrator didn’t stop with setting up a fake site though. He has actually gone so far as to post on the scam website, that other sites are trying to scam him!

SCAM ALERT - Beware of imitations!! - Mandolin Farm has recently learned that others are attempting to cash in on Mandolin Farm’s success by replicating Mandolin Farm’s website. DON’T BE FOOLED! MandolinFarm.com is the original and only home of Mandolin Farm! If it doesn’t say MandolinFarm.com, it’s wrong!!

Don’t be fooled indeed. This person is no part of nothing and should be avoided at all costs.

I’ll be teaching at this weekend’s Smoky Mountain Banjo Academy near Gatlinburg, TN so my posting over the weekend (and early next week) may be a bit light.

There is still room for a few more registrants if any banjo pickers are looking for something to do this weekend. My fellow faculty members include Eddie Adcock, Janet Davis, Bill Keith, James McKinney, Ken Perlman, Butch Robbins, Snuffy Smith and several others.

SMBA director Jack Hatfield put together a video montage of events at a previous camp, which includes yours truly being late for class, among other highlights. You can see the video on YouTube, or on the SMBA site, where you can also find more camp details and registration information.

Here’s a great new CD we had neglected to mention when it was released last month. It’s the debut release from Hunter Berry, the dynamic young fiddler with Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, with the appropriate title, Wow Baby.

The recording is a mix of vocal and instrumental tracks, including fiddle favorites like Ragtime Annie, Leather Britches and Billy In The Lowground, with bluegrass classics like I’m Waiting To Hear You Call Me Darlin’ (with Marty Stuart and Bobby Osborne) and Blue Kentucky Girl, featuring Sally Sandker (Rhonda Vincent’s daughter). A number of Hunter’s original fiddle tunes are featured as well, the title track among them.

Assisting on the CD is a stellar bluegrass rhythm section, consisting of Tony Rice and Bryan Sutton on guitar, Ron Stewart on banjo, Doyle Lawson and Adam Steffey on mandolin, and Darrin Vincent on bass.

You can read detailed track information on Hunter’s web site, and we found a few sample audio tracks at The Music Shed.

Next Tuesday (4/24), Belmont University will host the 3rd annual Leadership Music Digital Summit, an intensive one day conference “dedicated to the business, creative and legal issues of digital music.”

Conference sessions will include discussions and presentations on such timely issues as intellectual property, licensing, digital rights management, use of mobile phones for licensed content, and music use on social netowrking sites such as MySpace. Terry McBride, a co-founder of Canada’s powerful Nettwerk Music Group, will give the keynote address.

All events will be held at Belmont’s Curb Center in Nashville.

A full event schedule and registration details can be found on the official Digital Summit site.

The April 2007 issue of the UK based country music periodical, Maverick Magazine features an article about dobro player Randy Kohrs.

The story was written by Glynn Brown, an English/Reading teacher in Nashville, TN. Incidentally, Glynn is also a banjo player, and the father of Ashley Brown the fiddle player in Randy’s band The Lites.

Their May issue is actually already out, but a lot of stores here in the states are just now getting the April issue. (Keith Urban on the cover) It’s at places like Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc.

The article is quite comprehensive and covers Randy’s background as well as his newst CD Old Photograph. One of my favorite quotes in the article comes from the interview when Randy is talking about the new CD. He mentions his target audience with this recording.

I wanted to reach a younger audience this time. Under thirty. My goal is for a 16 year old to listen for the first time and appreciate the drive, intensity, and high energy of each song. At the same time, I have to maintain the tradition and integrity of the music.

I applaud Randy’s desire to reach a younger audience with his music while still maintaining the “traditional integrity” of bluegrass music. I wish more artists would make a conscious effort to do the same.

The article is worth taking the time to sit down with a cup of java and read it through. Go pick a copy up at your favorite bookstore and enjoy.

We just got a note from our friend Katy Daly at BluegrassCountry.org with word about an interview segment that will be running the rest of this month in their 24/7 bluegrass audio stream.

Spring is a special time of year for Sam Bush. He celebrated his 55th birthday on April 13th AND it’s baseball season! Sam and WAMU’s/BluegrassCountry’s Katy Daley talk baseball and music in a half-hour special which starts April 18th and runs through April 30th. You can check your local listings (as they say) at www.bluegrasscountry.org and look under ‘news.’

The interview runs for the first time at 2:00 p.m. (EDT) on Wednesday, April 18, with rebroadcasts each day until the end of the month. You can check their daily schedule online, and find the time for Special Programming.

The widely-anticipated Stanley Brothers collection from Time-Life which we told you about earlier this year, is scheduled for release later this week. The Stanley Brothers - The Definitive Collection (1947-1966) will ship on April 19, a three CD set with a 40 page, color booklet, which includes selections that span their entire recording career.

This is a very attractive package, with much to offer to long-time Stanley aficionados, while providing a grand introduction to younger bluegrass fans just discovering their music. The photography is beautifully reproduced, and Gary Reid’s extensive notes are not to be missed. Folks, this is one you don’t want to download online.

The booklet also contains a detailed discography with original label and release date information for each track. I was especially taken by the inclusion of so many of the original cover images in the booklet, as well as their songbooks from the period.

Of course, the music is the main attraction, and I have enjoyed these CDs from start to finish - many times. The remastering of the original audio is top notch, and the sequencing of songs allows you to savor the music as it progressed chronologically. Several rare and a few previously unreleased tracks are featured, including live performances.

I don’t imagine that it is possible to overstate the importance of The Stanley Brothers in the history and development of bluegrass music. Any serious student of bluegrass who is not intimately familiar with this material has an incomplete education. Do yourself a favor and add this fine collection to your music library.

Audio samples for all 60 tracks can be found on the Time-Life site. The CD set should be available later this week wherever bluegrass music is sold, or directly from Time-Life.

Thanks to one of readers, who pointed out yet another artist who uses musical - and often bluegrass - themes in their work.

The artist is Karen Cannon, and she offers prints, posters, cards and even coffee mugs using her original musical paintings. Karen spent many years working as a designer in the greeting card industry, and now offers her art directly through her web site, Art Strings Publishing.

Her style is traditional, “small town” Americana, which she acknowledges without reservation.

“A Norman Rockwell influence is evident in the illustrative story-telling theme of the cards. My love of paiting and playing has been brought full circle with these cards. Hope they send a smile to you and your friends.”

I received one of her cards this past Christmas - of Santa playing a mandolin - and was immediately struck by the warmth of the image and the skill of the artist.

See all her works on the Art Strings web site.

We’ve followed the news of the CRB’s recent copyright royalty decision very closely here on The Bluegrass Blog. You can read those posts in the related posts link section at the bottom of the post.

The new fee structure was opposed by most all webcasters and a petition was put before the board to reconsider the new rates. The CRB agreed to here the petition and many felt sure they would re-negotiate the rates. They didn’t.

Wired.com reports.

[The Copyright Royalty Board] refused webcasters’ pleas for a rehearing today.  Instead, the board decided — again — that the rates, which were proposed by the RIAA-affiliated SoundExchange, are fair.  The judges also evidently felt they wouldn’t hear anything new during a rehearing.

The court also denied a request to stay the new rates until legal appeals could be pursued through other channels.

There is a lot of spin happening from both sides on this issue. Soundexchange is crowing about a victory in their press release.

[The CRB] upheld its earlier decision on fair royalty rates to be paid to musical artists and record labels for the use of their work on Internet radio.

The DiMA is portraying the news in a different way in their press release.

Without Congressional intervention, the decision – which is retroactive to January 2006 – will go into effect May 15, with royalty rate increases of 300 to 1200 percent for webcasters. It is expected that many of these webcasters will declare bankruptcy at that time.

My personal views are closer to those of the DiMA. An increase of this magnitude in operating expenses will force many of the webcasters out of business. Some people seem to be alright with that outcome. To be fair, Soundexchange has stated they plan to help

ensure a vibrant and thriving marketplace for Internet Radio and we intend to work with webcasters towards achieving that goal.

I’ll be interested to see just exactly how they accomplish this goal. Stay tuned, or maybe not…

In bluegrass circles, we are accustomed to the band member merry-go-round that occurs every few years. The Winter of ‘06/’07 has been an especially volatile one in this respect, and it seems that there are still a few shoes left hanging in the air.

The newest entry in the 2006 Bluegrass Band Sweepstakes is Flash Train, from Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains, with former members of some of the top acts in the business. Their resumes include time with James King, Lonesome River Band, JD Crowe, Wildfire and The Warrior River Boys.

Flash Train consists of Joe Clark on mandolin, Andy Ruff on dobro, Darrell Webb on guitar, Nicholas Ball on banjo and Jerry Cole on bass.

Their web site is still under construction, but you can contact them from there. They also have a page on MySpace which includes four audio samples from the new band.

As a side note, we hear from Curt Chapman of Wildfire that they have brought in new members and will be continuing on with their own brand of contemporary bluegrass. We expect to be able to announce their new lineup in a few days.

UKBluegrass.com has just published a lengthly post in which they interview banjo player Noam Pikelny. Noam was in the UK teaching at the Sore Fingers bluegrass instructional camp when they conducted the interview.

If you are interested in Noam’s participation with Chris Thile and the newly unveiled Tensions Mountain Boys, then this article is a must read. It contains the back story behind the band, the name, and the How To Grow A Band metamorphosis into the Tensions Mountain Boys.

It’s a great interview and well written. I encourage you to read it.

The June issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine has a cover feature on Tony Rice. The in-depth piece by Scott Nygaard looks at Tony’s career in music of more than 30 years, and also includes a side piece on “the guitars and gear of Tony Rice.”

This June issue is the current one, recently mailed to subscribers, and available now at newsstands and booksellers.

They describe the Rice piece thusly:

In this exclusive interview, he discusses the roots of his technique and the freewheeling nature of his approach to the instrument. PLUS: We deconstruct Rice’s unusual picking-hand style.

All Acoustic Guitar content is available online, but only to subscribers. Any print subscriber can access the web content, which generally include accompanying audio content for major features. A separate online-only subscription is also available.

Much ado has been made recently about a potential restriction on the import/export of particular woods used in the construction of musical instruments. The restrictions come in the form of a number of proposals before the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna) board this June.

The woods affected by proposals E14-30, E14-31, and E14-32 are pernambuco, Honduran Rosewood and Nicaraguan Rosewood. The rosewoods are obviously tonewoods used in the construction of fingerboards, bridges, backs and sides for guitars, banjos and mandolins. Pernambuco is the wood used to construct bows for almost all bowed instruments, including violins and basses.

E14-31 and E14-32 would restrict the import/export of the rosewoods timbers to those certified by the agency. E14-30 is the most strenuous proposal, and would have adverse effects for professional musicians. E14-30 would restrict not only the trade of pernambuco timbers, but also finished products. This restriction would make it extremely difficult for fiddle players to travel internationally. (more…)

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 3 follows - with photos.

You can read all of his African journey posts here.

Is it ever nice to come back to modern civilization! I’ve spent the last week traveling rural Mali and visiting the Dogon Country. Village after village with only minimal connection to modernity and a way of life largely unchanged for thousands of years. Also extreme poverty along the way. The Dogon is a collection villages strung along an enormous escarpment. Some are tucked into rock itself, the rest spotting the valley and plateau. The whole region is hike-able and has become a tourist/traveler mecca in recent years. There’s a fascinating (and uneasy) clash between the ancient village life and the presence of tourist dollars, curiosity and influence.

The highlight for me was meeting Seydou Are Gindou, a cultured young artist from the village of Ende. He plays a two string banjo-like instrument called a Konou. It’s made from the wood of a fig tree and stretched with goat skin. For you banjo aficianados, the instrument is played clawhammer style. Exactly. Under the light and sway of the full moon, we had an impromptu concert complete with konou, calabash, talking drum and about 15 women singers. The music accompanies long storytelling songs about everything from witches to farming to one about a young man who (upon seeing the sky was hanging low) reaches to swipe a star with his hand. By the the wee hours, we had half the village crowded around the fire and music, along with a crop of boys just returning from their annual circumcision ceremony atop the escarpment!

We also spent time in Sevarre, Mopti and Bandiagara. Amadou and I used local transportation the whole time. It was grueling and exhausting: not always pleasant, but always a circus. Yesterday was a marathon day back to Bamako. There were times I felt on the brink of survival. Some statistics:

I could spin stories forever, but we’ll have to wait until I’m back on North American soil. For now, some travel photos will do. Coming up: I start work at the National Institute for the Arts, see Amadou and Miriam at the Institute for the Blind and possibly visit to Boubacar Traore in Lafiabougou.

Blessings,

J

Here’s a fun video clip which has made the rounds on the Internet a number of times. It features a seven year old Ricky Skaggs performing with Flatt & Scruggs on their television program. He sings Ruby and plays his mandolin on Earl Scruggs’ normally instrumental version of the song, Reuben.

This clip appears to be taken from a “bootleg” copy of the footage, as the time code appears throughout. Perhaps a subsequent edition of the Flatt & Scruggs DVD collections recently released by Shanachie will include this classic bit of bluegrass history.

You can watch the Skaggs clip on YouTube.

http://www.thebluegrassblog.com/flatt-scruggs-tv-shows-on-dvd

Brance has posted a number of times recently about artists who have bluegrass music as a recurring theme in their work.

Earlier this week we found another, William H. “Scoot” Dryden, Jr., whose large oil paintings are far more abstract than the watercolors of Bob Yonke, who Brance mentioned last week.

Scoot’s work is quite colorful and perhaps a bit macabre, with many involving bluegrass instruments and musical settings.

If you would like to see a large gallery of his work, visit his website.

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.

Recently we posted a story about the poor state of Clarence ‘Tater’ Tate’s health. Tate is currently undergoing a course of chemotherapy to counteract the effects of lung cancer.

Sunday, April 15, The Appalachian Cultural Music Association (ACMA) in partnership with the East Tennessee State University Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music program will present a reunion of former Blue Grass Boys to aid the fund raising to assist Tate with his medical expenses.

The history of reunions for Blue Grass Boys stretches back to almost a quarter of a century, as Doug Hutchens, the organiser of these reunions relates,

“The first what we could now call a ‘Reunion’ would have been September 1982 in Louisville, Kentucky. I had the idea that something should be done for Bill’s birthday. He had come through a lot of health problems in the prior 18 months and that was the year I had the case made. Red Taylor, Gordon Terry, Bryon Berline and Cleo Davis was there. Tex Logan, while never really a member of the band officially, was also there plus the regular members, Wayne [Lewis], Kenny [Baker], Blake [Williams] and Mark [Hembree]. Those went on in or around Bill’s birthday until the early 1990s when I changed jobs and didn’t have the flexibility to do them any longer.

The first ‘Reunion’ as we know it today was in May of 2000 when James [Monroe] called me in the winter of 1999 and said that he was going to start a festival to honour Bill in Rosine and asked if I would arrange and do a reunion of band members. A typical Blue Grass Boy Reunion as we have done it is a stage set with stools and mikes. I have been the moderator to keep things moving and to make sure that everyone get some time. I usually try to watch time, move from member of one instrument to another, to keep some variety, ask certain questions that will get stories going or lead them in certain directions that always get stories going. Then after every two or three stories ask each lead singer to do a song that they did in the band, or fiddler or fiddlers to do a number, the same with the banjo while the bass players usually tell their stories and grin a lot. (more…)

Banjo picker extraordinaire Alison Brown and her husband (and Compass Records co-founder) Garry West recently celebrated the birth of their son, Brendan Brown West.

Brendan was born on April 10, and arrived at 8 lbs. 8 oz. His dad is also a fine musician, so young Brendan will surely get a fine start if he chooses to follow in the family business.

Congratulations to the happy new parents!

We previously told you about the Cradle of Bluegrass Music Trail concert series being hosted by the Kentucky Department of Parks. We now regret to bring the news that the three remaining concerts are being cancelled.

The promoter, America’s Bluegrass Inc., was unable to secure enough sponsors and advance ticket sales fell short of necessary goals. The decision was made to cancel the April 21 concert at Frankfort Convention Center, the April 28 concert at Jenny Wiley State Resort Park near Prestonsburg and the May 19 concert planned for General Butler State Resort Park at Carrollton.

We’re told the Department of Parks will be processing refunds over the next week to all ticket holders. Any ticket holder with a question about their refund should call the department at 800-741-2707.

We’ve just learned that bluegrass/old-time band Uncle Earl will be performing at the 2007 Bonnaroo music festival. The festival takes place mid June in Manchester, TN and has become a large and very popular festival in the last few years.

Bonnaroo primarily books rock, alternative (to what?), and jamband acts. Occasionally bluegrass or old-time will be represented by one or two bands during the four days. I’m sure it’s quite an honor for the girls of Uncle Earl to be on the ticket this year.

Other bluegrass/old-time artists on the bill for this year include The String Cheese Incident, Old Crow Medicine Show, and the venerable Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys.

Tickets can be purchased online at bonnaroo.com.