The newest release from David Grisman’s Acoustic Disc label is a duo project featuring he and John Sebastian. Entitled Satisfied, it features these two on acoustic guitar, mandolin family instruments and harmonica on a mixed set of songs and tunes. The 14 selections are taken from the repertoire of blues, folk and traditional music, plus a couple of Dawg tunes and a few from the great American songbook of show music.

This is by no means a bluegrass recording (obligatory disclaimer), but fans of the music of these two genre-defining acoustic artists are sure to be satisfied with the result. My own bias towards this project comes from the twin facts that I was a huge Lovin’ Spoonful fan as a young boy in the 60’s, and the impact that Grisman’s first Quintet album had on me as a young student of bluegrass and acoustic music in 1977.

The Spoonful was a pop sensation at the time, with Sebastian front and center, the group’s name having come from a Mississippi John Hurt song, Coffee Blues, which is included here. Grisman, of course, charted new territory with his Dawg music, but has always betrayed the heart and soul of bluegrass in everything he has done.

One of the great treats upon opening the CD case was finding photos of both Sebastian and Grisman from their “early days” not long after they met as students at New York University in the early 1960s. Grisman was deep into a study of bluegrass at the time while Sebastian was immersed in Delta blues, but the two became friends and even performed together as members of The Even Dozen Jug Band.

Though their careers went in different directions after college, they found themselves performing an impromptu duo set at a concert in 2005, an event that led directly to this new collaboration.

The tracks were cut a la Grisman’s Acoustic Disc formula – meaning everything was recorded live in the studio, sans overdubs. There is a very raw, and ultimately satisfying appeal to this CD, and this may be a big part of it.

Look for Satisfied to be released on November 6, though it does seem to be available for download sale (MP3 and FLAC) at livedownloads.com.

Mountain Heart picked up an unusual last minute gig this past weekend that turned out to be something of a spooky good time for all concerned.

Jim VanCleve tells us that they were returning home from Ashland, KY late Friday night, anticipating a rare Saturday off at home, when they got a call from country star and successful author Naomi Judd’s management asking if the band was free the following night.

“It turns out that Naomi Judd is a big fan of Mountain Heart and wanted to see if we could come and play for a Halloween Costume Party she was having at her farm near Franklin, TN. We got back to town and ran down there to play, and it was absolutely a blast! It was the first party crowd we’ve ever had where everybody sat down in chairs to actually watch the show.

It was kind of funny. Here’s all these very influential people…in Halloween costumes sitting there and taking in a Mountain Heart show. Surreal might be the word.

We even took part in the large scale photo shoot after the “Best Costume Awards,” where they attempted to photograph roughly 60 people dressed up as airline pilots and vikings and vampires and hippies… and a bluegrass band.”

Jim said that unfortunately, Adam Steffey had plans for Saturday evening and wasn’t able to make the show, so Aaron Ramsey filled in on mandolin.

Don’t forget that we are still accepting entries to win a free, autographed copy of the new Mountain Heart CD, Road That Never Ends: the live album. Other Mountain Heart merchandise, such as t-shirts and ball caps, will also be given away.

If you downloaded the free audio track from this CD last week, you are already registered for the CD giveaway. Everyone else can simply visit this page to register.

Registration will remain open through Friday of this week (Nov 2, 2007). Six winners will be notified by email early next week.

The Bradford Street Bluegrass show on WOMR-FM is being given over to haunts and haints tomorrow in honor of Halloween. The show airs regularly on Wednesday evenings from 5:00-8:00 p.m. (ET), so the program hosts decided to use a Halloween theme this week, and get listeners’ suggestions for appropriate bluegrass songs to feature.

Co-host Ben Hughes said that they have received a great response to their Bluegrass Halloween concept.

“We’ve been having people email us requests for songs they want to hear in the haunting categories of murder, spooky, and just plain scary, and have about 67 songs ready and cued up to go.”

You can suggest a tune yourself by calling the WOMR request line (800.921.9667) or by emailing Ben.

If you live near Boston on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, you can catch their spooky tunes on Wednesday evening at 92.1 FM, and folks worldwide can listen in via the station’s live audio stream.