There are now audio samples on the Rounder Records site from the new Blue Highway CD, Through the Window of a Train.

It isn’t due for release until February 12, but you will have a chance to hear many of the tracks during the Goin’ Across The Mountain show on WNCW this Saturday afternoon (2/2). Host Dennis Jones will be playing one song from the new CD each hour while the show is on the air (11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.), and Tim Stafford will join Dennis for some discussion about the new project in the 2:00 hour.

Dennis expects to play 4 or 5 more songs from Through the Window of a Train while Tim - and perhaps a couple other members of Blue Highway - are in the studio.

WNCW broadcasts in four North Carolina markets, and can also be heard online via live audio streaming.

Internet streaming audio service RadioIO is doubling their channel offerings this month, going from 28 to 60 discrete streams by February 1. Among the new channels is a Newgrass stream to feature acoustic music a bit too edgy for their Bluegrass stream.

RadioIO’s bluegrass stream leans toward traditional bluegrass with occasional excursions into more modern music, while the newgrass stream focuses specifically on bluegrass-inflected sounds from artists like Old Crow Medicine Show, Béla Fleck, David Grisman, Leftover Salmon, King Wilkie, Crooked Still and other similar artists.

Listeners have the choice of free, ad-supported music or for $4.95/month, they can stream the channels without commercial interruptions.

Last year a raging battle ensued over the performance royalty rates for internet radio. That battle continues even now. The entity that established those rates is the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB).

The CRB is now preparing to adjust and establish mechanical royalties that would be paid to publishers and songwriters for the sale of both physical products (CDs) and downloads (both full tracks and ringtones).

ASCAP has sent out a letter to it’s members raising awareness that we are about to witness another fight over royalties. This times the team members will be a little different it seems. According to the ASCAP letter, the RIAA and the DiMA will be joining together to petition the board for lower rates. These two entities have been bitter enemies in the past.

Our friends at The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) will be representing the mechanical right interests of songwriters and music publishers in this hearing. They will be fighting vigorously to protect those mechanical right interests to ensure that musical compositions are compensated fairly. On the other side of this fight stands the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Digital Media Association (DiMA). Both the RIAA and DiMA have proposed significant reductions in mechanical royalty rates that would be disastrous for songwriters and music publishers.

The letter continues to give details about the proposed rates for the various types of sales. The RIAA is proposing a rate of 6 cents per track for physical sales, that’s a reduction from the current rate of 9.1 cents. Digital downloads are where things get really bitter though. The RIAA is suggesting a rate of 5 to 5.5 cents per track while the NMPA wants the rate set at 15 cents “because the costs involved are much less than for physical products.”

Streaming services is another battle. The NMPA wants to collect 12.5% of revenue, 27.5% of content costs, or a “micro-penny calculation based on usage,” whichever is greater. The RIAA, on the other hand, is suggesting .58% of revenue, and the DiMA says zero for streaming services.

Clearly the songwriters do need to be compensated for the use of their creative works. Without quality songs, where would the music industry be? They deserve to be paid in the same way that you or I expect to be paid for work we perform for an employer.

It seems that each organization wants their slice of the pie to be the biggest. The problem is that the pie (income from the sale of music) appears to shrinking. Maybe someone should devote some time to discovering a new way to make money in the music business. Otherwise, everyone will be fighting over a cookie instead of a pie.

We’ve posted several times previously about the release of the music video Born Lonesome by Skaggs Family Records artist Cadillac Sky. The video aired on both CMT and GAC.

The good folks at Skaggs Family were kind enough to send us a copy and give the go ahead to post it here for our readers.

Enjoy…

We just got a note from Eric Gibson, one half of the bluegrass singing and songwriting duo, The Gibson Brothers, with wonderful news.

“Leigh Gibson and his wife Alison welcomed Joseph Arleigh into the world at 1:30 a.m. this morning.”

Congratulations to all the happy Gibson family as they build a bluegrass dynasty!

On Saturday, February 16, 2008, Girl Scouts will have the opportunity to earn a unique patch. The History of Bluegrass patch is only available by attending one of the two group tours being offered that Saturday at the International Bluegrass Music Museum.

The tours will be offered at 10 AM and 11:30 AM. The Scouts will tour the museum and learn about the first generation founders of the genre.

2008 marks the second year the IBMM has partnered with the Girl Scouts in offering this patch. In 2007, 56 girls participated in the event. Any of the returning Scouts this year, will have the opportunity to attend a Hand-on-Mandolin Experience tour at either 1 PM or 2:30 PM. The hands-on experience is basically an introduction to the mandolin, including a lesson in which the girls will learn to play the basic chords on the instrument.

The cost is $5 per Scout for the morning tours, and $8 per Scout for the afternoon experience.

Pre-registration is required for attendance, and can be arranged by calling Kristi Harrison from Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana at 1-888-771-5174 or visit www.kyanags.org

We picked up a few more details about the new Jerry Douglas signature resonator guitars from Beard Guitars, though there still isn’t any new info on their web site.

There will be two Douglas models - a production model and a limited edition guitar.

The Jerry Douglas signature model will have all solid woods - Honduran ribbon mahogany for the back and sides, sapele (African mahogany) for the top, and mahogany for the neck. The inlay and coverplate will be custom to the Douglas model and will ship for $5250 with arched hardshell case and straplock assembly.

The Limited Edition guitar uses solid pomele sapele - a very highly figured variety - for the back, sides and top. The other components will be the same as the production guitar, other than the installation of a Fishman Aura pickup and the Douglas family crest inlaid on the headstock. Only 50 of these guitars will be made, with a selling price of $7500.

Look for more details soon on the Beard web site.

New Found Road is also in the studio finishing up a new project.

Guitarist and lead vocalist Tim Shelton tells us that they have completed the instrument tracking and have started in on vocals. Jim VanCleve is producing.

“There are some really good songs on this record. I’m most excited about a Tim Stafford composition called Same Old Place that he sent a couple of years ago, and we just got around to recording. I’ve always liked the song, but I’ve really loved it lately…. it’s become my favorite on the album if I had to pick just one.

We’ve also got a song from one of my favorite songwriters and vocalists, Ronnie Bowman, which is very cool. Sonya Issacs sent us a good bluegrass song, I co-wrote one with Josh Schilling, and we’ve got a gorgeous song from Tim O’Brien that is very personal to me.

I’m extremely pleased with the album. Jim VanCleve and David Hall (engineer) have been awesome to work with.”

No word yet on when the CD will be released, but we’ll pass along what we find out as the time draws near.

Our friend Craig Havighurst from String Theory Media just wrote to let us know that he has uploaded a new video to his YouTube page. The video is a five minute walk along with Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent as they make their first Grand Ole Opry appearance under their own banner as Dailey & Vincent.

The video begins in the car on the way to the Opry and follows them through the evening until the show is over. It’s obviously condensed and does not include their full performances, but it does contain some entertaining moments with the bluegrass duo.

Yesterday morning a new peer-to-peer music downloading application was launched called Qtrax. The service was launched with the announcement that the company had negotiated licenses with all the major labels and would have over 25 million songs available for download, free to the consumer.

As we all know, it can’t be truly free. Someone has to pay for it so the artists, songwriters, and lables can continue to make music. Qtrax announced they had found a way to make this happen via advertising. Here’s how it would work.

You download their application to your PC. The application let’s you connect with other users and trade songs to your heart’s content, all the while looking at ads embedded in the application itself. The advertising revenue would allow the company to pay the license fees for each download, which they would be tracking.

When you download and play music, the support of advertisers allows Qtrax to compensate artists for their work. There is no cost to download and use the software, there are no hidden charges, or membership fees or per song costs.

The plan sounds good, and I think is a viable way to approach the distribution of music. Personally, I don’t think fans will be reluctant to embrace the service due to the advertising. A lack of compatibility with iPods will be a bigger hurdle in my mind, though the company has promised iPod compatibility by April.

The biggest problem though isn’t compatibility. It is that all four of the major labels (EMI, Warner, Sony BMG and Universal) deny having signed a deal with the company. So this catalog of 25 million songs, doesn’t exist, at least not yet.

Warner and Universal have stated that they are in negotiations with the company.

Qtrax has responded by insisting that they do have the support of the labels.

We do have industry agreements including the major labels. Even today we are working on more deals.

Saying that the “ink hadn’t dried” yet on some of the deals, the company vows to fulfill it’s promise of free downloads “within months.”

I guess all the music fans will have to wait and see if the dream of free, unlimited downloads will become a reality.

Read the initial announcement and the follow up story at TimesOnline.

We got a note from Jim VanCleve this morning with news about his next producing project, the upcoming CD from Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain. Jim had produced their self-titled debut release for Rural Rhythm in 2006 and when we spoke with Carrie at IBMA last fall, she offered him a great deal of credit for the way that CD turned out.

Recording starts today with Carrie and her talented band: Keith McKinnon on guitar and vocals, Travis Anderson on bass, Josh Miller on banjo and Kevin McKinnon on mandolin and vocals.

Jim sounded mighty upbeat about getting them back into the studio.

“There were a lot of high expectations already in place before we even started selecting material for this album, largely due to the success of the last record, and the big splash the band made on the scene last year. We’re all really pumped to get this thing going, though. We’ve got a bunch of really good material put together, with a good number of the songs coming from within the band.

As folks who’ve already heard or seen Carrie are aware, she’s got that ’star vocal quality’ that is so hard to find. She’s also got the luxury of carrying a band that can ‘mash it’ in the studio or on the stage, which is rare! They are a very dynamic bunch of musicians. Oh yeah, they are about the most hilarious bunch of personalities you will put in a room at one time, too. So, as you can imagine, it’s always a lot of fun to get together with the Hard Rain Gang!

The project will be released on Rural Rhythm Records, and right now, we’re all aiming at a March release date, which will make the project available just in time for festival season. Judging by the looks of the Hard Rain calendar, fans will certainly have a good opportunity to get their hands on it, too.”

Rounder Records has announced the release of a new CD from the two-time IBMA Award winning combination, Longview.

It is a little over ten years since the debut release by the super group bearing the name Longview and with their first release they caused so much of a furor that two more followed in quick succession. Now it is six years since the last and I, for one, didn’t expect to enjoy the prospect of another album.

The three remaining original members Marshall Wilborn (acoustic bass, vocals), Don Rigsby (mandolin, vocals) and James King (vocals) are joined by Lou Reid (guitar, vocals), Ron Stewart (fiddles, vocals) and J.D. Crowe (banjo, vocals) for this particular set of recordings. To quote from the liner notes, the result is…

“…a potent new line-up with the chops, discipline, and heart required to make the bluegrass tradition come alive. From the first note to the last, Deep In The Mountains is a striking update of the band’s long-held goal: soulful old-school bluegrass with soaring lead singing and riveting three-part harmonies.”

Deep In The Mountains, self produced by the group member and recorded at Skaggs’ Place Studio; Hendersonville, Tennessee, comprises a dozen excellent songs ………..

Eating Out of Your Hand, Dudley Connell’s Weathered Grey Stone - what irony!, Randall Hylton’s Room at the Top of the Stairs, Don’t Leave Me Alone (one of two James King’s favourites by Cullen Galyean), Old Log Cabin (John Sloas-Lonnie Nipper), Cotton Eyed Joe, I’ll Love Nobody But You, Baptism of Jesse Taylor (classic country from Dallas Frazier and Sanger Shafer), the Louvin Brothers’ composition I’m Gonna Love You One More Time, At the First Fall of Snow, I Love You Yet and Georgia Bound (Charlie Moore-Bill Napier).

Don Rigsby, the prime mover in getting things organised for this album, comments ………………..

“The songs were compiled by all of the members of the band and Ken Irwin too. There actually are no new songs per se, but lots of obscure old material in keeping with the Longview tradition. The lead singing duties are split with James, Lou Reid and I. Of interest to all of the fiddlers and banjo pickers out there will be a version of Cotton Eyed Joe from Ron Stewart and J.D. Crowe with a break from myself and one from Lou Reid too.

As for rehearsal, the way we have always made these was to hatch the arrangements in the studio and record them while they were fresh.

We are currently booking shows and are booked by Mike Drudge at Class Act Entertainment. We hope to see the fans at some premier event in the near future.” (more…)

Butch Baldassari has released a new old recording of jazz mandolin music on his Sound Art label.

The Vespa Love Festival sessions was recorded in 1997 with Butch on mandolin, Jim Hoke on soprano sax, Byron House and Andy Spicher on bass, Frosty Horton, Gene Ford and John Mock on guitars, Andy Peake on drums, David Hofner on keys, Jim Hoke on recorder and Dale Armstrong on percussion.

The all-instrumental CD includes a couple of rock covers, some pop tunes and five new compositions from Frosty Horton.

Butch said that the odd and interesting title arose during session chatter, and led to the lovely retro-style cover art.

There are audio samples for two of the tracks on the Sound Art Recordings web site.

In other Butch Baldassari news… The most recent health update regarding his ongoing battle with cancer reports some very encouraging news from his last MRI.

“The results were good. The central core of the tumour was approx 19 x 17 cm in November and now measured approx 15 x 13 cm. We were told that there is also a lot less swelling in the surrounding tissues, harder to measure but less swollen. Butch’s eyes lit up like a child’s. He gave it the old two thumbs up, like Caesar letting both gladiators live or like Siskel and Ebert giving a movie good acclaim! We walked out 10 feet above the ground, our heads in the clouds, elated. It was close to freezing outside but I didn’t even feel it until a strong gust reminded me. It didn’t matter.”

Read the entire update online.

The 28th Annual Black Hills Bluegrass Festival, just outside Rapid City, South Dakota, is looking for a good t-shirt design. The festival is scheduled for June 27-29 this year and a design has yet to be chosen for this year’s festival t-shirt.

The festival is coordinated by the Bluegrass Committee of the Rapid City Arts Council, along with a large staff of volunteers. This year the Committee decided to have a contest for the t-shirt design. They say designs should be based on “music, musicians or other images of bluegrass or folk music culture.”

The winning design will be used on this year’s festival t-shirt and the winner will receive $300. Two weekend passes to the festival will be awarded to the second place entry.

Entries must be submitted by February 22, 2008, with the winners being announced on March 9, 2008. You can find the official entry form highlighted in blue toward the bottom of this page.

To learn more, call 394-4101 ext 200.

Tomorrow, January 29, 2008, is the official release of the new Dailey & Vincent CD. Last week they held a CD release party for a small group of family, friends, and industry VIPs at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.

The band performed a short set in the museum’s Ford Theater, doing five cuts from the new CD. They performed three full band numbers, one duet, and one a cappella quartet.

Here are a couple photos from the evening.

Photo credit: Aaron Crisler/The Judy Nelon Group

You can see what we said about their new CD here.

We make a special effort here on The Bluegrass Blog to avoid choosing or promoting stories based on our personal likes and dislikes, or putting them forward based on anything but news judgment.

Like any rule, of course, there are a few exceptions and one of ours is an intent to bring attention to deserving artists who may not be well known, especially younger ones.

So, when we received the following message by email not long ago, I couldn’t help but follow up.

Hi I’m a 15 year old singer/songwriter, fiddler. I have opened for Rhonda Vincent, Jay Unger. I will open for the Grascals in Gettysburg in Aug. I performed at the Bluebird Cafe, The Commodore and and Tootsies. I have a new CD out in Feb.

The message came from Kate Lee who lives near Rochester, NY. I found music of striking maturity from this young woman, with the sort of understated emotion in her voice that comes rarely this early in life. In her mid teens, she has her own group, No Strings Attached, and has recorded two CDs, including songs she has written.

At school, Kate studies and performs classical music, singing in the select choir and playing with the orchestra. She is also a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and keeps a busy schedule of shows with her band. As a sophomore, she maintains high honor roll with distinction, and hopes to continue to study music in college - if she isn’t signed to a recording contract.

“I really love Bluegrass music because it is such a pure sound. Voice and instrument becomes one! It does not have to be fancy to be wonderful. In fact, it’s great because it is not bogged down with any extra bells and whistles. I really like a lot of different music, like classical and some country.

It helps my fiddling to have classical training as my tone and pitch must be precise in orchestra. There is no faking it. This makes my fiddling much cleaner sounding. I love to sing and am now receiving voice training as well. My vocals, like my fiddle is based on a ‘pure, simple’ sound without a lot of fancy ornamentation. I think Alison Krauss has the perfect voice. She is the standard for all singers!” (more…)

Today’s (1/27) edition of The Washington Post has a lengthy feature on flatpicking icon and folk music hero Doc Watson.

The article by Post staffer Tim Warren in Greensboro, NC where he interviewed Doc before a concert with David Holt on January 11. Warren reviews the show, and includes a number of personal revelations from Watson, including a question about how much longer he can keep going at age 85.

He locked his blind eyes on his questioner and said finally, quietly, “I haven’t the faintest idea. But I’ll have to sooner or later, because my hands can’t do this much longer. I can’t play like I could 30 or 40 years ago. The speed’s not there and the clarity’s not there. My reflexes are slowing down, and there’s not a thing I can do about it.”

You can read the entire piece online.

HT: Katy Daley

The Infamous Stringdusters have finished up recording for their second Sugar Hill release, due on June 10.

It’s always tough for a successful touring act to complete a new project, and the ‘Dusters have been at this one since August of last year.

They finally finished on January 24 and head back out on February 2 to their busy schedule, which includes a tour of Germany in May.

We’ll be on the lookout for audio samples online, and let you know when we find some.

We Are Family, a DVD/CD joint release from The Easter Brothers, Jeff & Sheri Easter and The Lewis Family, is due for release on February 26. It was filmed in Mt. Airy, NC during Mayberry Days last September. A studio version of the project will also be released at the same time.

A video preview has been posted on YouTube.

There are a number of great opportunities to catch some live bluegrass on TV and radio over the next few days, many being streamed online.

Today (1/15) at noon eastern, Balsam Range will be performing live on WDVX from Knoxville, TN. The show is streamed live online.

At 1:00 p.m., Claire Lynch will join host Gracie Muldoon for an interview on WorldWideBluegrass.com.

The Friday Opry from The Ryman on WSM will feature the Opry debut of The Steeldrivers, along with sets from The Whites and Jesse McReynolds & The Virginia Boys.

Saturday’s (1/16) Opry show has The Whites again, plus The Del McCoury Band, The Grascals and Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press. Both Opry shows are steamed online at wsmonline.com.

On Sunday’s (1/27) Fox & Friends show on Fox News, Rhonda Vincent will be a guest. The show airs from 7:00-9:00 a.m. (EST).