Recently we reported news of the link up between Mountain Roads Recordings and Big Country Bluegrass. Although bands changing labels is nothing new, some may have wondered about the Big Country Bluegrass arrangement with Hay Holler Records.

Well, when talking to Gail Cooler, she added weight to the open ’secret’ that Kerry Hay was retiring by saying that his decision led directly to the formation of Mountain Roads Recording and their agreement with Big Country Bluegrass.

So, I spoke to Kerry and this is what he had to say, insisting that he wasn’t retiring …….

“I, and Hay Holler, are in fact ‘winding down.’ I have no firm plans to do any more recording, but if the right band came along, and would be interested in recording with Hay Holler, I would do it. I realize this is a very unlikely scenario, as any band within their senses would want to associate with an aggressive label. As I said in the previous email message, I will keep Hay Holler, Inc. an ongoing, viable operation, for the purpose of maintaining inventory for our artists who continue to tour.”

Hay Holler Records was formed in 1989, with their first recordings released in 1990, following a collaboration with banjoist Butch Robins [Blue Grass Boys and bass player with New Grass Revival]. The label is noted for releasing what Hay describes as “real bluegrass, hard-core traditional mountain-style bluegrass that sounds as lonesome as a Whippoorwill.”

A representative listing of artists that have recordings released by Hay Holler includes Herschel Sizemore, 5 For The Gospel, Big Country Bluegrass, The Bluegrass Brothers, Cedar Hill, The Gibson Brothers, The Gillis Brothers, The Goins Brothers, Sand Mountain and Wayne Henderson.

For more about Kerry Hay and Hay Holler Records listen to his GrassCast interview from December 2005.

Friday’s (4/25) edition of Blue Plate Special on WDVX promises a very special performance by The Road Scholars, a “one weekend only” band with some high octane vocal power. In addition to their live radio appearance, they will be performing at EarthFest 2008 on the East Tennessee State University Campus on April 26.

The group features both Charlie Sizemore and Dale Ann Bradley, two of the finest voices in modern bluegrass music, along with John Golden on banjo, Roscoe Morgan on mandolin and John Miller on bass.

Blue Plate Special airs at noon (EDT). The show originates from Knoxville, TN and is broadcast in that market at 102.9 FM - and via live streaming online.

Whenever we learn of a hand injury to a musician, it’s always a matter of concern. When it’s a legend like Bobby Hicks, who not only helped establish what excellence in bluegrass fiddle is all about over his long career, but is also approaching 75 years of age, it is of even greater immediate gravity.

Bobby fell and broke the ring finger of his left hand badly enough to require surgery earlier this month, but says that he recovering nicely at home.

“I’m doing OK I guess. I’ll just have to refrain from playing double and triple stops for awhile.“

Let’s hope Bobby is back in top form soon!

The Loar has announced the summer 2008 debut of their latest mandolin model. The LM-600-VS is an F-style instrument, which the manufacturer describes as an accurate replica of the original 1920’s F5-style model.

It is a solid wood, hand-carved and graduated mandolin with a spruce top, flame maple back and sides, and finished with a traditional tobacco sunburst.

The Loar makes much of the fact that they will use a nitrocellulose finish on this new model, a practice common in higher end handmade instruments, but apparently less so in Asian imports. This finish is very durable and flexible, but it’s highly toxic nature makes it more difficult (and costly) to apply.

The LM-600-VS will carry a retail price of $899.99 and will ship in an embroidered, lightweight case.

The company is a division of The Music Link, and their mandolins and guitars are distributed through TML’s dealer network.

Folk musician Abigail Washburn has certainly raised awareness of the banjo around the world in recent years. She has collaborated with banjo great Bela Fleck, along with cellist Ben Sollee and fiddler Casey Driessen, to bring American banjo music to China. The band, known as The Sparrow Quartet, became the first US band to officially tour Tibet in the fall of 2007, at the behest of the Chinese government.

Three years after the release of her debut album, Song of the Traveling Daughter, this new self titled (after the band) sophomore recording hits the streets on May 20, 2008. The entire band, including Fleck, had a hand in the composition and arrangement of the record. Fleck produced the recording for Nettwerk Records. Washburn comments that this record was an effort to

…intentionally create art that is more than what I ever thought I was capable of. These musicians allowed me to dream big, and they had the chops to execute it all, and then some.

Featuring 13 songs, the CD stylistically spans the bridge between traditional American folk/bluegrass tunes such as Banjo Pickin’ Girl, to traditional Chinese folk songs such as Taiyang chulai (We’re Happy Under the Sun), to a number of originals written by the band for this project. The arrangements bear the marks of both American and Chinese tradition with a certain cinematic quality and even some classical sounding moments. Part of the uniqueness of the sound comes from the composition of the band itself. The quartet features two banjos, a cello and a fiddle. That combination of instrumentation, along with the diversity of musical backgrounds the four players bring to the table results in a sound that is all their own. And the results speak for themselves.

The foursome begins a North American tour Friday night with a show in Boulder, CO. This is the first of over 100 performances planned in support of the new CD. The tour includes some high-profile performances at Bonnaroo, Merlefest, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

For a complete listing of tour dates, be sure to visit them online at AbigailWashburn.com.

Audio tracks and tours dates are available on Abigail’s MySpace page as well.

A great many bluegrass fans have embraced satellite radio. In addition to each having nearly 200 channels offering a wide variety of news, music and sports, both XM and Sirius have 24/7 bluegrass music channels produced in house.

With the US Department of Justice’s approval of the proposed merger between the two satellite radio giants being announced a month ago, subscribers and music industry observers have had much to say, pro and con, about the impact such a merger might have on this relatively new medium.

Billboard and Reuters had a joint piece last week looking at how record labels view this merger, and their fears that it could eventually lead to the sort of consolidation that would eliminate any duplication of services. Though both companies insist that their goal is to maintain separate subscription services, allowing a la carte selections from the other side of the aisle, the label reps quoted in the April 20 piece by Ken Tucker don’t cherish the thought of loosing any possible exposure via satellite radio.

Brad Paul, senior VP of promotion at Rounder Records — a label whose bluegrass releases benefit from the 24/7 national exposure they get from Sirius and XM — doesn’t like the idea of one less national outlet. “If the argument were being made that it’s a good thing because I could economize my effort, heck, I’m not about economizing my efforts, I’m about having opportunities to get these artists’ music exposed to as many listeners as possible.

“Both networks offer different ways to feature and launch a new project,” Paul says. “I feel good about having both those options to go to.”

Tucker also passes along the feeling expressed by several reps that satellite radio had been responsible for breaking new artists, though none presented any concrete examples. There was some disagreement expressed, but overall, the quotes in the piece look askance at the merger.

But Kevin Herring, VP of promotion for Nashville-based Lyric Street Records, says losing XM’s Highway 16 channel or Sirius’ New Country channel wouldn’t have much of an effect on his label’s promotion efforts. “Anytime there’s less current outlets, it affects us, but I don’t see it having an overarching effect on what we do or how we do it,” he says.

Sony BMG Nashville VP of marketing Tom Baldrica says his label group has long supported both satellite services and is also not pleased with the possibility of consolidation. “One of those stations goes and it’s like losing a major-market radio station,” he says. “And it’s a major-market radio station that’s speaking to the people that value and love the music more than most. I’m not happy about that at all.”

Read the full piece online.

Several folks have written in to remind us that Mountain Heart’s video for Road That Never Ends is in the running this week on CMT Pure 12-Pack Countdown.

Voting ends tonight (4/23) at 9:00 p.m., so head on over to CMT.com and cast your ballot if you want to see the guys score high in the results - which will be announced on Friday.

I had the opportunity to watch part of the shooting of this video, and you can read a bit about that (and see a few photos) in my earlier post.

Uncle Earl’s Streak O’ Lean video is also up in this week’s competition.

You can watch the Mountain Heart video here on The Bluegrass Blog, or on the Countdown site.

Yesterday (3/22) saw the release of Bluegrass Smash Hits Volume 1 from The Mashville Brigade.

Most every Tuesday evening the guys perform at the Station Inn there in Nashville, TN. Last night was no different, except that the usual performance doubled as a CD release party.

The first single release from the CD is their remake of the Flatt & Scruggs classic, Take This Hammer. In coordination with this release we’re hosting a fun promotion here on The Bluegrass Blog. For the next ten days, all registered readers will be able to enter our Take This Hammer promotional drawing. One lucky reader will win an autographed copy of the new CD, plus their very own personally signed claw hammer! (see photo) Nine other winners will also get a signed CD.

Courtesy of Rural Rhythm Records, everyone who enters the contest will also be able to download a free, MP3 copy of Take This Hammer from the new CD.

There is no cost to enter and the contest is be open to all registered users on The Bluegrass Blog. The guys do ask that the winner use the hammer responsibly!

UPDATE 5/2: This contest is now closed - winners to be announced shortly.

Here’s a cautionary tale for bluegrass musicians who also like to try their hand at risky extreme sports. It comes from Jens Koch, the superb young banjo player with Swedish bluegrass group, G2.

Three years ago - before G2 caught the ears of fans and critics alike at EBMA and IBMA - he broke his left wrist horribly in a snowboarding accident. Two bones snapped, and though the bones were set, they didn’t heal properly, requiring that they be re-broken and rebuilt.

“They transplanted some bone from my hip to my wrist so that the radius bone would be long enough, and have the right angle.

Then they used some metal screws and plates (pre-war, of course…I’ve been told it was titanium from Gibson’s Kalamazoo factory in the 30s) to fasten it all together.”

He was unable to play at all for six weeks after the accident, and tells us that after the hardware was installed, played in pain for the next two years.

“The tendons in my wrist and forearm had constantly been grinding on those screws and the plate, causing pain and inflammation. But finally, after a long wait, I got them taken out.

What a relief!! I felt a difference right away because my fingers run a little smoother.”

Though winter sports are a big thing in Sweden, Jens says that he now considers himself a former snowboarder, and agrees that bluegrass music and extreme sports aren’t a good mix.

“Maybe we should all stick to golf or…building snowmen.”

G2, along with the newly restored Koch wrist, will be an invited showcase act at the 2008 IBMA World Of Bluegrass convention in Nashville this fall. Audio samples from their debut release, Where The Tall Grass Grows, can be found on the band’s web site.

Our friend David Conner shared this YouTube link with us. It features a number of videos shot during an appearance by The Dan Tyminski Band at The Birchmere on March 1 of this year.

Ten songs from the show are posted, including the title track from Dan’s upcoming Rounder CD, Wheels, several cuts from his previous solo release (Tiny Broken Heart, Stuck In The Middle Of Nowhere) and a few bluegrass classics (Rocky Road Blues, Man Of Constant Sorrow, Muleskinner Blues, Mary Ann).

The band includes Tyminski on guitar and vocals, Ron Stewart on banjo, Adam Steffey on mandolin, Barry bales on bass and Justin Moses on fiddle.

The video was shot with a hand held camera, so it’s a bit shaky at times, but the audio is terrific and they give a fine taste of how strong this band is in concert. This show in March took place one day after I saw the band perform in Roanoke (review here).

You can find all the videos on YouTube, and we’ve included the Wheels video for your enjoyment here.

The European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) has a very comprehensive European festival schedule online on their new website. The listing provides information regarding each concert, including the date, location, name of the event, appropriate website or email link, and additional comments about the event. Listings are provided through the end of calendar year 2008.

In addition to the listing of events, the site also has a thorough guide for US bands interested in touring Europe. The guide includes information regarding venues, travel logistics, lodging, traveling with instruments, merchandise sales, and tips on the various cultural differences you might encounter.

If you’re in Europe, or considering a summer vacation there, and would like to take in a bluegrass festival or concert, be sure to consult their listing of events.

If you think you’d like to take your band to Europe on a performance tour, this guide should provide valuable information.

This week’s edition of ABC’s hit reality show, Wife Swap, will feature the Stockdale Family of Ohio as one of the subjects of the show’s family exchange experiment. Kathy Stockdale is both the matriarch of her brood, and the manager of their bluegrass group, The Stockdale Family Band. The band features her husband, Tim, and their four sons Calvin, Charles, Jacob and James.

Despite the salacious title, the actual concept of the show is to take two families with different life styles and parenting approaches, and have the moms change places for two weeks time. Of course, the cameras are there to capture the predictable conflict, all displayed on screen for your televisual entertainment.

Interestingly, ABC went looking for a bluegrass family band for this episode, and found the Stockdale family through David Russell, who manages both the Buckeyebluegrass.com and BluegrassMusician.com web sites. Russell says that they were contacted about this last year, and recommended their friends, the Stockdales, right away.

Initially, they were not interested in doing the show, but Kathy and Tim relented once they saw how eager the boys were to give it a try.

The episode was filmed last summer, and is scheduled to run on Wednesday (4/23) at 8:00 p.m. (EDT) on ABC. It is being promoted as a city/country culture clash, with Kathy Stockdale as the over-protective mom as against the more liberal mom who joins their family from town.

Kathy described the experience as one that, though trying at times, ended up being a positive one for her family.

“Being a farm, homeschooling, bluegrass band family, we enjoy a lot of common experiences, but we have to chalk the Wife Swap adventure as the grand family bonding experience for the Stockdales for which we will never be the same. We relate differently in that we have even more and deeper collective experiences where we overcame obstacles and accomplished a giant task together. No one else will understand the Wife Swap journey like we do and that is one of the things that will make our family unit different and special forever.”

I’m not sure if this is the way we want bluegrass to reach potential new converts, but no one asked me. If you are so inclined, look for the Stockdales on Wife Swap this Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. on ABC.

The new CD from The Infamous Stringdusters won’t be released until June 10 on Sugar Hill, but ‘Dusters fans who can’t wait for something new can take advantage of a special offer running now on the band’s web site.

Anyone who places a pre-order for The Infamous Stringdusters will receive a free download of a recent live show, recorded April 15 at The Fox Theater in Boulder, CO. The show was recorded on multitrack, professionally mixed and mastered, and can be downloaded as either MP3 or FLAC files, with cover art.

This virtual CD includes 11 tracks, with more than an hour of live music and fun from Boulder. The songs are taken from the first band release, various band members’ solo projects, with two sneak peeks from the new, June release of The Infamous Stringdusters. The vibe runs from jam grass to The Stanley Brothers - something for everyone?

The complete track listing is:

Once you place your CD pre-order, you’ll receive instructions by email with the necessary details to obtain the live concert download. In addition to the free download, the first 250 orders will also receive a signed copy of the new CD when it ships in June.

Once again, Claire Lynch is out to disprove the old canard about bluegrass fans being little more than illiterate hillbillies. Last year she held a competition where her fans submitted bluegrass-themed haiku. Now, she has launched a new contest challenging entrants to tell their life story in just six words.

She is calling it her spring creative writing contest, officially dubbed Go Short, Win Big with Claire! The winner - to be chosen by Claire, herself - will receive a 1 GB iPod Shuffle, preloaded with all six of her Rounder releases.

The competition kicks off today (4/22) and will run through May 31, 2008. The official rules are as follows:

• No more than two entries per person
• Submit your six-word bio to clairelynchband@gmail.com
• Include your name, email address, city and state
• Deadline for entry: May 31, 2008

Claire offers this bit of advice for those considering an entry:

“The most important thing? Heed the moral of CLB guitarist Jim Hurst’s six-word bio: ‘Procrastination keeps me from completing my.’ Pick up your pen and get creative - you may find it’s worth your while!”

You can find more details, and an online video explaining the contest, on Claire’s web site.

Bluegrass fiddle player and teacher Brian Wicklund has a brand new website for fiddle players at FiddlePal.com. Brian is the author the best-selling fiddle books, The American Fiddle Method. He is also a member of the acoustic power trio, Brother Mule, and the founder of the on-line lesson site Bluegrass College.

The site in nicely laid out, featuring a lot of content, and promising even more to come in the future. Features include all the usual content one would expect from a musicians website, including Brian’s tour schedule, and a store with all his various recordings, books and DVDs for sale.

In addition, Brian has started a blog where he’ll be posting news and answering all your fiddle related questions. And the home page is sporting a free fiddle tune of the month feature. This month the tune is an intermediate version of Blackberry Blossom. The fiddle music for the tune is provided in standard notation via a downloadable PDF.

The site also promises the imminent availability of free lessons for both fiddle and mandolin. The lessons are scheduled for publication on the site in May (mandolin) and June (fiddle). These lessons will be designed to get you started from scratch and prepare you for further instruction.

If you’re a fiddle player, FiddlePal.com just may become one of your best friends.

We have a fun promotion that will start later this week in conjunction with tomorrow’s (3/22) release of Bluegrass Smash Hits Volume 1 from The Mashville Brigade. This is the side-gig featuring five of Nashville’s top pickers who get together on Tuesday nights to perform bluegrass favorites at The Station Inn.

Members include Jim Van Cleve on fiddle (Mountain Heart), Ashby Frank on mandolin (Special Consensus), Aaron McDaris on banjo (Grascals), Randy Barnes on bass (NewFound Road) and Darrell Webb on guitar (Rhonda Vincent).

The first single release from the CD is their remake of the Flatt & Scruggs classic, Take This Hammer, and we will be offering one lucky reader of The Bluegrass Blog the chance to win an autographed copy of the new CD, plus their very own personally signed claw hammer! Nine other winners will also get a signed CD.

Anyone who enters the contest will also be able to download a free, MP3 copy of Take This Hammer from the new CD.

Entries will begin on Wednesday and the winners will be notified next week. Their will be no cost to enter and the contest will be open to all registered users on The Bluegrass Blog.

Here is the final installment in our interview series with four of the folks who run prominent bluegrass-oriented record labels. Previous posts have discussed how these labels’ sales in 2007 compared with the dire trends in the wider record business, the sales of digital audio versus manufactured discs and the future of the album format.

The last two questions we examined touch on how promotion of new releases may have changed, and whether the labels (Pinecastle, Rebel, Rounder and Rural Rhythm) look for anything different in new acts they consider signing in this rapidly changing market.

First we posed this query: “How has your promotion changed in the face of industry and sales trends – and how do you envision promotion changing in the near future?”

Ethan Burkhardt, Pinecastle Records:

“We are having to be more conservative with our advertising and marketing budgets. In turn, we are focusing on online guerrilla marketing and are relying heavily on our tour support for free publicity through newspaper and radio interviews. Just as we’re seeing more money from digital sales, we’re also going to see more of our promotions and advertising shift over to viral marketing and online advertising.”

Dave Freeman, Rebel Records:

“We are doing less print advertising as it is getting more costly and yielding less results. Bluegrass Unlimited is one of the few places we can count on getting results. We have had great radio play all over the country (especially the Southeast), but we may cut back on sending out DJ copies as well, because there’s usually no place where people can buy the CDs even if they hear them on radio and like them.”

Ken Irwin, Rounder Records:

“We have started and will continue to do more promotion and advertising online and have become more selective in our decisions about advertising in general.”

Sam Passamano, Rural Rhythm Records:

“Consumers need to hear the music and there are so many more opportunities to expose our artists to bluegrass listeners today and it’s expanding all the time. It’s very exciting to see all the new online opportunities like the artist sites, label sites, magazine sites, blogs, MySpace, YouTube, digital music providers, online retailers, etc. Bluegrass music consumers today can listen to song clips of the entire album, see the artist’s music videos, read about the artist, listen to an artist interviews, read album reviews and see where the artist is touring all at a click of the finger.“

We also asked: “What sort of things are you looking for in a new act? What attracts you to them, in terms of music and being able to promote them?” (more…)

Alison Krauss & Robert Plant will be performing a concert in Chattanooga, TN on Wednesday of this week, and our good friend Wichita Rutherford is giving away four tickets to the show. He’s giving them away in pairs so there will be two winners who receive two tickets each.

You’ll have to hurry to win though, entry in the contest ends at 4PM CST today. He’s made the entry interesting, it’s not as simple as just filling out a zip code and email address. You’ll have to work for it bit.

Visit Wichita’s Blog for more details.

It hardly seems a year ago, does it, since we mentioned the celebrations for Wade Mainer’s 100th birthday? Well, it is.

A North Carolina native, Mainer turns 101 today (Monday, April 21) and on Saturday, with the help of about 400 well-wishers, he marked the occasion with a concert performance, accompanied by his 89 year-old wife, Julia, on guitar; Mel Hammon, 83, on the fiddle and Virgil Shouse (bass).

A brief report about the event appears in The Flint Journal, a local Michigan newspaper near where he now resides.

Mainer used a cane and needed assistance to get onto the stage, set on the athletic field at Premier Indoor Sports on Torrey Road. But on stage and seated, banjo in hand, Mainer turned to his quartet and said “let’s do some of the old numbers.”

You can read the full piece on the Flint Journal web site, where they also created this web video with highlights from the concert.

Last month saw the release of Larry Stephenson’s fourth gospel album, Thankful. You can read our review of the CD here.

Pinecastle is currently offering a free download of one track from the CD. This is part of a campaign they are operating called Pass The Grass in which they are making downloads available as a means of increasing interest in a project.

To obtain the free track you’ll need to provide Pinecastle with a minimum of your zip code and email address. They ask for voluntary submission of your name and address as well, though these are not required.

The track they are giving away is Press On O’Pilgrim. It’s an up tempo gospel tune driven by Larry’s high lonesome singing.

Get your own copy by visiting Pinecastle.com and clicking on the “Giveaway” link in the top navigation.