If you’ve ever read the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life, you’ve run across these stories he would tell called parables. They are stories meant to teach a lesson.

Sometimes modern day readers might find difficulty connecting with the cultural context of the stories themselves though. Introducing Modern Parables. These are Jesus’ stories retold on film in modern day settings.

They are produced as teaching tools and are accompanied by lesson plans, teacher guides, student books, and more. Available as both DVD hard copies, and digital downloads at three resolutions, these are very well produced films. The digital downloads are available as standard definition (DVD quality) files, High Definition, or a free version that is iPod compatible and for personal use only.

As I was looking them over the other day I notice one of the films is based on Jesus parable of The Shrewd Manager in Luke 16:1-8. The “cover” art looked interesting so I pulled up the trailer and was surprised to hear a bluegrass soundtrack. I subsequently downloaded the free iPod version of the film and watched it in its entirety.

Each film they produce has a different cinematographic influence. Here’s what they say about The Shrewd Manager.

Our ironic comedy, The Shrewd Manager tips its hat to Woody Allen with its long takes, simple zooms, and dry humor. We shot the film in Adairville, Kentucky and used a number of townspeople for extras. (Film length - 17 minutes)

I got in touch with Thomas Purifoy, the producer of the films, and asked him a few questions. Of course, my first question was about the choice of bluegrass music for the soundtrack.

I felt that bluegrass would give this short film the right feel. I am a personal fan of it, and the singer whose voice I used on Samaritan (Vanessa Batts) is really a bluegrass/Appalachian singer/songwriter. She was the one who advised me as to the type of music to use, introduced me to the Clack Mountain String Band, and worked with me in finding the right piece.

One of the important aspects of the song was that it communicated a lot about the story simply through the feel and the words. The whole film is based on irony, and the song is an important part of that. Obviously the farming/rural community played into it as well. To me, a film works organically in all its parts, with music playing a key role in the organic whole. It should just seem right, and Penny’s Farm gave me that feeling immediately.

Penny’s Farm is the tune that functions as a theme song for the production. (more…)

In this installment of our interview series with bluegrass label heads, we’ll look at how they see the distribution model for bluegrass changing in the near term. As before, we spoke with Dave Freeman of Rebel Records, Ken Irwin of Rounder Records, Sam Passamano of Rural Rhythm Records and Tom Riggs of Pinecastle Records.

The first question in this realm we asked was “Have you seen the promotion of singles (via radio play, videos) drive increased CD sales, or primarily the sales of single downloads?”

Sam Passamano, Rural Rhythm Records:

“It takes a total marketing mix containing single airplay, video exposure, album reviews and articles, print advertising, banner ads, general media exposure, retail merchandising program and artist tours to increase CD album and digital album sales. A really good single can go a long way in accomplishing increased CD sales, but you need a real cohesive marketing effort to significantly increase sales. I don’t think there is enough data available right now to actually determine if there is a single download market that will only purchase singles based on new single radio airplay, videos, etc. exposure. This market trend may develop over time but it is too early make this judgment now. “

Ken Irwin, Rounder Records:

“Our video and radio play drives CD sales, not the sale of tracks.”

Dave Freeman, Rebel Records:

“We can’t comment on singles because we don’t produce any conventional singles.”

Tom Riggs, Pinecastle Records:

“Outside of Prime Cuts, we do not service radio with singles, so I do not have anything to add on this question.”

We also asked “Do you see a time when you might go to an entirely digital distribution model – or abandon the album format?” (more…)

We all know that bluegrass music is a performance art, but here’s a story that puts a new twist on that.

Brenda Behr is an artist in the paint and canvas sense of the word. But she also loves bluegrass music. She’s combined these two art forms by arranging to paint bluegrass band Kickin’ Grass while they perform at a fundraiser for people with disabilities.

I have been looking for a venue in which to paint more performing bluegrass musicians…I’ve painted blues musicians for two consecutive years at the Fargo Blues Festival in Fargo, North Dakota. The fans love it, and are very willing to pay on the spot for the watercolors.

Behr has agreed to donate a portion of her profits to help the fundraiser, which is to benefit Bear Creek Center, a not-for-profit center run by RHA Howell Care Centers, supporting and educating 125 people with mental and physical disabilities.

The event will take place on the grounds of Hinnant Family Vineyards located in Pine Level, NC on Saturday, May 10, 2008. Activities will take place between Noon and 6 PM. Admission is $20 per adult, children under 12 are admitted free.

The White Sands Music Festival in Milton, FL will be operating a live webcam from the stage tonight (4/18) and all day Saturday (4/19) while the festival is underway.

Performers include Blue Moon Rising, Gary Waldrep, Nothin’ Fancy and hosts White Sands Panhandle Band among others.

Just visit the festival web site, and you’ll see the link to launch the streaming video.

HT: Mike Kelly, WDVX

The famous Wheeling, West Virginia, radio programme, the Wheeling Jamboree, on WWVA 1170AM, returns the air on Saturday, April 19. The Wheeling Jamboree Inc. will host their first show from John Marshall Center for the Performing Arts in Glen Dale, West Virginia.

On the bill is Bobby Osborne, who comes back to the stage on which he and his brother, Sonny, as the Osborne Brothers, were stalwarts in the 1950s and 1960s. Topping the bill is country star Earl Thomas Conley, a contemporary country music star in the1980s, while also on the show are Bluegrass Express from Eastern Ohio, Logan Wells from Cleveland who does a great tribute to Patsy Cline, and Roger Hoard with the Fabulous Bender Boys.

Bobby Osborne and the Rocky Top X-Press can be heard also on their latest Rounder CD, Bluegrass Melodies (0582).

Tickets for this show are available at Wheeling Jamboree website or by calling 800-875-8702. Show time is 7:00 to 10:oo p.m. (EDT). Doors open at 5:30 pm.

Radio station WWVA aired its first broadcast on December 13, 1926, and like so many radio stations at the time it had its own Barn Dance featuring local music talent, particularly yodelers. Spurred by the success of these live music shows WWVA owner George W. Smith gathered several local musicians, set them up at WWVA’s Hawley Building studios, and broadcast the program as a late-night Saturday Jamboree. The first Wheeling Jamboree took place in the station’s Hawley Building studios in January 1933.

During its very storied history the Wheeling Jamboree has been the home to many fine singers.

Among the early performers were Loye Donald Pack, professionally known as singer/guitarist “Cowboy” Loye; “wandering minstrel” Elmer Crowe and Marshall Jones, the banjo and guitar player who would later achieve fame as Grandpa Jones. These were followed by Doc Williams and his Border Riders, Chickie Williams, Doc’ wife, who became legends on the programme; Lee and Juanita Moore; Dusty Owens; the Clinch Mountain Clan, led by Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper; Everett Lilly; Little Jimmy Dickens; Harold “Hawkshaw” Hawkins; Charlie Louvin; the afore-mentioned Osborne Brothers; Mac Wiseman; the Davis Sisters; the Stanley Brothers; Jim Greer’s Mac-O-Chee Valley Folks; and Brad Paisley, a twelve-year-old when he made his debut.

The programme celebrated its seventieth year of continuous broadcasts in 2003. Only the Grand Ole Opry has had a longer stage run. For millions of country music fans who come to the Capitol Music Hall every year, or who tune in the station on a Saturday night, Jamboree USA is an important piece in the country music tapestry.

The show ran for 72 years, until in 2005, when the Wheeling Capitol Music Hall changed ownership.

Wheeling Jamboree, Inc. is a non-profit corporation established by a group of dedicated individuals who have decided to revive the show, to promote educational opportunities in the music industry and performing arts, and to promote travel and tourism to the Wheeling area.

When looking for a higher education in the area of bluegrass music, there are limited choices. The one I chose was South Plains College in Levelland, TX. One of the things I loved about the school was the close association of the music program with recording program.

East Tennessee State University (ETSU) has a similar program of bluegrass music studies, the Center for Appalachian Studies and Services. Beginning with the fall semester, the students at ETSU will have access to a new recording facility. Plans have been in place for the recording lab since a building on campus was vacated in 1999. Those plans are coming to completion during the 25th anniversary of the bluegrass program.

Associate professor Raymond McLain commented on the new learning opportunities this would present for the students.

From a musician stand point, it will be a good opportunity to learn in a recording environment. It is hard to learn to play the guitar with out a guitar, and it is hard to learn how to record music without a recording lab.

Plans are for one recording class to be taught this coming fall, but the University is still looking for the right person to manage the lab and teach the class (job info). And they are still working to complete the construction phase of the lab. The ceiling has been completed, the sheetrock work is underway but currently on hold so wiring can be completed. School officials predict the overall cost for construction to be somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000. These expenses have largely been paid for by funds raised via the student technology access fee.

Speaking from my own personal experience, those students who are dedicated to earning a living in and around bluegrass music will benefit greatly from this resource. I encourage them to take advantage of the opportunity to learn about the technical side of making music.

The Riverbend Bluegrass Festival in Ocilla, GA begins today, and BluegrassRadio.org will be on hand to record all of the main stage performances this weekend.

Artists to be recorded include Grasstowne, Lou Reid and Carolina, The Chapmans, and more.

The Grasstowne performance will be broadcast on Sunday April 20, 2008 @ 1 PM EDT. Next Saturday, April 26, 2008, BluegrassRadio.org will broadcast the entire main stage performance from all the bands. That will take place starting at 7 PM EDT.

If you don’t have plans Sunday, or next Saturday evening, be sure to attend the Riverbend Bluegrass Festival online at BluegrassRadio.org.

Rebel Records has announced the release in early May of two new collections of music from their archives.

The first of these is The Best Of The Vetco Years from Dave Evans & River Bend (REB-7519) drawn from the LP’s-worth of material Evans recorded for the Cincinnati-based Vetco label. The first, Dave Evans and Riverbend (Vetco LP 3033)- sometimes referred to by the title of the first track on that LP and this CD, Highway 52 - was released in 1979 while the second, Call Me Long Gone (Vetco LP 3036), came during the following year.

Among the songs that Evans recorded for Vetco are Short Life Of Troubles, Barbara Allen, 90 Years - Tis Almost For Life, Dark As A Night, Is It Too Late Now?, Sweeter Than The Flowers, Whitehouse Blues, Legend Of The Johnson Boys and Little Joe, 21 songs in all. The new Dave Evans CD contains 15 of those songs, all 11 tracks from his first LP and four tracks from the second.

Rebel recently acquired the master tapes for the two albums in question from Crosscut Records, who had issued separate CD versions of both titles at one time, but only one of them (Call Me Long Gone) is still currently available. With this acquisition, Rebel Records now controls the masters to all of Dave’s recordings. The CD has been digitally re-mastered and features liner notes from bluegrass biographer and long-time friend of Dave’s, Frank Godbey and the latter’s wife, Marty.

Apropos of nothing really related to this CD, Frank Godbey shares this brief anecdote …..

“I played a couple of shows with Dave in the early 1980s… an interesting thing for a (then-) slender chap to do– ie. stand between Dave and Tommy Cordell… about like a Mini Cooper running between two 18-wheel semi-tractor-trailers on the Autobahn! Well, I exaggerate for emphasis, but they both outweighed me by 75 or 80 pounds or more. They called each other ‘Big ‘un.’ “

The second CD is Larry Sparks’ The Best Of Larry Sparks: Bound To Ride (REB-7522).

The Sparks compilation is produced by David Freeman, while the notes were written by Jon Hartley Fox. Mark Freeman, production co-ordinator at Rebel Records, says this of the new Sparks reissue: (more…)

Carol Beaugard welcomes The Freight Hoppers as her guest today on Lonesome Pine RFD. This exciting old time group is back together after disbanding in 2002 and will perform live on Carol’s show from 11:00 a.m. until noon today (4/18).

Original members Frank Lee (banjo) and David Bass (fiddle) have recruited Thomas Bailey (guitar) and Isaac Deal (bass) for the new iteration of the band, and they are working now on a new CD release for Rounder.

The show is broadcast from 9:00 a.m. to noon on 89.1 FM in the NYC area, and streamed live online at WFDU.fm. It will also be recorded for a later broadcast on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country.

Bradley Walker will be the guest on this week’s edition of Studio Special on XM Satellite Radio’s Bluegrass Junction. Bradley and his band (David Babb - bass, Dustin Benson - guitar, Jenny Gardner - mandolin, Patton Wages - guitar) will join host Kyle Cantrell for an hour of discussion and live music starting this morning (4/18) at 8:00 a.m. (EDT).

Kyle is especially psyched about this week’s show, as it will mark the 50th airing of Studio Special since he came on board at XM.

Bradley’s show will run six times over the next week, starting with this morning’s debut. Here’s the run down (all times EDT).

The Chapmans have launched a new band website. It’s an interactive flash based site that is basically one page with popups for all additional info. It’s not a bad design, but it does use some bandwidth.

The photo gallery was pretty slow to load, and I’m on high-speed, but it was worth it to see papa Chapman in that ten-gallon hat!

The tour schedule feature is pretty cool, but I had to use Firefox to view it. It never would load in Safari. So be aware that your milage may vary depending on your preferred browser. It not only provides dates and locations, but also an animated tour map with a red line tracing their tour route. It’s vaguely reminiscent of the Indian Jones map, but without the plane.

The real unique feature though is Chap TV. If you click on the TV, the popup will load the Chap TV. Chap TV is…well, I’ll let them explain it.

It was an idea that was conceived on one of those really late overnight drives on tour, when Jason decided to pull out his new camcorder and start filming all the excitement. Being dark and all, he put the camera on night mode, and then the light bulb went off in the collective heads of The Chapmans… if millions of people wanted to watch the home video’s of Paris Hilton, maybe they wanted to see some of The Chapmans too. So we started filming every exciting moment out on the road, back stage, riding in the ChapMobile™, in the studio, broke down on the side of the highway. Then we got to thinking how difficult it was gonna be to get all our fans into our living room to watch the footage, and after a failed attempt to get permits to build a 10,000 sq. ft. addition to our house, we decided to build it in cyberspace. Enter Chap-TV.

I’m not sure but that the boys may have overestimated the size and interest of the audience just a bit, but it’s still fun stuff. You’ll also see an occasional appearance by other bluegrassers the Chapmans come into contact with. The single bass jam featuring Jason Chapman along with Justin Carbone and Alan Bartram, was inspiring.

Watch this introductory video. That last question really has me thinking. (more…)

If you’ve not heard The Carolina Chocolate Drops, the young black string band specializing in the piedmont style of old time music, check them out today (3/17) on WDVX’s Blue Plate Special.

The show airs at noon (ET) on WDVX, broadcasting at 102.9 FM in Knoxville, TN - and via live streaming online.

If you need a new coffee mug and you like to watch bluegrass related videos, then Wichita Rutherford has a got a deal for you.

He’s posted this video on his blog. It was made back in the summer of 2006. The local news in Nashville did a story on Wichita and it contains a LOT of bluegrass musicians.

Wichita is offering a free “The Bluegrass Way” coffee mug to the first three people who can tell him the names of all the musicians in the video.

I’ll give one away, the guys pouring of the limo while playing are The Infamous Stringdusters. You’ll have to figure out the rest on your own.

To win you’ll need to visit Wichita’s Blog and email him your list.

Here’s the video…

The Dixie Bee-Liners are understandably excited to see this week’s release of RIPE, their debut project on Pinecastle.

The band is the brainchild of guitarist/vocalist Brandi Hart and mandolinist Buddy Woodward who got the band started in New York. After completing an all-original short form CD, they moved to southwestern Virginia to pursue the music more aggressively. Both write songs for the band, which also includes Rachel Renee Johnson on fiddle, Sam Morrow on banjo, Jonathan Maness on guitar and Jeremy Darrow on bass.

We caught up with co-band leaders Brandi and Buddy for a tag-team interview yesterday.

Brandi: We are absolutely psyched to see RIPE hit the streets! We have been amazingly blessed to have the opportunity to record for Pinecastle and to work with such talented people on this new project. We’re very proud of the record, and I’m thrilled to say that, so far, we’ve gotten a great reaction from DJ’s and fans alike.

I was curious how things look to them now as compared to when they released their self-produced EP/CD.

Brandi: When we released the EP back in 2005, we were doing a lot of dreaming and planning for the future. All we had back then was faith and determination, but we’ve been very lucky: Lots of doors opened up for the band which have allowed those dreams and plans to become a reality in a relatively short period of time.

Buddy: Having a producer, especially one as good as Bil VornDick, made a big difference. Quite aside from the studio wizardry one expects from him, he has a certain name caché…he doesn’t get involved in a project unless he thinks its good, so people that know or know of him are more likely to listen. Also, we have a steady band now, which makes a big difference in the sound. Sam and Rachel are on RIPE, of course, but we’re really looking forward to bringing Jonathan and Jeremy as well into the studio with us next time. Plus, we’ll have the added advantage of working the new songs out on the road first before we record the next one. (more…)

That’s the title of a clever and revealing post published yesterday on the Punch Brothers blog.

The concept is a “fun facts” sort of thing, providing both musical and personal insights that relate to their recent CD, Punch, and its centerpiece, the lengthy, four movement Chris Thile composition, The Blind Leaving The Blind.

2. The lyrics from Part One of The Blind Leaving the Blind’s first movement come not from the perspective of the story’s main character, but rather from its main character’s departing love interest.

5. During rehearsals, the 2/5 of Punch Brothers who play fret-less instruments repeatedly stated that they would prefer for the C# sections of the third movement to be notated in Db, but they were unable to get that through the thick skull of the 1/5 responsible.

9. At first, the chorale-ish section at the end of Nothing, Then (now instrumental tremelo [sic] and pizzicato) was sung, before the band realized that they didn’t really know how to sing chorale-ish sections.

Inside baseball, to be sure, and only likely to appeal to folks who have followed this band closely - like me. If you are one too, the rest may strike your fancy as well.

Festival season has officially begun and this last weekend saw bluegrass fans from all over converging on Farmington, NC for the 1st Annual FarmFest at Farmington Dragway.

Festival organizers tell me the event was a success and plans are already underway for next year.

The lineup for the festival was an impressive list of both regional and national bluegrass acts. Saturday night included a special All-Star Jam including Terry Baucom and Wes Golding, both of whom were members of Boone Creek when the debut album was released 30 years ago. Baucom and Golding were joined on stage by long time musical collaborator Lou Reid, and relative newcomer Josh Williams.

I wish I could have heard that! Cindy Baucom sent along this photo taken by Mike Lane.

In this second installment of our interview series regarding bluegrass music sales, we look at how sales of digital music online are trending in our slice of the recorded music world.

Once again, we spoke with Dave Freeman of Rebel Records, Ken Irwin of Rounder Records, Sam Passamano of Rural Rhythm Records and Tom Riggs of Pinecastle Records.

The question we asked was “What trend do you see in sales of digital downloads versus CDs?”

Sam Passamano, Rural Rhythm Records:

“I really don’t look at it as digital downloads vs. CD’s. I look at digital downloads as a product line extension of the album and part of the product mix in a label’s product delivery network to the music consumer. As CD sales decline due to current down tends in music purchases over the past few years, digital downloads have been a source for additional revenues for labels, as well as, a wonderful exposure vehicle for new release products. It’s exciting to see all the artist and new product exposure opportunities available to the consumer today. Consumers can listen to song clips of the entire album, see the artist’s music videos, read about the artist, listen to artist interviews and read album reviews before they choose to purchase the digital download or CD album. Most major ‘brick & mortar’ retailers now have their own digital download sales sites, so I don’t see this as an either or situation.

I think there is a place for both product lines, in most music consumers’ collections. Digital downloads are great for exploring new artists and new release titles and collecting important individual songs that are special to the consumer. However, there is no substitution having the physical CD product in your collection containing all the packaging photo’s and information the artist wants their fans and listeners to have, which truly makes it a better experience for the consumer.”

Ken Irwin, Rounder Records:

“Industry wide, CDs sales were down 15% and digital was up 50%, 2007 compared to 2006. Rounder’s performance exceeded the industry average in both tracks and album downloads. In general, Rounder sells more album downloads than the industry average as we are not a singles-driven label, and our genres are not singles-driven.

Our album vs single ratio has not changed significantly over recent years and our video and radio play drives CD sales, not the sale of tracks.”

Dave Freeman, Rebel Records:

“We see no reason why digital sales won’t continue to grow and conventional CDs will continue to fade. Much of the digital market is for individual tracks, not entire albums.

All in all we have been very pleased with digital results, which have continued to grow substantially.”

Tom Riggs, Pinecastle Records:

“Downloads in our case are almost all single as opposed to full albums. I think it has always been this way. Overall our digital download sales increased about 40% over ‘06.”

Our next post will examine how these labels view the future of the album format, and how their promotional efforts have changed in the face of a rapidly changing market.

Pete Frostic, mandolinist with Old School Freight Train, has published an instructional book that he feels will benefit students of the mandolin at any level.

Mandolin Technique and Theory For All Levels is an 80 page spiral bound book written in both tablature and standard notation. It includes an audio CD that contains recordings of all the exercises and tunes covered in the book.

Pete has been teaching mandolin privately for the past ten years and carries an impressive load of 50 students. He has started a mandolin program at the University of Virginia, and at the College of William and Mary, where he also leads an Appalachian Music Ensemble.

We asked Pete to describe the book, how he came to write it, and what mandolinists can expect to find therein.

“I wanted to write this book for two reasons. First, I wanted an organized approach for my own students. I wanted them to have it all in one place and not forget what I tell them week to week. Second, I want to help people I don’t work with privately to be able to get to the ‘next level.’ Whether it’s going from beginning to playing tunes… 0r playing tunes to improvising… or improvising bluegrass to more jazz theory. I provide helpful exercises for all of these steps.

People can expect to find exercises and words of wisdom to help at all levels. The book starts at how to hold the pick and where to begin, so that is great for the novice. Many exercises are aimed at getting the player more knowledgeable about soloing. I developed what I call the ‘bluegrass scale,’ which is a great way to improvise over fiddle tunes and vocal melodies. This will help ‘parking lot pickers’ become more confident in their playing. The book also has new approaches to rhythm playing.

Lastly, the book will help advanced players. Many people have gotten to that point where they’d like to play jazz but don’t know how it applies to the mandolin. My book helps puts jazz theory on the mandolin, and breaks it down into manageable concepts.

It also includes a discussion on how to read notation, which many tab-dependent people might want.”

The book/CD set sells for $20 and can be ordered online.

Rounder has put together an online video bio to introduce young mandolin sensation Sierra Hull in preparation for the upcoming release of her debut CD, Secrets, on May 6.

The video mixes interview segments with both Sierra and co-producer Ron Block, with photos, video clips and audio from the new CD.

If you are not familiar with this exciting new artist, take a few minutes and get to know her and her music.

Watch the video on the Rounder site.

Driving my truck to the office this morning I realized I needed to stop and fill the tank. That is a major financial commitment on a vehicle like mine. As I watched the pump quickly soar through the dollar signs, I began to wonder if the rising price of fuel would have any impact on the 2008 bluegrass festival season.

Filling up your vehicle, whether it’s a small car or a motor home, is going to cost more this summer than it did last summer. Will festival attendance be diminished as a result?

You tell me.