Lonesome River Band and Rural Rhythm Records are pleased to announce that the band’s next project will be released on the Arcadia, CA based label.

Though the new CD, No Turning Back, won’t be released until September 9, 2008, a new single from the album is expected in mid-July. The band will celebrate their 26th year by releasing their updated version of Them Blues, a song originally recorded by LRB back in 1984 on their very first album for Rebel Records.

LRB bandleader Sammy Shelor tells us how that song came to be chosen as the single…

“For years I’ve heard Them Blues played in jam sessions and at festival campgrounds based on the original LRB arrangement. It hadn’t been in our show for years, but we put it back in and the audience reaction was so strong that it seemed like an obvious way for us to connect the storied history of the band with our new, re-invented lineup for the next CD.”

Look for Them Blues as the first track on the second edition of Rural Rhythm’s Fresh Cuts & Key Tracks, a radio sampler due to be sent to show hosts and PDs in the next two weeks.

No Turning Back is the first recorded effort by the current edition of this hard-hitting band, featuring Sammy Shelor on banjo, Brandon Rickman on guitar and vocals, Andy Ball on mandolin and vocals, Mike Anglin on bass and Mike Hartgrove on fiddle.

Sammy is happy to see a new direction and a new business partnership in place for this new project.

“I feel like we have re-invented the LRB sound with this band, and I’m really excited about working with these guys – on stage and in the studio.

With a reinvented sound, it seemed like the right time to go a different direction with distribution and marketing, and we couldn’t have made a better choice than Rural Rhythm. All the Passamano family has shown the same seriousness and dedication about their end of the business as we do about ours, and I look forward to what we can accomplish together.

It’s amazing that the band has gone on for 25 years, but you can’t simply rest on your laurels in the music business. We are always looking to the future with Lonesome River Band and can’t wait for all our fans and friends to hear these great new songs on No Turning Back.”

Audio clips will be available soon on the Rural Rhythm site.

Gary Ferguson tells us that he is heading shortly for Ireland, his fourth consecutive July visit to the Emerald Isle.

He’ll have Colin Henry in tow on guitar and resonator guitar, joining Gary on guitar and vocals for the 11 day tour, running July 18-29. Irish vocalist and songwriter Janet Holmes will also perform with Gary and Colin for several shows.

Gary is excited for his Irish fans to get a chance to hear the music from his latest CD, Gary Ferguson and Friends – Live at Podunk, recorded at the Podunk Bluegrass Festival in Connecticut.

The tour stops are as follows:

• July 18 – Seamus Ennis Centre – Naul (w/Mick Hanly)
• July 19 – Saturday Connection with Charlie McGettigan
• July 19 – Bog Lane Theatre (w/Charlie McGettigan)
• July 20 – Ardara Bluegrass Festival – Ardara
• July 21 – McGrory’s – Culdaff
• July 22 – Rodden’s Bar- Buncrana
• July 23 – The Cobblestone – Dublin
• July 25 – Phil Murphy Weekend – Carrig on Bannow
• July 26 – Phil Murphy Weekend – Carrig on Bannow
• July 28 – McDaids – Midleton
• July 29 – Tadghin’s Bar – Ballylinan

Regular readers of The Bluegrass Blog should be accustomed to reading rave reviews here of the work of Ron Stewart. Ron has established himself as perhaps the premier session player in and around bluegrass – on both fiddle and banjo – and a highly sought-after producer as well.

Over the past ten years, he has been a member of The Lynn Morris Band, JD Crowe & The New South with high-profile fill in work with Lonesome River Band. He was the subject of two popular instructional DVDs for AcuTab (banjo and fiddle) and released his own solo CD, Time Stands Still.

Ron is featured on two current CDs, Longview’s Deep In The Mountains where he plays fiddle, and Wheels, the just-released project from Dan Tyminski, on banjo. He has also developed a reputation as a first rate set up man on both instruments, and has long been a go-to-guy for folks looking for restored fiddles for sale.

I have heard Ron expound on banjo set up and construction many times, a knowledge he developed over many years of studying the classic pre-war flatheads, and refined through both examination of and discussion with JD Crowe and his collection of fine flatheads. Now, he has taken his banjo experience to the next step, pairing with builder Warren Yates in the development, set up and marketing of a new line of instruments, the Ron Stewart Signature Series banjos.

Ron shared his thoughts with us recently, explainng what brought him to work with Yates, and describing these new banjos that carry his name.

“I first met Warren Yates in July of 2006 at a show in Morganton, NC, while working with JD Crowe. I was also filling in on banjo with Kenny and Amanda Smith that same day. Warren introduced himself, and showed me a couple of his Rattlesnake banjos. I was impressed with the craftsmanship and the tone of the banjos, so we exchanged contact info, but aside from a couple of emails and a phone conversation or two, didn’t get to know each other really well until the next summer (I had a baby boy due in August, so as many of you know, that first year is, well, really intense and busy!).

I was once again playing in the area in July of ‚Äò07 and Warren and Joel Marley (who works at Yates banjo, inlay) came out to our show, and brought a Studio model Yates for me to play. It blew me away, and we started talking about doing a Ron Stewart model Yates at that time. The Studio model was the banjo I played at IBMA on the Dan Tyminski Band showcase in’07, which I sold to a gentleman in NC when I got my Maple model, which I used to record the new Dan Tyminski Band CD. (more…)