Following John’s recent post concerning the upcoming release of Africa To Appalachia, the Los Angeles Times Music Blog conducted an interview with Jayme Stone recently.

The interview was published last Thursday. The primary focus is an exploration of the connections between American banjo/folk music and traditional African folk music.

An aspect of the interview I found particularly interesting is the discussion of how traditional African folk music is beginning to disappear due to the influence of more contemporary music forms.

…everyone wants to play electric guitar or drums and listen to rap. Those who have access to those things get affected by it. Sometimes the pop music that makes it over there is the more commercial, less musical stuff, and a lot of tradition is being lost. I met a 70-year-old elder musician in one village who put his hand on my heart and said, “The work you’re doing is so important, and young people aren’t doing it.”

Sounds very similar to sentiments I’ve heard expressed right here in the south-eastern US concerning the current state of bluegrass music in America. Small world…

Audie Blaylock was featured on the front page of the Auburn, IN Evening Star this past Friday (6/20) - but the article had nothing to do with his heralded career in bluegrass music.

It turns out that Audie is not just serious about traditional bluegrass, but classic cars as well. He had driven his pride and joy to the cruise-in in Auburn, IN on Thursday evening, and it caught everyone’s attention.

From the article by Dave Kurtz…

The sound of well-tuned engines was making music to Blaylock’s ears.

“I’m 45. I’ve loved Mustangs since I was 4 years old,” he said, explaining why he chose his car four years ago. “I was looking for a red ’65 … but I really like this one.

“It’s called Acapulco Blue. It’s different, it’s not red or black.”

Read the full piece online.

The 2008 series of Bluegrass Nights At The Ryman begins this Thursday, June 26. The annual summer series of shows staged at the so-called mother church of country music, Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, will include appearances by Vince Gill, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Ralph Stanley and Rhonda Vincent.

Scruggs will open the series on June 26 with the Infamous Stringdusters. While other concerts include Gill and the Steeldrivers (July 3), Rhonda Vincent & the Rage, IIIrd Tyme Out and Dailey & Vincent (July 10), Cherryholmes and Bradley Walker (July 17), Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder with his special guests the Whites (July 24) and Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys and the Grascals on July 31.

Tickets are available for all concerts, full details online.

Tim Carter of The Carter Brothers sent along a couple of photos from the Summer NAMM show, being held in Nashville this weekend.

NAMM (National Association of Music Merchandisers) holds two large trade shows each year, where manufacturers and distributors of products aimed at the music industry display their wares.

Tim visited the show and found himself in a banjo jam at the Nechville booth.

“Banjo’s are blasting in Nashville this weekend for the NAMM Show… Here at the Nechville Banjo booth are Ned Luberecki, myself and Rick Sampson… We gathered a pretty nice crowd for this impromptu jam… I think Nechville sold some banjos after this…”

   

You can find some more coverage of Summer NAMM in The Tennessean, Nashville’s hometown paper.

A number of changes were announced earlier this week regarding the ownership and manufacturing of the ever-so-elusive Calton Cases in North America. These hand-molded fiberglass cases have long been favored by traveling musicians for their ruggedness and superior protection, holding up even when bouncing around in the cargo compartments of airplanes and tour buses.

The company originated in England and has operated under the auspices of founder Keith Calton for more than 35 years. Calton Cases of Canada have had the exclusive rights to manufacture and distribute these heralded cases in North America, but demand has consistently outstripped supply, with wait times running as much as six months.

This past Tuesday (6/17), the company announced that Jim Laffoley, and his newly formed company, Calton Cases (North America), had acquired ownership of all manufacturing assets and the exclusive licensing rights from Calton Cases of Canada. The new company will build a new, expanded manufacturing facility in Moncton, NB in Canada where they will also be based.

Until the new plant is operational, cases will continue to be made in the Calgary, AB facility. The new ownership is hopeful of increasing production substantially once the new plant is up and running.

HT: Mike Bucayu

If you’ve been reading blogs for any amount of time, you’ve probably seen a “Tag Cloud” on one of them. A Tag Cloud takes all the tags used on the blog and generates a visual representation of those tags, more frequently used tags appearing in larger font sizes.

That’s only tags though. This morning I discovered a website called Wordle where you can enter any text you want and it will create something similar for the words you entered. Out of curiosity, I entered the text for the first and second pages of the blog archive, the 40 latest posts. Click the thumbnail to view it full size. This is a wordle, a visual representation of the most frequently used words in our last 40 posts.

If you’ve ever wondered what we post about the most, here’s your answer.

The Mashville Brigade is the guest on this week’s edition of Studio Special on XM Satellite Radio’s Bluegrass Junction.

The show has the band in the studio performing the songs from their Rural Rhythm debut CD, Bluegrass Smash Hits Volume 1, and talking with show host Kyle Cantrell about the band and their new release.

Mashville Brigade is made up of six Nashville-based musicians, each of whom performs primarily as a member of another band - Jim Van Cleve on fiddle (Mountain Heart), Ashby Frank on mandolin (Special Consensus), Darrell Webb on guitar (Rhonda Vincent), Aaron McDaris on banjo (Grascals) and Randy Barnes on bass (NewFound Road).

The Mashville edition of Studio Special actually debuted earlier today (6/20), but it can be heard several more times over the next week (all times EDT).

• Saturday (6/21) - 11:00 a.m.
• Sunday (6/22) - 6:00 p.m.
• Monday (6/23) - 8:00 p.m.
• Tuesday (6/24) - Midnight (technically Wednesday morning)
• Thursday (6/26) - 3:00 p.m.

Bluegrass Junction can be found on XM 14 where they play bluegrass 24/7. If you don’t have XM, but would like to listen to the show, XM offers a free three day pass that allows you full online access to all the stations they offer.

Last night my wife and I were talking about my former life as a crew member for country singer Lorrie Morgan. I don’t know how we got on the topic, but the conversation naturally turned to a discussion of Keith Whitley.

We ended up on YouTube watching Whitley videos. I happened across this one of Keith playing with Ralph Stanley and thought I’d share it here. Keith is singing I Hear A Choo Choo Comin’ in this video. I believe this was taped sometime around 1977, but I’m not sure what this taping was a part of. Besides Keith and Ralph, there are some other notable bluegrass figures on stage who were, at the time, members of Ralph’s band, The Clinch Mountain Boys.

For some reason they have disabled embedding on this particular video, so you’ll have to watch it directly on the YoutTube site.

If you’ll be near your computer, there are a number of online shows you might want to catch today (6/20).

At 11:00 a.m. this morning, Jimmy Gaudreau will join host Carol Beaugard on Lonesome Pine RFD, broadcast from 9:00 a.m. to noon on 89.1 FM in the New York City area. Jimmy is on tour now with Moondi Klein supporting their duo Rebel CD, 2:10 Train. They are opening for Emmylou Harris over the course of her summer tour.

You can find their tour dates on the duo’s web site.

If you aren’t in the NYC area, Lonesome Pine RFD is streamed live online at WFDU.fm.

At noon, The Lovell Sisters will perform live on WDVX’s Blue Plate Special. The show originates from Knoxville, TN and is broadcast in that market at 102.9 FM - and via live streaming online.

Blue Plate Special airs at noon (EDT).

For those who subscribe to Sirius satellite radio, here’s another one worth your attention.

The Infamous Stringdusters will be on Sirius Bluegrass tonight at 8:00 p.m. (EDT). The broadcast will feature a live set recorded last week at Nashville’s Station Inn where the guys run through all of the songs from their new CD, The Infamous Stringdusters, plus a couple of bluegrass favorites.

Should you miss tonight’s show, it will replay on Sirius Bluegrass on Saturday (6/21) at 10:00 p.m. and on Sunday (6/22) at 4:00 p.m. (all times eastern).

Sirius Bluegrass can be found at channel 65 on your Sirius Satellite Radio receiver. They also offer a subscription-based online service, Sirius Internet Radio, and free 3-day trials are offered to non-subscribers.

We just received a note from Josh Swift, resonator guitarist with Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver.

He sent along a mini-travelogue report which will give Doyle’s many fans a look inside a road trip with Quicksilver.

Josh’s tale starts earlier this month…

“We departed Bristol Tennessee on June 5th where we performed in Cullman, AL, then onto Glen Saint Mary, FL on the 6th. We then headed west towards California making a stop in Foley, AL to hit Lamberts Café, home of the thrown rolls - and it became apparent that some of the members can’t catch. Our new fiddler Brandon Godman got initiated into the DL&Q birthday club.

Next stop was San Antonio to visit the Alamo. Richard, our bus driver, decided he wanted a sombrero. Then, it was onto El Paso, TX where Doyle added to his ‘way cool’ boot collection. We spent the day boot shopping.

Along with Doyle, Darren Beachley also added to his colorful boot collection and Brandon Godman started his own.

After drooling over the cool boots, we headed toward the Grand Canyon for a sundown stop at one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Nature was in full force as Key Chang was holding the door of the bus open for Darren Beachley to get a picture of a coyote and as it began to run towards the bus, Key, in a very panicked voice, said ‘Hurry up man - I am shuttin’ this door.’

The next stop was Williams, AZ on historic Route 66. A little local town shopping and doing laundry were in order that day. Then it was on to Victorville, CA for the Huck Finn Jubilee.

We got into town a little early and Carl needed a haircut. Let’s just say he wasn’t too thrilled with the local Barber Shop. We arrived at the show, where DL&Q soon played to a great crowd and even met Mark Twain (well almost).

Next stop was the 33rd annual California Bluegrass Association’s Father‚s Day Bluegrass Festival in Grass Valley. DL&Q closed the show on Saturday night and did a 11am gospel show then a afternoon bluegrass set on Sunday. DL&Q seemed to be a fan favorite at both events and as Doyle says ‘We Love the fans in California and wish we would get out here more often.’

We left Grass Valley last night and are headed toward Nashville, where we will appear on the Grand Ole Opry on Friday June 20th. After playing the Opry, we will be headed toward a Saturday Evening Show in Cherokee, NC that will conclude our 17 Day Coast to Coast tour with DLQ!!!”

You can catch Doyle and the guys on the Friday Grand Ole Opry between 9:30-10:00 p.m. (EDT) on the radio in the Nashville market on WSM AM 650, on XM channel 11 (XM Nashville), and simulcast worldwide via online streaming at wsmonline.com.

Every summer, the town of Kawaguchi in Japan hosts an International Exchange program for young musicians. The young players stay with host Japanese families and are exposed to Japanese culture during their visit, which culminates in the annual Lilia festival in Kawaguchi.

Last year, the members of Donald Grass - a Kawaguchi-based bluegrass band who performs regularly in area schools - asked prominent Japanese bluegrass promoter Saburo “Sab Watanabe” Inoue to become involved in petitioning the Exchange Program to bring young US bluegrass players to Japan for the festival, July 27-28.

The members of Donald Grass came to IBMA’s World Of Bluegrass several times and saw a lot of young pickers enjoying bluegrass there. They thought it’s cool to have those kids for International Exchange program of Kawaguchi. Since Donald Grass is known through their volunteer activity by mayor and city hall officers, they recommended bluegrass kids to the city. Finally for this year, Lilia choose to invite young artists from U.S.A.

Donald Grass asked me to make it happen. So I contacted to Dan and Nancy at IBMA. They were both excited about the plan and introduced me to Bluegrass in the Schools program’s Tom Kopp, and things started last WOB.

We’d like to thank Bridgestone Americas Holdings, Inc and the town of Kawaguchi for the funding.

Nancy Cardwell at IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) tells us that Lilia has invited two young amateur bluegrass groups for 2008, and a band made up from of several exceptional teen professionals.

“IBMA provided a list of high school and college-age based bands we knew of to Sab and the officials in Japan, we helped make the initial contacts to see if they had the dates clear, and then Sab and the gentlemen in Japan selected the groups. During World of Bluegrass last fall, several reps from the city of Kawaguchi and Sab met with Bluegrass in the Schools chair Tom Kopp, Dan Hays and the folks at the Nashville Bridgestone office.”

The amateur bands chosen to participate are the Gallatin County Youth Bluegrass Band of Warsaw, KY (faculty sponsor Kim Samuel) and the Wheeling Park High School Bluegrass Band of Wheeling, WV (faculty sponsor Bob Turbanic). (more…)

I’ve heard some pretty odd things in my time, but I hope this is merely over the top Hyperbole.

The Detroit News ran an article yesterday about careless and distracted drivers, and the danger they present on the road. They give several real world examples and then give several that just can’t be true, like this one.

Typically, a driver crooning love songs into his cell phone while strumming a banjo also will be weaving, speeding or slogging along too slowly. Assuming his driving is adequate, he might get cited anyway for not keeping one hand on the steering wheel.

With a careless-driving citation, the banjo player “might actually win if he tried to fight it,” McKelvey says. It depends on how a judge interprets the definition, “a careless or negligent manner likely to endanger any person or property.”

Of course he’s being “careless” and “negligent” by strumming a banjo rather than learning a 3-finger roll!

NOTE: Terry Baucom is not in the habit of driving while playing the banjo, but he is in the habit of playing the banjo with drive!

While we’re on this bluegrass/baseball theme, here is the video of Punch Brothers performing Take Me Out To The Ballgame on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight show on June 18 which Brance posted about on Tuesday.

Their take on the song is part of an ESPN effort to mark the 100th anniversary of the song’s debut. Nine popular artists will offer their versions and online fan voting will determine the winner. Other artists involved include jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli, country singer Grethen Wilson and 70s/80s rock icons REO Speedwagon.

The online voting will begin on June 29 with a winner announced on July 13.

Chris Thile isn’t the only bluegrass picker with a pure love for baseball. Sam Bush is another, and his fondness for America’s pastime was recently chronicled on the Baseballisms site.

Sam’s video remembrances of growing up playing baseball are especially poignant, as the first was posted just after Fathers Day, and in it Sam fondly remembers his dad, Charlie, who passed away just last week.

In the second video clip, Sam discusses his passion for the St. Louis Cardinals and the mixed feelings he experienced when the Boston Red Sox, his dad’s favorite team, met them in the 2004 World Series.

I suppose I should admit that I also have a lifelong love for baseball. The start of spring training each April is always a happy time, and a reminder that both the baseball and the bluegrass festival seasons are just around the corner.

Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder are taping an episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson today, set to air on July 22.

Mark your calendars and set your TiVos if you aren’t accustomed to stay up this late. The Late Late Show typically airs following The Late Show with David Letterman on CBS at 12:30 a.m. local time.

When Kentucky Thunder banjo picker Jim Mills mentioned the taping yesterday, he suggested that he will be snoring by the time the show comes on. The rest of us can look forward to their appearance on 7/22.

From time to time the banjo makes an appearance in a movie. Opening this Friday, June 20, 2008, The Love Guru, starring Mike Myers, is the latest movie to contain a scene with some bluegrass music and a banjo present.

The song of choice is Foggy Mountain Breakdown. From what I understand, Myers would have used the original Flatt & Scruggs recording, except the demands of surround sound production ruled out that option. They needed a new recording, but one that sounded like the original.

Myers is a fan of the indie powerpop group The Apples in Stereo. Robert Schneider, a member of the group, has a brother-in-law, Craig Morris, who is involved in the Kentucky music scene. When Craig heard of the need for a new recording of Foggy Mountain Breakdown, he suggested The McKendrees, a native Kentucky, bluegrass family band. Schneider stepped in to engineer the recording at Morris’ studio in western Kentucky.

The players on the recording are Josh Coffey (of Bawn in the Mash) on fiddle, Justin McKendree - mandolin, Jason McKendree - banjo, Ricky McKendree - guitar, Ron Barnett - upright bass. Jason told me this inside story about the kick off.

I had to go back in after the initial recording because they wanted a “sneaky 3 note banjo intro” which was very interesting. Craig and I went in one day and recorded about 30 different 3-note intros being as sneaky as we could, so I guess they used one of them. We’re intersted to see how it all turned out.

I guess we’ll have to wait and watch the movie to see just how “sneaky” Jason was able to be. The song is featured during a bar fight scene in the movie, with Schneider making an appearance on screen, as the banjo player. The McKendrees are not visually present in the movie though. From the preview I’m guessing there are no close ups of the banjo/band. It looks like the band is far in the background during the scene, and the music is surely overlaid with dialog, so we’ll have to be intentional about hearing Jason’s contribution.

Still, getting to perform for a movie soundtrack is something of a thrill I’m sure. Jason seems to feel that way.

I’m not sure how close we got it to the original (probably not very…hah), but we recorded the song and they got it back to Mike and the music people for the movie and they loved it, so it all worked out really well and we were thrilled to be a part of it.

Rural Rhythm Records is committed to tradition and progress simultaneously. In an effort to promote all the good bluegrass recordings they are putting out these days, the label has just started their own Bluegrass Radio service. They are calling it Fresh Cuts & Key Tracks.

If you’re a radio DJ, you may have already received a copy of Fresh Cuts & Key Tracks. This CD is a special promotional radio disc including seven new singles from current and upcoming Rural Rhythm releases. The tracks are from these artists: Mountain Heart, Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain, Mashville Brigade, Dwight McCall, Randy Kohrs, Rickey Wasson, and Cody Shuler & Pine Mountain Railroad.

I’m told another disc is underway and scheduled for a mid-July shipment.

If you didn’t receive a copy for your show, visit the Fresh Cuts & Key Tracks web page to see what it’s all about. DJs who did not receive a copy should contact them and request to be added to their radio list.

Fans, keep an ear tuned to your favorite bluegrass radio show and check out the new tracks. We’ve already told you about some of these records, and we’ll be bringing you news of the others as soon as we have it!

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle has put together a series of multimedia portraits of acts performing on the 2008 Rochester Jazz Festival. The act chosen as the highlight from Sunday’s (6/15) performance was the Alison Brown Quartet.

As many of our readers know, Alison is a former banjoist with Alison Krauss & Union Station who now fronts a jazz quartet with her husband, Gary West, on bass, John Burr on piano and Larry Atamanuik on drums. Brown and West also manage the label Compass Records, which focuses on alternative acoustic, Celtic and bluegrass music.

The Democrat and Chronicle piece includes a number of exceptional photographs of the band preparing for and performing a set at the festival with a running voice over by the band members. Each describes their entry into the music world with a few choice reflections on the music as well.

Watch it online (click on Alison’s photo, upper right).

Mandolin master Chris Thile has had a long love affair with America’s favorite pastime. Thile’s great-great-grandfather is Baseball Hall of Famer, Sam Thompson. Thile himself, at one time, hoped to be a ball player. His first solo CD, Leading Off, featured a baseball diamond as part of the graphic content on the cover. His second CD, Stealing Second, also bears out the baseball connection.

Just last week John mentioned to me that he happened to see Chris on Baseball Tonight. Chris was performing solo at the time, but he’s taking the band out to the ball game tomorrow night.

An avowed Cubs fan, Thile is surely aware that 1908 was the last year his beloved Cubs won the World Series. 1908 was also the year the baseball seventh inning stretch anthem, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, was written. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the song, Baseball Tonight is holding a “battle of the bands” event. Nine different musical guests were asked to record a version of the song to air during different episodes of the show. Once all nine have been aired, fans will be able to watch them online and vote for their favorite.

I’m not sure what the winning performance wins, but if you’re a baseball fan and you’re reading this (I’m assuming you’re a bluegrass fan), then make sure you vote for Chris’ band, Punch Brothers. Their performance will be aired tomorrow, Wednesday, June 18, after the Cubs at Tampa Bay game. Let’s hope the Cubs win that game, and Chris wins the contest!

Voting will begin on June 29th. It will be narrowed to three performances on July 6th, and the winner will be announced on July 13th.

Go Punch Brothers (and Cubs)!

We’ve already told you about the upcoming release of Keep On Walkin’ by the Grascals. The release date is July 15, 2008. The has now teamed up with Rounder Records and Takamine Guitars to bring you a special offer.

If you pre-order the CD by July 14, you’ll be entered to win a Takamine (TF360SBG) guitar. It’s an acoustic/electric dreadnought designed with the bluegrass flatpicker in mind. Brad Davis consulted with Takamine on the design of the T Series guitars.

Rounder Records has made three tracks available via online streaming for those who are interested.