Yesterday we started the Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain promotional in coordination with the release of their latest recording CHHR2.

Mark Roberts of WearBluegrass.com pointed out that one of the prize packages included tickets to a festival this Saturday, while the promotion won’t end until next Wednesday.

We checked with Wichita about borrowing his Time Machine for the winner to use, but it’s scheduled for some maintenance time in the shop. Apparently Smarty drools a lot…

Accordingly, we updated the promotional prize package with tickets to a festival that ends after the promotion ends.

The two festivals included in the prize packages are now:

• Cumberland County Fair – Crossville, TN – Aug 22, 2008, at 8:00 PM
• Pickin’ in the Panhandle – Hedgesville, WV – Sep 6, 2008, All Day

The original post has been updated to reflect this change. Check there for details about other prizes included in the giveaway, and instructions for entering to win.

Rick Hayes, mandolinist with The Gibson Brothers, will join Carol Beaugard on Friday morning (8/1) for a discussion about his recent CD, Fly By Night.

Carol’s show, Lonesome Pine RFD, is broadcast from 9:00 a.m. to noon (EDT) on 89.1 FM in the NYC area, and streamed live online at WFDU.fm.

Rick will phone in at 10:30 a.m. to talk about his solo project, the latest from The Gibsons, Iron and Diamonds, the handcrafted mandolins he builds, and his recording studio and graphics business.

Busy guy…

WTTW channel 11 in Chicago recently aired a brief (7:30 in length) news story about Noam Pikelny of Punch Brothers. The piece ran as part of their Chicago Tonight programing.

The piece is essentially a short biographical work about Noam. It begins with Noam as a young child, his first experiences with the banjo, his first banjo teacher is briefly interviewed, and follows his career through the latest recording by Punch Brothers.

Chris Thile is interviewed as well and my favorite line from the news piece is uttered by Chris in regards to his writing of The Blind Leaving The Blind knowing that Noam was the banjo player he intended to perform the piece.

I didn’t really have to take what I perceived as the limits of the banjo into consideration.

I’ve embedded their video piece here on The Bluegrass Blog for easy viewing.

Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain will be among the guests on tomorrow afternoon’s Blue Plate Special radio program. The show airs at noon (EDT) on WDVX August 1, broadcasting at 102.9 FM in Knoxville, TN – and via live streaming online.

They will surely be performing songs from their sophomore effort, CHH2, released this week on Rural Rhythm.

String Trek and Coyote Run will also perform on Friday’s show.

After the show on Friday, Carrie and the boys will be heading back to her hometown of Crossville, TN for a big in-store event at Wal-Mart at 6:00 p.m. where they will perform live and sign autographs.

Who says you can’t go home again?