Rounder will be reissuing Tony Trischka’s terrific 1985 banjo album, Hill Country as a remastered CD on October 21.

Tony is viewed as a mainstream guy these days, thanks in no small part to his blockbuster Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular project which hit in early 2007. In the mid-1980s, however, he was noted mostly for his daring, adventurous original banjo music - which was highly experimental and often eschewed by bluegrass purists.

When Hill Country was initially released as an LP, both sides of that argument were left scratching their heads as the music was decidedly bluegrass, both in composition and instrumentation. Tony had chosen both The Johnson Mountain Boys and The Del McCoury Band as his primary rhythm sections, with guest performances from Sam Bush, Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, Mark O’Connor and Béla Fleck.

The tunes still showcased Trischka’s quirky compositional sense, and he seemed energized by the musicians with him in the studio. He had expressed to me at the time how much he had enjoyed the sessions, and the time he spent writing and arranging the material.

This is lively and exciting music, showcasing a number of today’s most notable bluegrass artists before they reached such lofty status as they enjoy now. By all means, make a point to pick this up when it hits in October.

A bonus track is also included, with extensive new liner notes.

WAMU’s Bluegrass Country will be broadcasting live from the IBMA World Of Bluegrass in Nashville next week. Nearly a dozen hosts of WAMU’s online 24/7 bluegrass channel will be on hand sharing the microphone over six days on the air.

Broadcast times will be from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. (EDT) and 6:00-7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday (9/28-10/3), and again on Sunday (10/5) from 6:00-10:00 a.m. (EDT).

Unlike last year’s IBMA broadcast, which interspersed live interviews with pre-recorded music, the live remotes will primarily consist of live, in-studio performances and discussion with top bluegrass artists. The exceptions will be the Thursday afternoon shows which will focus on that night’s upcoming Awards Show, and the history of The Ryman Auditorium and Sunday’s remote broadcast of Stained Glass Bluegrass.

Highlights will include a live a capella set from Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, a trio set from Larry Cordle, Carl Jackson and Jerry Salley, sets from Cherryholmes, Lonesome River Band, Dailey & Vincent and Steep Canyon Rangers.

Oh… and an interview with John and Brance from The Bluegrass Blog on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. (EDT)!

We’ll post the daily schedules each morning from IBMA. You can listen to Bluegrass Country via audio streaming online, and via HD Radio in the Washington DC market (88.5-2).

Be sure to keep an eye on The Bluegrass Blog and an ear on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country throughout IBMA week.

UPDATE 9:48 a.m. We got a note from Jen Hitt at Bluegrass Country to tell us that she and the rest of the staff will be “tweeting” at IBMA as well. Their Twitter address is wamubluegrass.

Charlie Haden is a name that serious jazz fans will recognize, but for folks in the bluegrass an acoustic world, it may not be familiar. With his star-studded new release, Rambling Boy, out this week, you might expect him to gain some new fans in our sphere too.

Haden is a bass player known for his work with Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Keith Jarrett and Pat Metheny - as well as recordings with his own groups and under his name. His music has often been on the leading edge of experimental jazz forms, and his personal politics have infiltrated much of his recorded work.

Despite his hefty jazz credentials, Haden’s first musical experiences involved performing as a child with his parents and uncles as The Haden Family in the 1940s. He started joining the family on the radio when he was just two years old, billed as Little Cowboy Charlie, and continued with the group until he was 15 years old, when a bout with polio damaged his vocal chords.

Charlie continued playing bass, and after attending music school in Los Angeles for a short time, hooked up with some of the hottest west coast jazz players of the day, leading to his stint with Coleman, a move that cemented his standing as a musician.

Now, nearly 70 years since he debuted on the radio, Haden new release hearkens back to his earliest roots, singing the old songs with his family. Rambling Boy, from Charlie Haden, Family & Friends, has him singing with his daughters instead of his parents, along with some big names from all over the music world.

There are 19 tracks on the new project, on which Haden plays bass and sings with daughters, triplets Petra, Rachel and Tanya. Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Bryan Sutton, Russ Barenberg and Stuart Duncan anchor the old time and bluegrass rhythm section, with guest vocalists Ricky Skaggs, Dan Tyminski, Vince Gill, Bruce Hornsby, Roseanne Cash and Elvis Costello featured as well.

Jazz guitar master Pat Metheny also guests on several tracks. (more…)

A while back we told you about the new e digital version of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. Publisher/Editor Dan Miller is now offering a free digital download of the Sept/Oct issue. The download includes both the digital magazine and the accompanying audio tracks.

If you’d like to check out the digital version by taking advantage of this offer, just visit the FlatpickDigital.com subscriptions page, select the Free Trial option (radio button), fill out the fields on that page, and then click the Sign Up bottom at the bottom of the page.

You will immediately be able to download the current (Sept/Oct) issue.

This offer expires on October 7, 2008.

Some of bluegrass music’s top present-day stars will honor Bill Monroe on September 30 in the annual Bill Monroe Bluegrass Celebration, which will take place on Tuesday, September 30 at the Opry House in Nashville.

The Bill Monroe Bluegrass Celebration, presented by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and staged at the Grand Ole Opry will include The Del McCoury Band, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, The Grascals, and Daily & Vincent. Each is among the final nominees for this year’s IBMA Entertainer of the Year award.

Daily & Vincent who burst onto the scene just last year have been nominated for a staggering 10 awards in total, including Vocal Group, Male Vocalist (Dailey), Emerging Artist, Bass Player (Vincent) and Album of the Year for their self-titled debut on Rounder Records.

The Del McCoury Band and Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver have both received four award nominations each.

Also making an appearance are the Infamous Stringdusters, The SteelDrivers, Jesse McReynolds & the Virginia Boys, and James Monroe.

The Infamous Stringdusters have nominations for Instrumental Group while The SteelDrivers are finalists for Album of the Year and Emerging Artist, with band members Mike Henderson and Chris Stapleton in with a chance of taking the Song of the Year title with Drinkin’ Dark Whiskey.

It should be a superb show!

The Opry’s long-standing fall bluegrass show was re-named the Bill Monroe Bluegrass Celebration after Monroe’s death in September 1996.

The event, which starts at 7:00 p.m. (CDT), takes place during the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) World Of Bluegrass event held in Nashville from September 29 to October 5, when, of course, there will be many bluegrass industry people in the city.

Information regarding this and other concerts at the Grand Ole Opry House and ticket arrangements can be found at the Grand Ole Opry website.

Mel Bay Publications has three new instructional books that will be of interest to any of our readers who study the mandolin or fiddle.

The Mel Bay Mandolin Scales Chart is a simple 4 page folded chart which displays common and important scales using fretboard diagrams.

Major, minor, pentatonic, harmonic minor and dorian patterns are included, with examples starting on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings. The chart sells for $4.95.

Getting Into Jazz Mandolin by Ted Eschliman is designed for mandolinists who have an interest in exploring jazz on their chosen instrument.

Eschliman takes you through some basics on using modes and then introduces a number of fretboard patterns that can be used as a basis for the sorts of deviations required by jazz harmony.

An audio CD is included with play-along tracks to accustom the student to common jazz chord changes, and drills are provided to help develop finger strength and control, as well as fretboard knowledge and a broader tonal centers on the mandolin.

The book runs to 112 pages and sells for $19.95.

Ozarks Fiddle Music by Drew Beisswenger and Gordon McCann contains transcriptions for 308 tunes which highlight the playing of 80 influential fiddlers who play in what historians of American folk fiddling describe as the Ozark style.

Each of these fiddlers is profiled with photos and bio, with 30 especially notable players covered in some detail. An audio CD with 37 tunes (many as field recordings) helps demonstrate the nuances of this style, which is considered as a evolutionary link between old time/square dance fiddling and more modern bluegrass and contest style playing.

Ozarks Fiddle Music runs 220 pages, selling for $29.95.

All three will be available wherever Mel Bay products are sold.

Melonie Cannon’s new CD, And The Wheels Turn - her first with Rural Rhythm Records - isn’t due until October 7, but there is a good bit of buzz building up already. A single, I Call It Gone, has been circulated to bluegrass radio and word of a duet video with Willie Nelson has just slipped out.

I had a chance recently to discuss all this with Melonie, and her excitement about the new project was evident throughout our conversation.

“We just wanted to make a record as good or better as the last one. I found a place for my voice that feels like home in acoustic music, and I don’t want to change it. This is the most natural and organic I’ve ever felt about my singing in my life.”

She had one previous self-titled release on Skaggs Family Records in 2004, and my impression of her was based solely on the glamour photos that had been associated with that project. I had expected an urbane, sophisticated woman-of-the-world, but when we first spoke, the voice I heard was as country as they come.

“Lord no… I’m the furthest thing from that glamour image! Shoot, I’m the biggest redneck there is.”

Melonie comes by her music chops naturally. Her dad is Nashville songwriting and producing legend, Buddy Cannon, whose credits include work with Shania Twain, Vern Gosdin and Mel Tillis. She grew up around country music and top country singers, but discovered bluegrass on her own as a girl.

“I was raised in the country world, and that was the music I heard. My dad worked for Mel Tillis when we were young, and I grew up with his kids - Pam Tillis was our baby sitter.

Still, my family had connections to bluegrass from way back. Daddy played in bluegrass bands in Lexington before he started playing country. My great uncle Dalton Tate gave my dad his first guitar, and he was a bluegrasser. He and his friends - all in their 80s - still get together every week to pick and sing.

I went to school with Deanie Richardson [New Coon Creek Girls/Patty Loveless] since first grade, and later married her brother. She started teaching me songs from the bluegrass and folk world when we were teenagers. (more…)

Our friend Tim May has put together a new workshop/camp for guitarists, aimed at providing more personalized, higher level instruction than normally available at camps and workshops. The intention is for intermediate to advanced players to come get three days of intense, personal instruction on skills such improvising, rhythm playing, feeling the time, projection and tone. Instructors will spend time helping students develop learning and practice strategies to take home with them. They will also help students develop a working repertoire of songs in any given style.

Instructors for the workshop are Tim May, Pat Flynn, and Stefan Papasoff. You can find more information about each of these men on the Nashville Guitar Academy website.

The Nashville Guitar Academy will take place Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 through Saturday, October 25, 2008 at the Fiddle & Pick building in Pegram, TN.

Rounder Records is preparing a unique release for a new live album from banjo patriarch Earl Scruggs.

Earl Scruggs with Family & Friends - The Ultimate Collection, Live At The Ryman will be released as an audio CD on November 18, but will be offered as an iTunes exclusive digital download starting on September 30.

The new Scruggs project was recorded at The Ryman Auditorium on June 21, 2007 with his sons Gary and Randy, along with Rob Ickes, Jon Randall, John Jorgenson, Hoot Hester and John Gardner.

Songs were chosen primarily from the classic Flatt & Scruggs catalog, many of which were repeatedly heard from the Ryman stage during the band’s hey day.

In 1969, the duo [Flatt & Scruggs] played their final show at the Ryman. “I knew times were changing and you just can’t play the same old five or six songs for 100 years,” Earl says. “You need to learn a new tune.” Later that year, he reappeared on the Opry with the Earl Scruggs Revue, a band that included sons Gary and Randy and later included son Steve. The Revue blended traditional sounds with innovative country-rock and folk-rock settings.

“It seemed to excite the audience to see me on the stage with my boys,” Earl says. “The whole family practically was onstage. And when the boys came into the group, that’s when I first started realizing real progress, for the first time in years.”

Look for Earl Scruggs with Family & Friends - The Ultimate Collection, Live At The Ryman on iTunes starting next Tuesday (9/30).

Like so many others who work in and around the bluegrass music business, The Bluegrass Blog will be in Nashville next week for the IBMA World of Bluegrass convention.

Both Brance and I will be on site from Monday September 29 to Friday, October 3, and we’ll be posting reports on the various goings-on throughout the week. We will visit the main exhibit area, many of the seminars and meetings, the official IBMA showcases, and the late-night artist showcases.

Regular updates will include photos and videos, posted as we find a few moments throughout each day.

Richard Thompson will also be reporting on his impressions of the many IBMA events, and we will have Tami Roth’s photos from the Awards Show next Thursday as well.

A few highlights to watch for:

• Numerous updates daily covering the many events taking place at the convention center, host hotel and even nearby off-site venues.
• Live blog coverage of the Awards Show on Thursday (10/2). We will be on the floor at The Ryman, posting news of each award as it is announced.
• Red carpet interviews from the pre-show reception. Katy Daley from WAMU’s Bluegrass Country will join us to interview the nominees and bluegrass personalities prior to the show on Thursday evening. Video will be posted as soon as possible, some time on Friday (10/3).

Later this week, we will post information about many of the off-site events sheduled to coincide with the IBMA convention, and even a few that will occur prior to the official kick-off on Monday (9/29). If you are hosting or participating in an event such as this, please be sure that we have information about your plans.

Don’t forget to cast your vote in our 2008 Bluegrass Blog Awards Poll. The poll exactly mirrors the official IBMA awards ballot, and any registered user of The Bluegrass Blog is eligible to vote. Registration is free, quick and easy, and we don’t nag you with emails every few weeks after you register.

Registration is required to ensure that each user can cast only one vote in the poll - our attempt to confer a modicum of credibility on what is admittedly a wholly unscientific sampling of opinion.

Check out our poll and see how your preferences line up with the rest of our readers.

• Vote Now
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Our own intrepid correspondent, Richard Thompson [bluegrassmercury], is on his way to Nashville from the UK to attend the IBMA convention next week. This will be his first trip to IBMA in 20 years, and we thought that his impressions and considerations would be of interest both to others who are likewise preparing to attend, and our many readers who would love be there but are unable to do so.

bluegrassmercury - Travelogue #1
by Richard F Thompson

Like John and Brance, I will be attending the IBMA World of Bluegrass Convention and Fan Fest this year. Recently, I asked John if he would like me to write a Travel Log . He thought that it was an excellent idea. So, here is a note about some of my preparations.

I’ll ignore the mundane aspects, like have I got everything that I need for a Transatlantic trip and 12 days in Nashville?

What I have tried to focus on in the past few days is the timing of the various events that take place during this very busy week. There’s 21 seminars, on subjects ranging from writing Press Releases, Product Endorsement, Emceeing, Substance Abuse, Road -proofing a Relationship and Trends in Independent Record Label Management.

Also, there is a two-day International Summit, with which I have a rare association as I was a member of the panel for the International Seminar - the first such meeting - 20 years ago.

While the World of Bluegrass is a firstly a business conference, the music is still very prominent, with over 20 hours of showcases. During the after-hours showcases there’s a mind-boggling number of bands putting in appearance and in some cases, more than one appearance. I hope that the bands know where they have to be at any given time, because I am having difficulty working out where I want to be.

Of the bands with whom I am not familiar, who should go to see and hear? Are they good? Will I enjoy their brand of bluegrass music? Not to worry, help is at hand. For the third consecutive year Garian Vigil has compiled a WoB Showcase list with hyperlinks so those inquisitive investigators can listen to audio samples. For a copy of the list contact Garian Vigil by email. Good hunting!

I have been listening to Spring Creek, a young Colorado quartet that has recently released their debut album Lonesome Way To - a group that we have noted has now signed with Rebel Records. Their first showcase is on Monday, September 29.

Another band that I have been listening to is Kody Norris & The Watauga Mountain Boys, from Mountain City, Tennessee. 20 year old Norris has toured with Dr Ralph Stanley, singing lead and playing rhythm guitar for a brief time. Some of you may have seen Norris and his band on the ‘Cumberland Highlanders’ show on the RFD-TV channel. Their showcase is early on Saturday morning, October 4. (more…)

The International Bluegrass Music Association has announced a partnership with Sound Healthcare and the National Business Associations to offer affordable heath care options to its professional members. Both group and individual policies will be available, tailored especially for musicians and those who work as 1099 contractors in the music business.

Dan Hays, Executive Director of the IBMA is delighted to see this program in place, something that association members have sought for some time. It is based on ones that have recently been put in place for other similar organizations.

“I wish we could take credit for putting the program together, but thanks go primarily to our colleagues at the Country Music Association who spearheaded the original effort in conjunction with the National Business Association and some significant involvement of Vanderbilt University.”

In fact, most of the work in getting such a program started was done by R.J. Stillwell, director of Sound Healthcare. His company is a general insurance agency and advocacy group specializing in musician’s concerns in this area. He has made it his mission in recent years to help devise and develop health insurance solutions for music professionals.

Stillwell tells us that he started as a musician himself, and has a life-long love for bluegrass music in particular. He has a pedigree as well; he is the nephew of Jake Tulloch, bass player, singer and comedian with Flatt & Scruggs. After coming off the road, Stillwell went into artist management and music publishing, and began working in insurance as well.

He worked for a year on the CMA insurance program, which launched in September of 2007. This same program has since been adopted for use by members of the Gospel Music Association, and now the IBMA.

Individual policies will require normal underwriting, but lower prices are promised based on the national umbrella of a non-profit organization.

Stillwell will speak on Wednesday, October 1 at the showcase luncheon during the IBMA World of Bluegrass event, and he and other Sound Healthcare representatives will be available in the exhibit hall later that day and on Thursday (10/2) to discuss policy options with members.

“This has been the most gratifying experience of my professional life, merging my passion for music and musicians with my work in the insurance field.”

Some further details are available online.

Could picking the banjo be the answer to your investment concerns? Possibly.

Everyone, I’m guessing even bluegrass fans, who is invested in the market got a bit worried last week when things went topsy turvy. This morning I was browsing the internet and found a story on the UK site Investors Chronicle, suggesting that taking up the banjo might help ease your concerns.

The argument is, that if you had spent your free time last week practicing the banjo instead of watching the market, you could have looked at the market on Friday and not been all that worried. I just thought it was interesting that the author of the story chose the banjo as a good alternative to worrying about investments. And if you invested in a pre-war banjo, you could doubly enjoy your investment!

I know I should have spent more time practicing my guitar last week! Maybe I’ll take this guy’s advice.

Applications are now being accepted for bands wishing to perform at the 2009 European World Of Bluegrass.

The festival runs from May 21-23, 2009 in Voorthuizen, Netherlands and is a rough equivalent to the IBMA Fan Fest held at the conclusion of their annual convention in Nashville. EWOB is seen as the big wrap up of the European Bluegrass Music Association’s month-long celebration of May as Bluegrass Music Month throughout Europe.

To be considered for ‘09, applications (including 4 audio CDs, band bios and a band photo) must be received by November 20, 2008.

Application details and forms can be found on the EWOB web site.

Recently the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) announced the names of the two inductees to the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame for 2008. In the living performer category is singer/guitarist Bill Clifton, the first international ambassador for bluegrass music.

Born William Marburg on April 5, 1931, in Riverwood, Maryland. Bill Clifton began his music career in March 1950, working on radio station WINA in Charlottesville, Virginia. Later he performed at local barn dances while a student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where in 1954 he earned a BA degree and in 1959 he added a MA degree, graduating at the university’s Graduate School of Business Administration.

He formed The Dixie Mountain Boys in June 1953, recording in 1954 for the Blue Ridge label, and later for the Mercury and Kapps labels. Starday and its budget label, Nashville Records, also released a number of singles and a total of seven LPs by Bill Clifton & The Dixie Mountain Boys from 1957-1963. Band members included Paul Clayton, David Sadler, Johnny Clark, Curley Lambert and George Shuffler. During this period Clifton was also active in organizational and promotional work with events such as the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. He is also responsible for organizing one of the very early single-day, multi-artist outdoor bluegrass events held at Luray, Virginia, on July 4, 1961.

Clifton moved to southern England in 1963, about the time his Starday contract ended. He had built a sizable following overseas through his TV appearances, recordings and at the many folk clubs throughout England. He coached a group of Kent schoolboys who had got together to play bluegrass under the name, the Echo Mountain Band.

He organized many folk clubs throughout Europe, promoting and greatly expanding the market for American bluegrass and folk music on the continent. In 1975 the newly formed Bear Family record company made their release, the collaboration between Clifton and the Country Gentlemen, Mike Seeger, Roy and Paul Justice, Going Back To Dixie, the first with the three bears label.

In that same year Clifton was instrumental in the organization of Bill Monroe’s tour of Europe. Clifton’s work has created a fan base that has endured and continues to benefit bluegrass artists touring in the continent. (more…)

Earlier this month (September 12-13) Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder was among the headliners at the Gstaad Country Night festival in Switzerland. Since 1989 this event has brought top American acts, and European artists who perform American music, to Swiss audiences.

We got a note recently from a reader, Tom Desiderio, just returned from a visit in Switzerland, and he shared his perspective as an American bluegrass fan attending a show in Europe.

“I was in Switzerland visiting my daughter along with my wife and son and my daughter surprised me with tickets to the Gstaad Country Night festival that featured Clint Black, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder and other acts. It was interesting seeing country fans from Europe but they are there, not just in the USA.

When Ricky Skaggs performed Bluegrass Breakdown, the place erupted in applause and stomping. They were so impressed with the talent, even Ricky was surprised at the response of the crowd. Most songs were followed by long periods of applause. I have been to many of his concerts in Virginia and never have heard such a response to his music. When I went to the concert, I felt that bluegrass music would not be welcomed as much as country music, but I was definitely wrong.

Thanks to Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for their amazing talent and contribution to bluegrass music.”

And thanks to Tom for sharing his impressions.

Speaking of Ricky Skaggs, he will be featured on the next Track-By-Track show on XM satellite Radio’s Bluegrass Junction. He and host Kyle Cantrell will play each track in order from his most recent release, Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass - Tribute to 1946 and 1947, interspersed with Ricky’s recollections and thoughts about the project and the individual songs.

The CD, released in March 0f 2008, has Ricky and his crack band running through songs recorded by the “original bluegrass band” of Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Chubby Wise and Howard Watts during their first recording sessions.

The Skaggs Track-By-Track show debuts on Tuesday (9/23) at 8:00 a.m. (EDT) on XM track 14, with rebroadcasts scheduled over the next two weeks.

• Tuesday, 9/23 - 8:00 a.m.
• Friday, 9/26 - 7:00 p.m.
• Sunday, 9/28 - 12:00 Noon
• Wednesday, 10/1 - 4:00 p.m.

On my personal list of bluegrass artists who rarely get the exposure and credit they deserve, songwriter Chris Stuart’s name is always prominent. Songwriters generally toil in the shadows, and folks in the business are among the few who keep up with who has written what.

Chris currently has two songs on the Bluegrass Unlimited National Bluegrass Survey in September, both recorded by notable bluegrass artists - Larry Cordle’s version of First Train Robbery, and the Danny Paisley cut of Don’t Throw Mama’s Flowers Away, co-written with Ivan Rosenberg.

There is also a Stuart song, Farewell for a Little While, on the new Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper CD.

He also records and performs with his band, Chris Stuart & Backcountry, and they have a new CD which features 10 of his new compositions. Crooked Man is their first release in several years, with Chris on guitar and vocals, Janet Beazley on banjo and vocals, Austin Ward on bass, Christian Ward on fiddle and Eric Uglum on guitar and mandolin.

Chris shared a few words about the new CD…

“Originally, we were going to just do digital singles, but as we got into writing the songs and recording, we realized that there was a unifying theme. The band decided that we would release a full album project of thirteen songs, and sell it as an album for a few weeks until it shows up on iTunes and the other digital download sites.

The theme is about aging, which I guess is ironic since we have a couple of teenagers in the band. But hey, I turned fifty this year!”

Bandmates Beazley and Ward also have original songs on Crooked Man. All of the material is tuneful, with lyrics that stand out for their maturity and thoughtfulness. The performances are top flight as well, with both the singers and the pickers shining in turn on music that runs from modern bluegrass to Celtic, with plenty of authentic American acoustic music in between.

Audio samples, lyrics and photos from the sessions can be found on Chris’ web site, along with online ordering.

The winners of the instrument contests at the 2008 Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS have been announced.

Here are a few highlights.

Flatpick Guitar

• 1st place: Tyler Grant - Nashville, TN
• 2nd place: Allen Shadd - Fort Mill, SC
• 3rd place: Brandon Davis - Indpendence, VA

Bluegrass Banjo

• 1st place: Steve Moore - Bethesda, OH
• 2nd place: Sonny Smith - Newmarket, TN
• 3rd place: Brett Martin - Auburn, AL

Mandolin

• 1st place: Josh Hungate - Kearney, MO
• 2nd place: Josh Bailey - Victoria, TX
• 3rd place: Scott Pearson - Warren, PA

You can see the winners in all the various contests, and more details about them and their prizes on the official Winfield web site.

We got a note from Ned Luberecki of Sirius Bluegrass this morning.

He’s at the Winfield festival, preparing to head home, and he and his Sirius cohort, Chris Jones, plan to shake things up a bit with today’s lineup.

“At 12 Noon today (Monday) Chris Jones and I will begin what we expect to be a 12 hour straight broadcast from the van on our way home from Winfield, KS to Nashville, TN. We’ve only done the moving broadcast a couple of times before, but never for this long. I am filling in for Joey Black’s afternoon shift this week (he’s on vacation) while Wade Jessen is filling in for me on the morning show.

Listeners can tune in and hear our progress along the way. If anyone is unfamiliar with what it’s like to travel 12 hours with a bluegrass band… this could give some valuable insight! Or it just might be goofy and fun.”

You can follow Ned and Chris’ excellent adventure on Sirius channel 65.

The New Essex Bluegrass Band has released its first CD, entitled Hot Off The Press.

The New Essex Bluegrass Band has been in existence since 1994 and has been one of the UK’s most popular traditional bluegrass acts from the beginning. Typical of bluegrass the band has experienced many personnel changes in its 14 year existence. The present line-up is Paul Brewer (guitar, lead and baritone vocals), Terry Hymers (mandolin, tenor vocals), Mike Stanhope (bass, lead and baritone vocals), Grahame Turner (banjo) and Greg Smith (fiddle). However, the banjo player heard on Hot Off The Press is Dixon Smith, currently back in his native USA, playing with GrassKickers from Fresno, California.

The CD has been more than a year in the making and contains a mixture of the songs that the New Essex Bluegrass Band has played since it was founded, plus some more recently learned material.

All the material, except for the Louvin Brothers’ song The Angels Rejoiced Last Night, has been part of the bluegrass catalogue for some time or other. There are a couple of Monroe numbers, one from the early days, True Life Blues, and a tune from the Kenny Baker era, Lonesome Moonlight Waltz. Two other classics are The Lonesome River and I’ll Take The Blame. Alongside these are two songs associated with Jimmy Martin, Pretending I Don’t Care and That’s How I Can Count On You.

Of more recent vintage are Keith Little’s Till The Day I Die, the Jonathan Edwards song that he recorded with the Seldom Scene, How Long Have I Been Waiting For You, the quartet written by Keith Whitley and learned from Chris Jones, Zion’s Hill and another Gospel song, Solid Rock, from the Lonesome River Band’s repertoire.

The album begins with a favorite from Joe Val, a very popular visitor to the UK, namely Cold Wind. Strangely, the most obscure song to be included is the title track, brought to the band by Smith, who had recorded when with an earlier band, Hybrid Grass.

In all the CD features 18 tracks and samples of some can be accessed from the band’s web site, from whence more information about the band can also be found.

Here is a You Tube video of them performing the aforementioned Till The Day I Die.