There are many things to be thankful for on this day of national celebration. Here at The Bluegrass Blog we’d like to express our thankfulness for a great year of bluegrass music. 2008 gave us some incredible music.

Below we’ve included a poll allowing you to contribute the bluegrass recording you’re most thankful for this year. Please limit your entries to recordings released during the 2008 calendar year.

We’ll let this run for a week or two then we’ll take the top 25 vote getters and present another poll where we can narrow it down the Bluegrass Blog Top Ten Bluegrass Recordings of 2008.

UPDATE: Please submit recordings, not just artist names. Dailey & Vincent is both the artist name and the recording name. Grascals is just the artist name, Keep on Walking is the recording, and should be the submission.

[poll:12]

The LM-700 is a new hand carved, limited-edition F-style mandolin model from The Loar.

The top is made from high quality spruce and hand graduated for thickness. The back and sides are flame maple and the neck is made from a single piece of straight grain maple. Each instrument is finished with a hand-rubbed lacquer finish.

An ebony fingerboard is installed with simple dot inlays, and the headstock overlay features an floral pattern made from both abalone and mother of pearl. The bridge is ebony and the tuners are vintage style Gotohs.

The LM-700 carries a retail price of $1399.99, with a deluxe hard shell case. Only a limited number of these instruments will be made, but no specific number has been announced.

A prototype was displayed at the 2008 IBMA trade show in Nashville, and production models will soon be available through dealers.

By any tradition, Christmas is a season of giving. It is a time when charities seek to raise funds to help those in need, especially during a colder time of the year when many are without a warm meal and place to sleep for the night.

A group of bluegrass musicians in Nashville, spearheaded by Eddie and Martha Adcock, are putting pick to string in an effort to help. The Adcocks have assembled an impressive line up of Nashville based musicians who will gather for a performance at the Station Inn on December 14 to raise money for a Nashville area, faith based charity that provides food and shelter to homeless persons during the coldest part of the year.

Musicians slated to perform include:

Ned Luberecki
Larry Stevenson
Roland White Band
Tim Graves & Cherokee
Dale & Don Wayne Reno
Jimmy Bowen & Santa Fe
Gene Johnson of Diamond Rio
Jack Hicks & Summertown Road
Sam Jackson & the Jackson Gang
Dr. Terry Comer & the Best In Town
Alan Sibley & the Magnolia Ramblers
Randy Waller of the Country Gentlemen
and…
Eddie & Martha Adcock

Suggested donation at the door is $15. Larger amounts will be gratefully accepted. Attendees are encouraged to bring items that individuals and families can use, such as: soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and paste, deodorant, razors, shave cream, combs, personal-size tissues, new socks & underwear, washcloths, sewing kits, pens, pencils and small notebooks.

All proceeds and gifts will be distributed through Room In The Inn.

Anyone who wishes to contribute can make a check out to Room In The Inn and send it to:

Eddie & Martha Adcock
P.O. Box 219
Lebanon TN 37088

iPhone users are accustomed to having a world of information at their fingertips.

Need to find the closest quick-copy center when your out of town on business? No problem. Lost on the highway? Directions are just a click away.

But what if you are in the studio or in a jam, and need to find a voicing for an unfamiliar mandolin chord?

Well, thanks to Charles Dumont, developer of the new iPhone app MandoChords, you can access a mandolin chord speller on your phone. It offers over 1,000 chord diagrams with multiple voicings show across all 12 tones with fingerings. It will even play the chord for you if you aren’t sure about the sound.

MandoChords sells for $1.99 and will work with with iPhone and iPod touch (iPhone 2.1 software). Available in iTunes.

HT: Mandolin Cafe