Mountain Roads Recordings has announced the signing of Rich In Tradition, a quintet from the Galax, Virginia/Mt Airy, North Carolina, region. The group has already made its mark by providing the backbone in the studio for the recording of the tracks for the latest album from Mountain Roads Recordings, Born Into Bluegrass, the Songs of Cullen Galyean (released October 1).

Rich In Tradition – Jay Adams (banjo and vocals), Mickey Galyean (guitar and vocals), Brad Hiatt (acoustic bass and vocals), Greg Jones (mandolin and vocals) and Tim Martin (fiddle) – combines a century of rich bluegrass and gospel music experience, providing precision picking, great harmonies and a professional presentation.

Individually, the members all have a strong grounding in the music of the area, starting young, learning from the masters and honing their skills in a variety of groups before coming together as a band.

Rich in Tradition has taken 1st place in four out of five fiddler’s conventions that they entered in their first year, including 1st place bluegrass band at the Galax Fiddlers Convention.

Mountain Roads Recordings’ Karl Cooler says…

“Rich In Tradition members are a versatile group with each individual able to play many instruments and perform a variety of vocal parts. Their sound is unique and readily identifiable. Whether they are performing old standards or original songs, their audiences are always wanting more. We are so are happy that we are finally able to have them on-board with us.”

The band’s first release under the Mountain Roads Recordings’ banner is planned for middle of next year.

Visit the band’s MySpace page to listen to some their music.

Jayme Stone picked up another trophy last Saturday (11/21) at the Canadian Folk Music Awards in Ottawa to add to his two previous Juno Awards. Not bad for a banjo player.

He won for World Group of the Year for Africa To Appalachia, his ongoing collaboration with Malian kora player Mansa Sissoko. Both a studio CD and extensive touring have resulted from this cross-cultural musical exchange – not to mention this latest award.

Congratulations!

Jayme tells us that he will tour in the US with a new version of Africa To Appalachia in 2010 (Jayme Stone on banjo, Yacouba Sissoko on kora and vocals, Mike Barnett on fiddle, and Nick Fraser on percussion).

All tour details can be found on Stone’s web site.

Randy Kohrs is the subject of a new video shot by Nashville singer, songwriter and filmmaker Marcel Chagnon, who goes simply by Marcel.

The video captures a stark, solo performance of the song Shallow Grave from Randy’s Old Photograph CD. This shoot had been planned with the intention of just grabbing snippets for use in an upcoming EPK for Randy’s next CD, Quicksand (coming 1/12/10 on Rural Rhythm), but Marcel was so pleased with the result that he made it into a standalone music video.

Nancy Cardwell, Special Projects Director for IBMA, is starting her Thanksgiving holiday on a sour note. Her 1966 D-35 Martin guitar was stolen on Monday (11/23) from her home in Nashville (Donelson area) while she was at work.

She offered this description of the guitar…

“It has a golden colored spruce top, Brazilian rosewood sides and three-piece back. There are some dings on the top edge of the peghead where it was dropped once in 1978. It got crunched in the back of a truck about five years ago, so there is some repair work on a small crack in the back and on the sides where the binding came loose. It has normal wear on the fingerboard and neck.

The most unusual thing about the guitar is that it has two small dot inlays on either end of the bridge, where someone repaired (re-glued the bridge to the body) it in the early ’70s, before my dad bought the instrument. The two screws are covered with inlay dots.

It was in a zip-up black gig bag with shoulder straps on it. The guitar strap was custom made with leather lacing wound around the edges. My name, ‘Nancy,’ was embossed along with a trumpet vine and a hummingbird. A friend made the strap for me when I was playing a Gibson Hummingbird guitar, and the design matches the pick guard design.”

Anyone with information about this guitar is urged to contact Nancy by phone (615-260-4807) or email, or to simply contact Metro Nashville Police (615-862-8600, case # 09-952402).