Dale Ann Bradley graces the cover of the latest edition of Bluegrass Unlimited.

The August 2009 issue also includes a lengthy article about Bradley by Larry Nager, which chronicles her career in bluegrass from her early days with the New Coon Creek Girls through her latest compass CD, Don’t Turn Your Back, and her ongoing struggle with diabetes.

There is also a fascinating travelogue written by Dan Loftin, Nashville photographer and teller of tall tales, about his road trip with Jim Mills to shoot some of the pre war banjos for Mills’ book, Gibson’s Original Mastertones: Flathead 5-String Banjos of the 1930s-40s.

Casey Henry has a piece on dance troupe Footworks, and Murphy Henry has one on bluegrass pioneer Gloria Belle. Regular features include the BU personal appearance calendar, Notes & Queries and the monthly National Bluegrass Survey chart, where Lonesome River Band continues their run at #1 with Them Blues from their No Turning Back CD.

In discussing the August issue with BU Managing Editor Sharon McGraw, it came out that this cover is the second of three in a row that will feature female artists – a first from the magazine. Valerie Smith and Becky Buller had the July cover, and Claire Lynch will be there for September.

You can read the cover story on Dale Ann, and find subscription and single issue purchase information on the Bluegrass Unlimited web site.

The fourth and final installment of the Colorado video travelogue from The Infamous Stringdusters has been posted.

This video follows the boys on the last two dates on their CO tour, and a final show in Santa Fe before heading home to Nashville. Along the way, we encounter them on stage, on the road, in an oxygen bar and disrespecting the king of the singing cowboys.

…and a good time was had by all.

There are also some previews of music from upcoming solo projects to be released by band members Chris Pandolfi, Jeremy Garrett and Andy Hall.

Chris Pandolfi has posted the third installment in his video travelogue of The Infamous Stringdusters‘ recent tour through Colorado.

There are clips of the band on stage, as well as snippets of performances from Crooked Still and Jerry Douglas. The big draw is the ski footage, which captures our heroes on the slopes, photographed Wide World Of Sports style – complete with a couple of classic wipeouts.

Our own intrepid correspondent, Richard Thompson [bluegrassmercury], spent a week in Nashville in early October, having traveled from the UK to attend the IBMA convention, accompanied by his wife, Karen. It was their first trip to IBMA in 20 years, and we thought that his post-IBMA impressions and reflections would be of interest both to others who were likewise in attendance, and our many readers who would love to have been there.

Here, Karen adds her thoughts to those Richard shared in his previous Travelogue entries. Read them all here.

bluegrassmercury Travelogue #14
By Karen Thompson
Nashville, Tenn.  Karen’s Travelogue

We flew into Nashville late Thursday afternoon (9/25), stepping from the airport into the outside after being 2 in two airplanes in pressurised conditions for several hours was short-lived bliss, I hadn’t expected it to be so hot at 5 o’clock. But we were soon on an air-conditioned bus heading towards downtown Nashville. After checking at the Holiday Express Inn on Broadway, unpacking etc, etc we (hubby and I) took to the street to explore. It was still very hot and as we walked down Broadway towards Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge familiar and not so familiar sights greeted me.

The last time I was in Nashville was 1981, and for a short time I was transported back to the early 1980s as so much seemed to be the same as it was back then, I was only a mere slip of a girl, had not been married long, and everywhere looked big and new. But now Nashville in the dark (8 at night) looked as though it hadn’t changed much. The sights, sounds and smells all came flooding back to me.

It was only the next morning in the clear light of day when walking the same streets I realized that some things were very much the same and some things had changed significantly. Now we have the Sommett Center and the AT&M (Batman Building), and the Country Music Hall of Fame is now located downtown and the Nashville Convention Center (where I spent most of my time while in Nashville). It is comforting to know we still have the Ryman, Tootsies and Ernest Tubb’s record store still where they were 27 years ago.

When I first came here it was for a the 1981 Country Music Fan Fair, having a week of country music from dawn to dusk. Now older and slightly wiser, bluegrass music is more to my liking (although I still have a love of what I would call more traditional country music – Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Statler Brothers – but hey, didn’t they probably all grow up listening to bluegrass/old time music????) (more…)