We caught up with Adam Steffey yesterday and got a few mote details about The Boxcars, the new band he is assembling with Ron Stewart, Keith Garrett, Harold Nixon and John Bowman.

Adam told us that the seeds were sown earlier this year when it became apparent that The Dan Tyminski Band wasn’t going to be active in 2010. That group included Tyminski and Barry Bales, both long time members of Alison Krauss & Union Station, along with Steffey, Stewart and Justin Moses. With AKUS reactivating next year to record and tour, Steffey and Stewart realized that their current employment would be coming to an end.

“Me and Ron had been talking about this for a while. Dan had originally planned to keep touring into 2010, but there were only a few offers (but nothing concrete), and he and I were starting to get a bit skittish about next year. Ron and I wanted to keep playing together, and Dan and Barry had said from the start that their first commitment was with Alison.

So we got together with several configurations, and found one that really works.

Keith Garret is such a powerhouse singer – and a great writer. He’s actually a chemistry teacher just outside of Knoxville, and we weren’t sure that he would be interested. 2010 will probably be mostly weekends, and we can fill his summer up for sure. Keith has talked about wanting to do music full time, so maybe this will be his ticket.

I’ve known John Bowman since we were kids. We worked together in The Isaacs and he, Ron and I, and Harold did a Christmas record together for some friends of ours up in Ohio earlier this year, and we all enjoyed playing together.”

All the new Boxcars are working out their commitments with other acts, and the new group will be heading into the studio in January.

“The chaos is just beginning… This is the worst time of year to organize something, but we’re trying to get together as much as we can, working up material and all that. We need to record a demo by January 15 to apply for an IBMA showcase, and then it’s on to cutting a band CD.

In addition to being a great bass player, Harold Nixon is also our tech guy. He’ll be getting our new web site up shortly.”

Adam says that he will again be teaching mandolin next year at ETSU, and is finishing up a mandolin duo mini-tour this week with Kym Warner of The Greencards. The two of them will be in the studio tomorrow morning (12/11) for an hour with Katy Daley and Lee Michael Demsey, starting at 9:30 a.m. on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country. They will be picking mandolin and chatting about their plans for the coming year.

Listen live at www.bluegrasscountry.org.