Bluegrass on year end lists
As is always the case, the close of each year heralds a slew of “Best Of” lists of every imaginable description. They are a staple in all sorts of news and entertainment media (see our Favorite Bluegrass Recording of 2008 poll), and in addition to filling space in print and online, provide helpful tips for folks looking hunting Christmas gifts for friends and family with specific tastes.
We found a couple recently with bluegrass themes or content.
CMT.com compiled a list of 10 Indie Albums You Might Have Missed, which includes Melonie Cannon’s And The Wheels Turn CD.
One of the most expressive singers in Nashville, and not merely in bluegrass circles, Cannon compels you to listen to these stories of everyday life, whether she’s consoling a new friend or stumbling into love after swearing it would never happen.
Dave Royko has also submitted his annual list of the top bluegrass/newgrass releases of the year for The Chicago Tribune, published yesterday (12/14).
Dave chose:
- Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet, self-titled
- Punch Brothers: Punch
- Corbett/Chrisman/Tice, self-titled
- Ralph Stanley: Old-Time Pickin’‚ÄîA Clawhammer Banjo Collection
- Bela Fleck & the Flecktones: Jingle All the Way
You can read Dave’s comments about each project online.
Email This Post
| Print | Top | 2 Comments
The first single from Melonie Cannon's upcoming project, I Call It Gone, has been released to radio.
The song was written by Marla Cannon-Goodman, Jennifer Hanson and Michael Heeney, and offers the first glimpse at her next CD, And The Wheels Turn, due October 7 on Rural Rhythm.
It tells the story...
Chicago Tribune columnist, and long-time bluegrass fan, David Royko is back with his annual list of the Best Recordings in Bluegrass for 2005. This year's list includes some old and new, as Royko mentions both new releases and a couple of reissues and compilations with older, previously-released material.
As...
The folks at Rural Rhythm Records invited us up to their suite yesterday afternoon (9/29) for a meet-and-greet and scaled-back acoustic set with Melonie Cannon.
The first thing on the agenda was a brief preview of the music video she recently filmed with Willie Nelson. It's for a song of his, Back...
Listen in or drop by the chat room for "Country Unplugged with Uncle Billy Dunbar" on www.worldwidebluegrass.com Tuesday evening 7 Oct, between 7pm and 8pm eastern time as Uncle Billy talk's to Rural Rhythm recording artist Melonie Cannon about her new project "Wheels Keep Turning". During this pre-recorded...
On Wednesday we ran the first part of my discussion with Melonie Cannon, where we discussed her upcoming Rural Rhythm CD, And The Wheels Turn. Here is the remainder of the interview.
Perhaps the chief highlight associated with the new CD for Melonie has been getting to work with Willie Nelson. They...
WNCW 88.7 FM in NC has posted the results of their online voting for the best releases of 2006. The results take the form of Top 100 Lists starting with a comprehensive list and then broken out into genre specific lists. The Bluegrass list is the better part of the way down the page. It contains only...
This Christmas post comes from Cindy and Terry Baucom, our favorite bluegrass power couple. Cindy is the host of Knee Deep In Bluegrass, syndicated to 70 radio stations in the US, and Terry is one of the most widely celebrated bluegrass banjo pickers in the world with a new instructional DVD released...
CMT.com, the online side of cable network CMT (Country Music Television), has posted a list of their Ten Favorite Bluegrass Albums of 2005.
The choices cover an interesting range of styles, and include both new and re-issue projects from legends and newcomers alike. Like any list of this sort, at...
When you hear "Dave" and "Top 10" in the same sentence, most Americans immediately think of late night TV. Precious few of us would think... Uncle Dave Macon.
But that is exactly what The Murfreesboro Post did, publishing The Top 10 facts about Uncle Dave Macon in advance of the annual Uncle Dave...
The Listen Up feature in the April 17th edition of USA TODAY lists the author's top ten music picks for the week. We don't often see straight up bluegrass featured in such lists, so it's nice to see Randy Kohrs on the list this time around.
Randy came in at #10 on the list with the song Shallow Grave....
Leave a comment
Comments are open and unmoderated for our registered users, only your first comment will require approval before publication. Comments do not necessarily reflect the views of The Bluegrass Blog. Obscene, abusive, silly, or annoying remarks may be deleted, but the fact that particular comments remain on the site in no way constitutes an endorsement of their content by The Bluegrass Blog.
Interesting– do any of these albums actually qualify as bluegrass? Or even newgrass? Sure, they all have banjo, but beyond that… even the Ralph Stanley album is clawhammer, which I always took as one of the things that distinguishes old timey from bluegrass.
Don’t get me wrong– these are great albums! But what does it say about the state of bluegrass?
I hear you–for a number of years now, I’ve submitted my year-end piece to the Trib under the heading “Bluegrass/Newgrass” and always wonder what the piece will appear under. This year, it was “FOLK/BLUEGRASS”. So it goes. Here’s the full piece with comments (don’t know if the Trib keeps it up beyond 7 days):
http://www.geocities.com/davidroyko/BestOf2008.html
As for newgrass, I think all but the Stanley disc falls squarely into the “newgrass” catagory, but of course, WINA?
Dave Royko
You must