The long-awaited concert DVD release from IIIrd Tyme Out is finally available. The video is the companion to their recent live CD, Round III at the MAC, filmed during the same concert performance in November 2005 at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonburg, KY.

You can pick up the DVD at any of their live shows, but the band doesn’t yet have it in their online store. If you would like to order one directly, they ask that you contact them from their web site for ordering details.

There will also be a IIIrd Tyme Out compilation CD from Rounder Records in the near future, Footprints, which will include tracks from their several Rounder releases, and a couple of new ones as well. Among them, unsurprisingly, will be Russell Moore’s rendition of Bill Monroe’s Footprints In The Snow, the song he performed on last Thursday night’s IBMA Awards show.

The complete track listing for Footprints includes:

Earlier this evening John and I had the opportunity to attend the official screening of the 30 minute video Four Days Of Infamy. The video was produced by Craig Havighurst of String Theory Media and takes the viewer on the road with The Infamous Stringdusters.

The event was hosted by Sugar Hill Records and even though we’d seen the video here, I must admit there is just something about seeing a video on the big screen.

We’ve posted it before, but with the excitement rekindled, we decided to post it again for those of you who missed it the first time around. Just click the play button and join The Infamous Stringdusters on a 4 day Colorado tour, for Four Days Of Infamy.

Located in Rochester, NY, the George Eastman House is a museum of photography and film housed in the mansion of the late George Eastman, the founder of Eastman Kodak Company. The museum is an independent non-profit, dedicated to educating people in the history of photography and motion pictures. The building itself, built between 1902 and 1905, is a National Historic Landmark.

Beginning this Friday, September 14, 2007, and running through the weekend, the museum will present a three day music and film festival called Reels and Reels. The three day event includes an exhibition of rare banjos at the museum on Friday, a claw hammer style banjo workshop on Saturday, and an all day music festival on Sunday. In addition to these activities, Friday and Saturday the museum will be showing ongoing film screenings featuring traditional American String-band performers, with a focus on the banjo, in the Curtis Theatre.

Sunday morning before the concerts get underway, Bob Carlin will present a lecture on his new book The Birth of the Banjo. Carlin will be headlining the concert event later that evening.

The concert is being produced jointly by the George Eastman House and Bernunzio Vintage Instruments.

More information is available, and tickets can be purchased, online at the museum’s website.

As promised, here is the full 30 minute documentary on The Infamous Stringdusters, Four Days Of Infamy.

It was created by Nashville filmmaker Craig Havighurst of String Theory Media, and shot during a four day Colorado tour he took with the band in March. Craig shot the band on stage, backstage, in rehearsal - and traveling in the van - to compile a revealing look at this dynamic young bluegrass group.

You’ll see them perform at several CO venues, and catch interviews with each of the band’s members. John Cowan narrates, and we hope you will watch the whole thing.

Thanks to Sugar Hill Records and The Dusters for choosing The Bluegrass Blog to debut this video online.

In addition to the new Charlie Sizemore CD we highlighted yesterday, there are several other notable bluegrass projects released on August 14 that are worthy of your attention.

New from Rebel is Lovin’ Pretty Women from The Steep Canyon Rangers. We have mentioned this project a number of times recently, and now that it is available widely, we expect it will get a lot of attention. Clever songwriting and crisp execution mark this CD as a keeper.

You can hear audio samples on the band’s MySpace page, or check out their video bio with both live clips and CD audio.

Sugar Hill has SCENEchronized, the first new set from Seldom Scene in quite some time. Both long time fans and followers of a newer vintage should enjoy this CD. Even with Ben Eldridge as the lone original member, the song selections, arrangements and performances all bear the hallmarks that have set this band apart for more than 30 years.

More details on SCENEchronized can be found in our earlier post, and audio samples can be found in iTunes.

Also from Sugar Hill comes Sam Bush’s first live concert DVD, On The Road. It was recorded last August in Colorado, and features The Sam Bush Band in their element - live on stage. Featured are Scott Vestal on banjo (and banjo synth), Byron House on bass, Stephen Mougin on guitar, Chris Brown on drums, and Bush on mandolin, fiddle and lead vocals.

I could not find any video clips online, but there is a full track listing on Sam’s web site.

The Lewis Family is planning a family reunion on video - live concert video that is.

The Andy Griffith Playhouse in Mt. Airy, NC will be the scene for two days of live concerts September 28-29 featuring The Lewis Family, Jeff & Sheri Easter, and The Easter Brothers. Both shows will be recorded on video for a DVD release.

Jeff Easter grew up singing with his family, and Sherri sang with The Lewis Family. The three groups will also collaborate on a joint CD project, We Are Family, due for a fall ‘o7 release.

Find more details on The Lewis Family web site.

The Country Music Hall Of Fame And Museum in Nashville has announced that the next two volumes of the Best Of Flatt & Scruggs TV Show will be released on DVD October 9, 2007. Like the first two volumes which came out this past March, each of these new DVDs will features a pair of Flatt & Scruggs TV shows, originally aired in 1961 and ‘62.

From the August 2 press release:

Until the late 1980s, it was believed that no copies of this groundbreaking series had survived. In 1989, however, advertising executive Bill Graham discovered and donated to the Museum 24 intact shows. Soon after, 12 more were acquired from another source. The shows were innovative on several levels: Each show’s mix of uptempo tunes, comedy bits, spotlight instrumentals and occasional guest performances was a template that subsequent country variety shows would follow. Additionally, the Martha White in-show advertising and accompanying cooking demonstrations were precursors to modern product placement.

Titled Flatt & Scruggs Grand Ole Opry, the show ran from 1955 until 1969, when the pair ended their partnership to take separate musical paths. These shows illustrate the band’s greatness as a well-oiled performing unit. “Those were good years,” Scruggs said of the era captured on these programs. “Basically, we had a good time with each other…There’s nothing like that on the air now, I don’t reckon.”

Volume 3 promises two guest performances by Ricky Skaggs at seven years old, trading licks with Scruggs on Foggy Mountain Special, and singing his version of The Osborne Brothers hit Ruby. Volume 4 has the television debut of Randy Scruggs, performing on autoharp.

Of course, both DVDs are bursting at the seams with classic Flatt & Scruggs performances. A detailed description of each volume can be found on the CMHOF site.

They will be released jointly by Shanachie Entertainment and the Country Music Hall Of Fame, who have also announced that the four final sets of shows will be available in 2008.

The first two volumes have been warmly received by bluegrass lovers all over the world, and these next ones are not likely to disappoint.

Some time ago a documentary film about the Station Inn was produced by a friend of mine in Nashville. That film has yet to find it’s way to DVD, but it is in the process. Nathan emailed me yesterday to let me know he had posted a trailer for the documentary online at YouTube.com.

He is still seeking some financial backing for the DVD release, but said he hopes to release the project soon, and eventually even see it broadcast on PBS.

The video features a great many bluegrass performers including appearances by Vince Gill, Del McCoury, Tim O’Brien, Peter Rowan and Vassar Clements. If you’re interested, take 4 minutes and give it a watch.

Jimbo Whaley has a combo CD/DVD project set for release this weekend, An Evening With Jimbo Whaley & Friends. It was recorded (filmed) live at the Smith Family Theater in Pigeon Forge, TN in March of this year, and the new release includes both an audio CD and a concert DVD of the show.

Whaley was a founding member of Pine Mountain Railroad, and performs now with Greenbrier. His songwriting and vocals were a distinctive part of the early PMR sound, and are the feature on the new live release as well.

An Evening With Jimbo Whaley & Friends will be officially released on May 19, where he and Greenbrier will be appearing at the Bloomin’ BBQ and Bluegrass Festival in Sevierville, TN.

Bob Taylor, the man behind the immensely popular Taylor Guitars, is the subject of a new documentary-style DVD distributed by Mel Bay Publications.

It’s part of their new Instrumental Innovators series, which profiles instrument makers who have had a major impact on the industry. Dave Smith, Stuart Spector and Paul Reed Smith are also included in the series to date.

The Bob Taylor DVD features a lengthy interview with Taylor, and a factory tour with his commentary, along with an overview of the history of Taylor Guitars. He also discusses his newest venture, R. Taylor Guitars, a separate company that builds handmade, luthier-quality guitars in limited production.

Bob Taylor, Instrumental Innovator should be available wherever Mel Bay products are sold, or directly from their web site.

Those interested in festival documentaries will soon have another title to add to their collection. The Bradstock XIII festival that took place on the grounds of the Long Island Maritime Museum over Labor Day weekend 2006, was filmed and is now being edited as a documentary video.

The festival is a benefit that raises money for the museum along with several other local charities. The festival was not bluegrass in nature but did feature one bluegrass band, Buddy Merriam & Back Roads. The trailer for the upcoming documentary features the band on an instrumental number entitled The Spirit of Rosine. The trailer is available online here.

No word yet on when the finished documentary will be available, but we’ll let you know as soon as we find out.

Just for fun here a video from YouTube of Tony Rice playing Shenandoah. This performance is taken from the DVD Bluegrass Journey. And, from what I can tell, was posted to YouTube by the producers.

Hat tip: Fretboard Journal

H. Russell Farmer (Russ), had spent the last 30 years producing and directing programming for Kentucky Educational Television (KET), one of the largest public/educational TV networks in the country. Numerous broadcasting awards have come his way, and bluegrass fans are in his debt for producing Jubilee, a KET series which filmed live festival performances in the state of Kentucky. The show has been widely syndicated throughout the public television network, and seen all over the United States over its ten year history.

Both at the start of his career at KET, and now in his retirement, Farmer’s professional life has been influenced by the music of JD Crowe. He tells this story of a day shortly after he started at KET as an assistant director in 1975.

“One of the television directors at the time called me in my office one morning and asked if I were busy. I wasn’t. He had a group of musicians in the studio who were recording a program for KET’s first annual Tele-Fund. The Floor Director, the person in the studio in control of starting and stopping the action, was having some degree of trouble being heard over the musicians and would I come down and give them a hand. I did.

The band in the studio that day was J.D. Crowe and The New South which featured arguably the best bluegrass pickers that ever were: J.D. Crowe, Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Douglas and Bobby Slone. All the guys were great that day and I enjoyed very much working with them. We recorded all that day and I had a great time watching and listening between my duties as Floor Director.”

The videotape of that fine performance - with the pompadour hair and the shiny shirts - became an underground treasure, and was available commercially for a time on VHS. For many folks, watching this video is the only chance they’ll ever have to see the groundbreaking band live.

Last fall, just a few years into his retirement from KET, Russ started a conversation with Crowe that has led to plans for him to create a documentary about the life and times of JD Crowe. It will be funded by the KET Independent Production Grant, offered to qualified independent Kentucky film producers who wish to create a project about Kentucky subjects.

When completed, it will be aired on KET-affiliated stations in KY, and hopefully licensed for distribution to other public television properties through the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA).

We had the opportunity to conduct a lengthy interview with Russ about this project, here he shared his goals and vision for this film, and how you can help! Please read the whole interview if you are interested in this Crowe documentary.

Q. What led you to pursue this concept for a documentary?

A. I love bluegrass music. During the thirty years I worked for KET, I had the chance to work in the field of music quite a bit. I had co-produced a biography of Kentucky folk artist, Jean Ritchie titled “Mountain Born: The Jean Ritchie Story”. It had turned out really well and I had proposed a series of programs at KET which would be titled, “Mountain Born: The _______________Story.” KET was never able to fund that proposed series and I guess I carried the idea all those years. After retiring, I was looking for a project to do and since J.D. Crowe was a neighbor and I had become acquainted with him over the years, it was only natural I gravitated toward doing a similar project with him.

Q. Will Crowe be involved in the making of the film.

A. Yes, J.D. was of course the first person I asked about the project. (more…)

The International Bluegrass Music Museum is taking their Video Oral History Project (VOHP) to the high seas this summer. The VOHP is a series of film documentaries about first generation bluegrass musicians. The films will be shown and hosted by Fletcher Bright, the museum’s national chairman, onboard the Carnival cruise ship Victory from May 28 through June 2, 2007 as part of the Bluegrass Jamming Cruise.

The cruise is being put together by the IBMM, Carnival Cruise Lines, ibluegrass.com, WAMU, bluegrasscountry.org, Caybe Consulting, and bluegrass artist Abigail Moore. The ship sails from Charleston, SC to Nassau, Bahamas and then back again.

Events on the cruise include the screening of the VOHP films, instrument workshops, private lessons, and live shows. Instructors/performers for the cruise include:

• Jimmy Heffernan: dobro
• Abigail Moore: fiddle
• Tony Brewer: guitar and mandolin
• Cheryl Chunn: fiddle
• Dennis Bottoms: banjo
• Fletcher Bright: fiddle

Also onboard will be Russ and Becky Jeffers from the Grand Ole Opry, Alex Leach from WDVX-Knoxville, and Daniel Boner who teaches in the ETSU music program.
More information can found online at jammingcruise.com.

Rounder Records has announced the imminent release of A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection, from Alison Krauss, due on April 3, 2007. This new compilation will feature 16 tracks which showcase Alison’s work outside of her recordings as a solo artist, or with her long time band, Alison Krauss & Union Station.

It will include her contributions to a number of movie soundtracks. Two from Cold Mountain will be on the CD (The Scarlet Tide and You Will Be My Ain True Love), along with I Give You To His Heart from The Price Of Egypt, Down To The River To Pray from O Brother, Where Art Thou, and her cover of Baby Mine from Walt Disney’s Dumbo DVD re-release.

Several duets Alison has sung with other popular artists are here, such as the brilliant Whiskey Lullaby with Brad Paisley, I’m not Missing You with John Waite, How’s The World Treating You with James Taylor and a previously unreleased duet, again with John Waite, on Lay Down Beside Me.

One to excite bluegrass fans is her live version of Sawing On The Strings from the 2004 CMT Flameworthy Awards show, which featured Tony Rice and a cast of bluegrass all stars.

Four other previously unreleased tracks are included on which Alison is listed as producer, but it isn’t clear whether she is a featured performer on these songs. As soon as we get clarification on that from Rounder, we’ll post an update.

Here’s another post from our all-the-more regular contributor, Richard Thompson. He writes from England, where he is also a longstanding contributor to British Bluegrass News, a quarterly print publication where he also briefly served as editor.

The four-piece progressive bluegrass/jam band from Colorado, Yonder Mountain String Band, has announced their first ever live pay-per-view Webcast from the Pageant Theatre, St Louis, to take place on Saturday, February 24 at 8.00pm.

The band consists of Dave Johnson, banjo and vocals; Jeff Austin, mandolin and vocals; Ben Kaufmann, bass and vocals; and Adam Aijala, guitar and vocals, and has been building a fine reputation in their field ever since their formation in December 1988. Their discography is remarkable for the number of ‘live’ recordings that are among the studio sets that they have released. The live albums, all in the “Mountain Tracks” series, now numbers four volumes, the latest of which was released in February last year. All, along with most of the band’s studio albums, can be found on their own Frog Pad Records label. Producers of the Yonder Mountain String Band albums include Sally Van Meter and Tim O’Brien.

Typical of jam bands the Yonder Mountain String Band allow, even encourage, audience members to record and share recordings of their live performances.

To take advantage of this exciting new visual and audio opportunity visit the band’s website where you can register and pre-order the show using the Beta iClips Network facility. Unfortunately, the webcast is not compatible with Macs. It can only run on a computer where Windows is the sole, native OS. Not even an Intel Mac runinng Windows (via Boot Camp or Parallels Desktop) will be able to view this webcast.

The Yonder Mountain String Band website has details of their tour dates for the coming months also.

Pinecastle has wonderful news for fans of The Osborne Brothers. They are set to release a 3 disk set recorded on July 30, 1989 in Streekermoor, Germany entitled, appropriately enough, The Osborne Brothers: Live In Germany. Tom Riggs at Pinecastle says that this is just the first of several unreleased Osborne Brothers recordings which they will put out over the next few years.

This concert was part of a European tour with Bill Monroe, and the accompanying liner notes from Sonny and Bobby describe bus travel with the Father of Bluegrass.

“While traveling, everyone wore just plain old riding clothes and such, but not Mr. Monroe. His traveling uniform was a suit and tie, along with his hat, which I thought was strange, but that was Monroe. Our only transportation was two small and I mean small, vans in which to carry two complete bands.”

The Osborne’s band at the time included Terry Eldridge on guitar/vocals and Terry Smith on bass - both currently members of The Grascals - and Steve Thomas on fiddle, along with Bobby and Sonny Osborne.

This live set includes two audio CDs, and a DVD video of the show. The audio has been painstakingly remastered, produced and overseen by Sonny Osborne with John Eberle of Americana Mastering. The DVD is included, despite the fact that it was not professionally recorded, because it is one of the few video recordings on the band from that era.

Many Osborne Brothers favorites are on tap: Kentucky, Listening To The Rain, Georgia Mules and Country Boys, Midnight Flyer, Tennessee Hound Dog and - of course - Rocky Top.

Pinecastle has The Osborne Brothers: Live In Germany scheduled for release on April 3, 2007.

We posted back in November when CMT announced their Music City Madness video contest, timed and structured to coincide with the annual NCAA basketball tournaments. We mentioned at the time that CMT was hoping to get some bluegrass entries, and it looks like a couple have made it into the initial round of 64.

Buncombe Turnpike, a bluegrass band from western North Carolina, submitted a video for their song, Black Sedan. The video is nicely produced, and represents bluegrass well.

Our buddy Brad Davis has also been selected for his video of I’m Not Through Loving You Yet - directed by our own Brance Gillihan!

Cliff Wagner features old time banjo and dobro in his video for Old Fire, and Shady Grove does a credible grassy version of Rye Hill.

The voting is done in a bracket format, with each round involving match ups between pairs of videos. Whichever videos get the most votes in their pairings during round 1 will move on to the next in a single elimination tournament, just like in the NCAA. Voting in round 1 runs through February 26.

Visit the CMT Music City Madness Watch and Vote page to cast your ballot. Bumcombe Turnpike’s bracket is bottom left, Brad Davis’ near the bottom right. If any other bluegrass (or bluegrassy) videos are in the competition, please be sure to let us know.

Here’s an update on the status of the concert DVD of IIIrd Tyme Out’s Round III at the Mac. When the CD was released last August, we posted that the DVD was expected to be released not long afterwards.

The August ‘05 performance at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonburg, KY - site of two previous IIIrd Tyme Out live recordings - was captured for both audio and video release. After experiencing several delays, the band has obtained the services of a new video production company to complete the editing and DVD mastering, and expects to see the finished DVD within a matter of weeks.

Russell Moore added this note on the band’s web site:

“I want to mention that neither Keith Caudill (director at the MAC) nor any of the staff at the Mountain Arts Center were responsible for the delay in the production of this DVD. They have always been, and continue to be, our friends and a joy to work with!”

We’ll be sure to update here when the DVD is available.

Greg Cahill, the fearless leader of Special Consensus, sent along a link to a hilarious bit of video on YouTube. It’s a short clip from the 1969 spaghetti Western, Sabata, featuring William Berger who played a character named Banjo.

The clip brings a whole new meaning to the terms “killer banjo” and “machine gun right hand” as Banjo faces a quintet of gunmen who have called him out.

Watch the clip to see him triumph with his banjo - and get the girl.

Thanks to Keith Baumann of Uptown Rhythm Productions who first shared the link with Greg.