When we last spoke with Raymond McLain about the Bluegrass, Old Time & Country Music program at East Tennessee State University, they were in the process of seeking full accreditation to offer a four year Bachelor of Arts degree. McLain is the director of this program, which currently allows for a minor for ETSU students, and our discussion in April of ‘09 covered their application for the degree program.

Well, their application has been approved, and they will soon be accepting students who will receive a Bluegrass degree upon graduation. Students in the existing  BCOTM program should be able to transfer onto the degree track as well.

This will not be a music degree, but students will take many of the same courses that are required in a music program, all with a focus on bluegrass and traditional music.

McLain told us on Friday that he was very excited about this news, and he promised to get back to us soon with more information.

Congratulations to ETSU for this milestone – and to McLain, Jack Tottle and Richard Blaustein, who have worked tirelessly for years to achieve this status.

Cindy Baucom sent along a number of photos from this past weekend’s debut North Carolina Banjo Clinic in Burnsville, NC.

She was in attendance with her husband, Terry Baucom, and sent us this report.

“Terry was an instructor, along with Tom Adams, Mike Scott, Jim Rollins and Bill Emerson. Josh Goforth worked with the old time players on clawhammer and Tom McKinney was on hand for banjo set-up. There were over 50 participants this year.

A Faculty Concert was held on Friday evening, where I was honored to join the instructors as bass player and tenor singer, as Tom Adams played guitar and sang lead and Terry baritone. That was a lot of fun and was followed by a big jam session with the students. On Saturday night, Bill Emerson & The Sweet Dixie Band performed.”

The event must have gone well, as event producer Rod Johnston has already made plans to do it again in November, 2010.

End-of-the-year tours offer unique opportunities to see familiar faces in new and interesting settings. Sometimes, it will be artists with special music, like Jerry Douglas and John Cowan, who each are touring in support of new Christmas albums.

Or you may find sidemen touring together while their primary musical employers are taking some time off for the holidays. There are two such mini-tours for the end of 2009 that should be of interest to bluegrass and acoustic music fans.

First up, The Nedski-Mojo Show, which began this past weekend, and continues through next week. It features banjo picker Ned Luberecki, who performs with both Chris Jones and Larry Cordle, and guitarist Stephen Mougin, who works with Sam Bush. Both are superb musicians and singers, and Ned could easily hold forth for half the show as a stand up comedian.

They have a string of concerts and workshops along the east coast leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday and you can be sure to catch a highly entertaining and musically challenging program if they stop near you. A full list of dates can be found on Facebook.

Then in December, mandolinists Adam Steffey and Kym Warner will tour together briefly in Virginia and Maryland, billed as Mandolin Sessions.

Steffey may be the most prominent bluegrass mando man in the biz these days. He has been named Mandolin Player of the Year six times by the IBMA, and his current CD and DVD releases are hits with the public. Most folks first came to know his music when he was a member of Alison Krauss & Union Station, and he has toured since with Mountain Heart and now, Dan Tyminski.

Warner is a founding member of The Greencards, a fascinating, genre-bending outfit of acoustic musicians who formed in the US, though none were native born. Kym hails from Australia, but lives now in Nashville.

You can find information about the Mandolin Sessions dates at Mandolin Cafe.

We posted yesterday about ResoSummit, a three-day clinic for resophonic guitarists. Similar events for banjo, fiddle, mandolin and guitar have been held for years but co-host Rob Ickes felt the need to create something for his reso-buddies as well.

Also neglected in this area are upright bass players, the unsung heroes of the bluegrass band. A new event scheduled for January 2, 2010 is a step towards remedying that, starting with a one-day workshop in Roanoke, VA.

Billed as the Bass Strummit, it will feature instruction from Jason Moore, the celebrated bassist with Mountain Heart, assisted by co-host Mike Conner, along with instrument set up tips from bass repair specialist, Jerry Fretwell. Conner tells us that they are starting small, but have plans to expand if the first Strummit is successful.

“We can take up to 20 students in January. If this one goes well, we’re probably going to schedule something quarterly in different regions of the country, like DC, Nashville, and the northeast.”

Moore tells us that they will cover basics like left and right hand technique, practice habits, tuning and pitch, instrument setup plus more advanced skills like percussive sounds and hand positioning for certain tones and effects. He was also unwilling to accept credit for inventing something new.

“I don’t know of an all bass event being held before, but I am sure somebody has done it. There is no way Mike and I have come up with a new concept. : )

I really haven’t been teaching long but I do enjoy it. It has made me look at what I do instead of just doing it. I never really paid attention to myself until I had to explain something. It has made me a better musician and it is always good to have your bass in your hands.”

Jason did, however, credit Mike Conner with the idea for the Bass Strummit. Conner is the promoter for FiddleFest, an annual two day festival on the campus of Hollins University, near Roanoke. (more…)