Wildfire bassist Curt Chapman tells us that Vicki Simmons has been hospitalized in Lexington, KY to treat a brain anueurism.

She is undergoing surgery this morning to locate and stop any bleeding that may be occurring.

Vicki played bass for many years with The New Coon Creek Girls and Dale Ann Bradley, and has many friends and fans in the bluegrass community. She also is featured on the Daughters of Bluegrass Back To The Well CD, and has been a Renfro Valley stalwart for some time.

Cards and well wishes can be sent to:

St. Joseph Hospital
1 Saint Joseph Drive
Lexington KY , 40504

Curt promised to update us once the results of her surgery are known. He said that the family deeply appreciates the prayers and kind thoughts.

UPDATE 7/17: Curt says that Vicki’s surgery went well, and that no problems were found. She is still in the ICU, but should be released in a few days.

Wonderful news.

You can send an email greeting via the St. Joseph Hospital web site.

We’ve been in contact this past weekend with the administrators of a new web site devoted to the Ibanez mandolins made in Japan during the 1970s.

IbanezMandolin.com publishes exclusive editorial content that explores the history of the mandolins and is compiling a serial number database and a collectors journal online.

These mandolins - and a companion line of four and five string banjos - were marketed worldwide, and endorsed by Bill Monroe himself, the definitive creator of bluegrass mandolin. The Ibanez instruments were based on classic designs and mixed styling of then-contemporary and vintage Gibson products.

IbanezMandolins.com would also like the help of mandolin and Bill Monroe fans worldwide…

IbanezMandolin.com is currently seeking information on Bill Monroe’s Ibanez Mandolins and Ibanez endorsement details for a future article. Anyone with pictures of Bill playing an Ibanez mandolin, pictures of Bill’s personal mandolins themselves (from a museum or auction display), or first-hand accounts of the events related to his endorsement deal and the current whereabouts of these instruments is encouraged to contact 527@ibanezmandolin.com.

They are also interested in having any owners of Ibanez mandolins visit the site to contribute photos and details about their instruments.

The site operators also sent along a few Ibanez posters from 1975 that featured Bill Monroe, and images of the Ibanez model 527 mandolin. This was the most costly of the vintage Ibanez Mandolin catalog, of which they tell us only two examples have been documented so far.

We have word that Doc Watson is home and recovering nicely from his recent surgery.

In spite of a slight problem on the way home that caused a return to the hospital, Doc arrived at home last night and is healing up nicely. At 85 years old, the legendary guitar picker is quite strong and his doctors expect a quick return to health.

Thank you to everyone who sent cards and letters, they have been forwarded to Doc and I’m sure he’ll enjoy being able to look through them at his leisure as he recuperates.

Bobby Hicks has been a fixture in the world of bluegrass and swing fiddle playing for quite some time. I wouldn’t have guessed that he was approaching his 75th birthday though!

Next Sunday, July 20, 2008, a surprise party will be held for him at Marshall High Studios. The studios are located in the old Marshall High school on the island in downtown Marshall, NC. The event is free and open to the public. If you plan to attend, you should be there no later than 2 PM. If you can’t make it by 2 PM and still want to attend, the organizers ask that you wait till after 3 PM before showing up. Bobby will be brought in sometime between 2 and 3 PM and they don’t want anyone spoiling the surprise.

The party will, of course, including some picking and fiddling so bring your stringing instrument with you if you decide to attend.

Cathy asked that we post this to announce it, knowing that Bobby doesn’t get online that often. She did request that no one mention anything to him, it is a surprise party after all!

Earl Scruggs is being honored in Shelby, NC. Destination Cleveland County is a nonprofit organization led by citizens of the county. The organization seeks to increase tourism by celebrating the county’s rich musical heritage.

In accordance with that goal, the DCC is currently working on development of The Earl Scruggs Center: Songs and Stories of the Carolina Foothills.

The center will be housed in the old county courthouse in downtown Shelby. The old courthouse already serves as a museum. The Earl Scruggs Center will inhabit one of the historic courtrooms, and will also include an exterior courthouse porch for music and storytelling. Plans are underway for renovation now.

The DCC has already put together a National Advisory Board consisting of 15 members, including many professors and two museum curators with the Smithsonian.

Also being put together right now is a musician and entertainment board. No word yet on who might be on that board.

Visit the organization’s blog for updates on progress.

* Photo by Jim Ford *

CMT News ran in interesting story yesterday concerning the relationship between fuel costs, festival attendance, and CD sales. The story’s primary focus is the affect on artists’ bottom line produced by increasing fuel costs. The story is primarily based on an interview conducted with Keith Case, but also includes quotes from Ricky Skaggs and Sharon McGraw, managing editor of Bluegrass Unlimited.

Case sees the situation from the perspective of a booking agent trying to book, schedule, and route shows for bluegrass artists. He talked about the increased price of fuel for tour busses, the increased cost of airfare and the decreased availability of flights, and the increased cost of rental vehicles.

Case relates the story of a recent short, three show tour, for Ralph Stanley.

He went from home [in southwest Virginia], played three dates that were all closely routed in Texas. He came back and his [roundtrip] fuel bill was almost $2,000.

Since these dates were all booked a year or more ago, the artists are really feeling the financial crunch from these fuel costs. My own conversations with artists indicate that many acts are unable to increase their asking price for a festival date because the promoters are simply unwilling to invest more in artist fees for next year while uncertain what attendance will look like a year from now.

Case ties a decline in CD sales to the increase fuel costs as well. Indicating that it not only costs the band more to get to the show, it also costs the fans more. Having spent much of their available cash on gas, the fans are buying less once they reach the festival.

…people are spending so much to go to festivals, as far as fuel costs go, that they are not spending as much at the festivals.

Interestingly, the author of the article then converses with a tour buss rental company manager concerning attendance at a couple of country music festivals. He then returns to bluegrass with Skaggs and Sharon McGraw.

Sharon shared that her research indicates no noticeable decline in bluegrass festival attendance, this year.

I think people have been a little more selective in how far they’ve gone [to attend festivals]. But attendance-wise, from what I’ve seen, it seems to be steady.

I think next year is when it’s all going to trickle down, when artists will say, ‘Well, we were just going to bite the bullet. Now we’ve bitten it, and it’s biting us.’ That may be where some of it comes apart.

We’ve run two polls this year, one at the beginning of the festival season, and one just recently, asking our readers if increased fuel costs would have an affect on their festival attendance this year. The results show 60% of readers indicating they are/have attending fewer festivals this year as a result of the increase in fuel costs.

If Ralph Stanley and Ricky Skaggs are feeling a financial crunch, it must be even more difficult for bands with lower booking fees, as fuel costs eat a larger percentage of their revenue. What all this means for he future of bluegrass is yet to be seen. Perhaps more bands and fans will take some advice from the title of the new Grascals CD!

I just received the news this morning that one of bluegrass music’s elder statesmen, Herb Mayfield, passed away recently, on May 29, 2008 in Amarillo, TX.

Herb (mandolin) and his brothers, Ed (guitar) and Smokey (fiddle), performed as family bluegrass band and frequently opened for Tennesse Ernie Ford. The brothers turned down a recording contract because of responsibilities on the family ranch. Ed later joined Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys, serving three different terms with Monroe, the first after Carter Stanley left the group in 1951. Ed Mayfield recorded a total of 19 songs with Monroe during his times in the band.

Meanwhile, Herb settled down in Dimmitt, TX to a quite life of welding and participating in local and regional bluegrass events and organizations. In recent years he was active in providing scholarships for students in the bluegrass program at South Plains College. I was lucky enough to be the recipient of that scholarship during my time at the school, and had the opportunity to visit Herb at his home and jam with him several times.

I remember Herb as a very warm, welcoming old gentlemen who patiently tolerated unskilled bluegrass students like myself. He and his wife, Dorothy, were kind enough to open their home at least once a year and host a pickin’ party for some of the students. They would feed us and treat us like family, Herb hosting the jam session in the living room. These were always great times. I remember feeling overwhelmed to be jamming with Herb and Alan Munde at the same time, thinking it was really special to have that opportunity.

Just a few weeks prior to his passing, the IBMM visited Herb in his Dimmitt, TX home and video taped interview footage with him for their Video Oral History program. The footage should be available for viewing at the museum soon.

If you’d like to hear Herb and his brothers Ed and Smokey, you can here four songs on this MySpace page.

Roger Brown, President of the Berklee College of Music, has agreed to deliver the Keynote address at the 2008 Business Conference during the IBMA World Of Bluegrass event this fall. He will speak towards the end of the first day of the Business Conference, which runs from September 29 through October 4 in Nashville.

Brown’s career had spanned the worlds of music, business, non-profits and philanthropy before taking over as president of the Boston-based music school in 2004. He will surely have much wisdom to share with the IBMA attendees, all of whom share Brown’s love of bluegrass music.

Berklee has recently started accepting students who have banjo and mandolin as their primary instruments and allowing them to pursue their degrees focusing on the bluegrass instruments. Even prior to that time, a good number of currently successful acoustic music artists have begun their careers studying at Berklee, including Chris Pandolfi and Andy Hall of The Infamous Stringdusters, and fiddlers Casey Driessen and Nate Leath among many others.

You can read our interview with Roger from last summer on The Bluegrass Blog, and find out more about the World of Bluegrass online.

Bluegrass and folk music icon Doc Watson is undergoing micro-surgery today at Duke Hospital in Durham, NC.

Doc is a beloved fixture of this music and his doctors feel his health is very good for his advanced age of 85. Please remember him in your prayers and picking today as he has this surgery.

Jack Lawrence gives us the details.

There is a very small spot in the center lobe of his right lung that will be removed. It has not spread so the prognosis is very good and no radiation or chemo will be required. The micro-surgery is much less invasive than the standard procedure so he should be out of the hospital about three days afer the procedure. He’s in good spirits, but understandably ready to have it over. His GP told the surgeons that he had an 85 year old man with the body of a 50 year old that needed surgery. Of course, Doc loved that! The surgeons agreed and decided that Doc would come through this just fine.

If anyone wishes to send Doc a card or letter of encouragement, please send them to us at the following address and we will forward them to Doc.

The Bluegrass Blog
P.O. Box 1069
Pulaski, VA 24301

Despite his age, 88 and looking very well too, Curly Seckler continues to be professionally active.

Recently he has appeared on the public TV affiliated Song of the Mountains show, firstly with the Steep Canyon Rangers and then with Larry Sparks.

Song of the Mountains is an hour-long program, hosted by Tim White at the Lincoln Theatre in Marion, Virginia, that airs weekly on over 160 PBS affiliates nationwide. (Check local listings for the air date in your area.)

This coming weekend (June 26 to June 28) Seckler and a number of other bluegrass pioneers, including his long-time friend, Ramblin’ Tommy Scott, will be present as the International Bluegrass Music Museum (located in Owensboro, Kentucky) celebrates the premier of several new oral history documentaries. The film festival will be part of the River of Music Party activities with some events taking place at the Museum itself. Other events take place at the RiverPark Center downtown and at nearby Yellow Creek Park. For a full schedule of events and ticket information, visit their web site.

On Saturday, August 2, Seckler, along with Willis Spears, his old friend, singing partner and Lester Flatt double, will perform at the historic Carter Family Fold, as part of The 34th Annual Carter Family Memorial Festival & Craft Show, Hiltons, Virginia. The duo will perform an afternoon and an evening set. Tentatively scheduled to back them is the fantastic Virginia band, Big Country Bluegrass. The festival commences on the Friday, August 1, and scheduled show times for each day are from 2:00pm through to 11:00pm.

For a full list of the artists performing and ticket information, you may call: 276-386-6054 or by email.

We posted back in April that fiddle master Bobby Hicks had broken the ring finger of his left hand, and had undergone surgery to repair the damage.

Imagining how devastating such an injury could be to a musician, we were delighted to hear this week from Bobby’s daughter, Melissa Holland, that her dad was on the mend, and back to playing while continuing with twice weekly physical therapy.

Melissa says that Bobby taught last week at Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Kamp last week, and did fine, though he still doesn’t feel like he is back in top form.

“I know Dad was worried about how much movement he would get back on that finger. Luckily, he knows how to make accommodations until it’s back at 100%.”

Look for Bobby back on stage doing shows with Earl Scruggs in July.

Tim Carter of The Carter Brothers sent along a couple of photos from the Summer NAMM show, being held in Nashville this weekend.

NAMM (National Association of Music Merchandisers) holds two large trade shows each year, where manufacturers and distributors of products aimed at the music industry display their wares.

Tim visited the show and found himself in a banjo jam at the Nechville booth.

“Banjo’s are blasting in Nashville this weekend for the NAMM Show… Here at the Nechville Banjo booth are Ned Luberecki, myself and Rick Sampson… We gathered a pretty nice crowd for this impromptu jam… I think Nechville sold some banjos after this…”

   

You can find some more coverage of Summer NAMM in The Tennessean, Nashville’s hometown paper.

A number of changes were announced earlier this week regarding the ownership and manufacturing of the ever-so-elusive Calton Cases in North America. These hand-molded fiberglass cases have long been favored by traveling musicians for their ruggedness and superior protection, holding up even when bouncing around in the cargo compartments of airplanes and tour buses.

The company originated in England and has operated under the auspices of founder Keith Calton for more than 35 years. Calton Cases of Canada have had the exclusive rights to manufacture and distribute these heralded cases in North America, but demand has consistently outstripped supply, with wait times running as much as six months.

This past Tuesday (6/17), the company announced that Jim Laffoley, and his newly formed company, Calton Cases (North America), had acquired ownership of all manufacturing assets and the exclusive licensing rights from Calton Cases of Canada. The new company will build a new, expanded manufacturing facility in Moncton, NB in Canada where they will also be based.

Until the new plant is operational, cases will continue to be made in the Calgary, AB facility. The new ownership is hopeful of increasing production substantially once the new plant is up and running.

HT: Mike Bucayu

If you’ve been reading blogs for any amount of time, you’ve probably seen a “Tag Cloud” on one of them. A Tag Cloud takes all the tags used on the blog and generates a visual representation of those tags, more frequently used tags appearing in larger font sizes.

That’s only tags though. This morning I discovered a website called Wordle where you can enter any text you want and it will create something similar for the words you entered. Out of curiosity, I entered the text for the first and second pages of the blog archive, the 40 latest posts. Click the thumbnail to view it full size. This is a wordle, a visual representation of the most frequently used words in our last 40 posts.

If you’ve ever wondered what we post about the most, here’s your answer.

I’ve heard some pretty odd things in my time, but I hope this is merely over the top Hyperbole.

The Detroit News ran an article yesterday about careless and distracted drivers, and the danger they present on the road. They give several real world examples and then give several that just can’t be true, like this one.

Typically, a driver crooning love songs into his cell phone while strumming a banjo also will be weaving, speeding or slogging along too slowly. Assuming his driving is adequate, he might get cited anyway for not keeping one hand on the steering wheel.

With a careless-driving citation, the banjo player “might actually win if he tried to fight it,” McKelvey says. It depends on how a judge interprets the definition, “a careless or negligent manner likely to endanger any person or property.”

Of course he’s being “careless” and “negligent” by strumming a banjo rather than learning a 3-finger roll!

NOTE: Terry Baucom is not in the habit of driving while playing the banjo, but he is in the habit of playing the banjo with drive!

While we’re on this bluegrass/baseball theme, here is the video of Punch Brothers performing Take Me Out To The Ballgame on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight show on June 18 which Brance posted about on Tuesday.

Their take on the song is part of an ESPN effort to mark the 100th anniversary of the song’s debut. Nine popular artists will offer their versions and online fan voting will determine the winner. Other artists involved include jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli, country singer Grethen Wilson and 70s/80s rock icons REO Speedwagon.

The online voting will begin on June 29 with a winner announced on July 13.

The Springer Mountain Farms jingle contest we told you about a while back is in its finale stage. The judges have narrowed the entries down to their favorite ten.

Now it’s your turn to be the judge. Visit the contest website on WSMonline.com, listen to the entries, and cast your vote. Nine of the ten entries are basically bluegrass in nature. Judging by the banjo that chicken is holding, I suspect they anticipate a bluegrass theme to win. Help make that happen by going over and voting for you favorite.

The voting remains open throughout this week. The winner will be announced by WSM disk jockey Bill Cody on Monday, June 23, 2008.

We are delighted to announce the winners in our recent promotional contest, run in cooperation with The Infamous Stringdusters, Sugar Hill Records and Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival.

The first three winners will receive an autographed copy of the band’s latest CD release, The Infamous Stringdusters.

• Peter Griffith - Overland Park, KS
• Kathi M Leniski - Bristol, VA
• Michal Hromcik - Brno, Czech Republic

Our big prize winner is Laura Lander of Bethlehem, KY who receives two free tickets to Grey Fox. She will also have an opportunity to meet the band at the festival next month where she will have VIP seating for the ‘Dusters’ set, and receive a sampling of complimentary band merchandise.

Thanks to Ryan Baker at Sugar Hill for his help, and to everyone who participated in this promotion.

Last Friday, June 13, the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame held a ceremony inducting its charter members. The ceremony took place at the Walker Center on the campus of Wilkes Community College, the home of Merlefest.

The Hall of Fame is located on the second floor of the Wilkes Heritage Museum, housed in a turn of the century (1902) historical courthouse. The exhibit actually opened on May 29, featuring instruments, biographies, and historical recordings. Intending to include both famous musicians, as well as those who have worked behind the scenes to make the music possible, from a geographic area ranging from northern Georgia into northern Virginia, the Hall of Fame inducted the following persons.

• Doc Watson
• Dolly Parton
• Wayne Henderson
• David Johnson (a studio musician and performer from Wilkes County)
• Earl Scruggs

Deceased inductees:

• The Carter Family
• Ralph Epperson (the founder of radio station WPAQ in Mount Airy)
• Tommy Jarrell (an influential banjo player and fiddler from Surry County)
• Folklorist Ralph Rinzler of the Smithsonian Institution
• Sam Love Queen Sr. (known as the Square Dance King of Western North Carolina)

You can see photos and short bios of each inductee at this link.

Art Menius, a longtime fixture at MerleFest and now director of Appalshop, a nonprofit group in Whitesburg, Ky., that documents and celebrates the culture of Appalachia, will be an honorary inductee. He did much of the preliminary work for the hall of fame.

Art is an active member of the online bluegrass community and we congratulate him on this well deserved honor.

The Tennessean is reporting this morning on the terms of a settlement between MTSU and the estate of Bob McLean. As we reported in October of 2007, McLean defrauded investors of millions and then generously spread the money around. Some of that money went to MTSU and this settlement ends that dispute.

What is still uncertain though, is what is to become of Bill Monroe’s mandolin and Mother Maybelle’s guitar. Both instruments are currently in the possession of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The museum acquired the instruments using funds donated for that purpose by McLean.

Since his estate has been forced into an involuntary bankruptcy by the investors’ lawsuit, the instruments could be auctioned to put the money back into the estate for purposes of repayment of those debts.

According to The Tennessean article,

The bankruptcy trustee has filed a lawsuit against the Country Music Hall of Fame to retrieve the music industry donations, but that dispute remains unsettled, according to court filings.

It would sure be nice to see those instruments stay with the museum. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens…