Here’s video of the Mountain Heart performance of The Star Spangled Banner before the NASCAR race last Sunday at the Martinsville Speedway.

Their appearance was broadcast nationally via ABC sports.

Nice job, guys!

Sam Bush has created a series of videos to highlight the music from his new Sugar Hill CD, Circles Around Me. Produced by Craig Havighurst of String Theory Media, they feature Sam and his talented band performing music from the CD live in the studio, recorded at Cowboy Jack Clement’s studio in Nashville.

Here is the first installment, with Sam and the boys laying out a live version of the title track, along with some interview segments with Bush. Scott Vestal is on banjo, Stephen Mougin on guitar, Byron House on bass and Chris Brown on drums.

Sugar Hill also sent some photos from Sam’s album release party in Nashville on October 20. It was a star-studded affair, held at the Sound Emporium, which not only marked the street debut of Circles Around Me, but Sam and Lynn Bush’ 25th wedding anniversary as well. (more…)

The first video from NewFound Road’s latest CD, Same Old Place, is out today, with an exclusive first look here on The Bluegrass Blog. The video is for the title track, and was shot and edited by Matt Zervos, who recently directed Dale Anne Bradley’s video for Don’t Turn Your Back.

NFR head honcho Tim Shelton is mighty pleased with the result, and he shared a few words with us about it.

“The song was written by Tim Stafford and the first time I heard it I loved it. I’m a sucker for sad songs and this song just sounds sad. The video was directed by Matt Zervos and myself, and it’s pretty much a storyline/performance video.

Watching it, I think about a prank we pulled on our banjo player, Josh Miller. The last day of the shoot was done at the Zervos family home and they’ve got a long driveway with a big iron gate at the entrance of it. The gate has a big Z in the middle of it. We were all there waiting on Josh, and upon his arrival the gate was closed and Joe Booher told him the only way to open the gate was by walking up and placing his hand on the big Z.  And he did, so there he was standing with an instrument in one hand and his other hand on the Z waiting to get in…of course all he had to do was punch in the code next to the gate to get in, but we were all in the house looking out the window watching him… funny stuff.”

Patty Loveless has enjoyed great success in country music, but always held a love for the mountain music she grew up singing in her native Kentucky. While charting country hits and accepting awards from the CMA and ACM, she found time to sing with Ralph Stanley on his 1998 double album, Clinch Mountain Country.

Loveless returned to her traditional roots for her Mountain Soul album, released in 2001. That CD featured the talents of Earl Scruggs, Travis Tritt, Ricky Skaggs, Jon Randall, Stuart Duncan, Ron Ickes, and Jeff White on a set of bluegrass-flavored music. It was a critically-acclaimed success, fairly well-supported by Epic Records, and Patty took a string band out with her to tour.

Just last month, she released a follow-up, Mountain Soul II, another rousing set of bluegrass and traditional country music. Many of the songs are new, and the sound is acoustic, sincere and mighty powerful. Like Volume I, this one is produced by Patty’s husband, Emory Gordy Jr., and includes contributions from Rob Ickes, Jon Randall plus Vince Gill, Carl Jackson, Bryan Sutton, Mike Auldridge and Emmylou Harris.

Here’s a video of Patty in the studio, tracking Working On A Building with Del and Ronnie McCoury, and talking about how she came to include this song.

Audio for several complete tracks can be heard on Patty’s web site.