Kenny Hall has been a notable musician in the old time music world since the release of his album, Kenny Hall and the Sweet Mills String Band in 1972. Of course, he had been playing since 1937, on mandolin, fiddle and guitar, but it wasn’t until this LP came out that music fans outside of California heard much about his music.

Hall was born blind, and educated at the California School For the Blind where music was a major part of the curriculum. Piano lessons started for Kenny when he was only 6 (in 1929) but he never really took to music until the mid-1930s when he was introduced to traditional American fiddle music, and his lifelong fascination with the music, and the string instruments which played them, was born.

The one aspect of his musicianship most remarked-upon by his peers has been his repertoire, with estimates ranging over 1,000 tunes at his command - many of them obscure, or featuring distinctive Hall twists.

A book of tunes was published by Mel Bay in 2000, Kenny Hall’s Music Book, which featured a variety of tunes from that library, along with anecdotes from Kenny about how and where he learned the tunes, and interesting insights into the community of blind musicians where he served his apprenticeship in the 1940s.

After being unavailable for a while, Mel Bay has recently re-issued the book, which is available wherever old time and bluegrass instructional materials are sold.

The book was co-authored by Vykki Mende Gray, and you can read her lengthy reminiscences about working with Kenny in a piece she published in The Old Time Herald upon the book’s initial publication.

Kenny tells his stories in the characteristic manner of that world–describing what people say rather than what they do. And he doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story at once–sometimes it takes hearing about an event several times before Kenny lets us figure out that it wasn’t as innocent as he led us to believe at first, or before aspects of the story that appear perfectly clearly to the blind story teller suddenly are revealed to the sighted listener!

And Kenny warns those of us who would like to follow in his footsteps and learn 1,100 pieces of music: “I never pushed myself to learn all those tunes. I learned ‘em slowly–havin’ fun at learning. It took me 40 years, I guess, to learn them 1,100 tunes. But I know more now, I don’t know how many, ’cause, of course, I didn’t stop learning tunes back then when he [Terry Barrett] counted ‘em.”

Kenny Hall’s Music Book runs to 284 pages and is presented in standard notation for $35.00.

Last year we mentioned a 2006 work of fiction, Raising Kane, written by author and banjo picker, Brent Davis.

The book is targeted at young readers, and tells the story of a 12 year old banjoist who goes to work with a touring band in the 1960s.

Our friend Ted Lehmann has just written a review of Raising Kane, which can be found on his web site.

Riding through the South of the beginnings of the civil rights movement, Eddie is on hand to see a race riot in the city of Montgomery, to see the effects of racial segregation in several different encounters, and to have his experience interpreted through the eyes of his new friend Murray and one of his uncles, a no nonsense racist. Eddie grows to a new understanding of himself and his world while emerging as a musician and a person.

Read the full review online.

If you have a young reader in need of one more summer book, or one you might want to introduce to the ways of bluegrass, perhaps Raising Kane would be a worthy consideration.

We have a bit of closure on a story that has incensed a good many fans of old time and traditional country music, one which has prompted two posts here on The Bluegrass Blog this past two weeks.

The Tennesean is reporting today (8/8) that John A. Brown, convicted for the murder of Dave Akeman (a.k.a. Stringbean) and his wife Estelle, has been denied parole by the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole.

A spokeswoman said this morning that John A. Brown, 57, will not be released after receiving four consecutive “no” votes. He has been recommended for another review in 2011.

Two board members, including chairman Charles Traughber, voted in favor of Brown’s release at a July hearing. The votes prompted an outcry against Brown from former stars of the Opry and fans, who petitioned the four board members who still had to cast their vote.

Read the full piece by Kate Howard online.

The July 21, 2008 issue of Newsweek magazine included a feature on banjo player, vocalist and songwriter Abigail Washburn and her current touring and recording venue, Sparrow Quartet.

The magazine’s Brian Braiker caught up with Abby and fellow quartet members Béla Fleck, Casey Driessen and Ben Sollee at a live performance in New York’s Battery Park, where she shared how she came to a career in music after studying Chinese in college.

But somewhere along the way, Washburn, who also sang in college, picked up a banjo for largely the same reason she decided to learn Chinese—it was hard. She mastered the old-timey clawhammer style well enough that, by the time she was considering a career in international law, a trip to Nashville turned into a much longer stay. There she cut a demo consisting of the first two songs she’d written, one in English, the other—because, hell, why not?—in Mandarin. Eventually, the allure of woodshedding in Tennessee trumped the corporate path waiting abroad. “Am I going to use my skills to represent Anheuser-Busch and Payless Shoes?” companies she had consulted for, “or am I going to have something to say?” she asks. She handed her demo to banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck at a party, who listened on the drive home. He says he became so absorbed that he got pulled over for speeding. “She wasn’t doing anything fancy,” he tells NEWSWEEK. “There was just something pure and beautiful about what she did.”

You can read the full piece at Newsweek.com, where they also have an exclusive video of the Quartet performing Captain, a piece from their current CD, Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet (audio samples on iTunes).

HT: Katy Daley at WAMU’s Bluegrass Country

The DC Bluegrass Union has “reprinted” an article about Cliff Waldron which had originally appeared in the SPBGMA Bluegrass Music News when Cliff was inducted into their Hall Of Greats in 2004.

For anyone who did not catch the article in ‘04 - especially those who do not recognize the name of this important voice in the development of contemporary bluegrass - this fine piece by Steve Romanoski is worth a few minutes of your time.

Steve has written for Bluegrass Music News since 1977 and also has had articles published in Bluegrass Music Profiles, Sing Out, Acoustic Guitar, The Chicago Sun-Times, Bluegrass Now, and Fiddler. He is a songwriter as well, and teaches private music lessons in the Chicago area.

His Waldron article is based on an interview he did with Cliff, and it includes some insights into what has become one of the most popular bluegrass songs ever recorded - one with which many performers have a love/hate relationship.

Over the years, the punchy rhythmic introduction to “Fox On The Run” has become a virtual call to arms in the bluegrass community, And, while the tune will be forever linked to the classic Country Gentlemen ensemble of the early 1970s, another Washington DC based band was responsible for the song’s introduction to bluegrass. That band was simply called Emerson & Waldron.

Both Cliff Waldron and Bill Emerson were immersed in the progressive leanings of the northern Virginia bluegrass scene and actively brought material from different genres for the band to play. Waldron remembers how “Fox On The Run” was introduced to the world of bluegrass, “Bill was the first one to hear it,” he says, “and he played it for me and wondered if we could work it out. I was up for doing new material at this time and thought that we could give it a try. I had done Stanley’s and Flatt & Scruggs songs. I wasn’t sick of them, but I was tired of doing it myself. I wanted to do on my own; something that I could put a name to it myself instead of doing somebody else’s stuff all the time.” And Cliff found true inspiration from the realization that “he’d (Emerson) heard this song and thought that we could do something with it.” Little did either player know that this song, originally performed by the English rock band Manfred Mann, would become an anthem of the ages in bluegrass music.

You can read the full article at DCBU.org or on the SPBGMA web site.

An audio sample from Emerson & Waldron’s original recording of Fox On The Run can be heard on Cliff’s web site.

All-time bluegrass guitar hero Tony Rice is offering autographed copies of a print that shows his fabled left hand in a typically contorted position.

The print is from the original drawing, Jump On It, by Adam Carlos, part of his Hands Of Music series that includes renderings of the hands of some of the most noted players in bluegrass.

Only a limited number of the autographed Rice prints are available, and can be ordered from Tony’s web site.

Should you pick up the August ‘08 issue of Reader’s Digest - as millions of us do each month - you’ll find an article by David Hochman that tells a story that will be familiar to many of our readers.

Hochman is among the many adults who have taken up a musical instrument in mid-life, after musing for years about the lost opportunities of youth. Bluegrass music had caught his ear, and the tiny instrument that Bill Monroe used to launch his new sound was what drew David in.

The mandolin looks harmless enough. About the size of a tennis racket, it’s easy to get a clear, golden sound just by brushing your pick across its four sets of double strings. That doesn’t mean I didn’t feel slightly panicky when my wife surprised me with one when I hit the big 4-0. “We support you, sweetie,” Ruth said, speaking for the family. By day seven, she and our four-year-old would quietly slip into another room whenever I took a crack at “Turkey in the Straw.”

Sound like anyone you know?

His piece goes on to discuss his private mandolin lessons and attempts to play with other musicians, finally ending up with a positive experience at Dr. Banjo’s Bluegrass Jam Camp.

Dr. Banjo is Pete Wernick, who’s been running camps around the country for bluegrass greenhorns since the early 1980s. His PhD is in sociology, and he clearly knows something about the wisdom of crowds. Before we even had our instruments out at the camp in Boulder, Colorado, he asked, “Who’s the worst player here?” All 28 of us shot up our hands.

Wernick’s philosophy is that private music instruction often fails, which is why most instruments in America haven’t seen daylight for decades. “The only way to learn to play and keep playing is by playing with other people,” he tells us.

Read the full piece (with a happy ending) on the Reader’s Digest web site.

Thanks to IBMA Print Media Board member, Stephanie Ledgin, we have learned of a new magazine devoted to bluegrass music and related music styles.

Jerusalem Ridge Magazine, to be published quarterly, was conceived and dedicated to the promotion and preservation of traditional bluegrass, old-time and acoustic string music.

Each issue will feature in-depth stories, interviews, information and regular features about the creators, performers, fans and supporters of traditional bluegrass and old-time acoustic string music in the true spirit of those music legends that helped to shape this truly American art form.

The first edition is to be published in October, timed to be available at the 2008 Jerusalem Ridge Bluegrass Celebration, scheduled for October 2-5, in Rosine, KY.

In view of the difficulties experienced recently with some niche music magazines terminating their print publication we asked Editor Ron Malec about his reasons for publishing Jerusalem Ridge Magazine, his plans and expectations ……

“I am the Publisher, Editor, designer and chief cook and bottle washer for the first number of issues at least. It is a result of my almost seven years involvement with Campbell Mercer and the Jerusalem Ridge Bluegrass Foundation, which was conceived about 10 years ago to honour the memory of the great Bill Monroe and to promote and preserve his musical legacy. Having attended the past five Jerusalem Ridge festivals in Rosine, Kentucky, it seemed like a natural calling for me to use my creative writing and background in advertising/marketing and graphic design talents to start a publication that finally gives a voice and tribute to Bill, his music, and all of the fans, bands performers and supporters of the traditional bluegrass style.

I have researched the self-publishing movement and carefully ‘crunched the numbers’, and feel that this publication definitely fills a ‘niche’ in the bluegrass arena, and certainly there is no other bluegrass publication which addresses the traditional-style bluegrass audience. My plan is to start small and slowly build a steady readership from an already well-defined target audience. I think many start-up publications try to start too big, grow too fast and be all things to all people, which, in this extremely fragmented marketplace is near impossible to achieve without the benefit of an enormous amount of capital and a large publishing and distribution network…’Jerusalem Ridge Magazine’ won’t be found at your local Barnes & Noble or newsstand, but rather will be distributed by the same fans, bands and performers at local festivals, music venues and retailers. It is by ‘keeping it simple’, that I hope to avoid the pitfalls of other such ventures that have come before me.

This is truly going to be a ‘grass roots’, magazine about traditional bluegrass and acoustic string music. and it will rely heavily on a similar ‘grass roots’ effort to help it to grow and flourish.”

There will be an on-line version with information about contents, and condensed, preview versions of the stories, articles and regular features.

Subscription details and more information about Jerusalem Ridge Magazine can be found at the website.

We wish Ron well with this new venture.

If you subscribe to Billboard magazine - or have perused a copy at the newstands recently - you will have noticed that the Top Bluegrass Albums chart has disappeared from the print edition of the magazine.

This weekly chart, along with a number of others, has been relegated to the Billboard web site which paid subscribers can access by obtaining a free password from the publishers. Unfortunately, the added exposure and credibility afforded to our music by the inclusion of the chart may be diminished by this change, which it has been suggested was due in part to a lack of advertising support within the bluegrass market.

Though not stated in such stark terms, Billboard’s Senior Chart Manager Wade Jessen did intimate to us that business decisions prompted the change.

“The redesign of the chart well in the print product moves several of our specialty charts to the websites, and was initiated in order to better balance our advertising-to-editorial/chart page ratio.”

He also said that full color PDFs of the online chart page with graphics would be available for a fee to use in creating publicity materials or mementos of chart success. For the page graphics, contact Gordon Murray in the Billboard research department at 646-654-4633.

The July 26 edition of The Tennessean, Nashville’s hometown paper, has a story sure to be of interest to the many fans of Dave Akeman, a.k.a. Stringbean, one of the most beloved entertainers in the history of traditional string music.

He was senselessly murdered on Nov. 10, 1973 along with his wife, Estelle, when they returned from a Grand Ole Opry show to find intruders lying in wait for them in their home. The bodies were discovered by close friend and fellow Opry star, Grandpa Jones.

John A. Brown and his cousin, the late Doug Marvin Brown, were convicted of their murders and sentenced to 198 years in prison, but it seems Brown may be on his way home from prison in the near future.

The piece in The Tenessean by Kate Howard tells the tale…

As country music changed and Nashville generations passed, the fame of slain Hee Haw star Dave “Stringbean” Akeman faded.

This week, the state parole board heard all the reasons why the man who shot Akeman and his wife deserves a second chance, 34 years later. About a half-dozen spoke on behalf of convicted killer John A. Brown.

But the killer’s name didn’t ring a bell with anyone in the district attorney’s office when the possibility of Brown’s freedom came up. Most of the loved ones who spoke up in the past, Opry legends Roy Acuff and Porter Wagoner among them, have passed on. They had no children. And the friends who remain were never told a hearing was coming.

So, nobody stood to talk about the lasting impact of the day an unassuming country star named Stringbean was killed for his money, and his wife was silenced with a bullet while she begged for her life.

According to Howard, there are two parole board members who have yet to vote on this matter, and Brown will be freed should they vote in favor. You can read the full piece on the Tennessean site.

Here is a YouTube clip of String (as he was known to his many friends) appearing on television in 1971 on the Del Reeves Country Carnival show.

Homespun has released mandolin transcription books to match two recent CDs from Butch Baldassari, Mandolin Hyms and Appalachian Mandolin & Dulcimer. Each book contains complete mandolin transcriptions in both tablature and standard notation, plus a copy of the original CD.

Mandolin Hymns contains 15 popular hymns and sacred songs including I Am A Pilgrim, Amazing Grace, Simple Gifts and What A Friend We Have In Jesus.

The book offers 37 pages of mandolin transcriptions and the accompany CD has the songs performed in instrumental arrangements in a string band style with Butch on mandolin. Other players include Aubrey Haynie and Andrea Zonn on fiddle, Robert Bowlin on guitar, Stuart Duncan on banjo, and Dennis Crouch and Mike Bub on bass.

The Appalachian Mandolin book includes the CD Appalachian Mandolin & Dulcimer, which featured duets between Butch and the late dulcimer legend David Schnaufer, along with mandolin transcriptions for the 14 traditional tunes they recorded.

Fans of Appalachian fiddle music will recognize the tunes, with favorites like June Apple, Sandy River Belle, Black Mountain Rag, Flop Eared Mule, Cold Frosty Morn and 9 others included.

Our regular readers will recall that Butch has been battling a pernicious brain tumor this past year. A great many of his friends and students in the mandolin world have been very generous in their support, and picking up these two new Homespun book/CD sets would be a fine way to champion Butch and all he has contributed to our music, while you pick up some fine music and mandolin arrangements at the same time.

We are delighted to pass along that Butch is currently in a clinical trial at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and is in good spirits according to his wife, Sinclair.

The University of Illinois Press has been busy recently with the publication, in a short of space of time, of two books that focus on the American folk music scene.

The first of these is The Never-Ending Revival: Rounder Records and the Folk Alliance by Michael F. Scully, in which the author capitalizes on the recent upsurge in interest in “roots music” and “world music.” He examines the roles of Rounder Records and the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance, both organizations that have sought to make folk music widely available, while simultaneously respecting its defining traditions and unique community atmosphere.

In the late 1950s through the 1960s, the folk music revival pervaded the mainstream music industry, with artists such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez singing historically or politically informed ballads based on musical forms from Appalachia and the South. Subsequently, it became commercialized and the basic thrust of this book is Scully’s examination of the ongoing controversy surrounding the profitability of folk music. He explores the lively debates about the difficulty of making commercially accessible music, honoring tradition, and remaining artistically relevant, all without “selling out.”

The author, an attorney by profession and holder of a PhD. in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, combines interviews of music executives and practicing folk musicians with his own personal experiences to reveal how this American subculture remains in a “never-ending revival” based on fluid definitions of folk and folk music.

Scully speaks of his intent in one concise paragraph in his introduction …

“This book does not examine every manifestation of post boom revival activity. My approach is thematic and focuses on ongoing intellectual and commercial issues common to revivalism as a whole. For the most part, I examine such issues through the vehicle of the Folk Alliance and Rounder Records. As an umbrella organisation that annually brings together roughly two thousand folk entrepreneurs of varying stripes, the Alliance is a living laboratory that illustrates the revival’s continuing concerns. Rounder, in the words of the New York Times, is ‘folk music’s big small label.’ Begun as an ‘antiprofit collective’ by three left-leaning students who romanticized the folk, it has grown into one of the world’s largest independent record companies. That growth helps illuminate commercial revivalism’s development in the postboom years, a period that encompassed the countercultural movements of the late sixties, the music industry upheavals of the 1990s, and the digital revolution of the twenty-first century.”

The Never-Ending Revival (259 pages, ISBN:0252033337) was published on April 14 and is available from the University of Illinois Press and all good book stores.

The second of the two University of Illinois Press books to which I alluded above is Sing It Pretty - Bess Lomax Hawes: A Memoir. Bess, a folklorist and musicologist herself, was daughter to John Lomax and sister to Alan Lomax. I will turn my attention to that book shortly.

Thanks go out to our friend Bill Evans, west coast banjoist and renowned instructor of the five string, for pointing us to this fine review of a free show by Cherryholmes in New York City’s Madison Square Park this past Wednesday evening. As Bill had suggested, it was interesting to read this review of a band with whom we are well familiar, written by someone from outside of our bluegrass community.

Cherryholmes is an extremely flexible band, shifting arrangements, physical and vocal, several times per song. (At one point late in the show all the family members formed a line and jubilantly clogged.) And even though they are capable traditionalists — their self-titled fourth album is an excellent display of fundamentals — onstage they can be eccentric, especially Jere, the patriarch.

After a discussion of how to remain creative while touring the country with your family, he deadpanned, “The songs that I wrote happened to come out murder ballads.” “My True Love” was written by Sandy, he said, but not about him, because “she couldn’t find any words that rhymed with ‘short.’ Or ‘long gray beard.’ Or ‘bald head.’ ”

Sound familiar…?

It’s a brief review, but captures the spirit and style of the band’s live show quite well. Read the full article on the Times’ web site.

The political magazine, American Spectator, ran a special report yesterday on their website featuring an interview and story about Charlie Louvin.

The story is a nice length and includes a lot of first hand comments directly from Charlie. The history of the brother duo is told, along with a couple interesting childhood stories.

Here’s one of my favorite quotes concerning how the pair learned to sing harmony.

He tells about learning shape-note singing at the local Baptist church — and none of these simple, childlike songs they sing nowadays, written so as not to traumatize five-year-old girls, but creepy close harmony tunes like “Are you Washed in the Blood?” and “Sinner, You’d Better Get Ready.”

I’ve never heard Washed In The Blood referred to as “creepy” before, but that line definitely made me laugh.

Who knew Ira had such a temper?!

If a mandolin string worked itself out of tune Ira would smash the instrument to pieces on stage and stomp on the pieces.

I’d like to attend a bluegrass show and see some of that attitude. It would sure liven up the stage performance and make it entertaining!

We just received our summer (July/August) issue of Bluegrass Music Profiles and found, in addition to a cover feature on Longview, that the magazine has graduated to a full color, glossy stock publication.

BMP debuted in the spring of 2003 as black & white on newsprint, with spot color, and remained as such until the Nov/Dec ‘07 issue where the cover went full color. They went to gloss stock for the March/April ‘08 cover, and now the entire magazine is color on gloss.

Congratulations to publishers Kevin and Lori Kerfoot for finding a niche for this new publication during a time of declining print circulation. It seems that their catalog of personality-based features on bluegrass artists and industry figures has found favor with bluegrass readers.

You can find subscription, single and back issue information on the BMP web site.

Flatpicking Guitar Magazine has entered the digital domain. The magazine has been producing a CD for many years now, to accompany each issue. But now the magazine content itself is being offered in digital form.

Flatpickdigital.com offers subscribers the opportunity to purchase an online subscription to either the print content (magazine), the audio content (CD), or both. The magazine is available for online viewing as jpg images, or as a pdf download. Similarly, the audio CD is available for download in mp3 format. Users may download the entire audio library for an issue, or only the tracks that interest them.

The subscription prices for the digital version are significantly less expensive than the traditional print subscription rates, especially for international subscribers. A single year of the magazine only is $20 online, $24 for the audio, or $42 for both.

If guitar is your thing, take a minute and check out the new Flatpickdigital.com

Audie Blaylock was featured on the front page of the Auburn, IN Evening Star this past Friday (6/20) - but the article had nothing to do with his heralded career in bluegrass music.

It turns out that Audie is not just serious about traditional bluegrass, but classic cars as well. He had driven his pride and joy to the cruise-in in Auburn, IN on Thursday evening, and it caught everyone’s attention.

From the article by Dave Kurtz…

The sound of well-tuned engines was making music to Blaylock’s ears.

“I’m 45. I’ve loved Mustangs since I was 4 years old,” he said, explaining why he chose his car four years ago. “I was looking for a red ’65 … but I really like this one.

“It’s called Acapulco Blue. It’s different, it’s not red or black.”

Read the full piece online.

Award-winning photo-journalist Stephanie P. Ledgin has announced that her entire photo exhibition, From Every Stage: Images of America’s Roots Music, is for sale by auction. This once-in-a-lifetime, winner-takes-all auction will reap the winning bidder 40 select custom prints from her book of the same title. This acclaimed exhibition debuted with 12 prints in 2005 at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, continued at Lincoln Center, where the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts expanded it to its current 40 panels and was then placed for a year’s showing in Owensboro, Kentucky, at the International Bluegrass Music Museum, where it will close June 15.

The exhibition showcases 24 colour images and 16 black-and-white prints; the original twelve are housed in custom museum-quality frames, while nearly all the remaining photographs are matted, ready for framing. All prints are signed by Ledgin.

Twenty percent of the winning bid will be donated by Ledgin to the International Bluegrass Music Museum. The minimum bid for the complete set is $12,000. The winner will also receive a personalized copy of the companion book. Bidding closes midnight Eastern time, Sunday, June 16 and the winner will be notified via email by Tuesday, June 18.

Bids on individual prints will be accepted simultaneously but will be awarded only in the event the entire 40-image collection fails to meet the minimum. Minimum bid on framed photos is $700; unframed $500.

Thumbnails and descriptions of the prints and full details about the auction may be viewed on Ledgin’s web site.

Ms Ledgin had this to say when I asked her about the auction …….

“After three years of the photo exhibition being ‘on the road,’ I did not want to see the collection just sitting crated up in my home. Of course, while this is one of the aspects of how I earn my living, because the bluegrass world has been so kind and generous to me, I wanted to give back to ‘my’ community in some way. Hence, the decision to donate 20% of the sale to IBMM. What I think would be exceptional would be for someone, a company or perhaps a pool of people, to purchase the exhibition from me, then turn around and donate it either in its entirety or piecemeal to IBMM and/or to other appropriate exhibition spaces.”

Among the bluegrass bands/personalities pictured are the Nashville Bluegrass Band, with The Fairfield Four; the “King of Bluegrass” Jimmy Martin (photographed with two members of his band, August 1986); New Grass Revival (June 9, 1988); The Johnson Mountain Boys; Peter Rowan; The John Cowan Band; Jens Krüger; Audie Blaylock; Hot Rize; Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys; and James Reams and the Barnstormers. Others of interest include Mike Seeger (alone and with half-brother Pete Seeger); Minnie Pearl; Jim Lauderdale; and the Green Grass Cloggers.

Stephanie P. Ledgin, the 2005 International Bluegrass Music Print Media Person of the Year, came from a diversified music background when she was hired in 1975 as an editor of the seminal bluegrass magazine Pickin’. Since then, her work has appeared around the world in magazines, books, recordings and museums.

Her first book, Homegrown Music: Discovering Bluegrass, was nominated for the Belmont Curb Music Industry Country Music Book of the Year. In May 2007, the International Country Music Conference and Belmont University presented her with the Charlie Lamb Award for Excellence in Country Music Journalism for her distinguished career.

Ledgin serves on the Board of Directors of the International Bluegrass Music Association, is a member of the European Bluegrass Music Association and is a founding member of the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance. From 1994-2003, as adjunct faculty at Rutgers University, Ledgin was director of the New Jersey Folk Festival.

Her next book, Discovering Folk Music (Praeger), is expected to be published towards the end of this year.

Since we first posted about Bluegrass Is My Second Language - A Year In The Life Of An Accidental Bluegrass Musician, the new book by John Santa, we’ve heard from readers who have been deeply touched by its story.

Well, John will be Friday’s (6/6) guest on Lonesome Pine RFD with Carol Beaugard on WFDU-FM (streamed online) for folks who would like to learn more about John and his mid-life conversion to the ways of the mandolin and bluegrass music.

John will join Carol at 10:00 a.m. on Friday to read some excerpts and discuss the book. They will also preview some music from his upcoming CD, The Blessing Of The Strings, which features songs from his book.

The show is broadcast from 9:00 a.m. to noon on 89.1 FM in the NYC area, and streamed live online at WFDU.fm.

John shared one thought about his upcoming interview…

“The irony of songs written from a book about North Carolina by North Carolina songwriters premiering in NEW YORK CITY (!!) is not lost on me.”

Blue Highway has found itself once again in the pages of Guitar Player magazine, surely among the most widely-circulated periodicals for musicians in the world.

Resonator guitarist Rob Ickes was profiled in those pages in February of 2007, and both he and Tim Stafford are interviewed in the June 2008 issue.

The focus of the article is on the pair’s musicianship, as you might imagine, particularly with reference to the band’s new CD, Through The Window Of A Train. Rob and Tim answer questions about the instruments they used in the studio, how the recording was structured and even how they came up with specific solos.

Were any songs particularly difficult to get recorded?

Ickes: This record fell into place really easily. There’s a tricky melody on The North Cove, and that’s one that I definitely worked on it some before we went into teh studio. Tim plays some great lead guitar breaks on that one.

Stafford: This was the easiest record we’ve made. V-Bottom Boat took as long to record as it takes to listen to it. That’s live with one mic - first take.

As of this morning (6/2) the content at GuitarPlayer.com had not yet been updated online, but you can see a PDF of the article on the Blue Highway site. [link will open as an Adobe Acrobat file]