Randy Kohrs sent along a few photos from his appearance on The Grand Ole Opry last weekend.
Joining him were the members of The Randy Kohrs Band, Ashley Brown on fiddle and vocals, Mike Sumner on banjo, Elio Giordano on bass, Chris Wood on drums, with Jody Hughes filling in on guitar for the Friday show, and Josh Williams for Saturday’s.
Ashley also sent along this report about the impression Randy’s new signature model Amistar resonator guitar made on the Opry stage.
“For our set in the second show last Saturday at the Opry, we started with If All Those Trains Were Still Around (I’d be an ol’ hobo), which went over great. Randy did a very respectful intro to the song, saying we were doing it in the spirit of Mr. Acuff and his love for train songs.
For the second song, we did She Ain’t Comin’ Back. Randy had to switch to his signature Amistar metal body tri-cone guitar, and just as he was about to say something into the mic, the strap came off the pin and it went crashing down to the floor of the Opry stage, right in the middle of the circle - the guitar and the floor now have matching dents!
The audience let out a gasp in unison (it seemed). We just stared to see what Randy would do next. He just picked it up, strummed it once to see if it was still in tune – it was – and announced over the mic that it was a good thing it’s made out of metal. Randy then proceeded to sing the ever-loving daylights out of that song and the audience loved it!
Technically, he could get the dent out, but he’s not going to. It’s the best souvenir from the Opry he could ever have!”
She tells us that Randy made a strong showing with his voice in their first set as well.
“He started out the night with Shallow Grave, a solo with just him and the resonator, though the band comes in softly at the chorus and at the end. The audience went nuts before the song was even over. I’d be willing to bet he’s the first dobro/vocal soloist on the Opry in a long time - if ever - to get that sort of Opry response!”
We heard recently from Daniel Grindstaff, banjo picker with Marty Raybon, with news about Marty’s new CD and the band’s recent travels.
As many of our readers are aware, Raybon got his start as a bluegrass artist in Florida performing with his family band before achieving chart-topping success with the country band Shenandoah.
Daniel tells us that the new CD is tentatively titled, This That And The Other, and will touch on many of the various musical styles Marty has performed over the years - to include ballads, up tempo bluegrass, and Gospel music. It will be his first double disc project, and an early release to bluegrass radio is due to be shipped in August.
Marty has wanted to release a project like this for some time, based on recurring fan requests, and shared his own thoughts about the new CD:
“This has been a long awaited project of material that I truly believe will take the fan of yesterday and today to a reminiscence of the past while keeping pace with what looks like a very bright and successful future.”
The band has just returned from a tour of Canada, and Daniel says that despite high fuel prices, attendance at shows was very strong. On the way back, Marty and the guys found time for a stop in New York City to take in a Yankees game.
Marty will be on tour throughout the remainder of the year and is planing for a very busy 2009 tour to promote the new double album.
We’ll have more on the new release as details emerge.
Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike begin their latest trip to Europe on Sunday with fives dates in England, followed by two in Ireland and one in Wales before playing a last show in England and then moving on to make four appearances at venues in Germany.
The hectic tour - with 13 appearances in 16 days - is sponsored in part by British Americana magazine, Maverick, which describes Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike as an “excellent stage act ….. known for their lively and impressive concerts!”
Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike consists of lead singer and band leader Valerie Smith, Becky Buller on vocal, fiddle, clawhammer banjo, guitar and as a principal songwriter in the group, Bobby Davis on bass and fiddle, Chad Graves on resophonic guitar and vocals, and Eric Lambert on guitar and mandolin.
Valerie spoke to me about the trip just as she was making final preparations prior to flying out Friday morning …….
“This tour will represent eight years that I have performed in Europe and am anticipating seeing familiar faces. I welcome the opportunity to develop a wider audience. Bell Buckle Records is especially excited about Maverick magazine supporting my tour for the second time and helping spread the news about the anticipated release ‘Here’s A Little Song’!, a duet project recorded with artist, Becky Buller, who will be joining me on the tour. We plan to perform many new songs from the CD and hope that the audience enjoys our new, fresh, enthusiastic show! The band, Liberty Pike, is so much fun to watch and have a great time playing music together.
I have always loved to perform for the enthusiastic audience in Europe and UK and am excited to be there in July and August! Our first show is on the Isle of Wight, and the show will be filmed and produced by the UK Entertainment channel. What a surprise and great opportunity to share the music and gain more publicity for what we do.”
Here’s a full list of dates and venues for the tour ….
July 20 - Freshwater Memorial Hall Freshwater, Isle of Wight
More information about the tour can be accessed at the band web site.
Valerie Smith and Becky Buller Here’s A Little Song hits the streets on September 9.
Guests on the CD include the multi-Grammy, Dove and IBMA award-winning Alan O’Bryant and Mike Compton from the Nashville Bluegrass Band; the 2007 IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year, Dale Ann Bradley; multi-IBMA award winner Wayne Benson of IIIrd Tyme Out; Kristin Scott Benson of the Larry Stephenson Band and Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time; and Justin Carbone of Special Consensus. They are also joined here by their fellow Liberty Pike members Chad Graves and Bobby Davis.
Tom Adams will be joining Bill Emerson and the Sweet Dixie Band on guitar as of September 5.
We reported just two months ago that Tom was launching a new endeavor, Diamond Joe, with banjoist Chris Warner but that group has now disbanded. Tom says that the recordings the band has already made will be incorcorated into an upcoming Chris Warner release on Patuxent Records, and they will continue to track with Chris for this project.
You can find the tour schedule for The Sweet Dixie Band on their MySpace page.
posted by John on 07.17.08 @ 7:53 am Tag: Cadillac Sky
Skaggs Family Records has begun posting video clips of Cadillac Sky from the recording sessions earlier this year for their upcoming CD, Gravity’s Our Enemy. A new video will go up each week until the album hits the street on August 19.
Skaggs Family is running a special promotion for pre-orders received online prior to August 16. When you place an order, you’ll be entered to win an iPod Nano pre-loaded with both Cadillac Sky recordings, plus all pre-orders will receive a free download card for exclusive C-Sky digital content.
If you like cute kids and bluegrass music, this video is bound to take you in. It’s a documentary on The Muellers, a family bluegrass band from Maine, created by film students at nearby Colby College.
It’s up on YouTube in two parts, running roughly 17 minutes in length. You’ll get to meet each member of the family and learn how Curt and Karen Mueller met, married and created a bluegrass brood. Parents and children alike have a refreshingly objective and realistic view of the music business and their goals of success.
posted by John on 07.08.08 @ 10:38 am Tag: Grascals
The Grascals sent along this photo from their appearance on the CBS Early Show this past Saturday (7/5), where they performed the title track from their upcoming CD, Keep On Walkin’, due from Rounder on July 15.
They asked us to remind everyone that there is less than a week remaining to enter to win a Takamine guitar when you pre-order the new CD. That offer ends on July 14. And also that the guys will be guests each Sunday for the remainder of July on Southern Fried Flicks with Hazel Smith on CMT.
posted by John on 07.07.08 @ 9:25 am Tag: Cadillac Sky
Back in March we shared a few words from Cadillac Sky mandolinist and vocalist Bryan Simpson as the band got started on their next CD.
Well, it’s all finished and Gravity’s Our Enemy is set for an August 19 release on Skaggs Family Records.
We hooked up with Bryan once again last week to find out a bit about the new project.
“The title of the record is lifted from the lyrics of a song on the record called Carousel. We thought it was appropriate based on several things. With the last record referencing ‘walking,’ and with us attempting to really make this thing ‘fly’ with the new record, we thought Gravity’s Our Enemy was kind of cool.
But I also think of the ‘gravity’ in the title as sort of like the ‘gravity’ of our situation. I mean, we’ve got wives and kids now and they deserve our attention and that sort of prevents constant touring which would probably be the best thing for the band (maybe not for our lives but for the band), and there’s gravity to that. And just simply coming from the reference point of bluegrass - with our instrumentation,etc - and trying to take our music to more diverse audiences - that certainly can work against you at times - sort of the stereotypical presumptions that occur before you’ve even played a note. So there’s gravity to that.
But the record name chooses the ‘gravity’ of our situation as an adversary - because, be not fooled, we have no plans for defeat- we plan on rising above and getting our feet off the ground - very soon!!”
On this album, the band enlisted the aid of an outside producer, noted mandolinist and producer Mike Marshall.
“Blind Man Walking we produced ourself - so this new producer was a lot easier to work with - not such a hot head like the last. No, honestly, we co-produced this record with our new musical guru, Mike Marshall! And it was awesome. (more…)
Eclectic string band Old Crow Medicine Show has announced the release of two new recording projects in the next two months. Their next CD, Tennessee Pusher, is due on September 23 on Nettwerk Records, and a 3-song digital EP, Caroline, will be released on July 29.
The EP will include two tracks from the full length project (Caroline and Next Go ‘Round), plus a bonus track not found on the CD, Back To New Orleans.
Tennessee Pusher was produced by Don Was, more commonly seen in the studio with rock and pop artists like Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones or Elton John. Was has hailed OCMS as among the smartest young purveyors of Americana music, and it should be interesting to see what impact he has had on their studio sound.
Nettwerk is offering a free download of the title track from the digital EP. You can listen to the track in the player below, which also contains the download link (click play to see the link).
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.
Rhonda Vincent fans can catch two of her new live performances online.
CMT.com’s Unplugged at Studio 330 features an episode with five live-in-the-studio songs and a number of interview clips with Rhonda. They play Gotta Start Somewhere, Good Thing Going, The Water Is Wide, Hit Parade Of Love and Bluegrass Saturday Night from her hew release, Good Thing Going.
During the interview, Rhonda talks about getting to sing with country superstar Kenny Chesney on the new release, and having teen pop megastar Miley Cyrus appear in her 2003 video for If Heartaches Had Wings (see YouTube clip below).
You can also see Rhonda and The Rage on the AT&T blue room in a pared-down presentation of Good Thing Going, I’m Leavin’ and I Will See You Again. Fiddler Hunter Berry wasn’t able to make this taping, and Daniel Grindstaff fills in for banjoist Kenny Ingram. There is also an interview segment with Rhonda in the blue room.
Here’s that video from 2003. Watch for Miley as the young girl, well before her Disney-fueled notoriety.
Brance posted a few weeks back about the online fan poll on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight web site to choose among nine new versions of the venerable diamond classic, Take Me Out To The Ballgame.
The competition was arranged to mark the 100th anniversary of the song’s first appearance, and the show’s producers asked nine popular artists to submit their versions.
Among the contestants is an entry from Chris Thile and Punch Brothers, who offer a take on the song featuring the well-known bluegrass combo of banjo, mandolin, fiddle, guitar and bass.
Semi-final voting ends this weekend, and the top three videos will be announced on the Sunday July 6 edition of Baseball Tonight (7:00 p.m. EDT), with a final winner named on July 13.
Here’s the Punch Brothers video entry for your consideration…
Be sure to vote for Punch Brothers and help Baseball Tonight honor two traditions with their winner - baseball… and bluegrass!
We posted several weeks ago with news about Leavin’ Town, the upcoming CD project from Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, due from Rounder on July 29.
Michael tells us that the band has a new web site that went live this morning, with a new web address to boot. You should look for them online now at www.flamekeeperband.com, where you’ll find online ordering and news updates about the band and the new CD.
There are no audio samples up yet from Leavin’ Town, but Mike says they will be up there soon.
He also shared a few thoughts about the new CD, and the band’s comings and goings this year.
“The album has quite a few original tunes on it, along with some great older tunes that you don’t hear played every day. Some tunes that we are really excited about are Kickin’ Back, I’m Riding This Train and Farewell For A Little While. Kickin’ Back is a blistering mandolin instrumental written by Jesse Brock. Folks this one really moves on down the line. I’m Riding This Train is a vocal number written by Todd Rakestraw. Farewell For A Little While is a song written by Chris Stuart. The inspiration for this song came from the words written on the headstone of Carter Stanley’s grave.
We’re also excited about the 2008 tour schedule. We just got back from an incredible eight day tour of the Yukon and Alaska. We are also looking forward to a trip to Ireland for the Appalachian and Bluegrass Festival on September 5 - 7. The following day, September 8th, we’ll be in Runcorn, Cheshire, UK.
We look forward to seeing our west coast friends at the festival in Plymouth, CA on September 19 - 20.
Thanks everyone, for your support. We hope to see you soon at the shows and festivals.”
Though the new CD, No Turning Back, won’t be released until September 9, 2008, a new single from the album is expected in mid-July. The band will celebrate their 26th year by releasing their updated version of Them Blues, a song originally recorded by LRB back in 1984 on their very first album for Rebel Records.
LRB bandleader Sammy Shelor tells us how that song came to be chosen as the single…
“For years I’ve heard Them Blues played in jam sessions and at festival campgrounds based on the original LRB arrangement. It hadn’t been in our show for years, but we put it back in and the audience reaction was so strong that it seemed like an obvious way for us to connect the storied history of the band with our new, re-invented lineup for the next CD.”
Look for Them Blues as the first track on the second edition of Rural Rhythm’s Fresh Cuts & Key Tracks, a radio sampler due to be sent to show hosts and PDs in the next two weeks.
No Turning Back is the first recorded effort by the current edition of this hard-hitting band, featuring Sammy Shelor on banjo, Brandon Rickman on guitar and vocals, Andy Ball on mandolin and vocals, Mike Anglin on bass and Mike Hartgrove on fiddle.
Sammy is happy to see a new direction and a new business partnership in place for this new project.
“I feel like we have re-invented the LRB sound with this band, and I’m really excited about working with these guys - on stage and in the studio.
With a reinvented sound, it seemed like the right time to go a different direction with distribution and marketing, and we couldn’t have made a better choice than Rural Rhythm. All the Passamano family has shown the same seriousness and dedication about their end of the business as we do about ours, and I look forward to what we can accomplish together.
It’s amazing that the band has gone on for 25 years, but you can’t simply rest on your laurels in the music business. We are always looking to the future with Lonesome River Band and can’t wait for all our fans and friends to hear these great new songs on No Turning Back.”
posted by John on 06.30.08 @ 3:56 pm Tag: Gary Ferguson
Gary Ferguson tells us that he is heading shortly for Ireland, his fourth consecutive July visit to the Emerald Isle.
He’ll have Colin Henry in tow on guitar and resonator guitar, joining Gary on guitar and vocals for the 11 day tour, running July 18-29. Irish vocalist and songwriter Janet Holmes will also perform with Gary and Colin for several shows.
Gary is excited for his Irish fans to get a chance to hear the music from his latest CD, Gary Ferguson and Friends - Live at Podunk, recorded at the Podunk Bluegrass Festival in Connecticut.
posted by John on 06.27.08 @ 9:34 am Tag: The Chapmans
The Chapmans are hoping to use the leverage of viral marketing to help promote their next recording project.
They have a new single release, which is being offered as a free digital download online. The track is a remake of Redwood Hill, the Gordon Lightfoot song made into a bluegrass classic by the Country Gentlemen in 1972.
They don’t yet have a new CD on the horizon, but Jeremy Chapman tells us that they wanted to remind everyone that they were still kicking with a new song.
“The main reason for the single was that we have been hearing a lot from fans and DJ’s wanting to know if we had anything new since Simple Man in the works. With the time we took off in the early part of the year to allow John to be home for the birth of his first baby, we decided to get into the studio to cut a few tracks while we were building a new team on the business end, as far as agent, management, and record label. One of the tunes we cut was Redwood Hill, which is one that we had grown up listening to the Country Gentlemen do. We thought we would keep pretty close to their arrangement to kind of pay homage to them.
Then as well as mailing it to a number of bluegrass radio stations, we wanted to make it available to all our fans through our new website for free. Just to hold them over until we have a full project finished.”
Listen to the new track on the band’s reverbnation site, where you can also download it for free.
Long time readers of The Bluegrass Blog may recall a story we posted two years ago about a then 7 year old Baruch Wright, who was a finalist - and eventual winner - in Oscar Mayer’s Sing The Jingle, Be A Star competition. But he isn’t the only member of his family with a talent for music.
Baruch performs with his younger brother and older sister as The Wright Kids, a family bluegrass band based in Rocky Mount, VA.
The three of them, Sage, Levi and Baruch, have been selected to appear as contestants on the third season of America’s Got Talent, which airs on NBC television on Tuesday nights this summer. If they impress the judges in this round, they will move on to the semi-final round where audience voting will select the winner.
Sage is 12 and plays the mandolin and fiddle, Baruch is 9 and plays guitar, and Levi is 6 and plays bass.
The Kids have just released a new CD, Playing On The Job, which also features their older brother Mason, who is studying music in college. Audio samples can be found online.
In 2006, they won the youth band competition at the Galax Old Fiddler’s Convention, and their performance was captured and shared on YouTube.
posted by John on 06.23.08 @ 8:37 am Tag: Audie Blaylock
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.”
Randy Kohrs sent along a few photos from his appearance on The Grand Ole Opry last weekend.For the second song, we did She Ain’t Comin’ Back. Randy had to switch to his signature Amistar metal body tri-cone guitar, and just as he was about to say something into the mic, the strap came off the pin and it went crashing down to the floor of the Opry stage, right in the middle of the circle - the guitar and the floor now have matching dents!
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Eclectic string band 
Rhonda Vincent fans can catch two of her new live performances online.
Keith Case & Associates
