There are several other options in that contextual menu, the most interesting being “Releases.” But I couldn’t get that one to respond. Maybe you’ll have better luck. My understanding is that it queries Amazon for album releases by the artist, allowing you purchase the music.

The fun part about TuneGlue is visualizing the relationships between artists. Take a look at the snapshot included in the post and you’ll see that our little corner of the music world is pretty closely connected. I started with a search for Bill Monroe. That seemed an appropriate place to start. when I expanded I got six related artists. Just kind of randomly clicking through by quickly choosing the one of the six I found most appealing, I ended up with the “map” you see in that image. You’ll notice that everything is clumped together pretty closely. I guess all bluegrass does sound the same!

Hardly, but the relationships are fun to explore. So click over to TuneGlue and try your own visual music map starting with your favorite bluegrass artist, and see where it leads you. Who knows, you may stumble across a name you need to explore.

Top 30 Hot Singles Countdown will be heard for the first time tomorrow, February 9 at 6:00 p.m. (EST). It will be hosted by Uncle Billy Dunbar on the 9th, with a different DJ counting down each month.

The Top 30 chart is complied by Bluegrass Music Profiles, a bi-monthly magazine that focuses on the personalities behind the music. Publisher Kevin Kerfoot explained how the list is created, and how pleased they are to link their chart to the 24/7 bluegrass audio feed provided by World Wide Bluegrass.

“We are excited to work with Worldwidebluegrass.com and bring this countdown show to their loyal listeners. The monthly chart reflects the hottest 30 bluegrass songs based on the compiled playlists of 80 bluegrass DJs across the United States and several foreign countries. The result is a timely list of what bluegrass radio is playing at the moment.”

Since the hosting duties will be shared, show times will vary month to month. The schedule will be listed at both worldwidebluegrass.com and bluegrassmusicprofiles.com.

Barry was nominated in the Best Southern, Country, Or Bluegrass Gospel Album category for In God’s Time, and The Greencards for The Crystal Merchant as Best Country Instrumental Performance.

The main Grammy broadcast is scheduled for this Sunday, January 31, on CBS at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT), but the “other awards” like these are presented earlier in the day. You can follow the pre-telecast awards via online streaming from The Grammy web site starting at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time (4:00 Eastern).

Not only are several bluegrass/acoustic artists up for awards, the Gammies are highlighting bluegrass with a special performance during the early program. It will feature singer/songwriters Jim Lauderdale and Michael Martin Murphey, with Alison Brown on banjo and Bryan Sutton on guitar, Grammy winners all. Gabe Witcher of Punch Brothers will play fiddle.

With much of the south and central US snowed in, what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon?

Béla has released 14 new tracks that he recorded during his 2005 musical journey of discovery in the west African nations of Mali and The Gambia, and Tanzania and Uganda in east central Africa. Like many banjo players, Fleck wanted to investigate the banjo’s African roots, and record with some of the musicians who excel on the instrument’s African cousins.

This new project is titled Throw Down Your Heart – Unreleased Tracks, and is available by download only from Béla’s web site. The $10 download charge includes all 14 tracks, plus artwork and a digital booklet.

As he says on his web site, this is a new sort of venture for him:

“This is also the first experiment with the idea of going direct from me to you, the listener, with no record company middleman. So for now, this is the only place you can find this music.

I hope you love it as much I do, this is a labor of love for me!”

Here are 4 tracks you can sample…

To date, they have only played a few shows together and are working on a recording now. There is a tremendous amount of excitement about the group based on their individual reputations, but very few people have had a chance to hear how they sound as a band.

They will make their national debut this Wednesday (1/27) on the Tennessee Shines radio show, broadcasting from Knoxville, TN on WDVX FM. The show is hosted monthly by Jim Lauderdale at Knoxville’s Bijou Theatre. In addition to The Boxcars, this month’s show will feature Blue Highway, Robinella, and Tommy Emmanuel and Frank Vignola.

If you can’t make it to The Bijou tomorrow night, the entire show will be broadcast online at WDVX.com starting at 7:00 p.m. Don’t miss it!

As might be expected, host Brian McNeal is not shy about employing all the obvious wordplay at his disposal.

“Folks who suffer from bluegrass fever need a regular dose of Prescription Bluegrass and now the entire world can get this special treatment.

This special one-hour treatment session (Radio Program) is for anyone afflicted with Bluegrass Fever. Those afflicted who don’t get enough bluegrass in their regular musical diet are encouraged to attend our weekly therapy sessions. Treatment sessions from Prescription Bluegrass are delivered Free-of-Charge via Frequency or Amplitude Modulation; or now via streaming on the world-wide web every week.

Treatment sessions are jam-packed with practicing specialists in all the various strains of Bluegrass Fever, including the traditional, old-fashioned, down-from-the-mountain strains, new-grass, border-grass, west-grass, home-grown and even the newer European strains.  Individual treatment sessions, family plans and group therapy are all available weekly.”

The show also airs each Saturday at 10:00 p.m. on four Arizona affiliates. Other interested stations can request a demo online.

Raymond McLain, who had been overseeing the ETSU program, has taken the director’s position at the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music at Morehead State University recently vacated by Don Rigsby, and Daniel Boner is now working as interim director at ETSU.

From the Herald Courier piece…

A Kentucky native, McLain said the time was right to move on.

“There were a lot of personal reasons to come home,” McLain said in a phone interview. “My mother has Alzheimer’s and this is a good deal closer to her. And my son and his wife recently told me I was going to be a grandfather.”

The Kentucky college’s traditional music program provided the impetus for his move.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to come to this program. It’s really growing and is similar in many ways to ETSU. And I’m overwhelmed with the support it has,” McLain said.

In Johnson City, Boner will oversee the program McLain leaves behind, but without the guidance of founder Jack Tottle, who formally retired in December.

“Raymond and Jack have done such a good job getting the program where it is – they’ve done all the hard work – so all we have to do is continue in their footsteps,” Boner said Wednesday. “This is a bittersweet time. Raymond and Jack have always been my mentors and I’ll certainly keep them on speed dial in my phone.”

You can read the full article online.

When I discovered a 24/7 online bluegrass audio feed called New River Valley Bluegrass, I figured they must be neighbors, only to find that the stream is operated in Ocala, FL by Dennis Quesenberry. He plays traditional and contemporary bluegrass, and the whole project is a labor of love for this retired transportation manager and world traveler who grew up in a family of bluegrass musicians.

We caught up with Dennis late last week to find out a bit about this venture – and how a Floridian chose to name his Internet station for a river in Virginia.

“I am from the New River Valley of Southwest Virginia. Many great musicians and great songs came from Galax, Roanoke and or Wytheville…..Like bisquits and gravy….

I have been streaming Nrvbluegrass since July 2007. The music I play is what I would call straight up bluegrass….music that has been flavored or influenced by Martin, Monroe, The Stanleys, Reno&Smiley and like. I try to play some of the most current flavored with classics of the past and occasional great Gospel.

I do not charge to provide this site, but ocassionally I advertise festivals for the largest promoters around the country to help with costs.”

You can check out New River Valley Bluegrass at nrvbluegrass.com.

This week’s focus will be on Darin and Brooke’s new, self-titled CD on Mountain Home Records. Host Bob Webster tells us that he recorded the interview portion of the show earlier this week, and that he found the husband and wife vocal duo delightful.

“I hope listeners will tune in to hear Darin & Brooke describe the six gospel and songs of inspiration they’ve recorded with producer and song writer Jerry Salley. This is surely a wonderful and enjoyable production.”

Stained Glass Bluegrass airs on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country 88.5 FM HD2 in Washington, DC (105.5 FM in Reston, VA) and on the Internet at www.bluegrasscountry.org.

The blog will be a behind-the-scene look at life on the road with Mountain Heart. This is a fun-loving bunch of guys, so you can expect a measure of zaniness in his reports.

Here’s Josh’s first entry. Subsequent blogs will be will be posted on both the MH and D’Addario sites.

It’s Sunday morning, January 10th and I think I can speak for all the guys in Mountain Heart when I say we had an AMAZING weekend on the road!

Although Sundays are usually spent licking wounds for most musicians after traveling, today we’re all celebrating yet another sell-out show at The Ark in Ann Arbor, Michigan Friday night. From what I was told, this was the 6th straight sell-out at this intimate room which is also where we recorded our live record, The Road That Never Ends in 2007. We had a line downtown that went on forever to get in and see our show.

We stuffed ourselves at our favorite Mongolian Grill just a few blocks away, and hit up a Starbucks, or as we like to call it “Fivebucks,” and we suited up for showtime. The show kicked off with an sold-out, wall to wall electric crowd that actually seemed louder than the band at times!

After multiple encores and an interesting encounter with two fans who wanted to duet on stage (we can talk about that later), we ended up on stage for over three hours, playing every single request from the crowd. We ended up spending another hour at the record table signing and schmoozing before finally loading up the Prevost and heading South. Michigan has become one of our favorite states when it comes to fan support, and Ann Arbor in particular, seems to be addicted to live music!

After such a ridiculously good night in MI, we headed to Clay City, KY to play to another die-hard crowd that also fought several inches of snow on country roads to party with us. It seems like our rock edge us rubbing off on even the traditionalists in eastern Kentucky. I noticed a lot of young faces and requests for Allman Brothers covers . . . CRAZY!

After the great show last night, we packed up the bus and scooted back down to Nashville for some recording sessions this week. Outside of touring, our main focus right now us writing new material and recording a new record. The only thing I can share about the project thus far is that it’s going to the most creative and original sound I’ve ever heard!

The bus trip was crazy as usual, with Aaron doing his monkey impressions and the rest of us trying to keep from wetting ourselves over the stories, crazy song lyrics and general mayhem that is a trip with MH.

As always, we are all so blessed to be using great gear in the studio and on tour, so I wanna say “thanks D’Addario for their products and never ending support.” With as many strings as we go thru on tour, (Jones!!!) we couldn’t live without them!

Until next time …………….

Josh Shilling

Starting at 8:00 p.m. tomorrow night (EST), hosts Katy Daley and Lee Michael Demsey will be live on the air (and online) to emcee the show. Performing will be Dead Men’s Hollow, Darren Beachley & Legends of the Potomac, plus Seldom Scene.

Count on plenty of live bluegrass – with the obligatory singing of Auld Lang Syne at midnight. There hasn’t been a promise of any cross-band jamming, but with two original members of the Scene in Legends of the Potomac (Tom Gray and Mike Auldridge), there certainly is the potential for some interesting reunion music to be heard.

Listen in at www.bluegrasscountry.org to hear it all go down live.

In his official 3rd Anniversary posting, Ted shared that…

“During the year we attended about fifteen festivals and twenty other kinds of events from New Hampshire to Florida to western Kentucky, and Tennessee. We visited many new venues, including the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, KY and the Kentucky Opry in Benton, KY, both new venues for us. Our trip to Bill Monroe’s childhood home on Jerusalem Ridge represents a real highlight as well as an important learning experience. We went to Randy Wood’s Guitar Shop near Savannah as well as Guy and Tina’s Pickin’ Parlor in South Carolina. We met musicians, luthiers, promoters, curators, and people from all walks of life who love bluegrass. We almost always felt welcomed into this rich and varied community. I wrote seventeen book reviews, many about bluegrass related books, and reviewed ten CD’s, the hardest part of doing this blog.”

As part of his year-end musings, Ted has also put together some galleries of his photos from their travels in 2009, collected around three themes:

• Merlefest 2009
• IBMA Fan Fet 2009
• Winter 2009

See these and all Ted’s posts at tedlehmann.blogspot.com.

Here’s a quick sample of photos from Ted’s 2009 archive.

Ralph is recording with The Clinch Mountain Boys, and a few special guest performances are expected to be included, along with II singing lead on a couple of tracks. They have new songs from Ronnie Bowman and Jim Lauderdale, and Ralph is also planning to include a song from the days of The Stanley Brothers and at least one a capella number.

No word yet on a release date.

With Dr. Ralph having “said his piece” in his excellent autobiography, Man of Constant Sorrow: My Life and Times, perhaps he is ready to make a final musical statement at age 82 before heading into a much-deserved retirement.

If you are looking for a last-minute Christmas gift, you could do much worse than this Stanley book, co-written with Eddie Dean. It is available in hardcover and as a ebook online.

Ralph will be appearing on tonight’s (12/18) edition of The Grand Ole Opry, and on Saturday’s as well. You can tune in and listen live online at wsmonline.com.

At that time, Tim Stafford had just left his position with Alison Krauss, as had Shawn Lane his gig with Ricky Skaggs. Rob Ickes was recently married and none of the original members of the band, which also included Jason Burleson and Wayne Taylor, were looking for a full time musical venture.

From a vantage point late in 2009, it’s hard to visualize Blue Highway as a group of weekend warriors. Their first album, It’s A Long, Long Road, was released in 1995, and won the IBMA Album of the Year Awrd in 1996. The band picked up the Emerging Artist trophy that year as well.

Now, 8 albums later, Blue Highway is a major player in bluegrass and Americana music, touring worldwide and winning acclaim from fans, critics and peers alike. Their next release on Rounder, Some Day: The Fifteenth Anniversary Collection, is due on January 19 of next year, and will include 13 tracks, 3 of which are new recordings.

The band will hold an official 15th Anniversary Show this Friday in Roanoke, VA and the Roanoke Times has an extensive article and podcast with Tim Stafford in today’s (12/15) edition. Tad Dickens of the Times asked Tim if he had anticipated this level of success when they launched the band in ‘94.

“No. Naaaaw,” Stafford said when asked if he had expected any of this when he made the decision to leave Union Station. “That was really the farthest thing from my mind. It was really just a way to keep on playing bluegrass at as high a level as I could. … I was playing with some really, really high-quality players when I was with Union Station. It’s tough to go back. Nothing against part-time pickers, but it’s hard to go back and just play with anybody.

“So I was really lucky that I was able to hook up with these guys. I feel like they’re just right up there with those other guys.”

You can read the full interview online, and hear a 45 minute podcast with Stafford about the history of the group, which also includes a sneak peek at one of the new songs from the 15th Anniersary CD. More details about the concert on the 18th can be found at www.bluehighway15.com.

Touring acts are finishing their live shows for the year and looking forward to spending time with their families. In the case of Mountain Heart, it’s also silly season, as evidenced by their official Christmas greeting for 2009.

They have created a customized video using the popular Jib Jab web site, to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Gene also chronicled the time he was most actively involved in bluegrass (1960s) as a photojournalist. Recently, he has added some new photographs and memorabilia to his web site. To see them, go to www.genelowinger.com, click Galleries and select the option ‘I Hear A Voice Calling – Historical.’

Lowinger studied photography at the New School in New York, and spent many years shooting in the Middle East, Europe and Russia. He went on to study classical violin after his “intership” with Big Mon, and now teaches both music and photography from his home in New Jersey.

He’ll feature plenty of music from Rounder’s catalog, plus an interview with Ken Irwin, one of the founders of the company. An interview is also scheduled with a popular Rounder artist, though Terry is holding back their identity to make for a Monday night surprise.

Kickin’ Canadian Grass airs from 7:00-9:00 p.m. (EST) and can be heard online. Irwin will join Poirier in the first hour of the broadcast, and the super-secret special guest in the second. Interspersed will be music from Rounder releases over the past 40 years.

We might all quibble with the rankings, but Leftridge and Thanki have put together a very good list, far more representative of mainstream bluegrass than is the rule for publications (and award shows) that don’t specialize in our music.

Included are new albums from Steep Canyon Rangers, Ricky Skaggs, Dailey & Vincent, Steve Martin, Bryan Sutton, Claire Lynch, The Gibson Brothers, Patty Loveless and Sam Bush. We won’t give all the rankings away, but will congratulate Adam Steffey and Sugar Hill records, whose One More For the Road came out on top.

The complete list, with audio samples and many vidoes, can be found at www.popmatters.com.

Valerie said that she and the band are thankful for this opportunity to give back to the bluegrass community, which supports them through each year.

“We love spreading the joy and meaning behind the Christmas season in song. We are especially grateful this holiday season for our wonderful fans; you folks have made it possible for us to continue doing what we love to do, even in this difficult economy. Thank you!”

Their show goes live on RBI at 8:00 p.m. (EST) on December 10, and will feature seasonal music as well as selections from Valerie’s many recordings. Visit the IBMM web site, and click on the RBI button on the top left to stream the audio – or to enjoy their 24/7 bluegrass music online any time.

You can find information about membership and donations to the museum online.

At present, new and renewing members will receive a free copy of Bluegrass Time, Phil Zimmerman’s book of photographs from the early days of the bluegrass festival scene. It include some classic shots of Bill Monroe, Sonny Osborne, John Hartford and many more. The original photographs from the book are currently on display at the IBMM.

The show will originate from The Town Hall in New York City, broadcasting live on Saturday (12/5) starting at 6:00 p.m. (EST). Heather Masse of The Wailin’ Jennys will also be on hand, along with host Garrison Keillor and the PHC regulars.

Some stations carry the show live, and others delay it for broadcast on Sunday. A live web audio stream is also available while the show goes down on Saturday evening(6:00-8:00 p.m.), which can also be accessed on Sunday from noon to 2:00 p.m., or in the show’s audio archive within a day or so after the initial airing.

Punch Brothers are finishing a new album now – will we hear some songs from that project during their performance on PHC?