The good folks who manage Banjo.com have created a new banjo blog, for banjo players of course.

It’s called The Banjo Guru, and is a group blog written by a trio of experts: Mark Bramlett, John Drummond and Greg Earnest. Bramlett is the general manager of Banjo.com’s retail operation, Earnest is an Atlanta-based picker and banjo teacher with a knowledge of pre war banjos, and Drummond is the owner on Banjo.com, and a fine picker himself.

All three share their thoughts and experience in the banjo world with regular postings online at www.thebanjoguru.com.

The recent appearnce by The Alison Brown Quartet on Mountain Stage has just been posted on the show’s NPR web page. They perform five songs from their latest Compass Records release, The Company You Keep.

Brown has never limited herself to a single type of music. As banjo player with Alison Krauss & Union Station in the late 1980s, she showed that she had a distinctive voice on her instrument, and much of her music since has focused on melodic, jazz and jazz-inflected original compositions.

The band includes her husband Garry West on bass, John Burr on piano, and Larry Atamanuik on drums.

Their complete 27 minute set can be streamed online.

Tonight’s edition of Music City Roots on WSM has plenty to attract the attention of bluegrass fans. The show, which airs live each Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. (CST) from The Loveless Barn, just outside of Nashville, will feature sets from The Grascals and The Josh Williams Band.

If you live within WSM’s very wide broadcast footprint, you can hear the show on 650-AM. If not, it will also be streamed live online from 7:00-9:00 p.m. The format brings four bands to the stage, emceed by Jim Lauderdale and Eddie Stubbs, with artist interviews conducted live by Craig Havighurst.

The Grascals have been enjoying their richly-deserved time in the spotlight this past few years. With a trio of critically-acclaimed albums and multiple IBMA awards, these guys (and gal) have been burning up the highway, keeping a very busy tour schedule.

Less well known (for now) is The Josh Williams Band. Regular readers of The Bluegrass Blog have seen our occasional mentions of Williams, a very talented, young artist who, at the age of 29, has already had the eye of the IBMA on him for 16 years. At age 13, he was singled out to be included in a group of Youth All Stars at the IBMA show, along with Chris Thile, Michael Cleveland, Cody Kilby and Brady Stogdill. Here he is in that illustrious company – on banjo – which foretold much of what we have seen from these fine pickers since that day.

Josh had memorable stints with Special Consensus and Rhonda Vincent in his late teens and early twenties, and has now struck out on his own. His third solo project will be released by Pinecastle in February, and The Josh Williams Band will soon begin recording their debut CD.

They had a very strong showing at IBMA 2009, and we spoke with Jim Roe of Roe Entertainment, who books Josh, about the impact of their high profile during World Of Bluegrass.

“Their main stage showcase went really, really well. They played a number of late night showcases in 2008, and I heard from several people that the band sounded much more mature this year, and that Josh looked really confident fronting his band.” (more…)

Sam Bush will celebrate yesterday’s release of his latest CD, Circles Around Me, with a live radio show tonight (10/21) on WSM.

He’ll be on the second episode of Music City Roots, a new live concert venture broadcast each Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. (CDT) from The Loveless Barn, just outside of Nashville. Eddie Stubbs and Jim Lauderdale co-host, with live artist interviews conducted by Craig Havighurst each week.

Mike Farris and Miss Tess and The Bon Ton Parade will also be on tonight’s show. It will air from 7:00-9:00 p.m. on WSM AM-650 in the Nashville market, and online via live streaming.

The series launched last week with a performance from Emmylou Harris, and many of the upcoming episodes will feature bluegrass or grassy artists.

• 11/4 – Josh Williams and John Cowan
• 11/25 – John Cowan
• 12/2 – Dale Ann Bradley
• 12/9 – Donna Ulisse and Emmit-Nershi Band
• 12/16 – Cherryholmes, Mountain Heart and Nashville Mandolin Ensemble

WSM is also recording the shows and will make them available on their web site for on demand streaming.

Catch Sam tonight at 7:00, or check out samples from Circles Around Me at sambush.com.