WDVX will be airing two live shows today (9/29) that feature music from the IBMA convention.

At noon, Cumberland Gap Connection will perform on their Blue Plate Special program. They are one of the IBMA official showcase acts this year (playing Monday night), and will stop off for this show at the WDVX Knoxville studios on their way to Nashville for IBMA.

Then at 9:00 p.m. (EDT) the station will offer a live broadcast of Cherryholmes’ CD release party at The Rutledge. You’ll hear the music from their new CD, Cherryholmes III - Don’t Believe, which hits the streets tomorrow (9/30).

WDVX originates from Knoxville, TN and is broadcast in that market at 102.9 FM - and via live streaming online.

For those of you who can’t be in Nashville this week for all the big doin’s at IBMA, be sure to tune in to WAMU’s Bluegrass Country online to get a taste of what is going on.

They will be broadcasting live from the convention site each day from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and 6:00-7:00 p.m. (EDT). The remotes will feature both live performances and discussion with artists attending the convention.

Scheduled to appear today (Monday 9/29) are:

• Jeannette Williams
• Larry Cordle, Jerry Salley & Carl Jackson
• Donna Ulisse
• Valerie Smith & Becky Buller
• Out and Runnin’
• Shannon Whitworth
• Cherryholmes

You can listen to Bluegrass Country via audio streaming online, and via HD Radio (88.5-2) in the Washington DC market.

The Grand Ole Opry is taking on a bluegrass flavor this weekend as the World Of Bluegrass prepares to descend on Nashville.

Tonight’s Friday Opry (9/26) will feature Del McCoury, Ricky Skaggs, The Whites, Grascals and Jesse McReynolds.

On Saturday night, they’ll have Del, Ricky and The Whites again along with Bobby Osborne and The Carolina Chocolate Drops.

The Friday Opry is broadcast from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. (EST) and the Saturday show runs from 8:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. Both shows are available over the air in the Nashville market on WSM AM 650, on XM channel 11 (XM Nashville), and simulcast worldwide via online streaming at wsmonline.com.

Our Richard Thompson will be at The Opry tonight, so perhaps we will have a report from him tomorrow.

WAMU’s Bluegrass Country will be broadcasting live from the IBMA World Of Bluegrass in Nashville next week. Nearly a dozen hosts of WAMU’s online 24/7 bluegrass channel will be on hand sharing the microphone over six days on the air.

Broadcast times will be from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. (EDT) and 6:00-7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday (9/28-10/3), and again on Sunday (10/5) from 6:00-10:00 a.m. (EDT).

Unlike last year’s IBMA broadcast, which interspersed live interviews with pre-recorded music, the live remotes will primarily consist of live, in-studio performances and discussion with top bluegrass artists. The exceptions will be the Thursday afternoon shows which will focus on that night’s upcoming Awards Show, and the history of The Ryman Auditorium and Sunday’s remote broadcast of Stained Glass Bluegrass.

Highlights will include a live a capella set from Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, a trio set from Larry Cordle, Carl Jackson and Jerry Salley, sets from Cherryholmes, Lonesome River Band, Dailey & Vincent and Steep Canyon Rangers.

Oh… and an interview with John and Brance from The Bluegrass Blog on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. (EDT)!

We’ll post the daily schedules each morning from IBMA. You can listen to Bluegrass Country via audio streaming online, and via HD Radio in the Washington DC market (88.5-2).

Be sure to keep an eye on The Bluegrass Blog and an ear on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country throughout IBMA week.

UPDATE 9:48 a.m. We got a note from Jen Hitt at Bluegrass Country to tell us that she and the rest of the staff will be “tweeting” at IBMA as well. Their Twitter address is wamubluegrass.

A while back we told you about the new e digital version of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. Publisher/Editor Dan Miller is now offering a free digital download of the Sept/Oct issue. The download includes both the digital magazine and the accompanying audio tracks.

If you’d like to check out the digital version by taking advantage of this offer, just visit the FlatpickDigital.com subscriptions page, select the Free Trial option (radio button), fill out the fields on that page, and then click the Sign Up bottom at the bottom of the page.

You will immediately be able to download the current (Sept/Oct) issue.

This offer expires on October 7, 2008.

Songs From The Road is a loosely-knit side project band that features members of such noted touring acts as Steep Canyon Rangers, The Emmit Nershi Band, Shannon Whitworth and the Refugees, Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, Town Mountain, Super Grit Cowboy Band and The Grit Pixies.

Their debut CD, Songs From The Road, was released in 2006, produced by Charles Humphrey III of Steep Canyon Rangers, who also played bass.

A second project is in the works, Songs From The Road Vol II - As The Crow Flies, is due on January 15, 2009. A download-only, three song EP will be released shortly featuring a sneak peek of material from the upcoming CD. It will be available from CD Baby and iTunes.

The lineup on the new CD has Charles on bass, Mark Schimick on mandolin, Andy Thorn on banjo, Nicky Sanders on fiddle, and Sam Wharton on guitar. Guest vocalists include Robert Greer, Lance Mills and Shannon Whitworth.

One song from As The Crow Flies can be heard now on the band’s MySpace and ReverbNation pages. The songs is Taxman, and the lyric is one that may grab the attention of a lot of folks in the US during an election year.

Taxman, taxman leave me alone.
Stop knocking on my door ’cause there ain’t noboby home.

Already a Grand Ole Opry veteran as a high school senior, bluegrass prodigy Sierra Hull has a very special appearance scheduled for tonight’s Friday Opry (9/19).

Sierra has a dozen or more Opry appearances under her belt, but those were all ones where she sat in or appeared alongside some other artist or Opry member. Now, with her debut Rounder CD, Secrets, doing well and her performance schedule staying full, her Opry spot tonight is all about Sierra.

“I’ve played the Opry usually a couple times a year since I’ve been about 10, but it’s always been with other people. It’s been about a year since I played last, and that was with Alison Krauss, Dan Tyminski, Ron Block, and Dennis Crouch. It’s always a big honor to get to play there for sure!

I’ve played one other time under my own name along with my brother when I was about 14 or so, but I kinda feel like this is really the first time. It will be the first time doing my own songs since having a record come out, so it’s very exciting!”

She will be performing with members of her road band, with a couple of special guests - Cory Walker on banjo, Jacob Eller on bass, Shane Blackwell on guitar, Cody Hull on guitar, Rob Ickes on resonator guitar and Sierra on mandolin and lead vocals.

“My brother and I hardly get to play together anymore, so I’m thrilled he can be part of this. We’re also so happy to have Rob come out and play with us. He’s amazing and a joy to get to pick with too!”

The Friday Opry can be heard from 9:00-11:00 p.m. (EDT) over the air at WSM 650 AM, broadcasting from Nashville, on XM channel 11 (XM Nashville), or via live streaming at wsmonline.com.

Sierra’s set is scheduled in the 10:30-11:00 segment.

I’m just barely old enough to remember bluegrass shows that ran on television in the early mornings. During the summer I could often find Don reno, Arthur Smith or sometimes even Flatt & Scruggs appearing on one of the early morning “farm shows” that ran before the morning news.

Before those days, such shows ran on radio and most nationally touring bluegrass acts had a home radio station where they would perform live each early morning. If the station had a good reach, the band could book shows throughout the listening area, and still get back each morning for the next show.

Straight Drive, from Hasbrouck Heights in New Jersey, starts a show this week that offers something of a throwback to those golden days of bluegrass radio.

On Wednesday mornings following the 7:30 a.m. news break, they will be featured during Susan Rose’s Bluegrass Breakfast show on WDVR-FM. The new mini-show, Straight Morning Drive, will run for 15 minutes, and is pre-recorded live.

Banjo player Terry McGill has had this concept brewing for some time.

“For a long time I have wanted to do a short radio program that would be recorded live and feature our brand of traditional bluegrass music. Our show will be run much like our regular stage show. It will feature traditional and original bluegrass music as well as old time duet singing. In between the songs I will tell about each song or talk with band members and generally have a good time.

During the 1940’s through the 1960’s there were many shows of this type throughout the US, but most had faded out or switched to records by the 1970’s. I feel that today’s listeners will enjoy the vintage feel of a live band on the airwaves.”

McGill went to WDVR with this show idea based on their ongoing support of traditional music, and since he feels like the station is run like radio was in an prior era.

In addition to McGill on banjo, Straight Drive features Jen Larson on guitar and vocals, Ronnie Feinberg on fiddle, Ben Fraker on mandolin, David Hampton on guitar, and Dave Gandin on bass.

WDVR broadcasts at 89.7 and 91.9 FM with coverage in the Delaware and Lehigh Valley of western NJ and in eastern PA. Their signal is also simulcast online via live streaming.

Blue Highway is celebrating their first Cashbox cover, which graced the September 8, 2008 issue.

Old timers in the music biz remember Cash Box as a prominent industry publication and one-time competitor of Billboard who put out a print edition from 1942 until 1996. They pioneered such now-familiar chart terms as “with a bullet,” and were also credited with originating the concept of publishing separate charts for different genres of popular music.

It has been revived as an online magazine, published digitally since 2006 at cashboxmagazine.com.

So how much juice do you get for being on the cover of a virtual magazine? Well, if it’s noting your latest CD’s position on the top of the relevant chart, we’d say “plenty!”

Here’s how Blue Highway puts it on their web site:

Suitable for framing (at least by our moms): the cover of this week’s Cashbox! “Through the Window of a Train” marks its second month at the #1 spot on the Cashbox Bluegrass Chart.

Congratulations, guys.

Country Music Goodness, a blog covering the wide spectrum of country music, published a brief interview with banjo ace Earl Scruggs yesterday, Sunday, September 14th, 2008.

Although a very brief conversation, Scruggs is asked about his contemporaneous perception of his time of his time with Bill Monroe; punctuality and life on the road; and baseball. He has some interesting things to say that remind us what bluegrass music life was like was in the mid-1940s. It’s another world!

The full interview can be read at the Country Music Goodness website.

There are a number of opportunities to catch some special bluegrass programming and live music today (Friday, 9/12).

At 1:00 p.m. (EDT), Carrie Hassler will be interviewed on WorldWideBluegrass.com. Carrie will join WWB host Gracie Muldoon to talk about her latest CD, CHHR2, and what she and her band, Hard Rain, are up to heading into the IBMA convention at the end of this month.

Catch the live WWB stream online at worldwidebluegrass.com.

Then at 5:00 p.m. (EDT), The Dixie Be-Liners will be performing live on WNCW FM. They will be on the Studio B program, and highlight material from their latest CD, Ripe.

WNCW broadcasts on several FM frequencies in NW North Carolina, and streams their signal online at wncw.org.

Tonight’s Friday Opry also has some bluegrass on tap. Both Cherryholmes and Rhonda Vincent are scheduled - Cherryholmes between 9:00-9:30, and Rhonda in the final segment between 10:30-11:00. All times eastern.

Rhonda is set to appear during the same segment as country crooner Gene Watson, fueling speculation that they may perform their duet version of Together Again, from Watson’s current CD, Matters Of The Heart.

The Grand Ole Opry is carried over the air at WSM 650 AM, broadcasting from Nashville, on XM channel 11 (XM Nashville), or via live streaming at wsmonline.com.

The Infamous Stringdusters were featured last week on Acoustic Cafe. They joined host Rob Reinhart in the studio to talk about their latest CD (The Infamous Stringdusters), their songwriting process, and how they work together as a band.

Several tracks from the CD were also featured in the September 2 program, which can be heard online.

It runs just over 25 minutes and offers a nice look at the closeness of this unique band - and their somewhat twisted sense of humor.

Among the non-music web sites that I enjoy most regularly are ones that use satire and faux-news stories in humorous ways. Sites like The Onion and Stuff White People Like really tickle my funny bone, though with humor being such a subjective attribute, your mileage may vary.

Here’s one that mixes that sort of humor with the bluegrass and acoustic music personalities we know and love, The Bluegrass Intelligencer.

Recent posts have included parody stories like World Scientists Redouble Efforts to Clone Chris Thile and New Mitchell Report on Performance-Enhancing Drugs Names Mountain Heart, Kentucky Thunder.

The latter is simply hilarious, tying together the controversy in Major League Baseball over the use of human growth hormone, with the performance abilities of some of bluegrass music’s hot young virtuosos.

Greg Cahill, Chairman of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), has stated that each accusation will be addressed on a case-by-case basis, and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.

As the pressure to play faster, cleaner, more energetic solos has increased over the years, IBMA drug testing has failed to keep pace, and a culture of permissiveness has evolved.

“I mean, when you go to a festival and you see Cody Kilby playing those guitar solos with Kentucky Thunder, you know that it’s not naturally possible, yet everyone just looks the other way,” said Thom Thoreau, bluegrass fan.

Indeed, the report has explicitly named more than half of Kentucky Thunder as well as the entire six-piece group Mountain Heart. Among others, fiddlers Andy Leftwich and Jim Van Cleve, as well as guitarist Cody Kilby have been subpoenaed to testify under oath during the next session of Congress.

Some of the language and subject matter is a bit outside of polite conversation, but everything I saw there was just plain funny.

MLB.com, the official site of Major League Baseball, has noticed the theme of The Gibson Brothers’ recent Sugar Hill release. The title track, Iron & Diamonds, tells an autobiographical story of where the brothers grew up in Lyon Mountain, NY where pretty much everyone was involved in mining - and town baseball.

In a story by staff writer Doug Miller, the Gibsons are interviewed about the album, and growing up in a baseball tradition.

Eric and Leigh both played for the Lyon Mountain Miners out of high school and witnessed a juggernaut of a team, a perennial league championship contender with some serious Major League ties.

The local Kowalowski family, for example, had several players on the team, including Tom, who was signed by the Yankees, although he never made it to the Major Leagues.

“He coached my team and had tons of stories,” Eric says. “Like getting to catch Whitey Ford and hitting a home run off Don Drysdale, who yelled at him and knocked him down the next time he was up.”

Eric says there’s a local legend that the Yankees tried to get in touch with a few other Kowalowski boys for tryouts, but the mining company got the letter and never gave it to them.

“I don’t know how true that is,” Eric says, “but it’s still a good story.”

The article also makes note of how Bill Monroe was a great baseball fan, and how Eric and Leigh make a point to catch as many major league games as they can during teh summer touring season.

You can read the full piece at MLB.com.

Bluegrass Underground, the new live performance radio show we posted about last month, debuts tonight (8/29) on WSM. The show features a live performance by The Steeldrivers, recorded August 16 more than 300 feet underground at Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville, TN.

The show’s premise is based around the unique environment where it is recorded, this underground cavern completely removed from any sound generated at the earth’s surface. Each month, a new episode will be taped before a live audience, using as few microphones as possible to capture the natural acoustic sound, and aired on the last Friday night of the month.

Producer Todd Mayo told us that this first concert taping was a sellout, and that The Steeldrivers put on a whale of a show. He also sent along some photos that demonstrate the dramatic surroundings where they record.

Here’s a video clip that gives an even better look at the concert hall.

Tennessee Shines is a new live music radio show which debuts tonight (8/27) on WDVX, broadcasting at 89.9 FM in Knoxville, TN and via live audio streaming at wdvx.xom. The two hour show will be hosted by Jim Lauderdale and broadcast live on the last Wednesday of each month from Knoxville’s historic Bijou Theater.

Tonight’s guests will be The SteelDrivers, Darrell Scott, Shawn Camp and the everybodyfields.

In addition to live performances from each of the musical guests, Jim will be chatting with the bands, finding out what they have been doing, and what they have on the horizon. He will also participating in a songwriters session with Shawn Camp and both Mike Henderson and Chris Stapleton from The SteelDrivers.

WDVX will be the base radio home for Tennessee Shines, and discussions are now underway to bring the show into wider syndication, and hopefully satellite radio as well.

Guests have been booked for the September edition of Tennessee Shines, and the lineup will be announced during this evening’s program. Tonight’s show is sold out, but tickets to attend future shows can be obtained through the Tennessee Theater box office, and as available, at the door.

Tune in from 7:00-9:30 p.m. to catch the debut program tonight.

We told you last week about the launch of ResoHangout.com, a forum and social networking site for resonator guitarists, created by the folks who manage the popular Banjo Hangout and Fiddle Hangout sites.

At that time we mentioned that a similar site was in the work for flatpickers which is now up and operational online.

FlatpickerHangout.com offers the same discussion forum, tab archive, online video lessons, product reviews, classified ads, chat rooms and myHangout home pages as the other Hangout sites. Registration is required to access many of the features offered, but there is no cost to become a member.

To celebrate the launch of the new site, visitors can enter a drawing for a Martin DX model limited edition guitar from Janet Davis Music. You can find the entry details and all the other guitar resources at FlatpickerHangout.com.

Our friends at ukbluegrass are looking forward to the appearance of one of the hottest new groups in bluegrass today, Cadillac Sky, at this year’s Didmartin Bluegrass Festival at the end of the month. The 20th iteration of this event takes place between August 29th and 31st at Kemble Airfield, near Cirencester, and will feature a line-up of bands from the USA, Europe and Great Britain.

Headliners this year are Texas five-piece Cadillac Sky, who released their second album, Gravity’s Our Enemy, on August 19. ukbluegrass spoke to the band’s singer and mandolin player Bryan Simpson about the new record and their upcoming visit to England.

In addition, there are appearances at the Didmartin festival by Growling Old Men (USA), and UK groups New Essex Bluegrass Band, Thunderbridge Bluegrass Boys, Down County Boys, Rabbi John and more. There is a full band listing and schedule at the festival’s website.

The full interview can found here.

Rick Jamison, a bluegrass songwriter based in northern California, has recently launched a blog about his craft, titled appropriately enough, On Songwriting.

The new site went live on July 14, and Rick has already posted 5 songwriter profiles among 11 posts. He says that traffic has been picking up, and he is very pleased to see that an interest exists among songwriters - and interested observers - for a site of this kind.

Rick explained a bit about what led him to create his new blog, and what he hopes it can accomplish.

“I have been thinking for some time about creating a website where I and other songwriters could share ideas, experiences and insights about this personal — and often lonely — endeavor. In July, I followed through on that goal by securing a domain (www.onsongwriting.com) and launching the blog.

In the process of thinking through what a useful site might look like, I landed on the combination of featuring artist profiles (helps introduce ourselves to each other and others who may be interested), links to MP3s and URLs (hear what others are doing and fast-track to other songwriting sites/online resources) and songwriting hints and tips (can be helpful when you’re staring at a blank sheet of paper and forget how to start).”

New material will be posted twice each week.

“On Mondays, the site features my own musings on the topic of songwriting — everything from the art of creativity to recording considerations to sources of inspiration. Each Thursday, I plan to feature a ‘Songwriter Profile’ where I interview active songwriters from a variety of genres. Songwriters who are interested in being featured in a future profile are welcome to contact me by email.“

Rick is also developing another site as an adjunct to On Songwriting, which will be social networking space for songwriters. It is expected to launch at some point in September.

“In my day job, I have recently become the Online Community Manager for a software company in Silicon Valley. As I try to fulfill all that goes with that professional role, I wanted to simultaneously create an online community site around a pursuit that I’m personally engaged in and passionate about.”

Follow the discussion online at OnSongwriting.com.

UPDATE 2:45 p.m.  Rick said that he got busy over this past weekend, and the songwriters social networking site is now active at onsongwriting.ning.com.

The September edition of Acoustic Guitar magazine includes a review of seven dreadnaught guitars.

In an eight page section the feature article assesses the merits of seven different makes of the cherished Dreadnought guitar, varying in price from $350 to $4,000 and across the range of manufacturers such as Morgan Monroe, Epiphone, Larivee, Taylor, Breedlove, Martin and Santa Cruz.

The reviewers, who include magazine Senior Editor Scott Nygaard, provide a narrative comment on the characteristics of each guitar, added to which are basic specifications, prices and contact details. Whether it is an entry-level or a professional-quality modern guitar that you are seeking, the general opinion is that all of them are well worth consideration.

While specific models are discussed, comparables from the same price range are mentioned also, bringing attention to 42 dreadnoughts in all.

The complete article can be found at the Acoustic Guitar website, where there is access to two videos which allow a good view of each of the seven guitars, and a sonic appreciation of their tonality.

Another interesting feature of the September edition of Acoustic Guitar is Cross-Cultural Picking in which Nygaard discusses with Italian ace guitarist Beppe Gambetta the latter’s new cross-picking technique, and the poetry of flat picking.