The next recording project by Kenny & Amanda Smith, Live And Learn, is due from Rebel Records on September 9. This will be their fourth CD with Rebel, the fifth since Kenny left Lonesome River Band in 2001 to launch this new venture with his wife, Amanda.

Students and fans of flatpicking guitar have followed Kenny from the time he first placed in the National Guitar Flat Pick Championship at Winfield in 1992, and followed him through stints with Claire Lynch and his two Guitar Player of the Year Awards from IBMA while working with LRB.

For most bluegrass fans, their first taste of Amanda’s singing was a single track she sang on Kenny’s Studebaker CD, released in 1997, or her debut release with Kenny, Slowly But Surely.

I had a chance to sit down with both of them recently to listen through the entire CD, after which they answered a few questions about the music and the songs included on Live And Learn, which also features regular band members Zach McLamb on bass and Aaron Williams on mandolin.

Kenny was especially enthusiastic about this project…

“I couldn’t ask for a better CD. This one just captured the sound we were after, and I’m delighted with the result.

At the beginning of this project, we had still not hired a full time banjo player. This had gone on for a year with different players filling in. Terry Baucom and Ron Stewart had filled in with us during the summer, and we just didn’t get in a hurry finding someone with these guys filling in. Plus, we were having a blast with them picking with us.

We were going to cut the project regardless and leave the banjo spot open and deal with it later when we called Ron about overdubbing fiddle later on. He told us he was available the week were laying down the rhythm tracks. So Ron showed up with banjo and fiddle in hand and we cut some of the best music the band has recorded to date.”

The first single from the album, Randall Collins, has been released to radio and is starting to get airplay. It’s a re-cut of a great Norman Blake song from the 1970s, one of Kenny’s favorite guitarists while he was learning to play.

“When I was growing up in Nine Mile, Indiana I used to mow yards in the summer for $3.50 a yard. I did that all summer and it was my first real job. It was enough to keep gas in my minibike and buy records. (more…)

Yesterday saw the release of the sophomore recording from Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain. The CD is simply titled CHHR2.

Produced by Jim VanCleve of Mountain Heart, this new CD is an impressive outing for this young band. We have a review of the CD coming soon, but for now we wanted to let you know of it, and tell you about an exciting promotion we’re running in conjunction with its release.

I’ve embedded a player to the right that will let you preview the entire CD.

To commemorate this release, of the band’s second CD, we’re giving away two prize packages, each containing the following items.

Prize Packages Include:

• 2 Tickets to a festival where Carrie Hassler and Hard Rain will perform.

The winners will be able to watch Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain perform their favorites songs and have a special meet and greet with Carrie and the band. The concert dates available are:

• Cumberland County Fair - Crossville, TN - Aug 22, 2008, at 8:00 PM - Prize Winner One
• Pickin’ in the Panhandle - Hedgesville, WV - Sep 6, 2008, All Day - Prize Winner Two

Each winner will also recieve:

• 2 Carrie Hassler and Hard Rain Shirts (Shirts will be shipped to the winner in 3 weeks)
• 1 Carrie Hassler and Hard Rain Hat ( Hat will be shipped to the winner in 3 weeks )
• 1 Box of Moon Pies
• 2 CD’s signed by Carrie Hassler and Hard Rain (1 each of Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain - RHY-1028, and Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain - CHHR2 - RHY-1037)

UPDATE (08.07.2008 2:10PM EST): The promotion has ended.

Later this afternoon, XM satellite Radio’s Bluegrass Junction will offer a track-by-track play through of the new release from Williams & Clark Expedition, Brand New Set Of Blues.

The show, which launches at 3:00 p.m. (EDT) on July 30, will feature the band members in studio with host Kyle Cantrell, discussing the various tracks as you hear them played in sequence.

The band consists of Blake Williams on banjo, Bobby Clark on mandolin, Wayne Southwards on lead vocals and guitar, and and Kimberly Williams on bass and lead vocals.

Catch the Williams & Clark show over this next during one of these scheduled broadcasts (all times eastern):

• July 30 - 3:00 p.m.
• August 2 - 4:00 p.m.
• August 5 - 7:00 a.m.
• August 7 - 6:00 p.m.

Find Bluegrass Junction at XM 14.

Quite often we report about new CD releases that have been sent our way. It’s not often that we are presented with a release from our European bluegrass brethern, so we’re excited to tell you about this release.

Richard Ciferský began his music journey with the banjo at the age of 15. He is a former member of the award winning band Fragment, based in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Ciferský was with the band from 2002-2005. Currently, he is a member of the bluegrass band Waterflow. He is also fronting his own band, Richard Ciferský & Rainy Day. The band takes its name from the title track of his new solo CD by the same name.

The band, and the CD reflect Ciferský’s varied influences.

The CD consists of 10 tracks, eight are original compositions belonging to Ciferský. The banjo is prominent on all tracks with a very pleasing tone and tasteful playing. The band is somewhat unconventional by American stanards, but the result is great listening for those who are free from the law of tradition.

The band is Richard on banjo, Linda Nováková on flute, René Jankovič on guitar, Richard Molnár on bass, and Adam Jánoš on drums.

The CD features Molnár, Jánoš, and Ciferský, along with a host of special guests, including one American player.

• Becky Buller - fiddle, vocal
• Emil Formánek - guitar
• Roman Sýkora - bass
• Michal Barok - mandolin
• Peter Szabados - dobro, pedal steel
• Sisa Michalidesová - whistle, flute
• Peter Prelozník - piano, strings
• Luboš Jurkovič - vocals

These musicians represent several of the top Eastern European bluegrass bands, including Druha Trava, Meantime, and Waterflow.

In addition to her contributions on fiddle, Becky Buller also contributed vocals on two tunes, one from her own pen.

Becky’s distinctive vocals shine on John Lowell’s “When Will You Be Home” and her own song “Wrong Place, Wrong Time”.

The title track, Rainy Day, displays Ciferský’s virtuosity on a composition that is a blend of several musical backgrounds all finding their focus in the banjo. The sounds of the band work well alongside the flute, drums and other instruments.

Blue Nashville represents a more strict bluegrass sound (more…)

Sugar Hill Records has released two further CDs in their Americana Master Series, one of which features the best of Ricky Skaggs’ material for the label.

Ricky Skaggs: Americana Masters Series, The Best Of The Sugar Hill Years ( SUG CD-4045) was released on July 7 and features a 13 cut collection of bluegrass & acoustic classics. Among the highlights are Little Cabin Home On The Hill, Daniel Prayed, Little Community Church and If I Needed You.

The series is designed to provide longstanding fans with a collection of favourites, with tracks culled from radio chart toppers, popular downloads and fan mail requests, among other categories.

In the case of Skaggs the material takes us right back to the very beginning of the Sugar Hill catalogue with the issue of Boone Creek’s One Way Track (SH 3701), from which four tracks have been taken. Other obvious sources for exceptional and popular recordings are Sweet Temptation (released in 1979) and the superb duet album Skaggs & Rice, with three cuts.

Less obvious places from which tracks have been taken are Bluegrass: World’s Greatest Show, I’m Not Broke, But I’m Badly Bent, (the Almost Original New South); John Starling’s Long Time Gone, Drifting Too Far From The Shore (with Skaggs singing harmony); and Seldom Scene: 15th Anniversary Celebration, If I Needed You (with Sharon White).

The compilation was produced by Ryan Baker and the notes were written by Craig Havighurst.

The full track listing is as follows ….

• Daniel Prayed
• I’ll Stay Around
• Bury Me Beneath The Weeping Willow
• Little Cabin Home On The Hill
• Drifting Too Far From The Shore
• Little Community Church
• I’m Not Broke, But I’m Badly Bent
• Head Over Heels In Love With You
• The Old Crossroads
• No Mother Or Dad
• If I Needed You
• Where The Soul Of Man Never Dies
• I Know What It Means To Be Lonesome

In March we reported news of the agreement between the newly-formed Mountain Roads Recordings and the long-lived traditional band from southwest Virginia, Big Country Bluegrass.

Now, we are informed that the first album resulting from that liaison, the premiere release from Mountain Roads Recordings of Bristol, TN, Open For Business, is released today, July 23.

Big Country Bluegrass is noted for delivering their own style of authentic hard-driving bluegrass that makes them crowd favourites wherever they perform from festivals and concerts across this country to the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. With more than two decades of experience under their belts, the band offers the very best in traditional bluegrass music and has created what has already been described as their best album yet…. Open For Business.

The band is comprised of Tommy Sells on mandolin, Teresa Sells on rhythm guitar and vocals, Alan Mastin on acoustic upright bass fiddle, Jeff Michael on fiddle, rhythm guitar, clawhammer banjo and vocals, Lynwood Lunsford on banjo, lead guitar and baritone vocals and Johnny Williams on rhythm guitar and vocals.

Open For Business is a combination of old standards, traditional favourites, a new song by the prolific writing couple Tom T. and Miss Dixie Hall, All That’s Left, and the original song This Time I’ve Learned by Jeff Michael and his fiddle tune entitled Back Stop. The former features lead vocals by Jeff Michael with tenor by Teresa Sells.

The lead song, High Alleghenies, also has Jeff Michael singing lead along with Teresa Sells (high baritone) and Johnny Williams (tenor), thus showcasing the beautiful harmonies and drive of this group. Michael’s unique lead vocals can be heard on Ghost Of A Love, This Time I’ve Learned, Weary Traveller, I’ll Never Dream No More My Darling, Old Time Preacher Man, Old Kentucky Shore and The Bible’s True, an old time song attributed to Uncle Dave Macon, on which Lunsford play three-finger banjo and Michael plays in the clawhammer style. Williams assumes the role of lead vocalist on Nashville Jail and Just Another Broken Heart, while Teresa Sells does likewise on I’ve Lost You and I Guess I’ll Go On Dreaming. Lunsford showcases on an old Don Reno tune Banjo Riff.

The band is entering its twenty-second year in the business and this album demonstrates their outstanding musicianship and vocals. Each member possesses a unique style that, when combined, comes together in a performance that is their very best yet.

Look for Open For Business in iTunes and at CD Baby over the next few weeks.

The band is hosting a CD Release event on July 26 at Applewood Music Park in Cana, VA. Details can be found by calling (336) 325-0230.

Pine Mountain Railroad, now owned and managed by Bryson City, North Carolina, born Cody Shuler, released an all-Gospel collection on July 15.

Recently voted 2007 winner of the Bluegrass Gospel Song Of The Year award by Singing News magazine and backed with several Top 10 albums and songs on the Bluegrass Unlimited and Billboard charts, Pine Mountain Railroad has released its eighth album, Pickin’, Praisin’ & Singin’ Hymns From The Mountain (Rural Rhythm RHY-328).

The specially-priced 16-track album contains a mixture of gospel classics from yesterday with a few new songs that the group hope will become standards of the future.

Among the standards are Where The Soul Of Man Never Dies, a familiar and beloved hymn given a very-different-from-the-traditional treatment; How Beautiful Heaven Must Be; The Old Rugged Cross, on which Jerry Cole sings lead; What Would You Give In Exchange, performed as a true-to-tradition tribute to the Monroe Brothers; and Rock Of Ages, with intricate harmonising.

Less well known are Run On which was originally recorded by the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet in the 1920s and, later, by Elvis Presley. The Pine Mountain Railroad version is done with 5-part harmony and an original ending; The Gospel Ship, a relatively-obscure song, but one that has been around a long time; So High, done a cappella style; and I Bowed On My Knees and Cried Holy, from the black gospel music repertoire of the 1930s.

Alongside are newer compositions My Eye’s Shall Be On Canaan’s Land, which Shuler wrote just for this album; Blood Bought My Freedom; and Let’s Meet By The River, originally by The Spencers and a No.1 hit recording for them in Southern Gospel music market.

The recordings were done at Dale Perry’s Lakeside Studios in Moneta, Virginia. Perry also mixed and mastered the project, having particular regard to the specific way that Shuler wanted the vocal mix.

Cody Shuler & Pine Mountain Railroad comprises Shuler (mandolin and vocals), Bill McBee (bass and vocals), Matt ‘Scooter’ Flake (fiddle and vocals), Jerry Cole (guitar & vocals) and Dale Thomas (banjo and vocals).

Railroad Pickin’, Praisin’ & Singin’ Hymns From The Mountain is available for a special introductory price on the Rural Rhythm web site.

The five-piece bluegrass Gospel band Canaan’s Crossing recently announced the release of their second Song Garden Music Group album.

The self-titled collection (Song Garden SG-6023), which came available on July 1, consists of 12 songs mixing some songs that you have heard before with original material. Among the former category are Praying, Talk About Suffering, Gloryland, Palms Of Victory and The Best Is Yet To Come. There’s A Man In Here, a song written by Harold Reid and recorded 30 years ago by the Statler Brothers may ring a bell also.

The original material includes Give Me A Song To Sing, written by Vickie Dobbins, who the members of Canaan’s Crossing heard at a church concert one night. Another original, Goin’ To Heaven, was written by a local minister of music, Steve Lacey. Other songs on the project, Rain Fallin’ Down, Battle Scarred Soldier and I’m Going Over are personal favorites. In keeping with past practice an instrumental track is included; in this instance it’s a Tina Miller composition, Leavin’ Despair.

Tim Maze, bass player and lead vocalist, looks back with a lot of satisfaction ……..

“In the first full week that the project had been released sales were ahead of our other recordings, so we feel blessed with the economy being as it is that sales are as good as they are.

It is not a cliche to say that we feel this is our best recording ever because we truly feel that it is. This is our first project with our new mandolin player, Keith Cannon. He has brought so much to the table with his creativity and work ethic. The old saying that greatness comes when you surround yourself with good people and he is one that brings out the best in all of us.”

Canaan’s Crossing came into being in 2006; prior to that the same personnel had sung under the name Jordan River. The individuals concerned are the afore-mentioned Tim Maze, Tina Miller (fiddle), Andy Wilks (guitar), Wayne Burgett (banjo) and Keith Cannon, filling on mandolin for the indisposed Junior Saint. They come from the small North Alabama town of Arab.

In 2004 they were nominated for the Dove Bluegrass Album of the Year award with There’s No Other Way and in 2006 for the Traditional Gospel Group of the Year by SPBGMA.

Audio samples from Canaan’s Crossing can be found on the band’s web site.

Blue Moon Rising will be releasing their latest album, One Lonely Shadow (Lonesome Day Records), on July 29.

The East Tennessee based band, whose name is derived from the title of a newspaper article commemorating the life of the Father of Bluegrass Music, Bill Monroe, has three previous albums and One Lonely Shadow is the second for the Lonesome Day Records label.

The CD consists of 13 songs and was engineered by Mike Latterell and jointly produced by Latterell, Cody Kilby, Randall Deaton, and Blue Moon Rising. Guitarist Chris West contributed five songs; the evil murder song, The Hanging Tree; I Grew Up Today; Five More Days of Rain; the Gospel song, Revival [co-written with Steve Gulley] and Good Time for Going Home. Mandolin player Keith Garrett wrote the love song, Angeline.

The remaining songs are from a diverse group of writers; the eloquent Bruce Springsteen (contributing Youngstown), the late Townes Van Zandt (Marie), Canadian Fred Eaglesmith (Freight Train), Bill Castle (Stone Cold Loneliness), Ronnie Bowman (Blue Moon Rising), Verlin Thompson (I Will Come Back Again) and Robbie Fulks (Where There’s a Road).

A couple of the songs have already enjoyed some radio play around the nation from a special pre-release sampler sent out by Lonesome Day Records and Where There’s a Road has reached No. 4 on the Sirius Bluegrass countdown.

West can’t wait for the release date …….

“In my humble opinion, this is the best recording by Blue Moon Rising to date. There’s a lot of songs on there that fans of ours would immediately recognize as our style of song, but there’s also several songs that were outside our normal realm of music that will hopefully endear some new fans and help to build a much broader fan base. The production is high with guest musicianship and vocals provided by Randy Kohrs, Tim Crouch, Mike Bub, Cody Kilby, Steve Gulley, Ron Stewart and Dale Ann Bradley.”

The current members of Blue Moon Rising are Chris West (vocals and guitar), Keith Garrett (vocals and mandolin), Justin Jenkins (vocals and banjo) and recent recruit Harold Nixon, formerly with J.D. Crowe & the New South, (bass).

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.

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.

Full details on the Skaggs Family web site.

This first clip has mandolinist Bryan Simpson and fiddler Ross Holmes discussing the new project and the “secrets” within.

Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road have a new CD out this year which they are currently promoting on the road.

Why Don’t You Give Jesus A Try, as the name suggests, is an all-Gospel release from Tom T. and Dixie Hall’s Blue Circle Records. It actually hit the street at the end of March, but only recently have audio samples appeared online.

Carolina Road features band leader Lorraine Jordan on mandolin and lead vocals, Jerry Butler on guitar, Ben Green on banjo and Josh Goforth on fiddle.

A complete track listing and several audio samples can be found on the band’s web site.

Jerry Douglas, certified master of the resonator guitar, has a new CD due out August 19 on Koch Records. This will be his 12th solo project in a career that spans more than 30 years, and stints with a who’s who of bluegrass and acoustic artists: Country Gentlemen, JD Crowe & The New South, Boone Creek, The Whites, Emmylou Harris, Strength In Numbers and Alison Krauss & Union Station.

His distinctive slide style has been sought to grace recordings by artists as diverse as bluegrass/new acoustic stalwarts Béla Fleck and Tony Rice, to pop singer/songwriters Paul Simon and James Taylor.

Like previous Douglas recordings, Glide defies every attempt at stylistic pigeon-holing, and features a mixing of genres and sounds as varied as his career suggests. You’ll hear bluegrass influence throughout the majority of the CD, even when the tunes aren’t specifically grassy, encompassing elements of Celtic, American folk, country and rock.

We had a chance to get some feedback from Jerry about the new CD, and about a special honor that has come his way.

“I have been named Artist In Residence for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum for this year. I feel very honored by this appointment. Last year’s Artist was Kris Kristofferson. Earl Scruggs and Tom T. Hall have also had this title.

What this means is that I get do four shows during the months of August and September any way I see fit. I am trying to recruit some respected friends who have meant something special to my career down through the years. I also want this to be entertaining for both the folks participating and those coming to see a good show. There are only around 200 seats in the Ford’s Theater in the Museum and I want this to be something special for those there to remember.”

The Artist In Residency shows are scheduled for August 19, August 27, September 16 and September 30. Tickets are currently available for Museum members, and any remaining seats will be offered to the general public on Monday, July 21. More details can be found on the Hall Of Fame web site, or by calling 615-416-2001.

Given the variety of sounds he captured on Glide, I wondered how many different guitars he used in recording this album.

“I used quite a few guitars for Glide. The workhorse being my new signature model Beard in different tunings, I sometimes stacked tracks with other Beard guitars I have. Also used were an old Weissenborn guitar, lapsteels from Jason Dumont at Lapking Guitars and a Fender Tele I’ve had for years made for me as a lapsteel. I also played an old Martin D-18 and Gibson J-200 on some tracks.” (more…)

Richard Thompson reviews a CD from the Spring of 2007 that he wishes he had written much sooner.

Hunter Berry, a native of Elizabethton, in the foothills of eastern Tennessee, began playing the fiddle at the age of nine, learning partly under the tutelage of old-time bluegrass fiddler Benny Sims. Berry has learned his craft very well.

More recently he had played with Melvin Goins and Doyle Lawson before joining Rhonda Vincent & The Rage in 2002. He has won SPBGMA fiddle awards for four consecutive years and has been nominated for the IBMA award on two occasions, demonstrating that fans and peers rate his playing highly.

Lawson leads a select group of musicians who form the band backing Berry along with Tony Rice (rhythm guitar, mostly), Ronnie Stewart - playing banjo - and Darrin Vincent (bass and harmony vocals), offering further proof of the esteem in which Hunter Berry is held. Other notables in the mix here and there are Adam Steffey, Randy Kohrs, Dan Tyminski and Jason Carter.

Arranged to showcase the fiddler, Wow Baby (the title tune and opening track) is an apt response to how Berry plays on this CD. It sets the standard and the bar is set high and kept up there throughout.

There are seven instrumentals in all, some traditional pieces like Leather Britches performed as a classic fiddle/banjo duet with that master of all instruments, Ronnie Stewart, Ragtime Annie, with a full five-piece band, and Kansas City Kitty with the great Bob Moore anchoring this sassy swing number which features a second fiddle, played by Buddy Spicher, and Buck White on piano and Bryan Sutton (guitar).

The balance are all vocal pieces with a variety of singers; two feature Keith Williams, the first of which, In The Pines, has Berry overdubbing a further two fiddle parts, one with Marty Stuart and Bobby Osborne - I’m Waiting To Hear You Call Me Darlin’, Sally Sandker (Rhonda’s daughter) demonstrating that she has a good set of pipes on Blue Kentucky Girl, another triple fiddle piece - this also has Sally’s uncle singing harmony - and Rhonda Vincent with Sonya Isaacs harmonize on the driving bluegrass number Hard Living. The fiddle work on each is stellar, artfully tailored to suit the relevant vocalist.

For me two tunes Waltz For Mom And Dad, a second Hunter Berry composition, and Ragtime Annie, juxtaposed as tracks seven and eight, demonstrate the finesse, the power and drive that Berry brings to the world of the bluegrass fiddle.

Wow Baby was nominated for both the IBMA Instrumental Album of the Year and Recorded Event of the Year awards last year and I can understand why it is so highly rated. You won’t get any argument from me as far as quality is concerned.

Long Road, the new CD from former Leftover Salmonite Drew Emmitt, is due out next Tuesday (7/15) on Compass Records.

The bulk of the songs are Emmitt originals and the core group of musicians include Chris Pandolfi on banjo, Tyler Grant on guitar, Eric Thorin on bass, Jeff Sipe on drums, Steven Sandifer on percussion, and Emmitt on mandolin and lead vocals. There are also guest appearances from Bill Nershi and Andy Hall on resonator guitar, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, and Tim O’Brien, John Cowan and Darrell Scott on vocals.

Audio samples can be found on Drew’s MySpace page and on the Compass Records web site.

Bryan Simpson of Cadillac Sky just shot us a note with news about one of the songs on their upcoming CD, Gravity’s Our Enemy, set for an August 19 Skaggs Family release.

It’s not really a single release, but one of the tracks from the new project is now available online at reverbnation.com. You can also give the song a listen in the player embedded below.

Says Bryan of this track…

“The tune’s called Inside Joke and it’s about a crazy dream I had one night. It serves as therapy for the band everytime we play it.”

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…)

Well, that’s the way she describes the release of her latest CD, Live, from Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands (Spruce & Maple Music SMM 2004).

From the Bay Area of San Francisco, the highly rated fiddler and two-time International Bluegrass Music Association Award winner for Female Vocalist of the Year has, along with her right-hand men, Tom Rozum, mandolin; Scott Huffman, guitar; Craig Smith, banjo; and Todd Phillips, string bass, recently announced the availability of a first live set of recordings.

The 19-song collection also features, the 13 year old Oregon champion fiddler from Corvallis, Oregon, Tatiana Hargreaves on the medley O My Malissa/How Old Are You?

Recorded on location by Fred Forssell at three different shows - at First United Methodist Church, Corvallis, Oregon, [on 3/9/07]; at Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts, Longview, Washington [3/10/07]; and at Cashmere Community Coffeehouse, Cashmere, Washington [3/11/07] - the CD captures the Right Hands’ excellent individual talents as well as their dynamic on-stage interplay.

The full track listing reveals the inclusion of many fan favourites ….…

I’ve found several occasions this past few years to offer high praise for Boston-based string band Crooked Still. Originally drawn to them by my interest in their high-profile instrumentalists, Greg Lizst on banjo and (then) cellist, Rushad Eggleston, I quickly discovered that vocalist Aoife O’Donovan and bassist Corey DiMario were every bit their equals and further that, as a unit, they had created a truly new sound, something often promised by overheated publicity, but much more rarely experienced.

Their 2006 release, Shaken By A Low Sound was an immediate critical sensation, with writers in a wide variety of acoustic, folk, bluegrass and alternative publications praising the CD, which a good many mainstream periodicals did as well. The title was a reference to the instrumentation, using the cello and string bass as the foundation of the rhythm section, without a guitar, mandolin or fiddle - though those did pop up from guest artists on a few tracks.

The critical success was mirrored in sales, and soon the band was a major attraction at festivals and venues appealing to music lovers of eclectic tastes throughout North America and Europe.

With last week’s release of their latest CD, Still Crooked, and some extensive summer touring, the band is again turning heads.

To my ear, this album succeeds ever bit as well as the last. The arrangements are both sparse and sonically rich, and the songs they’ve chosen are drawn from a variety of sources - new, old and very old. The new project also introduces two new members, as fiddler Brittany Haas and cellist Tristan Clarridge have stepped into the space left by original member Rushad Eggleston’s exit.

I was able to chat yesterday with O’Donovan from California as she was headed for the airport, and a flight to Canada. She discussed several of the songs on Still Crooked, the band’s new personnel, and how she came to a career in music.

“When Rushad left, we decided that the band should expand in whatever way seemed natural. We had considered a cello or a fiddle, but weren’t determined to go in either direction. Last September we got together with both Brittany and Tristan in my living room - our first time playing with potential new members - and it just seemed to work perfectly.

We had always talked about adding a fiddle - even when Rushad was in the band - and had featured fiddle on a few cuts on previous records.” (more…)

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.”