We posted a sneak peek last week of the upcoming Doyle Lawson Gospel CD, Light On My Feet, Ready To Go. It was in the form of an audio sample from the first single – the title track, written and sung by new Quicksilver guitarist Corey Hensley.

The new album will be released March 30 on Horizon Records, a Crossroads Music imprint.

Crossroads has also released a pair of video teasers to give fans a taste of what to expect from Light On My Feet, Ready To Go. In this first we see the guys working up an arrangement for Mountainview Missionary Baptist Church.

Then, we hear the recorded version as Doyle works on final mixes with engineer Van Atkins.

And yes, folks…. that is Dale Perry on banjo, looking hale and healthy. Of course Doyle is on mandolin, Jason barrie on fiddle, and Jason Leek bass. Reso man Josh Swift is playing guitar in teh first video as they work up the song. Hensley is not pictured in that first clip.

Rebel Records has announced that the latest in their Vault Series, Dark As A Dungeon – Songs Of The Mines, will be released at the end of March. The CD will include mining songs from 14 Rebel artists including Blue Highway, Seldom Scene, Larry Sparks, The Country Gentlemen in the mix.

The Vault Series is Rebel’s budget-minded reissue inventory, offering material from their deep bluegrass catalog. Some of these tracks date back 25 years or more, some are fairly new, and one track has never been previously released.

Frank Godbey gives a taste of the theme this project presents in the conclusion to his liner notes.

“Through these songs we can picture the world’s largest shovel overseeing an open-pit landscape, imagine trying to peer through the darkness at the bottom of a deep shaft where daylight never reaches, visualize wives and sweethearts waiting at a mine’s entrance for news of loved ones trapped below, and listen to labored breathing caused by black lung disease—is it any wonder that people sing about the hardships and hazards associated with mining?

Despite the tragic nature of many of these songs, the impact is enhanced immeasurably by their quiet yet undeniable eloquence.   These performances give us powerful glimpses into the lives and innermost feelings of miners and their families.”

Perhaps some of these are familiar?

• Green Rolling Hills – Bill Harrell & The Virginians
• A Miner’s Life – The Country Gentlemen
• Paradise – Seldom Scene
• Call The Captain – Steep Canyon Rangers
• Dream Of A Miner’s Child – Whitley & Skaggs
• Black Dust Fever - Wildwood Valley Boys
• In Those Mines – Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike
• Daddy’s Dinner Bucket – Ralph Stanley II
• Digging In The Ground – Larry Sparks
• Coaltown Saturday Night – Randall Hylton
• The River Ran Black – David Davis & The Warrior River Boys
• West Virginia’s Last Hand Loader – Blue Highway
• The Hermit Miner – Perfect Strangers
• Dark As A Dungeon – James Alan Shelton

Dark As A Dungeon – Songs Of The Mines is set for a March 30 release.

The Gibson Brothers are celebrating three months with the title track of their Ring The Bell CD atop the Bluegrass Unlimited Top 30 Survey of bluegrass songs. Another track getting attention from the album is Farm Of Yesterday, an autobiographical song that Eric and Leigh Gibson wrote about growing up on their family’s dairy farm in northeastern New York

Eric said that they had received many requests for more information about the farm, and he passed along an aerial photo and these details.

“The farm in the northern foothills of the Adirondacks was in our family from 1865 until our father’s health forced him out in 2000.  At one point he went 23 years without taking a single day off, not even for holidays or Sundays. We owned 650 acres and had about a 110 head herd of Holsteins. We still own the woods that you can see north of the barn.

We wrote this for our parents, but we are finding that it is catching on with many people.”

Here’s video of the guys doing Farm Of Yesterday at the Wind Gap festival in Pennsylvania last year.

We’ve noted several times that country heartthrob Dierks Bentley is a serious bluegrass music fan, and that he has been a supporter of the music since long before he hit it big in Nashville. He has appeared on albums by The Grascals and The Infamous Stringdusters, and featured The Grascals on one of his recordings.

Well today comes official word that his next album for Capitol Nashville, Up On The Ridge, will be a bluegrass-themed project, encompassing a variety of acoustic, folk and Americana sounds as well. Instead of an all-star band of session players, Bentley recorded with such stellar ensembles as The Del McCoury Band and Punch Brothers (with Chris Thile), with guest appearances from Sam Bush and Tim O’Brien as well.

The record is being produced by Jon Randall Stewart, whose acoustic/bluegrass chops are beyond reproach, and engineered by Gary Paczosa who has worked on masterpieces with Alison Krauss, Blue Highway, Adam Steffey and the ‘Dusters among others.

For his part, Dierks is looking forward to getting the new CD out, and thinks all of his fans will enjoy it.

“This album won’t come as a surprise to my hard core fans. They’ve asked me: ‘when are you going to make a bluegrass record?’ And I was just waiting for the right time.”

Dierks handles the lead vocals, of course, but has some help from Alison Krauss and Miranda Lambert.

“I didn’t want this to be ‘Dierks Bentley and friends’ or a ‘Dierks does bluegrass’ kind of album. I wanted each song to have something special about it, and in the end I think each song really does have its own thing going on.

It’s my version of bluegrass music. It’s not just banjos cranked up to eleven. It throws out a big net.”

I’ve not had a chance to hear it yet, but friends who have say that it’s a fine record – tasteful and smooth.

Capitol is anticipating a release this summer. Hope there will be some acoustic tour support!