Blue Circle Records has announced the release of Bluegrass Bouquet (BCR-017), what they describe as “an organic all-female album” from the IBMA Recorded Event of the Year award-winning Daughters of Bluegrass.

This CD, the second album for the Blue Circle Record label by the Daughters of Bluegrass, is a landmark extravaganza featuring over 50 daughters and 17 songs.

The opening cut, Proud To Be A Daughter Of Bluegrass, certainly is an extravaganza with Dale Ann Bradley leading 20 other ladies in a remembrance of their forebears in bluegrass and delighting in their own involvement in the music. Such esteemed members of the fairer sex as Heather Berry, Lisa Martin, Gloria Belle, Sierra Hull, Rhonda Vincent, Lisa Ray, Linda Lay, Sally Jones, Carol Lee Cooper, Jeanie Stanley, Sonya Isaacs, Becky Isaacs Bowman, Michelle Nixon, Jeanette Williams, Sophie Haislip, Louise Tomberlain, Mindy Rakestraw, Lizzy Long, Frances Mooney, Lorraine Jordan, Annette Kelly, Lily Lieux, Dixie Hall, Judi Marshall, Beth Lawrence, Melissa Lawrence, Donica Christensen, Rebecca Frazier, Jenni Lyn Gardner and Lisa Manning all share in that pride.

In varying combinations that cast of songstresses, re-enforced by the talents of vocalists Janet McGarry, Valerie Smith, Stacy York, Dara Wray, Alecia Nugent and Jennifer Strickland bring to luscious life some exceptional songs each of which was written by the people at Good Home Grown Music, namely Dixie Hall, Tom T Hall and Troy Engle, with an assist on one song by Billy Smith, who is himself no slouch with a guitar and a pen.

Providing the instrumental drive and finesse are Gena Britt, Vicki Simmons, Megan McCormick, Becky Buller, Tina Adair, Kristin Scott Benson, Rebekah Long, Jenee Fleenor, Jeana Martin, Janice Martin, Larita Martin, Martha Adcock, Amber Burks and Beth Stevens.

Song samples and ordering can be found at the Daughters’ website and on CD Baby. Albums are also available for purchase from most of the featured artists at their live performances and their respective websites.

Tennessee Pusher, the new project from Old Crow Medicine Show is scheduled for release this coming Tuesday (9/23).

OCMS chose eclectic producer Don Was for this new project, whose previous credits have included music megastars like Bob Dylan and Elton John. The band has always gone after a Dylanesque vibe on much of their material. Could it may be even more pronounced with Was at the helm?

Audio samples for all of the tracks are available online if you want to check for yourself.

The band has special pricing for pre-orders on their web site, and a very special pre-release download price of $5.00 for the full album, good through Monday.

Rebel Records has announced the signing of Colorado’s Spring Creek, which they note marks the first time the Virginia label has contracted with a band based west of the Mississippi.

It may also mark the first time a new band hits the national scene composed entirely of players who studied bluegrass music at South Plains College under the tutelage of Alan Munde and Joe Carr.

Spring Creek is made up of Jessica Smith on bass, Chris Elliott on banjo, Alex Johnstone on mandolin and fiddle, and Tyalor Sims on guitar. All four members contribute vocally, trading off on lead and harmony. They write much of the material they record and perform, and feature a good bit of duet singing.

The band will be at IBMA at the end of this month performing on a variety of showcase stages, and will be in the studio later this fall getting started on their debut CD for Rebel. A Spring 2009 release is anticipated.

You can hear hear audio samples from current releases on the band’s web site or MySpace page.

When we posted not long ago that audio samples from the upcoming Cherryholmes CD were available online, we teased that an interview would be forthcoming. And so it has come to pass.

Cia, banjo player, lead vocalist, and the senior member of the young Cherryholmes sibs, talked with us about Cherryholmes III - Don’t Believe, and what the family band has on tap in the next little while.

“We feel it is our finest work to date, and we have been told it has something for everyone. Our approach to bluegrass has allowed us reach a wide spectrum of musical tastes and genres. We are now playing all over the world, not just around the country, and are introducing bluegrass music everywhere to enthusiastic audiences.”

I first met the Cherryholmes in 2002 at the IBMA convention, held then in Louisville, KY. Cia was 18 and the band unknown when they performed on an auxiliary stage as part of a family band showcase. In perhaps the most meteoric rise in bluegrass history, they found themselves a big hit on the festival circuit in no time, and were selected as the IBMA Entertainers of the Year in 2005.

Longtime bluegrass fans know well the long-established tradition of family bands in the history of our music, starting with Bill Monroe who performed with his brother Charlie for several years before launching his Blue Grass Boys. These brother teams continued with the Stanleys, Osbornes and McReynolds boys, while The Carter Family notched radio hits with a parents and children format.

The Lewis Family cemented forever the bluegrass family band template, with retiring family members being replaced with children, grandchildren and their spouses over four generations. Now, the sight of two parents with their bluegrass brood on stage is a common one, with dozens of such groups plying their trade. You’d be hard pressed not to see one at most every bluegrass festival in the the US and Canada.

The Cherryholmes got their start in 1999, and have been growing and maturing musically since that time, as each of the four sibs (Cia, B.J., Skip and Molly) have developed into professional players and entertainers over the course of 8 years of constant touring. Perhaps most notable about this family band is the fact that they refuse to be pigeon-holed as such, and aren’t afraid to ruffle feathers in the bluegrass world.

They write the overwhelming bulk of the material they record, both together and alone. As Cia tells it…

“We had been writing songs for the album all year, and as we got closer to actually starting the recording process, we began narrowing our selections down, picking what we felt to be the strongest. (more…)

The Steep Canyon Rangers have decided that those who haven’t seen them live, shouldn’t be excluded from the experience. To that end, they’ve began posting live tracks from recent shows on their myspace page. Currently there are two tracks from a performance in Gettysburg last month. Both tracks were previously recorded on SCR CDs.

The band tells me they are planning to start posting live versions of new material soon. The idea being to obtain fan feedback on a broader scale than could happen only at the shows. Most bands do perform new material while working out arrangements and deciding which material to record.

Fans could tell us anything they’d like us to know about a song, just to have people involved in the process; kind of like how we play new songs live and gauge the fan response.

The idea, I suppose, is to build interest in the new music and give fans an ongoing look at the creative process, two things that the internet is well suited for.

The Steep Canyon Rangers are uniquely positioned to function in this way since they write all their own material and won’t be bound by any copyright issues. In addition to the fan feedback, this serves to allow fans a chance to hear the live sound.

Right now the tunes are offered on myspace and reverbnation, but other sites may be included in the future.

This weekend is the 3rd Annual Mountain Song Festival in Brevard, NC. The Steep Canyon Rangers organize this festival each year to raise money for the Boys and Girls Club in the community. It’s a great event that has raised $63,000 for the club in the last two years. This year is sure to be a great festival and maybe we’ll get a couple more live tracks.

The latest CD from Lonesome River Band, No Turning Back, was released earlier this week on Rural Rhythm Records.

Band leader Sammy Shelor told us that he was psyched about the new album, and was especially pleased that Rural Rhythm was able to get the CD into much wider distribution than their last few projects.

Sam Passamano with Rural Rhythm talked to us about the early response.

“I am very pleased with the initial retail product coverage and strong support from our music accounts and our national distributor, RYKO Distribution. On street date we had strong product coverage with all the key racks, large, medium & small chains, independent stores and online retailers. It sure is nice to see the solid level of account commitment for the new LRB album being in line with a group that has been on top of the bluegrass world for over 25 years. We’re off to a very good start and in position for success with No Turning Back.”

Shelor has been hearing from radio hosts since promos went out several weeks back, saying that their listeners are reacting positively to the new music.

“When a band has been together this long, it’s encouraging that there is still so much interest in a new release. I’ve been doing radio interviews much of the past two weeks, and have plenty more still to do.”

No Turning Back is now available wherever bluegrass music is sold, from Rural Rhythm and from LRB directly online.

Bass player, song writer and journalist, Jon Weisberger has announced the release later this month of his first solo CD. The independently labeled, If This Road Could Talk, is scheduled for release on September 16.

The collection consists of a dozen songs, each of which Weisberger has written either alone or with a partner. None has been recorded before except for Losing Again (which the Chapmans cut in 2000).

Three of them were co-written with Mark Simos, while Alan Bartram, Jennifer Strickland, Justin Carbone, Jeremy Garrett and Tim Stafford helped with one each. The last five sang lead or harmony on their respective songs.

Most of the songs were penned in the past five years and they reflect the various facets of bluegrass music during that period of time. Two, My Turn To Laugh and Stepping Stone, are both traditional in character, albeit that the latter reminds one of Johnny and Jack with its rumba beat. Some, like When She’s By My Side, At The Bottom Again, Aim High and the title track, are among the majority in being contemporary bluegrass. A couple, including Nothing Against Memphis and Lonely Town, are acoustic country while The Very Next Hello has the broadest appeal.

Weisberger has been playing bluegrass bass since his late twenties, playing with at various times Union Springs, the Wildwood Valley Boys, Chris Jones and the Night Drivers, Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time and recently the side project band, Lonesome Heirs. The musicians that he has asked to help him - Chris Jones, Tim Strong, Aaron Till, Mike Witcher, Ron Block, Jesse Brock, Andy Falco, Jeremy Garrett and Ned Luberecki, among others - are largely those with whom he has appeared on stage in recent years, with Tim Stafford and new friends Jenni Lynn Gardner and Megan McCormick could be described as ‘hired guns’ in the usual meaning of the term. (more…)

Sugar Hill Records has announced that international acoustic trio The Greencards have signed with the label to release their fourth CD project. Producer Jay Joyce is in the studio with the band now and the new album is expected in the spring of ‘09.

The band is composed of Australians Kym Warner on mandolin and Carol Young on bass, along with Englishman Eamon McLoughlin on fiddle and viola. All three sing, with Young handling the bulk of the lead vocals.

The band name came to them when the group got its start in Austin, TX, with all three members being non-natives. Their sound has been a hit with audiences at clubs and eclectic music festivals, mixing various elements of acoustic American folk music with their original songs.

Sugar Hill A&R rep Gary Paczosa brought them into the family, and is psyched to have them on the label.

“The Greencards are a natural fit for us. I worked with them on two previous projects and have always been impressed by their musical vision and their focused approach to their career and development.”

Video journals from the studio are promised over the next few weeks, so keep an eye on their web site and MySpace page for updates.

We recently concluded a promotion in which we gave away a large quantity of free CDs from GrooveGrass Records. The CD being, The Best of Del McCoury - The GrooveGrass Years.

If you were one of the lucky winners, be patient, your CD is coming. It has been such a hot seller that the first manufacturing run sold out in only four days. The label has ordered another production run and is expecting delivery this Thursday.

The winners’ discs will be shipped once the label has received the newly pressed CDs.

If you weren’t one of our lucky winners, then get yourself over to TheBestofDelMcCoury.com and order your copy for only $12.99, shipping included.

Thank You For Caring, the new CD from singer/songwriter Jeanette Williams, will be released tomorrow (9/9) on Blue Circle Records, the independent label run by Tom T. and Dixie Hall.

Among the 14 tracks are songs which Jeanette has written, along with contributions from Paul Williams, Paul Williams, Tom T. and Dixie, Brandon Rickman, Laurie Lewis, Shannon Slaughter and Marcie Horne.

Joining her on the new CD are several prominent bluegrass artists (Tony Rice, Tim Stafford, Aubrey Haynie, Ronald Inscore, Randy Kohrs, Ben Isaacs) along with hubby Johnny Williams, members of her road band and well known performers from Jeanette’s home in southwest Virginia (Michelle Nixon, Heather Berry, Jacob Eller, Jesse Finney, Stephen Fraleigh, Jody King, Tony Mabe and Josh Pickett).

The biggest name guesting on Thank You For Caring is country music legend George Jones, who duets with Williams on the title track, written by the Halls. The song is a testimony to the generosity of the human heart, and Miss Dixie explained how it was inspired…

“After the hurricane, there were so many people in need of so many things. We took my motor home and took a little tour, gathering up, buying and begging at yard sales looking for clothing items for the hurricane victims.

We came up on a small sale and I thought, we won’t get much here, but ended up finding a lot of goodies - baby clothes and what have you.

The folks who were running it invited us in, and this one little girl found out what we were doing, collecting for the children in Louisiana. When we were leaving, she came up to me and put her hand in mine and said, ‘thank you for caring.’

She donated her little chest of drawers for some little boy or girl in New Orleans and I was inspired to put down this song.

When Jeanette heard the song she told me, ‘Gosh… I would just love to sing this with George Jones.’ Well, I’ve known George for years and I called him up to ask if he would come in and sing. He said, ‘Well by God, if Miss Dixie wants it, I’ll do it!’ “

The song was released to bluegrass radio some months ago, so you may have heard it already, but it has not been available for purchase until now. A portion of the proceeds of the CD will be donated to the Red Cross to benefit their ongoing work in the Gulf coast regions still affected by Katrina.

You can hear audio samples from all 14 tracks online.

Jayme Stone and Mansa Sissoko’s cross-cultural musical adventure, Africa To Appalachia, will be released in the US next Tuesday (September 9) with a lengthy tour of the states starting on September 15.

Stone, the Canadian banjoist, and Sissoko, a Malian kora player and vocalist, collaborate on the CD in a genre-bending mix of tones and styles. The music is beautiful and transparently recorded and, should be welcome to ears open to new and different sounds.

Audio samples and more details can be found on Jayme’s web site, where you can also find details for the tour stops on this upcoming tour.

Jayme and Mansa will also be performing tonight (9/4) on WNYC’s New Sounds program at 11:00 p.m. (EDT). The show is broadcast at 93.9 FM in New York City and streamed live at www.wnyc.org.

Archives are maintained on the WNYC site where you can listen to the show after the fact if you miss the Thursday night broadcast.

For those who are close to Pigeon Forge, TN, Ricky Skaggs will be appearing at the Cracker Barrel on Highway 441 this Friday evening from 7-8:30 PM.

Skaggs recently released a new CD on the Cracker Barrel label. The CD, titled The High Notes, contains 12 of Skaggs’ previous country hit songs, redone bluegrass style. I’ve been hearing good things about this CD, though I haven’t heard it myself, other than the two sample Cracker Barrel has up.

If you were a country fan in the 80’s, you’re sure to recognize a few of these tracks.

1. Crying My Heart Out Over You
2. Heartbroke
3. Highway 40 Blues
4. I Wouldn’t Change You If I Could
5. You’ve Got A Lover
6. Cajun Moon
7. Honey (Open That Door)
8. Cat’s In The Cradle
9. Uncle Pen
10. Country Boy
11. Lovin’ Only Me
12. Somebody’s Prayin’

The CD is exclusive to Cracker Barrel, so if you want a copy, you’ll have to visit one of their stores. If you want your autographed, you’ll want to head over to the Cracker Barrel on Highway 441 tomorrow evening.

The long-awaited third Skaggs Family CD from Cherryholmes is still almost a month away, but audio samples for all 13 tracks can be found online, along with pre-order links.

Cherryholmes III - Don’t Believe is scheduled to hit on September 30 with a sound that has a more contemporary edge that previous projects, with nods to old time, Texas fiddle and Celtic music among the songs, made up primarily of band originals.

We’re planning to run an interview with one of the many Cherryholmes between now and the release date, but for now, go check out the online audio and see what you think.

Doyle Lawson in in a celebratory mood today. Help Is On The Way, the title track from his latest Gospel bluegrass release, has the #1 spot on the Top 80 Radio Airplay chart published in the September 2008 issue of Singing News magazine.

Not only is it Doyle’s first #1 in Singing News, but he believes that it is also the first time a bluegrass song has reached the pinnacle of this highly respected chart.

The magazine, billed as “The Voice Of Southern Gospel Music,” has published monthly for almost 40 years.

Congratulations to Doyle - and to bluegrass music - for this achievement.

Bluegrass Worship is the title of a new, bargain-priced 3-CD set from Steve Ivey and Star Song Music.

Ivey is a highly-regarded and successful writer and producer who has won most every award available to him in the music business. His work has covered almost every imaginable genre and any medium where recorded music might be used.

This new project has Ivey in multiple roles. In addition to producing, engineering and mixing, he also provides lead and backing vocals, and plays guitar, mandolin, dobro and various percussion. Rounding out the rhythm section are Charlie Chadwick on bass, Richard Bailey on banjo, Andy Leftwich on mandolin, Rob Ickes on resonator guitar, and Shad Cobb on fiddle.

The 30 songs included on Bluegrass Worship were taken from among the most popular worship songs as ranked by the Contemporary Christian Licensing International Chart, along with several favorite hymns and 8 originals that Ivey wrote for this album.

All are arranged in what they describe as a fusion of bluegrass and newgrass. A full track listing and audio samples can be found on the Bluegrass Worship MySpace page, along with links to where the CDs can be purchased online.

We made note late last year of the fact that comedian, actor and banjo player Steve Martin was preparing to record an album of serious banjo music.

The recording has been completed, produced by fellow banjo man John McCuen, with assistance from Tony Trischka and Pete Wernick. Helping out in the studio were Russ Barenberg on guitar, Matt Flinner on mandolin and Brittany Haas on fiddle, among others. New Martin compositions are the foucs, performed in both 3 finger and clawhammer styles.

We’ve not been able to find out yet whether a label is involved, or when the CD might be released. Steve is vacationing now in Greece, but we are hopeful of obtaining an interview upon his return.

We did reach producer John McCuen, who shared a number of thoughts about working with Martin in the studio.

“Steve’s playing was really good. Driving, yet sensitive when needed. This album will amaze many because it will show people that Steve takes his music as seriously as he does his other work and performs it at that level. Steve has written some of my favorite banjo tunes. I think after the release of Steve’s new album a couple of tunes might become standard fare for new pickers.

There was one time, during the opening of one song, where Steve had to play the exact same notes and rhythm as Russ Barenburg was playing on guitar, with just the two instruments opening. Well, Steve was rushing ahead of the guitar and Tony Trischka was a little concerned. Steve needs to lock with the guitar and he’s ahead. How do we get him to do that?

Knowing Steve was accustomed to taking direction and since I had the mantle of producer, I hit the talkback and said ‘Steve …. you’re ahead of the guitar!!!! You’re rushing!! It seems like you can’t wait for the tune to start. So, listen and do exactly what Russ is doing.’

Steve said, ‘Oh!! OK.’

In the middle of the next pass which was the take we kept, Tony Trischka and I looked at each and said at the same time with reference to Steve ‘I wish I could do that.’ (more…)

Though Kyle Cantrell is taking Labor Day off at XM’s Bluegrass Junction, he has pre-programmed a new show to start this afternoon (9/1).

At 3:00 p.m. (EDT), you can hear a track-by-track run-through of Dan Tyminski’s recent Wheels album, with Dan joining Kyle for comment and discussion of each of the songs included on the CD.

The Tyminski program is set to air several times over the next two weeks, all times eastern.

• September 1 - 3:00 p.m.
• September 3 - 6:00 p.m.
• September 9 - 8:00 a.m.
• September 13 - 4:00 p.m.

Speaking of XM, their new Nashville studios were in the news last week, with coverage from WTVF NewsChannel 5 is Nashville. The story is posted online, with text, photos and video showing the new XM digs.

Del McCoury has always been hip to the younger crowd, and it seems he’s staying that way. While fans download and trade bootlegs of live recordings, many artists see this as detracting from their CD sales. Other industry people see it as stealing from songwriters who deserve a royalty for such recordings. Del has decided this situation isn’t a problem, it’s an opportunity.

McCoury has just announced the launch of the McCoury Music Club. It works like this. Fans pay $100 for a 12 month (if paid in full up front, you get 2 extra months for free) membership to the site. The membership benefits include one live show download each month. This amounts to $7 or $8 per show, depending on how you choose to pay for the membership. This looks like a win all the way around. That’s not a bad price for a recording, the band gets paid, and I’m assuming the songwriters will as well.

The site is promising that most shows will be from recordings made within 60 days of the upload, with the occasional archival show being offered. It also promises to reward members with extra tracks, and even exclusive studio tracks from time to time. McCoury Music Club members will be the first to hear songs from a new box set scheduled for release a few months from now.

Don’t want to pay for a membership? Don’t worry. McCoury is also planning to offer individual shows for sale to non-members. This won’t happen for a few more months, but it’s coming. If more than one show is made available during any month, members will have to pay to download the additional concert. The member price will be discounted from the non-member though.

Another feature of the site that I noticed was a non-working button that reads “Give The Club“. This button is located just under the “Subscribe To The Club” button, and appears as though you will be able to purchase a club membership as a gift at some point in the near future.

This is an exciting new business model for a bluegrass band to adopt. I like the approach, but only time will tell if it works.

Nonesuch is set to release a CD/DVD combo project from Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile, titled Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile.

The CD includes 12 new instrumental compositions the two have c0-written, performed with Thile on mandolin and Meyer on bass.

The companion DVD features 50 minute’s worth of live performances, rehearsals and conversation between these two stellar virtuosos, who both separately and together have been responsible for some dramatic rethinking about the capabilities of their respective instruments.

The release date is September 23, and pre-ordering is enabled on the Nonesuch web site, where you can also hear the audio for one full track.

After 21 years together, one of the most popular and well-known names on the British bluegrass music scene, Monroe’s Revenge, has finally released their debut CD.

The band from south-east England has made regular appearances at festivals around the country for over two decades, playing traditional and contemporary songs and fast-paced, virtuoso instrumentals with a rootsy, edgy energy.

Their new self-titled CD contains 17 tracks and includes favourites from their live set such as Washington County, I’m Working On A Building and He Will Set Your Fields on Fire. Other songs that are included are Hemlocks And Primroses, Just Because, Muddy Water, Pig In A Pen, Good Imitation Of The Blues, Somewhere On The Road Tonight, One More Dollar (Gillian Welch and David Rawlings) and the Kenny Baker fiddle tune Denver Belle.

The band is fronted by Dave Plane (guitar and vocals), who has been playing bluegrass music since the 1960s, with Roger Blackbourn (playing banjo and providing vocals), Joe Hymas (mandolin and vocals), Richard Partridge (fiddle and vocals) and Dick Embery (double bass). Many commentators consider that this line-up is its strongest yet.

Fiddler Richard Partridge has provided a bit about the band’s recent history that has culminated in the release of their CD …………….

“Monroe’s Revenge’s current line-up has been playing together for the last three or four years. I joined on fiddle about five years ago (it’s hard to remember exactly) and Joe Hymas joined us on mandolin a year or two later. Having gigged fairly regularly to increasingly receptive audiences (last year we were the ‘headlining British band’ at Didmarton, having the penultimate slot on the Saturday night, after Mollie O’Brien and before the American headliner, Blue Highway) we eventually felt that we were ready to record an album.

The choice of material was pretty much a ‘no-brainer;’ we knew which were the strongest songs in our current repertory. Some of them, such as Roust-a-bout, are ones that our singer/guitarist Dave Plane sang for years in his duo with the late Andy Townend. Others we have brought in more recently.

It took a couple of years of experimenting to work out how we wanted to record it. We decided against the modern way of recording rhythm tracks first and overdubbing everything else. Everything on the CD is recorded live with no overdubs. We feel that the live energy more than makes up for any roughness in the playing and achieves what we hope we have become known for; raw, hard-driving bluegrass.”

The CD can be bought at their shows or through their brand new website where you can also hear sample tracks.

Other musical samples can be enjoyed by visiting their MySpace page.