Here’s another interesting package show for 2010.

Dale Ann Bradley will be collaborating next year with her old friend and former employee, Michael Cleveland, when she goes on the road with his band, Flamekeeper, for select shows next year. These dates will bill as Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper with special guest Dale Ann Bradley, with Jim Roe of Roe Entertainment handling the booking and arrangements.

These dates will feature Michael and Flamekeeper doing a one hour set, after which Dale Ann will join them for 30-45 minutes of her material with Michael and his band providing accompaniment.

Cleveland explained how this pairing came together.

“Tony Williams, promoter of the Kentucky Lake Bluegrass Festival, had booked Dale Ann Bradley and our band on the same show this year and he had an idea to have Dale Ann and Flamekeeper do a jam set at the end of the festival on that Saturday night. Tom Adams, Jesse Brock and myself had worked in Dale Ann’s band years ago, so we were pretty familiar with her older material.

We had so much fun playing that show together and we talked about it for days after. So the idea of teaming up with a package show like this seemed exciting and fun for all of us. I always enjoy getting to play music with her and I know what an incredible singer she is. Dale Ann can take any song, whether it be an original, or a standard and make it her own and I’m really looking forward to doing some shows together.”

Only a limited number of dates will be available for this show, as both acts maintain active schedules on their own. It seems likely that audiences, especially for indoor concert settings, will appreciate being able to see the 3-time IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year (Flamekeeper), 7-time Fiddle Player (Cleveland), reigning Bass player (Marshall Wilborn) and mandolin player (Jesse Brock), and the 3-time Female Vocalist (Bradley) in one, all-star show.

Dale Ann is eager to see these shows come to be.

“When I went out on my own, Michael Cleveland as well as Jesse Brock and Tom Adams were the musical glue that held it all together. Watching Michael play the fiddle with his signature drive and sensitivity…man, he’s something else. I am thrilled to be sharing a stage with him and all of the guys in Flamekeeper.”

Sounds like a fun show.

Bluegrass folks in Kentucky and Ohio are getting together this weekend to raise money for Jim Chatfield, bass player with Shadez Of Blue and an on-air host on WorldWideBluegrass.com. Jim recently underwent quadruple bypass surgery following a heart attack, and the bluegrass community is banding together to provide some financial assistance.

Two shows are scheduled: Saturday (11/21) from 2:00-8:00 p.m. at Bob Mackey’s Music World in Wilder, KY and Sunday (11/22) from 2:00-9:00 p.m. at the Freedom Worship Center in Franklin, OH. The shows are both billed as The Weekend For Jim, with suggested donations of $10 to help defray his medical expenses.

Several bands will play each day, and door prizes will be awarded at both shows. Banjo man Johnny Butten will also be on hand to attempt a new Guinness record for the longest continuous playing of the banjo.

If you are unable to attend the shows and would like to make a donation, they can be sent to:

End-of-the-year tours offer unique opportunities to see familiar faces in new and interesting settings. Sometimes, it will be artists with special music, like Jerry Douglas and John Cowan, who each are touring in support of new Christmas albums.

Or you may find sidemen touring together while their primary musical employers are taking some time off for the holidays. There are two such mini-tours for the end of 2009 that should be of interest to bluegrass and acoustic music fans.

First up, The Nedski-Mojo Show, which began this past weekend, and continues through next week. It features banjo picker Ned Luberecki, who performs with both Chris Jones and Larry Cordle, and guitarist Stephen Mougin, who works with Sam Bush. Both are superb musicians and singers, and Ned could easily hold forth for half the show as a stand up comedian.

They have a string of concerts and workshops along the east coast leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday and you can be sure to catch a highly entertaining and musically challenging program if they stop near you. A full list of dates can be found on Facebook.

Then in December, mandolinists Adam Steffey and Kym Warner will tour together briefly in Virginia and Maryland, billed as Mandolin Sessions.

Steffey may be the most prominent bluegrass mando man in the biz these days. He has been named Mandolin Player of the Year six times by the IBMA, and his current CD and DVD releases are hits with the public. Most folks first came to know his music when he was a member of Alison Krauss & Union Station, and he has toured since with Mountain Heart and now, Dan Tyminski.

Warner is a founding member of The Greencards, a fascinating, genre-bending outfit of acoustic musicians who formed in the US, though none were native born. Kym hails from Australia, but lives now in Nashville.

You can find information about the Mandolin Sessions dates at Mandolin Cafe.

Bill Nershi, he of String Cheese Incident fame, is embarking on a whirlwind tour along with Scott Law, starting on Monday (11/16) in Nashville. They’ll do 9 dates in 10 days covering Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan and Illinois.

They will perform as an acoustic duo, with both contributing on guitar and vocals. Nershi and Law recorded together in 2006 as Honkytonk Homeslice, along with Nershi’s wife Jillian.

Here is a taste of their show.

Van Ghost will open each show on the tour. You can details on all these dates on the Nershi-Law web site.