Here’s something you don’t see every day…  a bluegrass band celebrating a 15th anniversary – with the same personnel with which they launched.

Blue Highway played their first show on New Year’s Eve in 1994 with Tim Stafford on guitar, Shawn Lane on mandolin, Wayne Taylor on bass, Jason Burleson on banjo and Rob Ickes on resonator guitar. With that 15th anniversary drawing nigh, the band consists of these same 5 musicians, a testament both to the five of them as individuals, and to the way they run the group.

True, Burleson did take about a year off in the late ’90s (with Tom Adams filling the void), but he returned in short order and has never looked back.

Blue Highway has always been run as a true democratic entity, with all band decisions being made by equal votes among the members. No one is the leader, though they may each take the lead in certain tasks a band must perform. These guys obviously understand the value of the whole, and have kept egos from destroying something this unique and fine for 15 years – no small feat, that.

When the band got started, their intention was for it to be a part time venture. Tim Stafford had recently left Alison Krauss & Union Station, and Rob Ickes had left Lynn Morris, and neither wanted to be back on the road full time. After their first two Rebel releases, demand was such that a return to the highway was indicated, and that was the direction they took.

The band has a page on their web site dedicated to this anniversary year, with an extensive array of photos from over the years collected and sent in by fans. Rounder is set to release an anniversary CD, and a special anniversary concert is scheduled for December 18.

The CD, Some Day: Fifteenth Anniversary Collection (1/19/10), will include 13 tracks. 9 are culled from the band’s 4 previous Rounder albums, 1 comes from an Ickes solo project, 2 are fresh songs, newly recorded, and 1 is a re-recording of the title track, an enduring staple of their live show.

The full track listing follows (new tracks *):

The concert on 12/18 was as close as they could get to New Year’s Eve. It will be held in Roanoke, VA at the historic Jefferson Center at 7:30 p.m. Scheduled to be a festive affair, the band is eager to celebrate their anniversary with fans and friends before closing their touring for 2009 and heading off to spend the Christmas season with loved ones.

They expect to have copies of the new CD at the Anniversary Show, and concertgoers who purchase the VIP ticket will receive an autographed copy at the show, along with an invitation to attend the post-show reception.

Hats off to Blue Highway – here’s to 15 more!

Tonight’s edition of Music City Roots on WSM has plenty to attract the attention of bluegrass fans. The show, which airs live each Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. (CST) from The Loveless Barn, just outside of Nashville, will feature sets from The Grascals and The Josh Williams Band.

If you live within WSM’s very wide broadcast footprint, you can hear the show on 650-AM. If not, it will also be streamed live online from 7:00-9:00 p.m. The format brings four bands to the stage, emceed by Jim Lauderdale and Eddie Stubbs, with artist interviews conducted live by Craig Havighurst.

The Grascals have been enjoying their richly-deserved time in the spotlight this past few years. With a trio of critically-acclaimed albums and multiple IBMA awards, these guys (and gal) have been burning up the highway, keeping a very busy tour schedule.

Less well known (for now) is The Josh Williams Band. Regular readers of The Bluegrass Blog have seen our occasional mentions of Williams, a very talented, young artist who, at the age of 29, has already had the eye of the IBMA on him for 16 years. At age 13, he was singled out to be included in a group of Youth All Stars at the IBMA show, along with Chris Thile, Michael Cleveland, Cody Kilby and Brady Stogdill. Here he is in that illustrious company – on banjo – which foretold much of what we have seen from these fine pickers since that day.

Josh had memorable stints with Special Consensus and Rhonda Vincent in his late teens and early twenties, and has now struck out on his own. His third solo project will be released by Pinecastle in February, and The Josh Williams Band will soon begin recording their debut CD.

They had a very strong showing at IBMA 2009, and we spoke with Jim Roe of Roe Entertainment, who books Josh, about the impact of their high profile during World Of Bluegrass.

“Their main stage showcase went really, really well. They played a number of late night showcases in 2008, and I heard from several people that the band sounded much more mature this year, and that Josh looked really confident fronting his band.” (more…)

Casey Henry has agreed to send us occasional updates from The American Revival Tour, where she is performing with Dixie Bee-Liners. Also on the tour are Sierra Hull & Highway 111 and headliners Uncle Earl.

Here is Casey’s report.

The arrival of November saw The Dixie Bee-Liners, Uncle Earl, and Sierra Hull and Highway 111 burning up the roads of the southeast in the first week of our much anticipated tour – American Revival: Celebrating the New Stars of American Roots Music.

When three bands of young-ish people get to travel together for four weeks, hi jinx will ensue. We have a long-running tour game involving sausage, but I’ll leave that for another time. Our most fun show, by far, was Halloween at the American Theater in Hampton, VA. Buddy Woodward, Bee-Liner mandolin player, is great at zombie makeup and we took full advantage of his talents. He also helped out Sierra’s band, giving fiddler Christian Ward a slash across the face, bassist Jacob Eller a bullet hole in the head, and transforming guitarist Clay Hess into a very convincing wolf-man. Ron Block went as Ron Howard—no makeup needed! Uncle Earl was four bad witches and one good witch.

Punch Brothers Chris “Critter” Eldridge and Noam Pikelny came for the night’s show. Critter dressed as a Christmas party guest, complete with battery-powered lights. Noam borrowed a spare witch hat and grey wig from Uncle Earl. They joined the Earl girls on stage to sing Happy Birthday to their fiddler, Stephanie “Pumpkin” Coleman, who turned 24.

Our post-show Halloween celebration took place at a little martini bar down the street—Six—where we had tapas and cocktails and played with the motorized witch hat KC Groves had found at the grocery store. It played Ding, Dong, The Witch Is Dead, and wagged its bell-adorned, pointed tip merrily back and forth.

Monday night we played at the Birchmere in Alexandria, a legendary bluegrass venue. For most of the Bee-Liners it was the first time we’d played there and we were honored to get to take the stage where the Seldom Scene ruled for so long. I actually had my fifteenth birthday party at the Birchmere. My parents took me and a group of my friends to see the Johnson Mountain Boys play. My friend Nancy Peterson, who came to the show last night, was at that party. She said it was like coming full circle, getting to see me play on that same stage.

Today is a travel day—more than 500 miles down to South Carolina. The Bee-Liners are stopping by WAMU this morning to play a little in-studio music and then hitting the road.

For more pictures and anecdotes, see Sierra Hull’s blog. I feel this must be the most-blogged-about bluegrass tour ever!

Casey Henry has agreed to send us occasional updates from The American Revival Tour, where she is performing with Dixie Bee-Liners. Also on the tour are Sierra Hull & Highway 111 and headliners Uncle Earl.

Here is Casey’s first report.

I’m composing this email while backstage at the Birchmere, waiting for our sound check. Week 2 of the American Revival Tour is about to commence, starting with gigs in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia – and I’d just like to point out that some of them are not that far from Charlotte and Waxhaw (hint, hint).

• Wed. Nov. 4th – Newberry, SC – Newberry Opera House – 7:30 p.m.
• Thurs. Nov. 5th – Morganton, NC – Municipal Auditorium (CoMMA) – 7:30 p.m.
• Fri. Nov. 6th – Greensboro, NC – Carolina Theater – 8:00 p.m.
• Sun. Nov. 8th – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel – 8:00 p.m.
• Mon. Nov 9th – Atlanta, GA – Red Light Cafe – 7:30 p.m. —NOTE—This show was originally supposed to be at the Variety Playhouse and has been MOVED!! If you’ve already bought tickets, they’re still good!!!!! (Though the Red Light Cafe website hasn’t been updated yet.)

Our complete tour schedule can be found on The Dixie Bee-Liners website.

If you want to see how the tour is going so far, I’ve been blogging every day over on The Murphy Method blog. And I must say, we had some pretty awesome halloween costumes.

Hope to see some of y’all at the shows!