The recent appearnce by The Alison Brown Quartet on Mountain Stage has just been posted on the show’s NPR web page. They perform five songs from their latest Compass Records release, The Company You Keep.

Brown has never limited herself to a single type of music. As banjo player with Alison Krauss & Union Station in the late 1980s, she showed that she had a distinctive voice on her instrument, and much of her music since has focused on melodic, jazz and jazz-inflected original compositions.

The band includes her husband Garry West on bass, John Burr on piano, and Larry Atamanuik on drums.

Their complete 27 minute set can be streamed online.

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…)

John McEuen will be a guest on today’s (10/30) edition of Lonesome Pine RFD, airing on WFDU-FM in the New York City metro market. The interview was conducted by host Carol Beaugard earlier this week, when John stopped by the WFDU studios on the campus of Fairleigh Dickinson College in Teaneck, NJ.

Lonesome Pine RFD runs from 9:00 a.m. ’till noon (EDT), and the lengthy McEuen interview is set to air at 11:00. WFDU can be heard in NYC and surrounding areas at 89.1 FM, and worldwide via live streaming online.

Carol offers a preview…

“John takes us through the new CD by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Speed Of Life, song-by-song.

Throughout the hour there’s plenty of history shared on the early days of NGDB and John’s solo career.  He also talked about his friendship with Steve Martin since Steve was a teenager, and their work together on The Crow.”

The show will also be available for two weeks in the station’s audio archives after it airs, and will be rebroadcast on Monday (11/2) at 12:00 a.m. on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country.

We just heard from Zack Bevill with The Farewell Drifters, who had a number of tidbits to share with our readers.

First off, he mentioned that their next CD is finished, and is being mastered next week. Zack wasn’t sure whether they would be releasing it with a label, or on their own, but does expect to see it hit in February of 2010.

He was also psyched about the band recently being featured on the NPR wordplay program, Says You!, taped August 22 in the Polk Theatre at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in downtown Nashville. They performed incidental music used during the show.

“It is a hilarious show, and we had a blast providing the music. We recorded two episodes, one of which has already aired (available for download purchase), and we expect the next one to air this weekend.”

Says You! airs at different times on their many radio affiliates, and you can check when it airs in your market online.

Zack also wanted to introduce their latest member…

“Christian Sedelmyer joined us on fiddle back in July. He replaced our former banjo player, Trevor Brandt. The transition was very smooth, and the fiddle really adds a new energy to our music.

He started playing violin when he was five years old using the Suzuki method, and he has a fantastic ear and understanding of music.  Christian’s background and approach to music is similar to ours, so he fit right in from day one. He is also a very able harmony singer, which is a big part of being a Drifter.  We are so glad to have him in the band.”

You can keep an eye on The Farewell Drifters’ tour schedule on their web site.