Lonesome Day Records has two new artists on the roster, both of whom will have new projects in the near future.

Back in June, Brance reported that Larry Cordle’s new project, Took Down and Put Up, would be released on Lonesome Day later this summer. We still haven’t seen a street date for this project, but we’ll be sure to update when we get the word.

Just this week, Lonesome Day announced that Ralph Stanley II will be the newest addition to their artist roster. “II” (two), as he is nick named, is the youngest son of the venerable Dr. Ralph Stanley, now just shy of 30 years old. He has released four previous CDs for Rebel Records and looks at the new agreement with Lonesome Day as an opportunity to define his own sound, which Lonesome Day describes as mixing the mountain Stanley sound with some more contemporary material.

One stylistic break from the earlier projects involves the backing musicians. On his prior CDs, Stanley was accompanied primarily by his father’s touring band, The Clinch Mountain Boys, but this time out he had a stellar group of bluegrass superpickers with him in the studio. Tim Crouch, Steve Gulley, Cody Kilby, Randy Kohrs, Marty Raybon, Adam Steffey and Ron Stewart are listed as guest performers.

No title has been announced and a spring 2008 release is expected.

UPDATE 9/14: Reader Rick Randol emailed to say that he recently purchased the new Cordle CD from The Music Shed. Not sure why there is no mention of the release on eitehr the Cordle or Lonesome Day web sites. If it is offered by one retailer, it should be widely available now.

UPDATE 9:45 a.m.: The Took Down and Put Up CD is officially released on September 18, and will be available for sale everywhere at that time.