Friday night’s Opry (6/13) will feature performances from Mountain Heart, The Whites and Bobby Osborne & Rocky Top X-Press while Saturday (6/14) night has 3 Fox Drive and the Carolina Chocolate Drops on tap.

Kim Fox of 3 Fox Drive tells us that they will also be performing Saturday evening at the Opry Plaza Party, a free event just outside the Opry House that starts at 5:30 p.m.

“We’re really looking forward to the weekend as we’re flying our dad in for Father’s Day. Crossing our fingers that the weather holds out!!”

The Friday Opry is broadcast from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. (EST) and the Saturday show runs from 7:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. Both shows are available over the air in the Nashville market on WSM AM 650, on XM channel 11 (XM Nashville), and simulcast worldwide via online streaming at wsmonline.com.

The subtitle for the CD is Featuring 3 Fox Drive and Friends. That should give you a clue as to the quality of singing on this recording. Astral is the only word I can come up with that comes close. Kim, Barb, and Joel Fox provide the harmonies all through the CD, and they are certainly out of this world. The Fox family members (3 Fox Drive) also handle lead vocal duties on good number of tunes, including O Holy Night, White Christmas, and others. Their version of O Holy Night is easily one of the best I’ve ever heard.

The instrumental performances on this recording are fantastic. Tasteful, mature playing is exhibited throughout by such illuminaries as Darrin Vincent, Byron House, Bryan Sutton, Cody Kilby, Adam Steffey, Aubrey Haynie, Joe CaverLee, Rob Ickes, Joel Fox and Eric Darken.

In addition to the instrumental guests, the singing of the Fox Family is augmented by a few noteworthy guest vocalists as well.

Sonya Isaacs joins Kim for a duet on the first track, New Star Shining. The song sets the standard for the rest of the CD, and the whole project measures up.

John Cowan delivers a somewhat bluesy version of Please Come Home For Christmas. It’s a great blend of blues, bluegrass, and Christmas music that really gets the foot tapping along.

One of the highlights of the CD is I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day. Bluegrass legend Larry Sparks steps up to the microphone for a turn as lead vocalist on this one. I’m a fan of Sparks anyway, and he really cuts it on this track, as only he can.

IIIrd Tyme Out lead vocalist, Russell Moore delivers a silky smooth version of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. Russell has got to be one of the greatest singers in any genre of music, and he proves it here. Wow!

The last cut on the CD deserves special mention for sure. Watching Over The Soldiers At Christmas was c0-written by Kim Fox, and she sings it with conviction. The song is sung from the perspective of the American Flag flying high overhead and keeping an eye on our boys serving far from home on Christmas. Toward the end of the song, a military snare roll is introduced in the background as an accent to Charlie Daniels recitation of the Pleg of Allegiance. The song is patriotic for sure, but in a way that is not at all out of line with the spirit of the Christmas season presented by the preceeding songs on the CD. It’s one of my favorites on the disc.

This CD will get some pretty heavy rotation in my iTunes playlists for the next couple of months I’m sure. If you like Christmas music I suggest you pick a copy up for yourself. It’ll make great presents as well. I’m ordering several copies myself for that very purpose!

If you or your organization will be hosting events during the Business Conference, Trade Show or Fan Fest portions of the week (9/25-10/1), please be sure to send us the details as soon as possible.

The complete schedule will be available within the next two weeks, and we will highlight some tidbits here and there as we become aware of them. Here are a couple of note:

3 Fox Drive has been tapped to kickoff the Awards Show at The Grand Ole Opry House on September 28. As always (at least since 2001), the show begins with a rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, and 3 Fox Drive is sure to do a bang up job with that.

Chris Thile will showcase on Tuesday (9/26) in support of his (by then) new Sugar Hill release, How To Grow A Woman From The Ground. He will perform material from the CD with the same band as he used on the recording on the main showcase stage at 10:05 p.m., followed by a similar performance on the Roots & Branches stage at midnight.

That midnight show will also include The Infamous Stringdusters, and spontaneous jamming would seem to be a foregone conclusion.

UPDATE 4:30 p.m.: Thanks to Dan and Nancy at IBMA, who corrected my faulty memory about the Awards Show opening. In 2001, Sonny Osborne opened the show with a solo banjo rendition of America The Beautiful, and last year (2005) the Isaacs opened with the National Anthem.

Dan Hays also shared this tidbit about this year’s awards show:

We are planning a patriotic tribute this year involving Rhonda Vincent and the US Navy Band Country Current Bluegrass Unit.

They will be offering instrumental workshops as well at a couple of these tour stops. More details on the shows can be found on their web site.

The band had toured for many years as The Fox Family, and features siblings Kim, Barb and Joel Fox along with Mike Anglin, Megan Lynch and Jim Reed.

Located at 222 Fifth Ave. S., the Hall Of Fame and Museum is only a short distance from the site of the IBMA convention, and admission to most museum events is free with an IBMA badge. Special events include film screenings of classic Flatt & Scruggs shows, interviews, live performances from 3 Fox Drive and Heather Berry, and a book signing with Stephanie Ledgin. See a complete list of events on the Hall Of Fame web site.