We just heard from Alan Bibey that the new Grasstowne CD, The Other Side Of Town, is now available online.

This, their second recorded project for Pinecastle Records, won’t be officially released until October 6, but the band has pre-release copies for sale at their live shows, and on their web site.

Grasstowne was formed in December of 2006, and their debut album, The Road Headin’ Home, was recorded early in ‘07. On The Other Side Of Town, you can hear not only the greater maturity from the band having performed together for more than two years, but also the more careful selection of new material that comes with having plenty of time to consider possible songs for inclusion.

The band includes Steve Gulley on guitar and vocals, Alan Bibey on mandolin and vocals, Phil Leadbetter on resonator guitar, Jason Davis on banjo and Dale Perry on bass. Stuart Duncan guests on fiddle.

Audio samples from the new CD should be up soon on the Grasstowne site, but in the meantime, here are a few tracks that really jumped out at me, along with a few words from Alan.

Hard Workin’ Man -  “Wayne Winkle, with whom I played in BlueRidge a few years back, wrote this tune, and we knew it would be too much fun to play.  Wayne’s such a great songwriter, singer and player.”

Hard Workin’ Man – Listen Now:  

God Bless Mommy – “Wayne and Craig Market wrote this one together. Craig is another guy (just like Wayne) that just is just so talented in many areas. We appreciate these guys being such great friends, as well as agreeing to let us record a few of their songs. Every song they write is awesome.”

God Bless Mommy – Listen Now:  

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Mandolin legend Herschel Sizemore may be retired from active touring, but he hasn’t stopped writing and the recording the sort of clever instrumentals that have so endeared him to the mandolin world.

His latest CD, B-Natural, has just been released. It’s a self-produced project with 12 new Sizemore compositions with Terry Baucom on banjo, Jimmy Haley on guitar, Ron Stewart on fiddle and Mike Bub on bass. Alan Bibey also adds some lead guitar and harmony mandolin parts.

The CD title comes from the lead track, a sly reference to the stylistic innovations that Herschel introduced to bluegrass mandolin some years ago. The mandolin style that Bill Monroe developed quite commonly involved playing in the key of B, but Monroe’s playing was position-based and often relied on stock licks and phrases. Sizemore found a way to play complex melodies in B, an unforgiving place for uncapoed stringed instruments, and it won has him quite a stable of admirers among his peers.

What Herschel introduced is now standard fare in the bluegrass mandolin repertoire, and it’s a sad fact that many young 8-stringers have little awareness of the straight line that runs from Herschel Sizemore through Sam Bush, Alan Bibey and Adam Steffey.

Of course, he plays comfortable in most any standard bluegrass key, and his new tunes demonstrate a variety of the breakdowns, reels and waltzes for which he is known. The sound here will be quite familiar to long-time Sizemore fans, with straightforward, no frills arrangements and crisp, clean playing all around. Here are a few audio samples:

Monroe’s Dream is one Herschel wrote a few years ago, reflecting on his old friend Bill Monroe. Big Mon was always a supporter of what Herschel was doing with teh mandolin, and Herschel has always believed it was because he wasn’t copying Monroe’s music, but making his own statement with teh instrument.

Derrington Express is dedicated to another dear friend, Charlie Derrington, formerly with Gibson in Nashville. Charlie was killed by a drunk driver almost exactly 3 years ago (8/1/06) while he was riding his motorcycle near his home.

B-Natural was produced with support from The Virginia Foundation For The Humanities. Ordering in enabled from Herschel’s web site.

I heard recently from Grasstowne mando man Alan Bibey, who reports that tracking for their next CD is complete. They are in the process of mixing now, and hope to have the project delivered to Pinecastle Records shortly.

The album is tentatively titled The Other Side Of Towne, and no release date has yet been announced.

Their debut project, The Road Headin’ Home, was recorded only a few weeks after the band was formed in December of 2006, and Al says that they cherished having the chance to mull carefully over the songs they might choose for this one.

“We did have a lot more time put in on finding the right combination of songs this time, and had to cut a lot of great tunes out to get down to the 14 that are on the project.”

Bibey ran down some of the material for us…

“We’re lucky to have co-songwriter of the year Steve Gulley in the band and have three tunes from him. Lifting Up The Cross is a great Gospel tune he wrote with Ken Mellons and we have included two other tunes he wrote with his writing partner Tim Stafford. Everyone know what great writer these guys are.

We were also fortunate to have 4 tunes from Wayne Winkle (my former Blueridge bandmate) and Craig Market, a couple they co-wrote and a couple on their on. The title track is one of Wayne’s.  We have one a cappella Gospel number on the CD written by Michael Bentley that’s brand new, but really sounds old and my dear friend Terry Baucom is singing bass on that one. I also co-wrote one song called Pay Your Dues with Ronnie Bowman and Shawn Lane, and wrote another couple tunes including a new instrumental called Tobaccoville Road that I hope the folks will like.”

Grasstowne consists of Bibey on mandolin and vocals, Gulley on guitar and vocals, Phil Leadbetter on resonator guitar, Jason Davis on banjo and Travis Greer on bass. Stuart Duncan also adds fiddle to the new CD.

Alan Bibey tells us that Grasstowne is hoping to have copies of their second Pinecastle project, The Other Side Of Towne, available at shows by the end of March, even though the official release date isn’t until June.

A first single, Big, Big Heartaches, is set to be shipped to radio in mid-March. It’s a driving bluegrass song featuring Stuart Duncan on fiddle.

The band produced this CD themselves, and recorded it at Scott Vestal’s Digital Underground Studio just north of Nashville.

Alan says that he did mandolin tracks at home this time around.

“I’ve built my own studio at home and this is the first project I’ve used it own. I recorded all my chop tracks at Scott’s (using my Nuemann KM-84’s) and came back home to record my leads and backups here with my pup Maggie. I’m really digging that freedom.

Scott’s great to work with, but our biggest surprise is how well our new bass player, Travis Greer, has done. In only his second recording session ever he just killed it. His ‘53 Kay has some of the best bass tone I’ve ever heard.

This record’s gonna be a little more traditional, and I  think it’s even stronger than the first CD!”