The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle has put together a series of multimedia portraits of acts performing on the 2008 Rochester Jazz Festival. The act chosen as the highlight from Sunday’s (6/15) performance was the Alison Brown Quartet.

As many of our readers know, Alison is a former banjoist with Alison Krauss & Union Station who now fronts a jazz quartet with her husband, Gary West, on bass, John Burr on piano and Larry Atamanuik on drums. Brown and West also manage the label Compass Records, which focuses on alternative acoustic, Celtic and bluegrass music.

The Democrat and Chronicle piece includes a number of exceptional photographs of the band preparing for and performing a set at the festival with a running voice over by the band members. Each describes their entry into the music world with a few choice reflections on the music as well.

Watch it online (click on Alison’s photo, upper right).

We received two fine CDs recently, from artists whose music may not be familiar to a wide listening audience. Both projects have their roots in the rich, fertile “bluegrass crescent” that encircles eastern Kentucky and Tennessee along with western Virginia and North Carolina.

Tim Carter, along with his brother Danny, has been performing as The Carter Brothers since 2001. These Carters claim a distant relation to the legendary Carter Family, and bring their traditional music roots to their more eclectic, blues/rock/bluegrass show. Brother Tim now has his own solo releases, and he steps forward as the bluegrass part of the band’s equation. Ten songs, all but on written or co-written by Carter, feature Tim as a fine instrumentalist and a vocalist as well. Guests include Tim Stafford, both on guitar and as co-writer on several tracks, plus Rob Ickes on dobro, Casey Driessen on fiddle and Alison Brown on second banjo on a tune she and Tim wrote together.

Tim’s compositions for banjo tend towards the progressive realm, but his songs have a very traditional feel to them. The mix provides the artistic tension for Bang Bang, and makes for a very enjoyable listen.

Audio samples can be found on Tim’s MySpace page, and ordering is enabled on The Carter Brothers site and on CD Baby.

Tommy Webb’s new CD is entitled Eastern Kentucky, and he has called on some of the heavy hitters from that region of the country to assist him. Banjo legend JD Crowe supplies some words of praise on the back cover, and while his touring band of Chris Goble (banjo), Tadd Huff (bass) and Kenny O’Quinn (mandolin) supports him on a few cuts, the bulk of the recording features one of my very favorite bluegrass bands - Ron Stewart and Harold Nixon.

Ron supplies banjo, mandolin and fiddle on most of the tracks, and adds his guitar and resonator guitar to a few others. His New South bandmate Nixon provides bass on these same tracks, and the effect is quite powerful. I’ve suggested here in the past that Stewart is the most accomplished bluegrass musician of his generation, and those abilities are clearly on display here. He also produced and recorded this project, which has his sparkle all over it.

But Ron’s wizardry is not the main focus here, it’s Webb’s hardcore bluegrass singing and songwriting. A highlight is his grassified reworking of Clinton Gregory’s country hit, (If It Weren’t For Country Music) I’d Go Crazy, which reemerges as If It Weren’t For Bluegrass Music I’d Go Crazy. If you are familiar with the original, the clever retooling of the lyrics will be especially enjoyable.

Audio for Eastern Kentucky is also available on both MySpace and CD Baby.

Banjo picker extraordinaire Alison Brown and her husband (and Compass Records co-founder) Garry West recently celebrated the birth of their son, Brendan Brown West.

Brendan was born on April 10, and arrived at 8 lbs. 8 oz. His dad is also a fine musician, so young Brendan will surely get a fine start if he chooses to follow in the family business.

Congratulations to the happy new parents!

Compass Records, the Nashville based label run by banjo player Alison Brown, has recently redesigned their website and is now offering one track each week as a free mp3 download.

The free track as of this writing is not from a bluegrass artist. Compass handles artists that fit in the americana/bluegrass genre, but also covers celtic, jazz, jam, and pop/adult-alternative. Judging by their artist roster I would only expect the free download to be from a bluegrass artist about once every 6-8 weeks, but it’s worth keeping an eye on it. You might find out about some music you weren’t aware of previously.

The following is a contribution from Bill Evans, well-known banjo picker, educator and semi-regular contributor here on The Bluegrass Blog.

I’m just back - and completely exhausted! However, I wanted to share these pictures and relate a little bit of the magic that was day two of the 6th annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, being held this weekend in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California.

It’s hard for me to imagine a more interesting and eclectic lineup of Americana, folk, singer-songwriter and bluegrass acts at any other festival in North America - and the fact that it’s a free event makes it all the more special. Hardly Strictly is a gift to the world from Warren Hellman, a San Francisco investment banker and aspiring clawhammer banjo player. This year’s event brings together folks like Earl Scruggs, Emmylou Harris (with John Starling, Tom Gray and Mike Auldridge), Dry Branch Fire Squad, Del McCoury Band and Ricky Skaggs as well as Elvis Costello, Richard Thompson and T Bone Burnett. It’s not all bluegrass but it is all fantastic and the mixing of different styles and perspectives is truly marvelous. And did I mention it is free?

I was asked by Warren to put something together this year that would be truly special and, knowing his love for banjo music, I asked my good friends and mentors Tony Trischka and Alan Munde to join me in a set of music at this year’s event. We played several triple banjo tunes in three part harmony (including the Osborne Brothers’ Big Ben and Alan Munde and Byron Berline’s Deputy Dalton) and also performed tunes separately, including two songs from Tony’s upcoming double banjo CD to be released on Rounder Records in January, 2007 (this is going to be good!). For our last tune, Alison Brown joined us for a four part version of Dixie Breakdown.

Earl Scruggs and Friends followed our performance and the U. S. Air Force Blue Angels put on a dazzling display of aviation prowess above our heads while Earl and the band played. Last year’s weather on Saturday was somewhat marginal with heavy fog and temperatures in the upper 50s. That wasn’t the case this year, as it was bright, sunny and warm….well for San Francisco at least (temps were in the mid 60’s)!

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is always held the first full weekend in October out here in San Francisco. Make plans now for next year’s event - it’s truly an unforgettable experience! Attendance was estimated at 230,000 people today with music spread out on four large stages located throughout the central meadow at Golden Gate Park.

Photos by Gretchen Snyder and Steve Stolzenburg

Earl Scruggs	Alan Munde	Tony Trischka	Bill Evans
Banjo Extravaganza Trischka, Evans, Brown Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Banjo player extraordinaire, Alison Brown will be a featured performer on The Grand Ole Opry program this Saturday evening.

She’ll perform during the 9:00-9:30 p.m. and 12:30-1:00 a.m. segments, and though the Opry schedule doesn’t say so, it’s safe to presume that she will have her Quartet in tow.

Tune in on WSM 650 AM out of Nashville, or catch the live WSM audio stream online to hear the program, which runs from 7:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 23.

One of the advantages of operating a news resource like The Bluegrass Blog is the opportunity to hear new CD releases before they are sent to radio, or made available to the general public. There is nothing like being in on a secret, especially when it’s a good’n.

The new CD from Dale Ann Bradley, Catch Tomorrow, surely falls into this category. Even in a long career filled with stellar recordings, this new project really catches the ear.

Many observers have noted that with as pure a voice as Dale Ann possess, and such a knack for choosing material suited for its strengths, she must only lack the support of a top notch band, and a record label willing and able to promote her, to see some legitimate success in this business.

The bands she has had for several years, and like so many in bluegrass, the membership is ever changing. Catch Tomorrow features primarily the members who contributed this past few years, like Michael Cleveland, Jesse Brock and Pete Kelly now departed, with Brock moving to Europe to marry and make music, and Cleveland and Kelly forming Michael’s new Flamekeeper band with Audie Blaylock. She now has vets Deanie Richardson and Scott Napier on the road with her and long-time bassist Vicki Simmons, and a new banjo hire is anticipated shortly.

With Catch Tomorrow, her debut collaboration with Compass Records, there is hope that the business partnership side of the equation is in place as well. This new release was produced by Compass founder and President, Alison Brown, who also contributes her banjo on several tracks. Dale Ann gives great credit to Brown for help with song selection and arranging, and it could be argued that this is the most cohesive and start-to-finish strong project from Bradley to date.

Much of the strongest material comes from Dale Ann herself, with autobiographical touches on songs like Run Rufus Run and Grandma’s Gift that tell as much about the world she grew up in as it does the actual characters in the stories. There is also a simply marvelous country-style duet with Marty Rabon on the old Dolly and Porter song, Holding On To Nothing, and a sparse and moving Gospel duet with Larry Sparks on Pass Me Not.

Dale Ann’s web site offers a few audio samples from the new release, and a pre-order option exists. It isn’t clear whether the orders can be shipped right away, or will arrive after the release date, but they are being accepted online now.

We have a terrific interview with Dale Ann which will be the subject of an upcoming episode of The GrassCast. It will be available here on The Bluegrass Blog and to all GrassCast subscribers closer to the official release date for the new CD (October 10). She talks at some length about her early days performing in Renfro Valley, KY and with The Coon Creek Girls as well as her more recent musical endeavors.

Be sure to keep an eye out for that GrassCast, and the release of Catch Tomorrow.