You know that we had a busy IBMA when it’s Sunday morning before I have a chance to post comments on the Wednesday night showcase performances.

Sugar Hill hosted a reception late Wednesday afternoon, and I enjoyed speaking with a number of folks, including music writer, author and Wall Street Journal columnist Barry Mazor. His new book, Meeting Jimmie Rodgers, was published earlier this year, and he has a couple of new projects in the works that will be of interest to bluegrass lovers. Sorry… can’t share details yet.

I also spoke with Barry Bales, who said that the next Alison Krauss & Union Station CD which he had told us earlier would be completed in August, has been pushed back a ways. He told us that once they finished the songs they had chosen to cut, a number of them just didn’t seem strong enough, so they are heading back to the drawing board to find some new material. No predictions yet on when the album might see the light of day.

From the Sugar Hill soiree we headed to one hosted by Rural Rhythm Records. It featured sets by several of their artists, plus a special announcement. More on that later.

I made it down to the ballroom for the main stage show just in time for Joe Diffie’s set. Joe had a string of country hits in the 1990s, both as a songwriter and a singer, but he is returning now to his bluegrass roots for Rounder Records, with a new CD expected early in 2010.

NewFound Road served as Diffie’s band, with Chris Ward on fiddle and Cory Walker on resonator Guitar. Joe stuck with music from his upcoming Rounder album, and his voice was strong and definitely bluegrass. He is a very solid performer and his re-embrace of bluegrass is a welcome one, judging from the reaction on Wednesday night.

We’ll try to get some details about this CD next week.

Despite being completely worn out, I slipped downstairs to catch a couple of the late night sets. The Jeff & Vida Band was one that I had been looking forward to hearing at IBMA, and their showcase on Wednesday did not disappoint. The group is fronted by Jeff Burke and Vida Wakeman, whose original material is the basis for their recordings and live shows.

Theirs is an eclectic sound, combining buegrass, old time and traditional country in a quirky-cool mix. The band includes Jake Schepps on banjo, Justin Hoffenberg on fiddle, Greg Schochet on guitar and Will Downes on bass. Jeff plays mandolin and Vida guitar, with both sharing vocal duties. I enjoyed their music very much.

Before falling over from exhaustion, I also caught part of a set by Toy Hearts, who traveled from England for a US tour, culminating at IBMA this week. The focus here is on the Johnson sisters, Hannah on mandolin and vocals, and Sophia on guitar. They are lovely and talented young ladies, and the group made quite a mark with several appearances over the past few days.

Barry Bales also shared some details about the upcoming Alison Krauss & Union Station album when he was with us in the studio this week.

They are heading into the studio later this month with an eye towards completing rhythm tracks before the end of August. Barry says that some of the material is quite different from what they have recorded in the past, but that all of it is fabulous – and that Alison is in great voice.

He isn’t sure when the CD will be released, but says that they may be doing some TV appearances late this year. Touring for 2010 is being planned now.

The most recent version of AKUS will be intact for this project: Barry on bass, Dan Tyminski on guitar/mandolin, Ron Block on banjo/guitar, Jerry Douglas on resonator guitars, and Alison on fiddle and vocals. Tyminski will also be singing a couple of songs on the CD.

There will have to be some schedule shuffling next year with both Alison Krauss and Dan Tyminski booking shows for 2010. Barry should be a busy little beaver.

Barry now maintains a Facebook page and a Twitter feed if you want to keep up with his comings and goings.

Brance and I spent the past two days in the studio with Barry Bales, shooting an AcuTab bass DVD which will be released later this year. Adam Steffey, Kenny Smith and Jim Mills were also on hand for the shoot.

Barry had a lot of news to share, particularly about what will be his newest instrument, a Chadwick Folding Bass. The bass is the brainchild of Charlie Chadwick, a Nashville musician who has suffered the frustrations of traveling with an upright bass for many years.

He had tried using whatever instruments might be available at his performance destinations, and a number of the travel basses available on the market. He tired of the uncertainty of using unfamiliar basses and the unsatisfactory tone and responsiveness of scaled-down travel instruments, which led him to start experimenting with the concept of a folding bass.

Chadwick’s design involved a hinged neck that folds back and is stored inside the body of the bass – along with the fingerboard, tailpiece, bridge and end pin – and can be broken down and reassembled in a matter of minutes. He took his first prototype on the road with John Jorgenson Quintet in 2004 and while touring with Jorgensen this last few years, he has continued to refine his design.

Once he felt that he had everything working as it should, Charlie converted a Samuel Shen bass in 2007. He had the opportunity to show it to Shen in 2008, who immediately recognized the value of the concept. Soon Shen and Chadwick were discussing how these folding basses could be manufactured at the Shen factory in China for the international market.

They are now available for sale as the Chadwick Folding Bass, offered for $2999 with a hard shell case. This is a plywood bass with an ebony fingerboard and an oil varnish finish.

Check out this video of Charlie breaking the bass down for travel:

Availability at this point is limited to no more than 12 basses per month. Bales expects to get his in a few weeks, and once more players see and hear these instruments up close and personal, a wait of several months could be the norm.

Barry said he tried one out for several weeks and found the tone and responsiveness to be quite good, and that he plans totake his Chadwick whenever he has to fly for either Dan Tyminski or Alison Krauss shows.

You can find many more photos and details on the Chadwick site.

Earlier in the month we told you about the Dan Tyminski video for the title track from his album Wheels, released June 17 on Rounder Records.

Rounder has revealed a little about the making of the video and the picturesque setting that all but steals the show.

Directed by Rocky Schenck and produced by Rocky Schenck and Brad Paul, the video, was shot on the unique Sierra Hotel train car on June 10 -11 in California.

The Sierra Hotel car was part of the California Zephyr line that ran from Chicago to Los Angeles from 1948 to 1983. The car was then purchased privately and completely restored and customized. The producers of the video chartered the car and had it attached to the Amtrak Coast Starlight train (which runs from Seattle to Los Angeles) in Oakland and shot the video during the journey south to Los Angeles and back to Oakland the next day. Wheels features grand iconic scenery, informal performances and humorous vignettes about the band finding ways to stay entertained while on the road.

The video is being added on GAC on Tuesday, July 22 and is currently in heavy rotation on CMT Pure. It can also be viewed online.