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.

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.

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:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

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.

Ten songs from the show are posted, including the title track from Dan’s upcoming Rounder CD, Wheels, several cuts from his previous solo release (Tiny Broken Heart, Stuck In The Middle Of Nowhere) and a few bluegrass classics (Rocky Road Blues, Man Of Constant Sorrow, Muleskinner Blues, Mary Ann).

The band includes Tyminski on guitar and vocals, Ron Stewart on banjo, Adam Steffey on mandolin, Barry bales on bass and Justin Moses on fiddle.

The video was shot with a hand held camera, so it’s a bit shaky at times, but the audio is terrific and they give a fine taste of how strong this band is in concert. This show in March took place one day after I saw the band perform in Roanoke (review here).

You can find all the videos on YouTube, and we’ve included the Wheels video for your enjoyment here.

The band is composed of Barry Bales on bass, Justin Moses on fiddle/dobro, Adam Steffey on mandolin, and Ron Stewart on banjo with Tyminski on guitar and lead vocals. I had spoken with Dan earlier that day, and had several prior conversations with Ron and Adam about the new band. That, together with my keen awareness of each member’s musicianship, left me with some fairly high expectations going into the show.

They emerged from stage right with no introduction, and launched into a blistering, nearly-two hour set of traditional bluegrass music with the characteristic front-of-the-beat drive that distinguishes the finest practitioners of the art. It was a powerful ensemble sound, with vocals to match.

The material was chosen from Dan’s 2000 release, Carry Me Across The Mountains, the band’s upcoming Wheels CD, plus numbers Dan (and Adam) had recorded with Alison Krauss & Union Station. Throw in some bluegrass classics and you had a full concert of expertly performed, passionately delivered music.

Tyminski’s voice has been a familiar one in bluegrass since his emergence with Lonesome River Band in the late 1980s, and he gave an impressive performance Friday night. He offered versions of One Tear and Free Born Man on top of cuts from his CD like Carry Me Across The Mountain, Stuck In The Middle Of Nowhere, Think About You Every Day and Tiny Broken Heart.

Of course they also performed Man Of Constant Sorrow, the most recent bluegrass song to hit pop and country radio with a vengeance, for which Dan provided the voice over in the O Brother, Where Art Thou movie. If you have caught Dan doing this one with AKUS, you’ll have heard his amusing tale about breaking the news about scoring the movie gig to his wife, but it is a funny one even on subsequent rehearings.

The vocal trio has Barry Bales singing baritone and Justin Moses on tenor, blending perfectly with Dan throughout. Dan’s voice is plaintive and emotional, and Moses in particular matched him nuance for nuance, never once overshadowing the lead. Bales’ baritone was also dead on.

The picking was equally sharp, and was a particular highlight for me. Ron Stewart is perhaps the finest exemplar of contemporary bluegrass banjo playing on the scene today and it was a real treat to watch him in his element. Other than a few ballads on which he played fiddle, Ron was left free to pound the five string into submission on every tune. Each note was smooth as silk, and right on time.

Adam Steffey provided his share of fireworks on the mandolin as well. I had seen him perform dozens of times over the years with both AKUS and Mountain Heart, but here his unique skills seem most clearly suited to the task at hand. He and Ron stood side by side on stage, and the two seemed to be gearing up the intensity level all night. As one would lay down a spectacular solo, the other would ratchet it up a notch in response.

Adam also sang No Place To Hide in his baritone drawl, and his MC work throughout the evening was as entertaining as the music. He is a natural comedian and he had the band and the audience in stitches between songs.

I’m not sure if I can add any praise to that Barry Bales has already earned for his stellar bass work. Impeccable timing, huge tone and an ability to be creative on his instrument within the accepted parameters of the style have long set him apart. He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely all night – as they all did – and his quick ear allowed him to create clever counter rhythms whenever the soloists’ work suggested them.

Justin Moses seemed like an odd man out, but only for his demeanor. If he smiled, I missed it, and his posture and attitude strike you as one of a man uncomfortable with the limelight. But nothing about his playing gives you that impression. His fiddle work was stellar, as was his dobro and banjo playing on a few songs.

All in all, The Dan Tyminski Band struck me as one of the finest of its kind ever assembled. Their rhythmic and instrumental precision, lead and harmony vocal smoothness, and choice of material puts one in mind of the heralded Bluegrass Album Band [heresy alert!]. That touchstone band, which featured Tony Rice, JD Crowe, Doyle Lawson, Bobby Hicks and Todd Phillips defined the apex of the style, and their recordings schooled the next generation of pickers in the finer points of modern bluegrass.

I doubt that I can put it any better than my friend, Keith Roberts, did: If The Bluegrass Album band is The King James Bible, these guys must be the New American Standard.

Just so. Let’s hope they stay together and record for many years to come.

All of the Union Station guys have been looking at a blank schedule for 2008, with Alison Krauss planning to take the year off from band work, and it seems to have been the opportune moment for Dan to move forward with his own band. They played a showcase here earlier in the week and created quite a stir.

The band will be Ron Stewart on banjo, Justin Moses on fiddle, Barry Bales on bass, Adam Steffey on mandolin and Dan on guitar. They are headed into the studio almost immediately after IBMA, with a release on Rounder Records expected very early in 2008.

Adam will continue doing shows with Mountain Heart at least through the end of this year.

UPDATE 10:15 a.m.: Thanks to Barry Bales for catching my earlier error – Ron Stewart is on banjo and Justin Moses on fiddle. That’s my lesson not to post anything after 1:00 a.m. at IBMA with precious little sleep!

As John said in his post, we missed the first couple of tunes, but I did hear part of Early Morning Rain from the lobby. That is one of my favorite Lightfoot tunes that Tony ever recorded, I’m sorry I missed it. But there were plenty more where that one came from. I especially enjoyed Alison’s rendition of Song For A Winter’s Night.

The band sounded great on this material and Tony blended right into the band, not taking center stage until they gave it to him. Even the traditional bluegrass numbers they did from the Album Band repertoire where performed true to the way Rice recorded them, with no guitar solo. Let me tell you, there was no need. Tony’s rhythm was spectacular! I’ve always been a fan of his rhythm playing and he was in fine form Friday evening. Driving, tasteful, spicy, and grin inspiring, not to mention spot on timing, Tony’s rhythm was one of the highlights of the concert for me.

One thing that struck me was the obvious mutual respect on the stage. AKUS was very respectful of Tony, honoring him as a hero. But you tell he reciprocated that respect. Rice heaped praise on both Alison and Tyminski as being two of his favorite singers. Introducing one song, Tony made a comment to that effect and Jerry Douglas said “Thanks Tony” to much laughter from the audience. But seeing Douglas and Rice play together reminded you that these two have recorded and played together a lot down through the years. They have that synergy you sometimes see where it appears they are feeding off each other’s creativity and doing more together than they would either do alone.

The show included the funny stage banter we’ve come to expect from Alison. While introducing the band members, she referred to banjoist Ron Block as the bands “sexy librarian.” She also told a very funny story about a country fan who had a crush on Barry Bales at a show…and thought he was playing the cello!

During the final performance (they did come back for an encore) of Freeborn Man, they projected a slideshow of photos on the screen behind the band. The photos were mostly of Tony, though there were a few of Alison as well, with different bands and musicians he’s recorded and performed with over the years. It was a nice touch to add to what could be considered Tony’s signature song.

Overall, the show was entertaining and the music was excellent. I can’t wait for the recording of this tour to be released. It’s bound to be a classic instantly. I got the feeling toward the end of the show that this was one of those moments my children and grandchildren are likely to ask me about.

We mentioned in that previous post that four new, previously unreleased tracks would also be included, but did not have many details about them to share at the time. We received some information over the weekend that sheds a bit more light on that question.

The four new tracks are You’re Just A Country Boy, Simple Love, Jacob’s Dream and Away Down The River. Rounder informed us that all four showcase Alison as the featured vocalist, and are tracks which she produced, and Barry Bales mentioned that while members of Union Station do appear at various points on these tracks, none are performed strictly with the band.

In other words, this compilation, and the new tracks specifically, can be seen as an Alison Krauss solo effort. Rounder has typically issued one like this (under Alison’s name) for every couple that are listed as AKUS CDs.

We’ll be sure to post again when audio samples show up online.

The show has been scheduled again this year, and will be held next weekend (1/20/07) at The Paramount Center on historic State Street in Bristol.

The format of the current show is similar to the one we started in 2000, and reminiscent of the old “package tour” shows popular in the 1950s and 60s. An all star cast of prominent bluegrass pickers and singers will rotate on and off the stage in a variety of configurations, generally performing material outside of what you might normally hear them doing.

This year’s lineup includes Bobby Hicks, Ronnie Bowman, Mike Bub, David Talbot, Larry Cordle, Rob McCoury, Don Rigsby, Kim Fox, Darrell Webb, Steve Gulley, Jason Carter, Barry Bales, Paul Williams, Kenny & Amanda Smith and David Grier.

There will be two shows on January 20, at 3:00 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets and show details can be found at the Pickin’ at the Paramount site, or the Paramount Center site.

Overdubs continue in my basement studio. I’m looking to finish all my parts (acoustic and electric guitars, vocals, editing) by the time AKUS goes on the road for the first half of November. In late November I’ll finish up with fiddle and viola (Alison), lap steel/dobro (Jerry Douglas), some mandolin overdubs by Adam Steffey that we weren’t able to get to in August, and harmony vocals by various folks. I’ll also be doing preliminary mixing (mostly just volume rides). I’m looking to have Gary Paczosa mix by the end of December and have the record released by mid to late April.

Some of the people involved in making the recording:

• Barry Bales (bass), Dan Tyminski (guitar, vocals)
• Eric Uglum (production assistance)
• Jerry Douglas (dobro, lap steel)
• Viktor Krauss (bass)
• Gary Paczosa (engineer)
• Adam Steffey (mandolin, mandola)

With a line up like that it should be a recording worth listening to. We’ll keep you informed as we find out more.

The material is often modern country in form and arrangement, but the accompaniment is acoustic with a bluegrass band, and some percussion. Tresa has a background in bluegrass, and had been performing with Ernie Thacker’s band until his serious accident in April. She has now formed her own group to support the CD, and is appearing at festivals this summer when she isn’t visiting radio stations.

Bluegrass artists who appear with Tresa on this CD include Wanda Vick on fiddle, Barry Bales on bass, and The Infamous Stringdusters who support Tresa on her cover of Kenny Loggins’ Danny’s Song.

Audio samples and more details can be found on her web site.