Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike begin their latest trip to Europe on Sunday with fives dates in England, followed by two in Ireland and one in Wales before playing a last show in England and then moving on to make four appearances at venues in Germany.

The hectic tour – with 13 appearances in 16 days – is sponsored in part by British Americana magazine, Maverick, which describes Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike as an “excellent stage act ‚Ķ.. known for their lively and impressive concerts!”

Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike consists of lead singer and band leader Valerie Smith, Becky Buller on vocal, fiddle, clawhammer banjo, guitar and as a principal songwriter in the group, Bobby Davis on bass and fiddle, Chad Graves on resophonic guitar and vocals, and Eric Lambert on guitar and mandolin.

Valerie spoke to me about the trip just as she was making final preparations prior to flying out Friday morning …….

“This tour will represent eight years that I have performed in Europe and am anticipating seeing familiar faces. I welcome the opportunity to develop a wider audience. Bell Buckle Records is especially excited about Maverick magazine supporting my tour for the second time and helping spread the news about the anticipated release ‘Here’s A Little Song’!, a duet project recorded with artist, Becky Buller, who will be joining me on the tour. We plan to perform many new songs from the CD and hope that the audience enjoys our new, fresh, enthusiastic show! The band, Liberty Pike, is so much fun to watch and have a great time playing music together.

I have always loved to perform for the enthusiastic audience in Europe and UK and am excited to be there in July and August! Our first show is on the Isle of Wight, and the show will be filmed and produced by the UK Entertainment channel. What a surprise and great opportunity to share the music and gain more publicity for what we do.”

Here’s a full list of dates and venues for the tour ‚Ķ.

• July 20 – Freshwater Memorial Hall Freshwater, Isle of Wight
• July 21 – Zebra Bar, Maidstone, Kent
• July 23 – St. Bonaventure’s, Bristol
• July 24 – High Barn, Great Bardfield, Essex
• July 25 – Plough Arts Centre, Great Torrington, Devon
• July 26 – Phil Murphy Weekend, Carrig-on-Bannow, Ireland
• July 27 – Phil Murphy Weekend, Carrig-on-Bannow, Ireland
• July 28 – The Queen’s Hall, Narberth, Pembrokeshire, Wales
• July 29 – Comfort Hotel, Nottingham
• August 1 – Sudhaus, Tubingen, Germany
• August 2 – Kulturufer Festival, Friedrichshafen, Germany
• August 3 – Bardentreffen Festival, Nuremburg, Germany
• August 4 – Altes Kaufhaus, Landau, Germany

More information about the tour can be accessed at the band web site.

Valerie Smith and Becky Buller Here’s A Little Song hits the streets on September 9.

Guests on the CD include the multi-Grammy, Dove and IBMA award-winning Alan O’Bryant and Mike Compton from the Nashville Bluegrass Band; the 2007 IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year, Dale Ann Bradley; multi-IBMA award winner Wayne Benson of IIIrd Tyme Out; Kristin Scott Benson of the Larry Stephenson Band and Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time; and Justin Carbone of Special Consensus. They are also joined here by their fellow Liberty Pike members Chad Graves and Bobby Davis.

Here are a few stories we found online this weekend which many of our readers may enjoy.

CMT.com ran a fun piece earlier this week about Amnesia, a club in San Francisco’s Mission district, that has successfully launched a Monday night Doyle Lawson singalong. What started as a bum’s rush has become a popular club tradition, with Amnesia regulars settling in once a week to belt out their favorite Quicksilver tunes along with Doyle’s CDs.

Owner Shawn Magee explains how it got started.

“[Co-owner] John and I would play the disc and sing along at the top of our lungs as a way to scare people out of the bar at closing time,” Magee says. But some people stuck around. “They even memorized the lyrics and joined in. It got to the point where we had a dozen strong singers crooning 28 DL&Q hits into the wee hours of the morning.”

The Kingsport Times News has a endearing story of a teen aged bluegrass band from Wise County, VA who have been invited to perform at The Smithsonian Folklife Festival next weekend on the Mall in Washington, DC. The Midnight Ramblers have been together just over a year, and are managed by Tony Bates, Wise Police Chief, and father of the band’s bass player, 17 year old Cherise Bates.

Tony talks about how much he enjoys working with these gifted youngsters.

“These kids are very talented, and I guess what they’ve really got going for them right now, on top of their talent, is their age,” Bates said. “Of course, with my job and because of the profession I’m in, when dealing with teens it’s usually troubled teens. We never get to talk to ‚Äògood’ teens unless we stop and strike up a conversation. But these kids, they want to do something with their career in music, and I want to help them get off the ground.”

ukbluegrass.com has an interview posted with Becky Buller, an accomplished bluegrass songwriter, and fiddler with Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike. Becky is set to head for Britain later this month for a two week UK tour with Valerie and company. The interview covers her singing, songwriting and fiddle playing, and includes comment on the upcoming tour:

It seems the band are really looking forward to the UK tour. Becky describes us Brits as "polite and stylish" adding "it’s like coming home for me. Bluegrass music is deeply rooted in the fiddle tune and folk ballad traditions of the British Isles and I’m deeply rooted in bluegrass. Plus, I’m a huge Monty Python fan, and I dig fish and chips!"