Blue Highway played their first show on New Year’s Eve in 1994 with Tim Stafford on guitar, Shawn Lane on mandolin, Wayne Taylor on bass, Jason Burleson on banjo and Rob Ickes on resonator guitar. With that 15th anniversary drawing nigh, the band consists of these same 5 musicians, a testament both to the five of them as individuals, and to the way they run the group.

True, Burleson did take about a year off in the late ’90s (with Tom Adams filling the void), but he returned in short order and has never looked back.

Blue Highway has always been run as a true democratic entity, with all band decisions being made by equal votes among the members. No one is the leader, though they may each take the lead in certain tasks a band must perform. These guys obviously understand the value of the whole, and have kept egos from destroying something this unique and fine for 15 years – no small feat, that.

When the band got started, their intention was for it to be a part time venture. Tim Stafford had recently left Alison Krauss & Union Station, and Rob Ickes had left Lynn Morris, and neither wanted to be back on the road full time. After their first two Rebel releases, demand was such that a return to the highway was indicated, and that was the direction they took.

The band has a page on their web site dedicated to this anniversary year, with an extensive array of photos from over the years collected and sent in by fans. Rounder is set to release an anniversary CD, and a special anniversary concert is scheduled for December 18.

The CD, Some Day: Fifteenth Anniversary Collection (1/19/10), will include 13 tracks. 9 are culled from the band’s 4 previous Rounder albums, 1 comes from an Ickes solo project, 2 are fresh songs, newly recorded, and 1 is a re-recording of the title track, an enduring staple of their live show.

The full track listing follows (new tracks *):

The concert on 12/18 was as close as they could get to New Year’s Eve. It will be held in Roanoke, VA at the historic Jefferson Center at 7:30 p.m. Scheduled to be a festive affair, the band is eager to celebrate their anniversary with fans and friends before closing their touring for 2009 and heading off to spend the Christmas season with loved ones.

They expect to have copies of the new CD at the Anniversary Show, and concertgoers who purchase the VIP ticket will receive an autographed copy at the show, along with an invitation to attend the post-show reception.

Hats off to Blue Highway – here’s to 15 more!

Blue Highway played their first show on New Year’s Eve in 1994 with Tim Stafford on guitar, Shawn Lane on mandolin, Wayne Taylor on bass, Jason Burleson on banjo and Rob Ickes on resonator guitar. With that 15th anniversary drawing nigh, the band consists of these same 5 musicians, a testament both to the five of them as individuals, and to the way they run the group.

True, Burleson did take about a year off in the late ’90s (with Tom Adams filling the void), but he returned in short order and has never looked back.

Blue Highway has always been run as a true democratic entity, with all band decisions being made by equal votes among the members. No one is the leader, though they may each take the lead in certain tasks a band must perform. These guys obviously understand the value of the whole, and have kept egos from destroying something this unique and fine for 15 years – no small feat, that.

When the band got started, their intention was for it to be a part time venture. Tim Stafford had recently left Alison Krauss & Union Station, and Rob Ickes had left Lynn Morris, and neither wanted to be back on the road full time. After their first two Rebel releases, demand was such that a return to the highway was indicated, and that was the direction they took.

The band has a page on their web site dedicated to this anniversary year, with an extensive array of photos from over the years collected and sent in by fans. Rounder is set to release an anniversary CD, and a special anniversary concert is scheduled for December 18.

The CD, Some Day: Fifteenth Anniversary Collection (1/19/10), will include 13 tracks. 9 are culled from the band’s 4 previous Rounder albums, 1 comes from an Ickes solo project, 2 are fresh songs, newly recorded, and 1 is a re-recording of the title track, an enduring staple of their live show.

The full track listing follows (new tracks *):

The concert on 12/18 was as close as they could get to New Year’s Eve. It will be held in Roanoke, VA at the historic Jefferson Center at 7:30 p.m. Scheduled to be a festive affair, the band is eager to celebrate their anniversary with fans and friends before closing their touring for 2009 and heading off to spend the Christmas season with loved ones.

They expect to have copies of the new CD at the Anniversary Show, and concertgoers who purchase the VIP ticket will receive an autographed copy at the show, along with an invitation to attend the post-show reception.

Hats off to Blue Highway – here’s to 15 more!

You would expect such a prolific teacher to also be a fine player, and that he is, but so much time is dedicated to offering lessons and running his online business (BanjoTeacher.com) that Ross only rarely has the chance to record.

A new CD has just been released, featuring 14 bluegrass instrumental favorites, with the non-banjo playing members of Blue Highway serving as his rhythm section. He chose as the title, Let’s Kick Some Ass, a phrase he has used to motivate himself for years.

“It’s an expression I’ve used to get the band pumped up before a show. ‘Let’s go out and kick some ass.’ I play my best when my adrenalin is flowing, the same way it did when I played athletics when I was younger. That is really where that comes from I think…football practice. It’s meant to be upbeat and fun, and to say, ‘we are going to get after these songs with everything we have and hold nothing back.’ “

The songs should be familiar to most bluegrass or banjo music fans, coming from the repertoire of Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Flatt & Scruggs… and the Gershwin Brothers.

“I wanted the CD to be very up beat. I tried to chose material that I felt we could really dig in to, songs that were straight forward and flowed easily. Many of the songs I knew we would all be familiar with and could play with experience on first take. Although I did cut two originals, and the band played those on the first try every bit as strong as the material they were already familiar with.

From a practical standpoint we cut 14 songs in two days without any rehearsal. That was another thing that I thought would help the overall sound of the CD, a more live approach, not too perfected or watered down. By cutting the songs in the first few takes I think you have a better chance at a CD that feels fresh and sounds real.”

Here are a few samples to give you a taste of Ross’ playing and the spontaneity they captured in the studio.

Old Dangerfield – Listen Now    

RoundHouse – Listen Now    

Wheel Hoss – Listen Now    

Bringing in a group of pickers who work together regularly certainly added to the smooth, powerful sound. Tim Stafford in on guitar, Shawn Lane on mandolin and fiddle, Rob Ickes on resonator guitar and Wayne Taylor on bass.

“Using Blue Highway was one of the best inspirations I’ve ever had. I have known Rob Ickes since before he moved to Nashville. He and I worked together some out west in the 90’s and he played on my last record. Tim was to be on my last CD too, but we couldn’t line it up, so I wanted to make sure it happened this time. Then it dawned on me that it would not only make scheduling sense but musical sense as well to have the whole band, and I could not be happier with their participation.

I am impressed with the group on every level, musically and personally. Jason Burleson, Blue Highway’s banjo player is a great picker and I appreciated that I could borrow his fellow band members for a couple days. We all just played at the Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival in Ireland last month, Blue Highway as a group and me as a solo act. It gave me an opportunity to get to know them all better.

Great group.”

More audio samples – and online orders and download purchases – can be found on Ross’ web site.

This one features Katy Daley interviewing Jason Burleson of Blue Highway.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Already released (on April 1) is the companion soundtrack CD entitled Appalachia: Music From Home (on Lonesome Records).

The CD features such artists Ralph and Nathan Stanley, Art Stamper, James Allen Shelton, Jean Ritchie, Dock Boggs, Carl Martin, and contemporary songwriters Darrell Scott, Robin and Linda Williams; and Blue Highway; and youthful artistes such as The Midnight Ramblers, Molly Slemp, Clack Mountain String Band, Evan Carawan and Mitch Barratt.

Some of the tracks – Pretty Saro (Jean Ritchie), Midnight on the Water (Art Stamper), Soldiers Joy (James Allen Shelton), Union Man (Blue Highway), Gloryland (the Stanleys) and Don’t Let Me Come Home A Stranger (Robin and Linda Williams) – included have been taken from earlier projects. Others – such as The Blackest Crow (Molly Slemp), Shady Grove (Mitch Barrett) and Banjo Clark (Darrell Scott) – are recent recordings apparently done for the film.

Appalachia: Music From Home is funded in part by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, The Appalachia Regional Commission, The C Bascam Slemp Foundation and the Wise County, Virginia Board of Supervisors.

Check your local stations for more details regarding broadcasting times for Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People.

Prizes are being offered for the best photo submitted each month, and some real doozies are already posted on the Blue Highway 15th Anniversary photo page. Here are a few samples…

              

The band is in the studio of late, finishing up some new tracks which will be included on a Rounder compilation CD, due for a release this fall. We’ll have more details about that project soon, plus news about some other exciting Blue Highway plans for 2010.

They included selections from several of their critically-acclaimed recordings, offering a fine taste of their live show for the Mountain Stage audience.

• Through the Window of a Train
• Wondrous Love
• Sycamore Hollow
• Last Hand Loader
• Nothing But A Whippoorwill
  

You can hear the entire 26 minute segment at NPR.com.

They played their first show as a band on December 31, 1994 and, amazingly enough, are still working with the same five musicians who launched the band in ‘94. Banjo man Jason Burleson left the band briefly in 1999 (replaced by Tom Adams), but returned shortly thereafter.

The full lineup includes Tim Stafford on guitar, Rob Ickes on resonator guitar, Shawn lane on mandolin, Wayne Taylor on bass, with Burleson on banjo.

The official Blue Highway web site has a special 15th Anniversary page where fans are invited to submit any Blue Highway photos they may have taken for a monthly photo contest. That will begin on February 1, and more details about prizes and rules will be posted there soon.

They have also enabled a fan comment system where you can leave best wishes on teh anniversary – and hopes for 15 more!

Old timers in the music biz remember Cash Box as a prominent industry publication and one-time competitor of Billboard who put out a print edition from 1942 until 1996. They pioneered such now-familiar chart terms as “with a bullet,” and were also credited with originating the concept of publishing separate charts for different genres of popular music.

It has been revived as an online magazine, published digitally since 2006 at cashboxmagazine.com.

So how much juice do you get for being on the cover of a virtual magazine? Well, if it’s noting your latest CD’s position on the top of the relevant chart, we’d say “plenty!”

Here’s how Blue Highway puts it on their web site:

Suitable for framing (at least by our moms): the cover of this week’s Cashbox! “Through the Window of a Train” marks its second month at the #1 spot on the Cashbox Bluegrass Chart.

Congratulations, guys.

The programme schedule includes the recording of a show taped on March 16 in Beckley, West Virginia, featuring top band Blue Highway, the inimitable Larry Sparks, award-winning banjo and slide guitar player Tony Furtado, folk artist Carrie Newcomer and John Lilly, himself.

The show was shipped to 120 radio stations worldwide yesterday and will air locally in those markets during the coming week.

To find a station near you that carries the Mountain Stage programme visit the website.

Playlist details can be found elsewhere on the Mountain Stage website. The show will be available on-line for download in about two weeks time.

Footnote:

Lilly edited Mountains of Music: West Virginia Traditional Music from Goldenseal, the excellent collection of profiles of some of the state’s most colourful folk musicians from said magazine – University of Illinois Press.

Resonator guitarist Rob Ickes was profiled in those pages in February of 2007, and both he and Tim Stafford are interviewed in the June 2008 issue.

The focus of the article is on the pair’s musicianship, as you might imagine, particularly with reference to the band’s new CD, Through The Window Of A Train. Rob and Tim answer questions about the instruments they used in the studio, how the recording was structured and even how they came up with specific solos.

Were any songs particularly difficult to get recorded?

Ickes: This record fell into place really easily. There’s a tricky melody on The North Cove, and that’s one that I definitely worked on it some before we went into teh studio. Tim plays some great lead guitar breaks on that one.

Stafford: This was the easiest record we’ve made. V-Bottom Boat took as long to record as it takes to listen to it. That’s live with one mic – first take.

As of this morning (6/2) the content at GuitarPlayer.com had not yet been updated online, but you can see a PDF of the article on the Blue Highway site. [link will open as an Adobe Acrobat file]

Four segments have recently been produced that feature Blue Highway. Each begins with a portion of the short documentary on the band produced by Craig Havighurst – which can be viewed in its entirety here on The Bluegrass Blog – followed by a live performance of one song from a live concert.

There is no link that will take you to all four Blue Highway clips, but you can follow the four links below to watch them online.

• Wondrous Love
• Little Maggie
• I Hung My Head
• Cold Harbor

Audio clips from their newest CD, Through The Window Of A Train, on their web site.

Sierra had an especially poignant memory to cherish from Merlefest ‘08.

“One thing that was particularly exciting about this year’s Merlefest is that it was the first in which I’ve had my new album, Secrets (out May 6 on Rounder) for sale. Upon arriving to the festival Friday morning, I had not even seen a final packaged copy of the record yet. They were shipped directly there, hot off the printer! It was quite funny then having someone in the crowd bring me a copy to sign — that was my first time seeing it!”

Read all of these posts at CMT.com.

After this afternoon’s airing, the Blue Highway show will be rebroadcast as follows (all times EDT):

• Saturday (4/12) at 10:00 p.m.
• Sunday (4/13) at 5:00 p.m.
• Monday (4/14) at noon

SIRIUS Bluegrass can be found at channel 65 on your Sirius Satellite Radio receiver. They also offer a subscription-based online service, Sirius Internet Radio, and free 3-day trials are offered to non-subscribers.

The work of coal miners has long been commemorated in song, disasters have led to contemporaneous ballad type songs and personal acquaintance with victims of the industry has led to intense, heart-rending insights into the side-effects of working below ground. Many songs have been found during song-catcher expeditions – some of those recording are found here, others have been written by those with a social conscience as a form of protest at times of strife. As well as embracing the social ramifications, political, historic and economic aspects of life in coal mining communities.

The industry ‘captured’ labour at a very young age and the picture of a disheveled youngster on the cover is a evidence of that. It’s a refection of the level of poverty for the often big families that boys had to go to work in the mines to help boost their father’s income. There has seemingly been very little scope for avoiding the pits. Not many people have been able to follow Ron Short’s advice in Set Yourself Free.

The collection is sub-titled Mining Songs From The Appalachian Coalfields and, in fact, the music chosen is pared down to music from southern Appalachia and to that by local talent. There is a mixture of styles – big band, jazz, old-time (in its various sub-sets, including string band), traditional country, bluegrass, folk, blues, boogie-woogie and choral.

Also, the performances are by people from a variety of classes; miners, labour organisers, activists, religious leaders and professional musicians. The quality of these vary, just as the sound quality of the recordings themselves vary, but some tracks do feature well known pickers; Mike Seeger, Jimmy Gaudreau, Jim Watson, Wayne Benson, Robert Bowlin, Glen Duncan, Mike Bubb, Jamie Johnson and Jimmy Mattingly included.

The recordings themselves span a century, beginning with the opening song on the first disc – Down In A Coal Mine an excerpt from The Edison Concert Band and made in 1908. Other recordings from the early part of the last century include Mining Camp Blues by Trixie Smith (1925); He’s Only A Miner Killed In The Ground -Ted Chestnut (1928); Coal Miner’s Blues – The Carter Family (1938) and Sprinkle Coal Dust On My Grave – Orville Jenks (1940), sung to the same melody as Sunny Side Of The Mountain.

A few songs are performed a cappella style. Among those are by Hard Times In Coleman’s Mine by Aunt Molly Jackson (recorded in 1937); Coal Black Mining Blues by Nimrod Workman (1972); That 25 Cents You Paid by Sarah Ogan Gunning; Fountain Filled With Blood by Elder James Caudill and Choir (2007); West Virginia Mine Disaster - Molly Slemp.

Several are sung with just one instrument, usually a guitar. Examples of these are the afore-mentioned song by Orville Jenks; The L & N Don’t Stop Here Anymore by Jean Ritchie; Black Waters by Jim Ringer and chorus; Roof Boltin’ Daddy – Gene Carpenter; Coal Town Saturday Night by Randall Hylton.

An exception is Dorothy Myles’s soulful, rather religious rendition of What Are We Gonna Do?, with sedate piano accompaniment.

Many songs get the bluegrass treatment. Among those are Dream Of A Miner’s Child by Carter Stanley, with his daughter, Jeannie, and brother Ralph and the Clinch Mountain Boys; Union Man from Blue Highway; Blue Diamond Mines – Robin and Linda Williams; Miner’s Prayer written by Kentuckian Dwight Yoakam and sung by him, with assistance from Ralph Stanley; Nick Stump – Deep Mine Blues; Tom T Hall – I’m A Coal Mining Man; Kenneth Davis, a former member of the Clinch Mountain Boys, with a performance of the Earl Sykes/Ralph Stanley song Dirty Black Coal; Don Stanley & Middle Creek – A Strip Miner’s Life and Ralph Stanley II – Daddy’s Dinner Bucket.

In Those Mines features claw hammer banjo, by the song writer Becky Buller, as her band leader Valerie Smith sings this contemporary song. Russell Moore provides harmony vocals.

Among the contemporary acoustic style songs [or bluegrass sans banjo] are Thirty Inch Coal by Hobo Jack Adkins; Explosion At Derby Mine – Charles Maggard; Coal Dust Kisses – Suzanne Mumpower-Johnson; Coal Tattoo – Dale Jett; You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive by the composer Darrell Scott. This sounds as though it was recorded in front of an audience.

The last track of this set is by Natalie Marchant, who offers a folky version of the anthemic Whose Side Are You On?

In the country mould is the Merle Travis classic Dark As A Dungeon, performed with just his own guitar for accompaniment; another Travis song, Sixteen Tons by Ned Beatty and There Will Be No Black Lung (Up In Heaven) performed by Rev Joe Freeman. It is in part a recitation, very reminiscent of Roy Acuff.

The song titled Black Lung used in this collection is not the well known Hazel Dickens’ song by that name, but one inspired by the meagre monthly compensation cheque that his maternal grandmother received, written and performed by A J Roach. Ms. Dickens’ vast repertoire of coal mining songs is represented by The Yablonski Murder, a tale about the politics in the industry.

As concept albums go, this collection takes its place among the finest. Presented in a book format measuring approximately 10 inches by 6 inches, it contains two CDs with a total of 48 tracks. The book itself has an Introduction, written by producer Jack Wright, a Sanctus contributed by Archie Green, the doyen of coal mining music scholarship with his book Only A Miner, and to whom the anthology is dedicated, and Foreword by Jon Lohman of the Virginia Folklife Program. Additionally, it comprises a brief essay giving some background to the song and/or the singer, innumerable black and white photographs, most courtesy of Helen Lewis and lyrics.

Also, the book remembers that mining wasn’t an exclusively male preserve with a few brief references to the experiences of female mine workers. Of course, women were significant in holding their, often large, families together, supporting their men folk domestically as well as often championing their causes in their invariably shared tumultuous lives.

Music Of Coal is a very valuable documentation from the perspective of the workers in a treacherous industry that is nevertheless so necessary as it provides a fundamental need in all our lives. It does well to remind us of the many sacrifices that have blighted lives and the landscape in earlier times of Appalachian coal mining.

The show will run six times over the next week, starting with the debut airing at 8:00 a.m. on Friday morning (3/28). Cantrell tells us that these multiple airings are placed in very different time slots to offer convenient opportunities for folks in the various time zones – and on different work/listening schedules.

Here’s the run down (all times EDT).

Not only is Blue Highway one of the finest live bands in bluegrass, they are also deft and thoughtful songwriters. Both the performance and the songwriting chat should be enlightening for serious fans and students of this music.

Kyle will be playing all the selections from the new CD, interspersed with discussions with the members of the band. All of the songs were written within the group, so expect a good bit of songwriting detail in the conversation.

The Blue Highway show will debut on Thursday (2/21) at 8:00 a.m., with encore presentations airing on Sunday (2/24) at noon, Tuesday (2/26) at 3:00 p.m. and Thursday (2/28) at 8:00 p.m. All times Eastern.

The guys also recently recorded a live performance and interview program for Bluegrass Junction, which is set to air as a Studio Special program in March.

In another XM programming note, they will be re-playing the Grasstowne interview from last week again tomorrow based on numerous listener requests. Look for that on 2/21 at 6:00 p.m.

We also previously posted video footage, provided by our friends at Lotos Nile, of the first track from the CD. Today we’ve got another video clip for you, from the same event.

This was filmed at the BMI offices in Nashville, several weeks ago. It was shot hand held from the audience while the guys were playing live with no sound system, but it should give you an idea of the material you’ll find on this new CD.

Here is the title track of the CD, Through the Window of a Train.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Our friends at Lotos Nile recently attended a Blue Highway performance at the BMI offices in Nashville. With digital camcorder in hand they captured the event and graciously allowed us to present some of the video here so our readers could get a taste for the new CD prior to it’s release next week.

Over the course of the next week, we’ll be posting several videos from the event. Each video will feature a different song from the record. Be sure to check back here for the other videos.

This first video is for the tune Life of a Traveling Man. Enjoy…

It isn’t due for release until February 12, but you will have a chance to hear many of the tracks during the Goin’ Across The Mountain show on WNCW this Saturday afternoon (2/2). Host Dennis Jones will be playing one song from the new CD each hour while the show is on the air (11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.), and Tim Stafford will join Dennis for some discussion about the new project in the 2:00 hour.

Dennis expects to play 4 or 5 more songs from Through the Window of a Train while Tim – and perhaps a couple other members of Blue Highway – are in the studio.

WNCW broadcasts in four North Carolina markets, and can also be heard online via live audio streaming.