Editor Sharon McGraw tells us that the April 2009 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited will be in the mail today, heading for subscribers all across the US, Canada and the rest of the world.

The cover feature is on Ricky Skaggs and his label, Skaggs Family Records.

There is also an article on David Harvey, noted mandolinist and luthier with Gibson Acoustic Instruments, images from the new photo mural at East Tennessee State University, plus pieces on Maine’s Al Hawkes and East Side Dave Kline from Mountain Folk radio.

Subscription and single-issue information can be found online.

The March 2009 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited is their annual Instrument Issue, and this year’s cover story is on Gibson.

The story, by Dave McCarty, is titled When Only A Gibson Is Good Enough. It focuses not on the company’s storied history – largely well known to the bluegrass audience – but on Gibson’s current bluegrass manufacturing facility, known officially within the company as the Original Acoustic Instruments division.

This is where the Gibson banjos, mandolins and Dobro instruments are built, located in the Opry Mills shopping center near the home of the Grand Ole Opry.

McCarty interviews Gibson master luthier (and notable mandolinist) Dave Harvey about the products they produce in Nashville, the challenges the company faces from US and international competition, and building high end stringed instruments in the face of the current economic downturn.

The March issue also has features on Red Diamond Mandolins, Homespun Tapes, Laurie Grundy’s ornate banjos from Australia, and the evolution of the resophonic guitar.

Of course, you’ll also find the BU radio chart, live show calendar and plenty of CD reviews for recent releases.

Find more info on Bluegrass Unlimited – including subscription details – at www.bluegrassmusic.com. They are extending their ‘09 subscription special through March, offering a free CD sampler of your choice for new or renewal subscriptions to the magazine.

As we reported earlier (12/31), WAMU’s Bluegrass Country DJ Lee Michael Demsey saw in the New Year with his Top 40 Countdown computed on the same basis as the Bluegrass Unlimited National Survey.

The full list of 40 songs is shown below, but first there are a couple of observations made by Demsey during the program. The #1 song, Through The Window Of A Train, had been, at the end of 2008, at the top of the Survey for five months. The second song, Alison’s Band, was only a couple of points away from reaching the top spot on the Survey during its 13 month stay on the Survey.

The placement of these two songs mirrors the choices made by IBMA members in the Song Of The Year award in October with both songs being on the final ballot and Through The Window Of A Train triumphing there as well.

A rough assessment of the Top 40 shows that Rhonda Vincent and the Gibson Brothers both had three titles on the chart, Blue Highway, Dailey & Vincent, The SteelDrivers, Cherryholmes and Steep Canyon Rangers all had two entries.

Allocating points for a song relative to its position on the chart makes Dailey & Vincent the top band with 71pts, by virtue of their two top five entries. They are followed by The Gibson Brothers, with 64pts, Steep Canyon Rangers (63pts) third, Blue Highway (54pts) fourth and Rhonda Vincent, fifth with 51pts.

Dailey & Vincent were in the final five on the IBMA ballot for Vocal Group Of The Year as were Blue Highway, who featured in the final five choices for Instrumental Group Of The Year also.

The top albums are, in descending order, Dailey & Vincent, Iron & Diamonds, Lovin’ Pretty Women, Through The Window Of A Train and Good Thing Going.

Dailey & Vincent, Lovin’ Pretty Women and Through The Window Of A Train were in the last five albums on the IBMA ballot for the Album Of The Year award. The sixth placed band, The SteelDrivers, had its album, also called The SteelDrivers, in the final ballot for the Album Of The Year award.

The top record label is Rounder with 14 entries. They are followed by Sugar Hill (with five titles), then Pinecastle, Rebel, Rural Rhythm and Skaggs Family each with three songs on the chart.

See the complete Top 40 listing after the jump. (more…)

The end of each year inevitably brings a plethora of countdowns and “best of” events in both television and radio.

And bluegrass music is no different…

Lee Michael Demsey has compiled his Top 40 Bluegrass Songs of 2008, which he will disclose on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country on New Yea’s Eve from 10:00 p.m. until midnight (EST), and again on New Year’s Day from 10:00 a.m. until noon.

Lee has been in charge of putting together the National Bluegrass Survey charts for Bluegrass Unlimited this past 18 year, and has used that information from the past 14 months to create his 2008 Top 40.

“This [year end] chart is not officially sanctioned by BU as being ‘official.’ Songs that first charted in January 2008 and spent the whole year on the chart would have had an unfair advantage over songs that first charted the previous October and had a shorter run on the chart during the calender year of 2008. For that reason, if a song spent at least five months on the chart in 2008, I gave it credit for its points for its entire run, including late 2007. For songs that spent at least five months on the chart at the end of 2008, I extrapolated how the rest of their chart run might actually go, so as not to give them short shrift.

So it’s not an official chart, just an approximation.”

The BU charts are derived from votes cast by prominent bluegrass radio show hosts and syndicators world wide.

You can listen to Lee’s Top 40 countdown tonight and tomorrow morning at www.bluegrasscountry.org. It will also be rebroadcast during the Special Programs slot in the Bluegrass Country schedule later in January.