Charlie Haden is a name that serious jazz fans will recognize, but for folks in the bluegrass an acoustic world, it may not be familiar. With his star-studded new release, Rambling Boy, out this week, you might expect him to gain some new fans in our sphere too.

Haden is a bass player known for his work with Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Keith Jarrett and Pat Metheny – as well as recordings with his own groups and under his name. His music has often been on the leading edge of experimental jazz forms, and his personal politics have infiltrated much of his recorded work.

Despite his hefty jazz credentials, Haden’s first musical experiences involved performing as a child with his parents and uncles as The Haden Family in the 1940s. He started joining the family on the radio when he was just two years old, billed as Little Cowboy Charlie, and continued with the group until he was 15 years old, when a bout with polio damaged his vocal chords.

Charlie continued playing bass, and after attending music school in Los Angeles for a short time, hooked up with some of the hottest west coast jazz players of the day, leading to his stint with Coleman, a move that cemented his standing as a musician.

Now, nearly 70 years since he debuted on the radio, Haden new release hearkens back to his earliest roots, singing the old songs with his family. Rambling Boy, from Charlie Haden, Family & Friends, has him singing with his daughters instead of his parents, along with some big names from all over the music world.

There are 19 tracks on the new project, on which Haden plays bass and sings with daughters, triplets Petra, Rachel and Tanya. Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Bryan Sutton, Russ Barenberg and Stuart Duncan anchor the old time and bluegrass rhythm section, with guest vocalists Ricky Skaggs, Dan Tyminski, Vince Gill, Bruce Hornsby, Roseanne Cash and Elvis Costello featured as well.

Jazz guitar master Pat Metheny also guests on several tracks. (more…)

Ricky Skaggs and his collaboration with Bruce Hornsby have been the topic of a number of recent pieces on The Bluegrass Blog.

We told you earlier this month about the two appearing on the CBS Early Show with Skaggs’ band, Kentucky Thunder, on July 13, and have two updates that relate to that appearance.

First of all, there is video up on the CBS News site where you can watch their live performance online. They talk to Early Show host Hannah Storm about their musical pairings, and then perform Hornsby’s Dreaded Spoon, a new song with a nice Celtic flair.

Also recently published is a blog post from Nick Bailey, a publicist working for Shore Fire Media who is handling promotion for the Skaggs/Hornsby CD. Nick was in Raleigh, NC for the TV appearance, and has photos and some details on what transpired posted on the Shore Fire blog.

Earlier this month, Ricky Skaggs was interviewed by The Daily Herald newspaper in central Utah. The topic of the piece by Alan Sculley was the recent recorded collaboration by Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby, and particularly a show they were to play in Salt Lake City on July 8.

The interview stirred up a bit of controversy among bluegrass fans, as a quote that was included struck some as insulting towards the IBMA, and perhaps towards bluegrass lovers more generally.

Skaggs, in a recent phone interview, said the “Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby” CD has been a hit in just about every sector except with the International Bluegrass Music Association.

“They’ve got a chart that they do in their magazine and we’re not even on it,” Skaggs said. “We’ve been No. 1 on the Billboard bluegrass charts for seven or eight weeks now. So I think it’s just jealousy on their part. They’re not playing it very much. But, hey, that’s all right. It just shows their ignorance.”

Comments quickly circulated on bluegrass discussion groups, some quite critical of Skaggs, with the forum on Mandolin Cafe being particularly active in response. The BGRASS-L email list also featured two active threads about the article (here and here).

When we first saw this interview, we were struck by the fact that the interviewer had confused IBMA with Bluegrass Unlimited magazine, and their monthly chart based on radio play. We contacted Skaggs Family Records to see if Ricky might want to clarify his remarks, and received the following response.

“There was definitely confusion regarding the BU chart and IBMA. He meant no ill will toward the IBMA organization. He is an IBMA member and active supporter of the organization. Basically, his comments stemmed from his frustration as an artist who was struggling to understand why a record that has spent 10 weeks or more on the Billboard chart (Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby) failed to make the cut on the BU chart.

Ricky is passionate about his music, he’s passionate about the music that Skaggs Family Records releases, and it’s very frustrating to him as an artist and as a label head when everyone seems to be embracing the music except for his core audience, which is the bluegrass community, for whom he never hesitates to show his support.

It would be difficult for any artist of his caliber not to take that personally.”

In truth, Skaggs’ remarks might be more accurately seen as directed towards bluegrass radio, or more specifically those who report for Bluegrass Unlimited’s chart. To what degree those who were offended by Ricky’s remarks are mollified, we’ll have to wait and see.

You can read the full Daily Herald article online.

Just a quick reminder about a live performance Brance told us about last month.

Bruce Hornsby and Ricky Skaggs will be appearing on this Friday’s (7/13) edition of the CBS Early Show, along with Ricky’s band, Kentucky Thunder. They will perform songs from their recent collaboration, Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby, live from Raleigh, NC.

The show is part of the CBS Summer in the City concert series.

The Early Show airs from 7:00-9:00 a.m., with video posted online shortly after the show concludes each day.

Flip to the show while you’re getting ready Friday morning, or check out the video highlights later in the day.