Every once in a while a CD comes along that just stuns me. Just before Thanksgiving the new CD by Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent landed in my mailbox. I had been anticipating this CD ever since Jamie told me they were recording. I’ll admit that Jamie has been one of my favorite singers since I first heard him with Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver.

The Dailey & Vincent CD lived up to every expectation I had, and then some. I knew I was going to like Jamie’s singing, and I expected he would choose good songs. I had no idea the band would sound this good. The band members are all great players, but the ensemble is so much stronger than any individual, these guys really understand what it means to be a band.

Jamie handles the rhythm guitar work and lead vocals on seven of the twelve tunes. The other five songs are led by Darrin Vincent who is also playing bass, and at times some guitar. As the name implies, these two guys form the core of the group, when not singing lead, each adds flawless harmony vocals. In addition, they’ve surrounded themselves with some other great players.

Jeff Parker, formerly of Lonesome River Band, is the mandolin player and also contributes harmony vocals. Those familiar with Parker will know that he is one of the best harmony singers in the business, and his ability to blend perfectly with Darrin and Jamie contributes to the outstanding quality of the vocals on this record.

Joe Dean is a young man with a bright future ahead of him. He played banjo with Bull Harman & Bull’s Eye before joining Dailey & Vincent. Though he is the youngest and least experienced member of the band, his banjo playing is mature, tasteful, and flawlessly timed. I was very impressed with this young man’s playing on this record. And as a surprise to me, he adds the bass vocal to a gospel quartet song.

Since the recording was finished, Adam Haynes has been added to the band as the fiddle player. Adam has played with such noted bluegrass acts as David Parmley and Continental Divide, and most recently, The James King Band.

Adam wasn’t a part of the band while the CD was being recorded, and so they called on the talents of (more…)

The 49th annual Grammy Awards were presented last night, and a few of our own were honored with awards.

The biggest bluegrass award of the night was given to Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder who took home the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, for their most recent work, Instrumentals. I believe this is the 12th Grammy win for Skaggs and the 6th for the band. Congratulations guys!

Best Country Instrumental Performance was handed to Bryan Sutton and Doc Watson for their duet rendition of the tune Whiskey Before Breakfast, from Bryan’s latest CD, Not Too Far From The Tree.

Best Contemporary Jazz Album was awarded to Bela Fleck & The Flecktones for the CD The Hidden Land.

Even though it’s not strictly bluegrass, we’ll claim Vince Gill as one of our own and acknowledge his win for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for his song The Reason Why.

Several of my favorites won in non-bluegrass categories as well, especially in the classical genre. The Grammy website has the complete list of nominees and winners posted so you can check to see if your favorites won.

The new (Jan/Feb ‘07) issue of Bluegrass Music Profiles is out, featuring a cover story on J.D. Crowe & The New South. Each member of the band is interviewed, and J.D. shares his thoughts about their latest release, Lefty’s Old Guitar.

A sample from the New South article can be read on the BMP web site.

This issue also has Chris Thile talking about his current stage vehicle, How To Grow A Band, and their 2007 transition into The Tensions Mountain Boys. Bryan Sutton takes the Shop Talk section to discuss his guitar collection, and Mac Wiseman shares his bluegrass favorites - including which of his songs is his all time favorite.

You’ll also find BMP’s 2007 Annual Festival Guide, with details on hundreds of bluegrass events throughout the US.

Single issue and annual subscription info can be found on the Bluegrass Music Profiles site.

We posted earlier this week that Mountain Heart fiddler Jim VanCleve had recently celebrated the birth of his first child, Ryaan. When the nominations were announced yesterday morning for the 49th Grammy Awards, it turned out that Jim has something else to crow about.

The song, Nature Of The Beast from his debut CD release, No Apologies, received a nomination in the Best Country Instrumental Performance category.

“I can’t really even put into words what an extreme honor it is to be recognized with a Grammy Nomination!! It’s incredible! To be nominated right alongside some of my musical heroes in the Instrumental Performance of the Year category, is the most flattering honor I could ever imagine! I thought that “Nature of the Beast’ definitely had a certain mood that really hit home with me, but I certainly wasn’t ready for this!! Thanks to everyone who has supported me and my efforts on ‘No Apologies’ in the past year!!”

The other nominees in this category include Casy Driessen (Jerusalem Ridge from 3D), Tommy Emmanuel (Gameshow Rag/Cannonball Rag from The Mystery), Bryan Sutton & Doc Watson (Whiskey Before Breakfast from Not Too Far From The Tree) and Chris Thile (The Eleventh Reel from How To Grow A Woman From The Ground).

Congratulations and best of luck to all the nominees for Best Country Instrumental Performance. The Awards will be announced in Los Angeles, CA on February 11, 2007.

We found a link on Pete Wernick’s web site that points to the audio from a recent edition of Etown, the weekly radio show hosted by former Hot Rize bass man Nick Forster. The show included one of the occasional reunion performances by Hot Rize, plus an appearance by Earl Scruggs.

Scruggs’ segment starts off with Rob Ickes leading the band through Foggy Mountain Rock, followed by a version of John Hardy. Nick Forster then interviews Earl about how he came to develop his groundbreaking banjo style, which Earl describes in his typically understated and unassuming manner. He also speaks about the early days performing on the road and on TV with Flatt & Scruggs, and how he came to be associated with The Beverly Hillbillies.

After the discussion, the band returns to play The Ballad Of Jed Clampett and Foggy Mountain Breakdown. The music is fine, of course, but for many Scruggs-o-philes, the interview may be the more enjoyable part of the show.

There is a direct link to the audio on Wernick’s site, or it can accessed directly via the Etown archives. Access to the archives is restricted to registered users on the Etown site, so if you feel that you are “getting over” by using Pete’s direct link, you can register and get the audio from this and other Etown programs.

Speaking of Wernick’s web site and Hot Rize…

Pete now has two bits of sample video up at Dr.Banjo.com taken from the recently released Hot Rize concert DVD, shot in 1987. One is the band performing Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning, and a song from their bus mates, Red Knuckles & The Trailblazers doing One Woman Man.

These are Quicktime files of one entire song each, and may take a few minutes to download or open in your browser.

Sugar Hill has just released a couple of videos shot backstage prior to a Chris Thile & How To Grow A Band show in Nashville on August 30, 2006.

The first is a montage of clips showing the band arriving at the show, doing sound checks and preparing for the performance at the Belcourt Theater, set to the music of Watch ‘at Breakdown, the opening track of Thile’s How To Grow A Woman From The Ground CD.

The second is the band rehearsing in a dressing room backstage, running over Cazadero, with Bryan Sutton on guitar.

Oddly enough, towards the end of this second video, the camera pulls back to show regular guitarist Chris Eldridge sitting on the couch, grooving to the tune. Eldridge was thought to have been previously obligated on a Stringdusters show that evening, so Sutton got the call, even though Chris ended up being free that evening after all.

In any event, both videos should be of interest to fans of Chris Thile and the fine musicians he has assembled for this new CD.

Secrets for Successful Flatpicking is the title of a new instructional DVD on Homespun Video with current, and five time IBMA Guitar Player of The Year, Bryan Sutton.

The DVD covers both lead and rhythm guitar playing and is described  a “tricks of the trade” presentation to help improve flatpicking speed, power, timing and musicianship

From the Homespun site:

Bryan addresses many of the problems that he sees in aspiring pickers, and passes along tips on how to keep your picking hand and arm tension-free and your fretting hand supple and quick. He provides drills and exercises, teaching an arsenal of licks, bends, double stops, slides and other devices that will help you build powerful and memorable solos.

Tunes covered include Daley’s Reel, Texas Gales, Wild Bill Jones and Beaumont Rag.

A complete description and online video samples can be found on the Homespun site.

The awards for artists who, on recorded and/or in-person performance during the specified time period, have shown an extraordinary mastery of their instruments. The awards go to the artists.

The Guitar Player Of The Year for 2006 is:

Review past recipients of this award.

For all you guitar lovers out there, Pantheon Guitars has recently announced a new model. The Bourgeois BK Slope D features premium bearclaw Sitka spruce top, figured mahogany back and sides, brazilian rosewood headstock, fretboard, bridge and bridge plate, and Adirondack spruce bracing. Additional features include ivoroid binding, snakehead headstock, 1 23/32″ nut width, ebony bridge pins, Nickel/Ivoroid Waverly tuners and a natural finish.

The first 30 guitars will be signed and numbered by Bryan Sutton and Dana Bourgeois.

Dana Bourgeois says:

The BK Slope D has a deep, broad tone. Through wood selection and voicing, we push it in the direction of a bigger bottom end, a “lush” top end, and greater volume, similar to the characteristics of Bryan’s original BK. When I first started making slope shouldered Dreadnoughts, I went for something as different as possible from the balanced and focused sound of my standard Dreadnought. The Banjo Killer gets me back to that original idea.

Bryan Sutton says:

From the first time I played the Slope-D Bourgeois that would come to be known as the “Banjo Killer”, I was amazed at the range of tone and volume the guitar could produce. The guitar always seems to be to able to handle any dynamic level of play. I can hear the guitar clearly in a loud jam session without feeling like I have to overplay and also enjoy a full and sustained tone when I want to play softly. Dana has recaptured that magic with the new BK model.

List price for the new BK Slope D is $4195.

For more information visit PantheonGuitars.com

Direct link to product page. (no site navigation)

Even though the Academy Of Country Music won’t present its premier awards until their Awards Show is broadcast on May 23rd, the winners of their Pre Show Awards were announced yesterday. Bryan Sutton is the 2006 recipient of the Specialty Instrument Award, with the actual trophy to be handed out prior to the televised presentation on 5/23. Congratulations to Bryan for this honor.

We’ll leave it to others to ponder what it says about modern country music when the acoustic, steel string guitar is considered to be a specialty instrument.

When Dan Miller sent along those Merlefest photos earlier this week, he also passed along some info on the current issue of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, of which he is editor and publisher. Dan said that this issue has been mailed and should be in the hands of most subscribers, and available on newsstands and in music stores as well.

Here is Dan’s overview of the current issue:

The May/June issue of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine (Volume 10, Number 4) features Chris Eldridge of the Stringdusters. Chris is the son of banjo legend and Seldom Scene founding member Ben Eldridge. In addition to playing with the Stringdusters Chris is also currently working with Chris Thile on Thile’s next CD. Chris recorded his arrangement of Stoney Creek for this issue’s audio companion and a transcription of Chris’ solo appears in the magazine.

In addition to Chris Eldridge, the May/June issue features Keith Yoder, a music store owner and multi-instrumentalist from Iowa, and a lengthy interview with Bryan Sutton about his new CD Not Too Far From the Tree. Two of Bryan’s solos from Carroll County Blues are also transcribed in the magazine. Our guitar builder feature highlights Kentucky builder Neil Kendrick and our regular cast of talented columnists (which includes Brad Davis, Joe Carr, Orrin Star, Harold Streeter, Adam Granger, John McGann, Bill Bay, Steve Kaufman, Dan Huckabee, John Carlini, Chris Jones, Kathy Barwick, Mike Maddux, and Dix Bruce) also contribute audio and tablature to this new issue.

Find out more about the magazine on their web site.

Bryan Sutton will be the in-studio guest on this week’s Goin’ Across The Mountain show on WNCW 88.7 from Spindale, NC. Bryan and his dad, Jerry, will join host Dennis Jones to pick a few tunes and talk about the newest Sutton release, Not Too Far From The Tree, on Sugar Hill Records. The CD’s format is all duets, putting Bryan together in the studio with some of his favorite guitarists for a flatpick tour de force.

If you live within the WNCW broadcast area (southwestern NC, northwestern SC) you can catch the show over the air on 88.7 FM starting at noon on Saturday, April 8. The show is also simulcast online via streaming audio from the WNCW web site.

A number of bluegrass artists are up for awards from the Academy Of Country Music when they are presented on May 23. Rob Ickes (dobro) and Bryan Sutton (guitar) are nominated in the Top Specialty Instrument Player of the Year category, and both Glen Duncan and Aubrey Haynie are nominated for Top Fiddle Player of the Year.

The ACM Awards will be telecast on CBS at 8:00 p.m. (5/23), and while we hope to see a mention of these instrumentalist awards, they will not be presented during the televised portion of the program - what the ACM describes as Off-Camera Nominations.

Best of luck to all our bluegrass music representatives!