Casey Henry has agreed to send us occasional updates from The American Revival Tour, where she is performing with Dixie Bee-Liners. Also on the tour are Sierra Hull & Highway 111 and headliners Uncle Earl.

Here is Casey’s report.

Do you remember the song that Madeline Kahn sings in Blazing Saddles: I’m Tired? It has the bit about “coming and going and going and coming and,” well, I’ll stop right there. But if I had to pick a theme song for the last few days of this tour, that would be it. It seems like FOREVER since I wrote my last post about the tour, but it was only a week and a half ago!

Since then we’ve been to Baton Rouge, Houston, Fayetteville, AR, Springfield, MO, Bowling Green, KY, and Knoxville, TN. We’ve had two computer crashes (Sierra Hull’s and KC Groves), one lost wallet (Sierra’s), one minor van repair (when Cory Walker’s computer blew one of their van’s fuses), and one case of laryngitis (Kristin Andressean), but no major disasters.

There have been some great moments as well, like when Uncle Earl pulled together and rearranged all their songs when Kristin couldn’t sing (the show must go on…). Uncle Earl also wrote and recorded a theme song for the daily tour blog (which is over on the Murphy Method Blog). They even sang it on stage one night!

At a coffeeshop called Coffee and Chocolate in downtown Knoxville we discovered that they had Kopi Luwak, a kind of coffee beans harvested from the forest floor in Sumatra after having been eaten and excreted by cat-like creatures called Luwaks. They roast the beans just like regular coffee, but they are highly prized for their unique flavor. We’ve been talking about this kind of coffee for years and we could not pass up the opportunity to try it. A two ounce package cost us $60 and we split it eight ways. The coffee (which they brewed in a french press) was very good. It had a very earthy flavor. But… It was so not worth paying $480 a pound.

Oftentimes on tour the best moments occur serendipitously. In Bowling Green Jeremy Darrow and I were walking around near the theater and we ran across a micro-distillery called Corsair. Their door was open, so we went in, met one of the owners, and he gave us an impromptu tasting and a little history of their business. A great find.

In Knoxville I ran across Morelock Music, which which was right around the corner from The Square Room, where we played. Matt Morelock has put together a charming store that combines instruments, LPs, consignment vintage clothing, and music lessons. This huge banjo, which reached from floor to ceiling, made me feel right at home.

In Arkansas we drove right by Janet Davis Music. Unfortunately it was on a Sunday, and they were closed, but one of the guys who worked there had come to the show the night before and offered to let us in if we wanted to stop by anyway. We didn’t have time, but I’ve always wanted to see her store.

Adam Steffey and his wife Tina came to the show in Knoxville. I’m glad I didn’t know that until after our set or else I would have been more nervous.

We have three more shows to go on our tour. When it’s over it will be one of those sad/glad moments: sad for such a great time to come to an end, but very glad to be going home!

The second week of the American Revival Tour (The Dixie Bee-Liners, Sierra Hull and Highway 111, and Uncle Earl) started in the cute, cute little town of Newberry, SC. Since we had driven down from Virginia on Tuesday, we had all Wednesday morning before the show to do whatever we wanted. Hiking was what we Bee-Liners wanted to do, so we Googled a hiking spot and took off for Lynch’s Woods at the crack of dawn. (It’s funny how nine o’clock can feel like the crack of dawn…) After a refreshing couple of hours stomping through the woods in the crisp fall air we all felt refreshed and renewed.

The hotel in Newberry is directly across the street from the Opera House, and I cannot express how awesome it is to be able to walk from one to the other. We carried our instruments across the street, soundchecked, then came back to our rooms to change, so we didn’t have to haul all our suitcases into the dressing rooms. The Opera House is really old, has been beautifully renovated, and is the only theater I’ve ever seen that has individual chairs for the side seating. Someone commented, “It looks like a president could be shot here,” somewhat morbidly referring to its resemblance to Ford’s Theater. The crowd was disappointingly small, but it was a Wednesday night, after all.

I’m getting the feeling that this tour is a well-kept secret. Those who know about it and come just love it, but not that many people know! I talked to a local banjo-player friend of mine after we played the Orange Peel in Asheville and she said she only heard about the show two or three days before, when it’s been booked for months!

While on tour there are always unexpected things that need to be taken care of, errands that need to be run, fires that need to be put out (metaphorically speaking!). Sierra experienced a computer crash leaving her out of touch for a few days, and seriously hampering her doing her school work while on the road. She and her manager Claire Armbruster took off early one morning so that they could stop by a Mac store before load-in time. Her computer required a new hard drive, which the warranty covered, but it’s back up and running.

Monday night’s show got moved from the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta to the much smaller Red Light Café. When we heard we were a bit disappointed to be in such a small venue. But as it turned out, I think it was a good move. The Red Light was full of people, but the same number of folks spread out in theater seating would have looked like fewer and wouldn’t have created the same sense of energy. There were certainly disadvantages, like no dressing rooms and no backstage area, but the advantages outweighed them. And it was fun trying to squeeze all sixteen people on the small stage for the finale.

We’re just over the half-way point for the tour and, so far, we’re still going strong. We were all sad to say goodbye to Ron Block, whose last show was in Atlanta. Sierra’s regular banjo player Cory Walker will be taking over from here on out (except that Ron will be back for the Knoxville gig on Nov. 18th). You can read daily tour blogs over on the Murphy Method blog.

In case you want to catch the show, here are the remaining dates:

• Wednesday, Nov. 11th – Baton Rouge, LA – Manship Theater
• Thursday, Nov. 12th – The Woodlands, TX – Dosey Doe Coffee House
• Saturday, Nov. 14th – Fayetteville, AR – Baum Walker Hall Walton Arts Center
• Sunday, Nov. 15th – Springfield, MO – JK Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts @ MSU
• Tuesday, Nov. 17th – Bowling Green, KY – Capitol Arts Center @ WKU
• Wednesday, Nov. 18th – Knoxville, TN – The Square Room
• Friday, Nov. 20th – Glen Ellyn, IL – McAninch Arts Center, Mainstage
• Saturday, Nov. 21st – Hamilton, OH – Parrish Auditorium @ Miami University
• Sunday, Nov. 22nd – Pittsburgh, PA – Byham Theater

Casey Henry has agreed to send us occasional updates from The American Revival Tour, where she is performing with Dixie Bee-Liners. Also on the tour are Sierra Hull & Highway 111 and headliners Uncle Earl.

Here is Casey’s first report.

I’m composing this email while backstage at the Birchmere, waiting for our sound check. Week 2 of the American Revival Tour is about to commence, starting with gigs in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia – and I’d just like to point out that some of them are not that far from Charlotte and Waxhaw (hint, hint).

• Wed. Nov. 4th – Newberry, SC – Newberry Opera House – 7:30 p.m.
• Thurs. Nov. 5th – Morganton, NC – Municipal Auditorium (CoMMA) – 7:30 p.m.
• Fri. Nov. 6th – Greensboro, NC – Carolina Theater – 8:00 p.m.
• Sun. Nov. 8th – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel – 8:00 p.m.
• Mon. Nov 9th – Atlanta, GA – Red Light Cafe – 7:30 p.m. —NOTE—This show was originally supposed to be at the Variety Playhouse and has been MOVED!! If you’ve already bought tickets, they’re still good!!!!! (Though the Red Light Cafe website hasn’t been updated yet.)

Our complete tour schedule can be found on The Dixie Bee-Liners website.

If you want to see how the tour is going so far, I’ve been blogging every day over on The Murphy Method blog. And I must say, we had some pretty awesome halloween costumes.

Hope to see some of y’all at the shows!

Martin had a good week at IBMA earlier this month, being warmly embraced by the membership, and the audience at the IBMA Awards show.

There are two reviews of the show that may be of interest, starting with one from Casey Henry, who posted on The Murphy Method blog.

The whole show, from start to finish, was top-notch. Steve demonstrated his love and respect for the banjo and for bluegrass, while simultaneously managing to convey his excitement at actually getting to go on tour playing banjo. He also displayed a canny understanding of the bluegrass touring business: “If all goes according to plan, I’ll only lose $12,000.”

All the songs they performed were Steve’s originals, with the exception of the two that the Steep Canyon Rangers got to do solo: “Turn Up The Bottle” (from their new CD Deep In The Shade) and the a cappella “I Can’t Sit Down”, which the crowd absolutely loved.

Read Casey’s full review online.

CMT.com also has one by Calvin Gilbert.

Between songs, Martin delivered a generous helping of the humor he’s famous for, but music is at the forefront of the current tour showcasing material from his album, The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo.

Judging by his self-deprecating comments onstage, Martin obviously understands that some people may be skeptical of his desire to play bluegrass music. And who could blame them? Not to name names, but there’s a fairly lengthy list of movie stars who proclaim they would have been singers and musicians if only they hadn’t been sidetracked by Hollywood’s fame and fortune. They want to be taken seriously, but the unfortunate reality is that most of them record albums that leave you wondering if they ever had any serious musical chops to begin with.

It can also be read in full online.

We are heading for Nashville and the IBMA World Of Bluegrass, where we will report on the very many activities that occur during this brief span of days. It can be overwhelming to even fathom the sensory and intellectual overload, not to mention the stress that results from trying to “take it all in.” That is what led to the now-somewhat stale joke that IBMA stands for “I’ve Been Mostly Awake.”

With the near impossibility of covering such a wide-ranging event, we have enlisted some extra help for the 2009 festivities.

Brance’s wife, Lauren Gillihan will also be working IBMA with us. She is a talented videographer and we expect that her presence will allow us to get more videos posted, and sooner, than we have been able to do in the past.

Casey Henry will serve as a roving reporter, posting news and impressions based on her multiple responsibilities next week. In addition to her work for The Bluegrass Blog, Casey will have official duties as an exhibitor with The Murphy Method, and as a performer with The Dixie Bee-Liners. She is also able to stay up later than I can, so I look forward to her coverage of what goes on in the wee-wee hours.

We will also have news photographer Dean Hoffmeyer working IBMA, posting frequent galleries of the people, places and sights from World Of Bluegrass. We are especially excited about Dean’s participation during Thursday’s Awards Show. If all goes according to plan, he will be able to post photos from the show while it is occurring.

I should mention that Brance and Lauren’s daughter, Haddie, will also be with us, though her contributions are expected to be limited to pre-verbal expressions of glee.

Our Thursday coverage is our most comprehensive to date for the Awards Show. Brance and I will be live-blogging the show from the press area at The Ryman. I am convinced that we have resolved our issues with page loads from prior years, and will be able to announce the award recipients as they are announced in a single post that refreshes itself automatically.

We will also expand our Red Carpet coverage, with both Katy Daley from WAMU’s Bluegrass Country and Doug McKelway of WJLA serving as co-hosts. They will do brief interviews with the many award nominees just before the show, which we will edit and post on The Bluegrass Blog as soon as possible – hopefully by the weekend. Katy tells us that she has found a “killer dress” – I can’t wait.

There will be all sorts of news that breaks at IBMA, and you can be sure that we will be on top of it all. Artists, labels and festivals regularly schedule major announcements during IBMA week, and we will be following several that have already been scheduled.

Keep your eyes on The Bluegrass Blog all week.

Buddy Woodward, mandolinist and co-manager of the group, says that Davis only recently popped up on their radar.

“We met Robin a few months ago when he was living in Nashville. Jeremy our bass player ran into him somewhere and suggested we keep an eye on him.”

Maness is now playing mandolin with The Watkins Family.

Casey Henry has also joined the Bee-Liners on banjo. Casey has performed with a number of bluegrass groups, and toured recently with Michael Martin Murphey. She is a featured instructor on several videos for The Murphy Method, and is a regular columnist for Banjo NewsLetter.

Bee-Liner Brandi Hart tells us that…

“Casey is a Scruggs-style player who learned to play banjo at her mother’s knee.  A well-respected member of the bluegrass community, Casey has a knack for writing nifty instrumentals.”

The band now consists of Brandi Hart on guitar and lead vocals, Buddy Woodward on mandolin, and Rachel Renee Johnson on fiddle, with Davis on guitar and Henry on banjo. Robin and Buddy are now officially outnumbered in the band.

You can find Dixie Bee-Liner fall tour dates on the band’s web site.

UPDATE 9/5: Oops! Buddy Woodward just sent this via a post comment…

Hey guys, thanks so much for the press, but you forgot to mention our awesome bassplayer Jeremy Darrow…which means the boys & the girls are evenly matched in the Bee-Liners, three of each, enough for an Intramural dodgeball team.

Casey sent along some photos and this report…

“On the first show we did Lone Cowboy and Carolina in the Pines, which are both on MMM’s new Buckaroo Blue Grass CD. Hoot really stepped in and did a great job, having never played with us before. We didn’t know what we were going to play until about two minutes before we stepped on stage and we didn’t even have a chance to run over Lone Cowboy with Hoot at all, so he was completely flying by the seat of his pants! He did a great job!

On the second show we did What Am I Doing Hangin’ Round, which was MMM’s first hit, recorded by the Monkees, and Fiddlin’ Man. Then, after all that, we trekked across the street and did the Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree. By the time we were done at 1:30 AM we were all completely worn out.

We’re playing on the Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour tonight in Lexington, so that should be fun.”

You can catch a webcast of the Woodsongs broadcast live tonight (4/6) at 7:00 p.m. (EDT).

Any subscription purchased until October 31 (new or renewal) will qualify for a free compilation CD of their choosing. The choices are sampler discs from Rounder, Rebel and Rural Rhythm Records, each featuring tracks from recently released projects from the labels.

The offer is only available online, and limited to US subscribers.

BU Managing Editor Sharon McGraw tells us that the upcoming November issue has a lengthy cover feature on Cherryholmes written by Casey Henry, and articles on guitarist Jim Hurst and folkgrass trio, Red Molly.

I asked KK owner Tom Mirisola to tell us a bit more about the Steve Martin connection…

This all came about through Tony Ellis, who is a good friend of Steve’s, and an owner of a Kel Kroydon KK-11. One day Tony and I were talking about the Cryo Strings for a Cause charity and he mentioned he had a very good friend who wanted to talk to me about my banjos. When Tony told me it was Steve Martin I really didn’t know what to think. Tony asked if he could forward my contact information to Steve and we could talk banjos.

Well, of course I said OK. A few weeks later I was contacted by a production company who told me Steve would be in Boston filming the movie Pink Panther II and that he would like to get together with me during his stay. One afternoon in October 2007 we met Steve on set with my wife Karen and my granddaughter Casey.

I brought 5 Kel Kroydons with me for Steve to try out. Steve and I sat and picked, talked all about Kel Kroydon specifications and his 27 Florentine banjo. In between pickin’ and talking, Steve took all of us on set to watch the his new film being made. This was a thrill for all of us. Steve took the time to explain to Casey how the film was made, which she still talks about today. Casey can’t wait till the movie comes out.

Later that afternoon we left it if Steve was interested in a Kel Kroydon banjo we could build one to his specifications for him. Steve said he liked the Kel Kroydons and wanted to think about the banjo specifications he wanted to build. Steve said he would contact me after the movie was completed.

A few weeks later I received a phone call from Steve wanting to discuss his desired banjo specifications. He liked the ebony fingerboard, mahogany wood, and gold engraved plating, basically our Charlie Cushman model. Steve and I pulled up the American Made Banjo web site while we were on the phone, and he said, “That’s the banjo. It is beautiful.”

From there Robin Smith, Steve Gill and Charlie Cushman did their usual magic. The banjo was built and delivered to Steve just before the holidays. So far, he says the banjo looks and sounds great and the last I spoke with him he had taken the banjo with him on vacation. I’m sure in the future when Steve pops up out of nowhere to play at a venue, and you see him playing a banjo with an ebony fingerboard and “mother of toilet seat” peghead that sounds great, you will know exactly what he is playing.

Here are a couple more photos of Steve with his custom Kel Kroydon, and meeting with Tom’s family on the set.

The Casey Henry model is part of the Charlie Cushman signature line, with each banjo designed with Charlie’s input, and final assembly and set up occurring under his supervision. It is an all maple banjo, with the pearloid fingerboard and brightly-colored inlays that were utilized in the original Kel Kroydon banjos prior to WWII.

Casey is delighted with her new axe, and shares a few words about how she came to be involved with Kel Kroydon.

“Tom Mirisola first approached me about a set of signature strings, which I was pretty tickled about. When he called me after IBMA about doing a signature model banjo I was so surprised I almost didn’t know what to say. I was flattered he’d chosen me to be part of the Kel Kroydon family, and although I’d never met him in person (and still haven’t) I knew that if Charlie Cushman was working with him, he was good folks.

I modeled my KK banjo on my Gibson style 11 that I’ve played for years–maple stained brown, with nickel plated hardware. I chose the pearloid fingerboard because the 11 had originally had one (the tenor neck I have hanging on my wall) and, why not? It’s distinctive. There’s no mistaking what kind of banjo it is from the very first glance.

I got my new instrument right before Christmas and spent quite a bit of time playing it over the holidays. It sounds absolutely wonderful. It has that deep flathead growl (Charlie Cushman set it up impeccably, of course) and I know it will only get better with time.

To my surprise I haven’t found playing on the mother-of-toilet-seat fingerboard to be that different. I guess I mostly look at the side of the neck, rather than the front, when I play. I really hope some people will be interested in buying one. I know Steve Martin just bought a Charlie Cushman model and I’m pretty pumped that Steve Martin and I have the same kind of banjo!”

You can see more photos and find additional details about the Casey Henry model on the Kel Kroydon web site.

Mirisola tells us that they have a number of new items to be introduced in ‘08, including a Style 2 Kel Kroydon reissue, and a Dannick no-hole archtop tone ring. The Style 2 banjos will feature a walnut neck, simple inlays on a pearloid fingerboard and will be available with either a 1/4” brass hoop or the Dannick flathead or archtop tone ring.

Christmas Eve for my family has always been about playing music. There is a close-knit bluegrass community in Winchester, Virginia, where we moved in 1986. Every year since then we’ve attended two parties on the 24th, and the day wouldn’t seem right without them.

Dalton Brill is a local barber, banjo player, and, as one newspaper article put it, if the bluegrass scene was the Mafia, he’d be the Godfather. His barber shop brims over with food, music, and eggnog as everyone he knows drops in, musicians and non-musicians alike.

There are people there I only see once a year, people who used to come every Wednesday to watch us play downstairs in the basement of that shop. And every year there are people we miss, who have moved on from this life to whatever lies ahead. We always pick a tune and have a drink for them.

After Dalton’s we move the party to David McLaughlin’s house where his wife Gay arranges a beautiful spread of seasonal goodies, on which we stuff ourselves before migrating to the other room to play some more music. David sometimes plays, sometimes doesn’t. Usually he’ll play guitar or bass. Sometimes he’ll flatpick the banjo or play snare. One year Tom Gray came, and that was great fun.

When Bob Amos (of Front Range) lived in town he’d always stop by before going to the Christmas Eve service. We cherish the chance to all be together at the holidays, (Except for the year his kids gave us the stomach flu. I really wish he’d cancelled that year.) and we miss Lynn Morris and Marshall Wilborn, who are always in Texas with their families.

As we drive back to our house full of Christmas cheer, through the luminary-lined streets of David’s neighborhood, we think of Santa making his rounds and hope that he won’t forget to stop at our house.

The finale of a light-hearted Christmas-themed show was the announcement of the top band. The last two standing were the Clarks and Sixwire. All three boys fell on the floor after their name was called. Ashley commented, "We just came from the house‚Ķplaying from the living room to the stage and we’re freaking out right now." Austin thanked their Mom and Dad, though you really couldn’t hear it over the roar of the crowd. Dicko said, "Week after week you brought the magic." Sheila said, "I prayed for this moment," and John quipped " I knew it all along." He continued in a more serious vein, "Your passion for what you do is so real. That kind of sincerity can’t be faked."

We also got to see Cliff Wagner back, in all his glory, singing…wait for it…Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.

I’m so happy and excited for the Clarks. It just goes to show, you never can tell where someone is going to end up in life. When you’re playing Harry Grant’s Windgap festival with a family with eleven kids who sing gospel, pay attention, because they might be the next big reality show winners. Even though the music they play now is not bluegrass per se, they come from bluegrass, and anything that helps to raise the profile of bluegrass is good in my book.

And there was a brief shot of a sign someone held up in the audience that read, “We need more mandolin baby!”

Amen!

We’re getting down to the final stretch on Next Great American Band. I’m happy to report that the Clark Brothers made it into the top four. Their competition now is Sixwire a country band from Nashville, TN; Denver and the Mile High Orchestra, a big band also from Nashville; and Light of Doom, a group of 12 and 13-year-olds from California who play hard rock.

This week the Clarks added two musicians‚Äîa drummer and a bass player (not other Clark brothers, though). This allowed them some more freedom to be the front people and stretch out but didn’t really change their overall sound. They played Queen’s These are The Days of our Lives and the original Homestead.

The judges all loved the cover and Dicko deemed Ashley "The best front person we’ve got in this competition." He was harder on the original, calling it a "crap song" with lyrics that are "country 101," and encouraging them to push themselves lyrically. He said one of their strong points is connecting with and conveying the emotions in a song and with lyrics like "Back to the farm/back to the farm/eatin’ fried chicken with the girls in the yard" there is not any emotional content there to build on.

I predict that it will be down to Sixwire and the Clarks in a couple weeks. Of course it all depends on the voting public, so tune in next Friday to Fox and get your thumbs ready to dial!

Bluegrass got the boot last night when Cliff Wagner and the Old #7 got voted off Next Great American Band. The Clark Brothers made it into the top six, though, delivering a standout performance of the Rolling Stones’ Gimmie Shelter.

Everyone seemed disappointed to see Cliff and the band go. The judges had some parting words, all on a positive note. John Rzeznik said that he really appreciated their sense of humor and the chemistry between the band members. Sheila E. deemed them "so real, so genuine," and said "we love you very much." Dicko praised them for "bringing some real variety" to the show and asked what their plans for the future are. Cliff eloquently said that they’ve gotten "new inspiration" from being on the show and have expanded musically from where they were before. They are now able to play more "outside the box."

Cliff said, to the television audience, "Thanks to everyone who voted. We had a great time on the show," and he wished, "good luck to all the other bands." And even the final band to play, Dot Dot Dot, said as they took the stage, "We love you, Cliff Wagner!"

The NGAB site now features Cliff’s Green Room acoustic performance. Hopefully, even though he didn’t win the show, this national exposure will benefit Cliff’s career and help keep his playing schedule full for years to come. Maybe they’ll add their take on Brown Sugar that we didn’t get to hear to their shows‚Ķ

The Clarks version of Gimmie Shelter was stunning. They started out sparse and low and built up the tension. By the end, according to Dicko, they’d "turned it into a blind panic." Ashley’s singing continued to impress, Austin rocked on a black, flying-V electric dobro, and Adam even got a short mandolin solo. All three judges gave them a standing ovation and Sheila deemed them "the band to beat."

Be sure to tune in next week bands tackle the Rod Stewart catalog. You can watch all the past weeks’ performances on the NGAB site.

Next Great American Band on Friday night held the first big surprise of the show. Franklin Bridge, the band that judge Sheila E. had predicted would win the contest, got voted off. The judges were shocked; I was shocked. But in my heart of hearts I was glad because it meant that both Cliff Wagner and the Old #7 and the Clark Brothers made it through to play another night.

Cliff chose the Lieber and Stoller song Poison Ivy to sing and adapted it very well. Cliff was back on the banjo, though there was no banjo break in the song. He looked quite dapper in a suit with an ascot. In the pre-song clip about the group we learned that Cliff does everything from booking to promotion to writing the songs for the band. If the band was a kingdom, one of the guys said, "Cliff would be the emperor."

The Clark Brothers chose Lieber and Stoller’s Saved, and delivered an absolutely amazing performance. Ashley sang the fire out of it with a truly passionate lead vocal; Austin wailed on the dobro, and Adam pounded out the rhythm on the guitar. The judges were practically beside themselves with praise. John Rzeznik said, "I’m questioning everything now‚Ķ" meaning, I believe, that before he thought a drummer necessary to a rockin’ performance. Shelia deemed it "Magnifico," and the dour Dicko said, "Even a wretch like me feels closer to salvation" after hearing that song.

Next week bands tackle a Rolling Stones cover. As I said last time, the competition is truly fierce now and it all depends on the stamina of Appalachian-America’s thumbs (dialing those phones) to determine if our bands make it through another round.

Unfortunately last week’s performances are not up on the show’s site, but you can still see songs from weeks 1, 2, and 3.

They made it! Both Cliff Wagner and the Old #7 and The Clark Brothers got enough votes to keep them on Next Great American Band for another week. Friday’s show was only an hour long, so the eight remaining bands each played one song from the catalog of Billy Joel.

Cliff Wagner and the Old #7 chose You May Be Right from "the old Kentucky fox hunter Billy Joel" and gave it a laid-back country shuffle treatment, with Cliff trading the banjo for a guitar. Two judges loved in, but Dicko, reliably cantankerous, deemed it a "soporific, sleepy" arrangement.

The Clark Brothers played seventh (a little nail-biting going on by that time) and did a slow beautiful rendition of She’s Got A Way, with Ashley on fiddle, Adam on guitar, and Austin, as usual, on dobro. All three judges proclaimed their song the best of the night.

Now the stiff competition begins as all the bands left are quite good, have excellent musicianship and vocals, and are improving all the time. Next week bands tackle the songs of early rock & roll writing team Lieber and Stoller. Be sure to tune in Friday the 16th and phone in those votes!

You can watch previous weeks’ performances on the NGAB site.

I’m happy to report that both bluegrass representatives made it to round three of Next Great American Band. But the show couldn’t have unfolded more suspensefully. All twelve of last week’s bands were gathered together, then called up to play one at a time, so the two left at the end were the ones who didn’t make it. The bands each played one original and one cover by the songwriting team of Elton John/Bernie Taupin.

The Clark Brothers played fourth, long before the nail-biting suspense set in. Their original, Country Time, had a very catchy hook and a cute story about living in a little country town. Their John/Taupin song was Country Comfort, a slower ballad that gave them a chance to play prettily, not just all-out, nail-it-to-the-wall fast. The judges had nothing but positive comments for the boys.

Cliff Wagner and the Old #7 played seventh (appropriate…). They good naturedly dedicated their original to "Britney Spears and her first husband." It was titled Little White Chapel on the Strip. Their cover was called Honky Cat and for it the guitar player switched to dobro, leaving them guitar-less. But they pulled off the unorthodox instrumentation with ease and the judges unanimously proclaimed them "The funnest band in the whole competition."

Once again it is up to the American public to decide who moves forward after Friday night’s show. The votes have been cast but we won’t find out ‚Äòtil next week. In the meantime the bands will be working on a Billy Joel cover. And you can now watch bands’ week 2 performances online on the NGAB site.

Watching the show has been great fun, but has raised some questions. Like, do they get to choose their cover songs or are they assigned? Did they really have to sit through each band’s performance before the next band was called up? Because that would have taken a ridiculously long time.

And why did Cliff not get a better pickup system for his banjo? The way his pickup sounds is the reason most players hate pickups on banjos. But it’s possible for a pickup to sound decent. Bela Fleck and Alison Brown do it all the time. I don’t know who could answer these questions except for the people involved in the show, but inquiring minds want to know.

And why is there no official mention of the band involvement in the NGAB show on either Cliff’s webpage or his MySpace site?

Oh, wait. Being the bluegrass player that he is he probably handles his website himself and he’s been kinda busy the last three weeks‚Ķ

Both Cliff Wagner and the Old #7 and the Clark Brothers did us proud on Friday night’s Next Great American Band. Twelve bands performed two tunes each for the judges and the live studio audience, and for the millions watching at home. Each band played one original tune and one Bob Dylan tune. The judges commented on every band, though at this point the decision is entirely up to the TV audience calling in their votes.

This week before each band’s performance a short video bio of the group was shown. (You can watch clips of these on the NGAB site.) The Old #7’s clip showed the guys picking (Lucas Cheadle ‚Äì Bass, Devitt Feeley – Mandolin, Craig Ferguson ‚Äì Guitar/Dobro, Stephen Aram Mugalian ‚Äì Drums) and Cliff taking a long swig of moonshine from a mason jar, which was probably what prompted judge John Rzeznik (of the Goo Goo Dolls) to comment, "I want to party with you guys."

Cliff’s Dylan selection was Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright, a song that lends itself well to a bluegrass arrangement. His original tune was called Old Fire, "a tender love song," he said, "about tender love and diesel fuel" that had a catchy hook. Judge Sheila E. (who has played with Prince and Ringo Starr, among others) said of the song, "I could listen to that all day long."

The Clark Brothers rocked Maggie’s Farm, their Dylan song, managing to sound like far more than just three people, with Ashley playing fiddle and singing simultaneously (always impressive). However judge Ian Dickson, who consistently finds something negative to say, commented they shouldn’t have messed with the simple melody. After an instant instrument trade (making it obvious that the show was pre-recorded) they rendered their original Billy the Kid, a gritty story song that they performed magnificently.

Now it’s up to the viewers to call in their votes. Phone lines were open for two hours following the show. We’ll find out when we tune in next week which two bands get the axe. In the meantime the bands, who are sequestered in a hotel somewhere, will be working up an Elton John or Bernie Taupin song.

I can’t wait to hear Elton John bluegrass style!

The new FOX television American Idol spin-off The Next Great American Band airs Friday nights at 8 p.m./7 p.m. central. Last Friday on the two-hour debut judges whittled a wide field down to twelve finalists. The field was wide not only in numbers but in genre as well. Bands played everything from metal to classical, from blues to bluegrass.

Remarkably the two bluegrass bands who competed made it to the second round, airing this Friday, October 26th. The Clark Brothers and Cliff Wagner and Old #7 couldn’t be more different as far as bluegrass bands go.

The Clark Brothers are three of eleven siblings from Virginia. As The Clark Family, they appeared at bluegrass festivals in the 1990s and were staples at the Galax Old Fiddlers Convention before the eldest six made the jump to country as the Clark Family Experience.

On NGAB Adam (mandolin), Ashley (guitar), and Austin (dobro) are playing as a trio. The judges really liked their musicianship, displayed to good effect on a brisk gospel medley including This Little Light of Mine and Jesus on the Mainline.

Cliff Wagner and Old #7 hail from California. Their fearless leader Cliff was raised in Greenwood, Mississippi, attended Berklee College of Music, and lived some time in New York City.

They have a traditional sound and played an original song on the show. The judges responded to the "natural" sound of the music but one did ask "Can you play a cover that wasn’t written by a 70-year-old raccoon hunter?" (Yes those stereotypes are still alive and well!)

So Cliff and Co. gave them a little of Madonna’s Like A Virgin, which seemed to satisfy the judges, who sent them on to the next round. You can watch their submission video on You Tube.

Tune in on Friday night to see how our bluegrass brethren fare in round two. Cliff seemed confident that: "Appalachian America will vote for us." Let’s make sure he’s not wrong!

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