Brance and I will soon be packing our grip, and all the rest of it…

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.

Colorado guitar picker Robin Davis has joined forces with the Dixie Bee-Liners. Former guitarist Jonathan Maness left the group in June, and the Bee-Liners had been touring with fill-ins until Robin came on board.

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.

Our good friend – and occasional contributor – Casey Henry is out playing banjo with Michael Martin Murphey in support of his new Rural Rhythm bluegrass CD. She played with Michael on The Grand Ole Opry this past weekend, along with Jake Murphey and Pat Flynn on guitar, Hoot Hester on fiddle and Jeremy Darrow on bass.

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).

Bluegrass Unlimited magazine has a special offer in effect for the rest of October.

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.