We’ll be playing catch-up this next few days with photos, stories and video from this whirlwind week at IBMA.

There is more to tell about events on Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon, plus we have a video interview with Sam Bush, a video report from the big Rural Rhythm showcase on Wednesday, and our Red Carpet interviews from last night.

For starters, here’s a photo gallery from the Exhibit Hall on Thursday afternoon. With Fan Fest beginning this morning (10/2), the hall is likely to be more active today, but through the week, there was an obvious shortage of both exhibitors and visitors. We spoke to a number of vendors, and will share some of their comments and concerns in our follow-up coverage next week.

I had a chance to speak with Chris Pandolfi of The Infamous Stringdusters today, and he caught me up on a couple of projects he is working on going into the Fall. The band is heading into the studio next week, and Chris has a brand new banjo he’s planning to use when they start recording.

He is really excited about the banjo, a soon-to-be-released Chris Pandolfi signature model Huber. It will differ from the rest of the Huber line in that it employs a mahogany rather than a maple rim. The fingerboard is also fairly stark by modern standards, using dot inlays with a winged emblem at the 5th fret and Chris’ signature at the 21st fret.

Chris worked with Steve Huber to design the banjo, and is delighted with the result.

“I’ve been playing it around the clock for the past couple weeks and it’s really sounding great. It’s been a long process, and Steve has been really gracious with his time to make sure we get this right.

It has a very big dynamic range, which I think comes from the mahogany rim, allowing for a wider range of tone and dynamics – especially away from the bridge.

My goal all along with this banjo was to find something that suits my playing – a more modern as opposed to traditional approach. I still love to play grass, and I prefer a typical bluegrass set up, which I find more responsive.

You can set this banjo up with lighter strings and lower action, and the rim (to my ear) serves to mellow out the tone with a normal bluegrassy set up. But it doesn’t sacrifice anything when it comes to bluegrass playing.

Noam Pikelny (of Punch Brothers) came by the other day with his old pre war, and we got all the banjos out for some side-by-sides. He had his flathead and I had my two Hubers – the new one and my Lancaster – plus my Robin Smith banjo. Especially comparing the two Hubers, you could hear the difference that comes from the mahogany rim.

Noam really dug the new Huber too.”

Chris and the rest of the ‘Dusters will be packing it up and heading to Charlottesville, VA next week to record their next album for Sugar Hill Records. They will be recording at Haunted Hollow, the private studio of the Dave Matthews Band.

“Our manager works with their management on some things, and he hooked us up with this place. The Dave Matthews Band built it with the label advance for one of their projects a few years ago, and it is awesome. (more…)

Chris Pandolfi of The Infamous Stringdusters has put together another of his fun-filled travelogues, this time for the band’s ongoing tour of the western US.

See the guys run out of gas in the middle of the desert, make it just in time for a radio show and clown around in their down time.

Photographer Bill Merlavage was at the recent Del Fest. The festival persevered through much rain and mud, and so did Bill. He’s posted over 300 photos of the event on his website, and they are great photos. If you were there and want to relive it through photos, take a look. If you didn’t make it and you want a glimpse of what it was like, here you go.

Be sure to visit Merlavage Images to see all 300 photos.