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.

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.

We’ll all be living in a big house for nine days out in the woods, adjacent to the studio. Their gear list is amazing, and the rooms are beautiful. We decided to do it there to get out of Nashville to record, do something different, and explore the various sorts of music the Stringdusters can do.”

Gary Pacsoza will be engineering, along with Brandon Bell. Chris said that Pacsoza will be producing, along with the band.

“We have already done pre-production ourselves, and will share the producer credit with Gary. Most of the material was written by band members, a lot of it in group writing sessions. We’ve been leaving Nashville for 3-4 days at a time to write and work on new material as a band, and it has really paid off.

With six guys – all serious writers and players – the arranging is as important as the writing. Just trying to find an effective way to use six instrumental voices is a challenge in itself. It can be tricky with so many writers and musicians working together that we have a clear understanding and mutual respect for each other. It makes it easier to loosen your own artistic grasp and work as a group without so much ego involvement. I try to never take for granted what a great situation we have with the Stringdusters.”

The guys will finish recording at the end of the month and plan to make it to IBMA by Wednesday (9/30). We’ll try to get some feedback on how the recording went when we see them in Nashville.

I tried to get Chris to categorize the new material and the sound they are going for on this new project, but he deferred.

“I hesitate to try and describe the musical direction of this new record. For us, we don’t try to have many discussions about what we do, or what we should do – we just try to approach the songs and the arrangements as musically as we can as a group. It reflects what we’ve learned as a band over the years, and how we each now write material tailored to the band sound.

I guess I can say that it will be the most in depth exploration yet of what we do as a band, without setting stylistic expectations. It will be our most current musical statement.”

You can take that to the bank!

In addition to playing banjo with The Infamous Stringdusters, Pandolfi is also their official videographer. Here is his latest effort, a promo for the band’s upcoming November tour.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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

In fact, before I met Chris – or Panda as he is know to his Infamous brethren – or even heard him play, word of his exploits had preceded him, and in a manner eerily similar to that of another hot young banjo picker 20 years earlier.

When I was a journeyman banjoist in the early 1980s, everyone was buzzing about this amazing banjo player named B?©la Fleck. This was well before YouTube and the internet, so he was like a phantom picker that we had all heard about, but never seen or heard. We just knew that he was hanging out around Boston and blowing everyone’s mind who saw him play. It wasn’t until he started performing with Tasty Licks that the rest of the banjo world got to hear his music.

When word of Pandolfi’s banjo playing came to my attention, he was also hanging out in Boston, studying at The Berklee College of Music. He had not yet been recorded, and I only knew of him by reputation. Bill Evans had been teaching him over the summers, and Dave Hollender at Berklee was helping guide him through the system there. Both were effusive in their praise of Chris’ skill and his work ethic.

I suppose I really shouldn’t burden Chris with a B?©la Fleck analog; that isn’t fair on multiple levels. Still, any time a young player gets a rep before they record or perform widely, it’s a safe bet that they have something special to offer.

He and I met at IBMA shortly after he had graduated from Berklee, and I was immediately impressed by his seriousnes and passion for the banjo. What I had always heard was that he was an amazing technician and a master of progressive banjo wizardry, but when we met, Pandolfi was completely engrossed in becoming more familiar with traditional roll-based playing, and focusing on tone and feel.

The excitement I saw in his eyes when he was describing what he was studying told me that, without a doubt, this young man was a banjo player.

Not long after our first meeting, I picked up a copy of his debut recording, The Handoff, which featured his original music. Listening now to his brand new Sugar Hill release, Looking Glass, it is readily apparent how much Pandolfi has grown and matured as a player and a composer of banjo music over 6 years time.

The tunes are more thoughtful and melodic, and most importantly, they embrace rather than challenge the strengths and weaknesses that the 5 string banjo presents.

“Like my playing, I think my writing has become simpler in some way. I’ve tried to write things that are strong and simple, but still unique. I gave a lot of thought to the limitations of a project like this–not trying to write stuff that would be too complex for the players to really ingest in a short period of time but making sure that I stayed true to my original ideas. Striking the balance between originality and simplicity has been a good challenge for me.”

This new project displays a high level of virtuosity and musicianship – from both Pandolfi and his fellow musicians – and his new compositions show a creative side that is often eclipsed by the other strong songwriters and instrumentalists in The Infamous Stringdusters.

Joining Chris in the studio for Looking Glass were Chris Eldridge, Andy Falco and Ross Martin on guitar, Jesse Cobb and Matt Flinner on mandolin, Byron House, Eric Thorin and Travis Book on bass, and Stuart Duncan and Jeremy Garrett on fiddle. Tracking was done at Pandolfi’s home studio between Fall ‘08 and the Winter of ‘09.

“The studio can accommodate 4 musicians comfortably so we would track mandolin, bass, guitar and banjo together live. I used a click for a few tracks early on but my philosophy on that changed a few songs in, so most of it is live with no click. We would make fixes where necessary but the most important thing this time around was to capture the rhythm section live. That really allowed me to capture what all of these guys do so well: make music with other people.

I really wanted this album to be the newest batch of tunes, and to get it done quickly so it would sound fresh. I wrote almost everything in the last year, and arranged the music leading up to the sessions once I had the instrumentation and the various players in mind. I wanted the vibe of the album to be consistent, which helped give me some direction as I wrote the last few tunes.

I recorded everything at my home studio in East Nashville. Dave Sinko, Erick Jaskowiack and Drew Becker were all very helpful throughout the process. I just tried to get the best sounds possible with the gear I could afford, without any EQ or compression on the front end. Having the studio right upstairs really afforded me the opportunity to be productive whenever I had a break from the ‘Dusters busy schedule.”

Surely the best way to get a taste of the music is to – get a taste of the music! We asked Chris to suggest a few tracks to excerpt for our readers, and his choices – and comments – follow here:

Winnipeg  -  Listen now:   

“When I started writing this one, it was essentially a three part fiddle tune. But as I practiced it I started hearing a more spacious groove under the first two parts. Like most tunes, it took shape once we started working on it as a band, and Byron got it dialed in right away. The line he plays right at the top is very complementary to the melody, and really sets up the two beat ‘bluegrass feel’ which appears a little later.”

Machines  -  Listen now:   

“A lot of times in bluegrass and acoustic music, the faster the tune, the heavier/harder the aesthetic. I wanted to write something fast and relatively simple for my record with some interesting harmonic content that would lend itself to a lighter feel. This is something the ‘Dusters have worked with quite a bit, and I always like the way it sounds. A fast song with a really controlled, light feel gives you so much dynamic room to work with. This one was inspired by my friend Tony ‘Blinky’ Brinkworth.”

Big Bend  -  Listen now:   

“This is a very simple tune that takes advantage of one of the instrument’s most beautiful tonalities: Open D (fifth string is tuned to A). There’s a basic form and soloing here, but the goal is really to create a vibe with the other players that moves through the whole tune. I wrote it with the Matt Flinner trio in mind, because they have a great sense of how to create textures and sounds together and they all play with amazing tone.”

Looking Glass has been released as a digital-only album by Sugar Hill. Chris has a limited number of manufactured discs which will be available at the ‘Dusters’ live shows, with primary distribution through iTunes and similar download sites.

The Infamous Stringdusters have incorporated a few songs from the new release into their shows, and Pandolfi is hoping to tour this winter with Chris Eldridge, where performing material from this new project would surely be on the agenda.

“Me and Critter did a duo tour way back when we first moved to Nashville–we promise it will be better this time around. Stay tuned for some tour dates….”

This is a good one, folks. Check it out!

He catches the band in the van, backstage and onstage with Keel. It’s a wild – and sometimes psychedelic – ride.

Already this year, they have a solo project from The Infamous Stringdusters’ Jeremy Garrett, I Am A Stranger, which hit on March 31. Next week, they have a new CD from The Greencards, Fascination, with a number of others on deck.

Here’s a partial 2009 Sugar Hill release schedule (with more to be announced soon):

• 5/19: Chris Pandolfi – Looking Glass
• 6/16: Sarah Jarosz – Song Up In Her Head
• 7/14: Bryan Sutton and Friends – Almost Live

There are clips of the band on stage, as well as snippets of performances from Crooked Still and Jerry Douglas. The big draw is the ski footage, which captures our heroes on the slopes, photographed Wide World Of Sports style – complete with a couple of classic wipeouts.

This initial installment runs seven and a half minutes and finds the band in the van, on stage and on the slopes!

We’ll be sure to post the rest of the videos as they come online.

He is hard at wok on a new solo project, which will be comprised of new instrumental music he has written. I have known Chris for many years, and have long been impressed by his thoughtful banjo playing, but his role amidst the ‘Dusters is one that is primarily rhythmic, only rarely showcasing his fiery and expressive picking.

Chris tells us that he has tracked about half of the material already, and is planning to finish up in December.

“This first batch of tunes is pretty much one band: Chris Eldridge on guitar, Matt Flinner on mandolin, Byron House on bass, Stuart Duncan on fiddle and Andy Hall. The Dusters will do a few, and I am doing a few with Ross Martin, Eric
Thorin and Matt Flinner. Then a few duets to round it out – banjo/fiddle with Tim O’Brien, and probably something with Jesse Cobb.

I am just trying to write the most musical stuff I can, and then handing it off to the players that I love. We do a good bit of the arranging together as a group before we record. I am producing and engineering the record at my home studio in east Nashville.”

The new CD will be released on Sugar Hill, but no release dates have been discussed at this point.

Chris is also stoked about another upcoming debut, a signature banjo model from Huber Banjos.

“The new Huber sounds great. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this. I’m flattered that Steve Huber even considered me for a signature model, and very grateful that he was willing to build me what I want.

This will be the first Huber with a mahogany rim. Steve and I will be making some last tweaks next week, and after that it will be my go-to banjo.

I’m looking forward to spreading the word about the mahogany rim in conjunction with the Huber banjo name. It’s a killer combination. The banjo is loud and clear, but also very musical and deep. One of the best things about the mahogany rim is that you don’t have to use heavy strings or a loose head to mellow it out. It has a lot of that naturally, which allows me to play with light strings and low action, and a tight-ish head. This makes for a very responsive instrument that is also very easy to play.

I love it.”

We’ll have more details on both Chris’ solo CD and his Huber banjo model soon.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The bulk of the songs are Emmitt originals and the core group of musicians include Chris Pandolfi on banjo, Tyler Grant on guitar, Eric Thorin on bass, Jeff Sipe on drums, Steven Sandifer on percussion, and Emmitt on mandolin and lead vocals. There are also guest appearances from Bill Nershi and Andy Hall on resonator guitar, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, and Tim O’Brien, John Cowan and Darrell Scott on vocals.

Audio samples can be found on Drew’s MySpace page and on the Compass Records web site.

The two tracks are tunes he has written and intends to record for a future solo project, and are presented in his MySpace music player as unaccompanied banjo recordings. One tune, Melancholy, is very modern while the other – which bears the interim title C tuning – owes more to American old time music.

I’m a sucker for 3 finger banjo played in double-C tuning, and am also a great admirer of this young man’s music, but can be objective enough to recommend dedicating a few moments to sample these tracks. Banjo players especially should enjoy hearing Chris in this intimate setting where his command of tone and his interesting compositional sense are front and center.

Joining Nershi and Emmitt will be Tyler Grant on bass and Chris Pandolfi on banjo. Knowing of Chris’ solid commitment to The Infamous Stringdusters, I asked him whether his time with Emmitt Nershi was during time off from his main gig.

“I’m definitely doing the Emmit/Nershi thing on the side. If the ‘Dusters don’t have another lineup change for 20 years I will be thrilled.”

Live appearances for The Emmitt Nershi band will be posted on their MySpace page.

Last night here in Roanoke, they packed a trendy, downtown nightspot and proceeded to demolish the assembled throng of music lovers and fans. The two sets mixed cuts from their Sugar Hill debut, Fork In The Road, with new band compositions, some bluegrass classics, and even a few songs they had just been working up backstage.

What strikes me as rare with this bunch is their ability to mix genres so smoothly, with enough progressive/modern/newgrass edge to attract younger listeners, and a sufficient amount of unadulterated grass to please the hard core purists. I saw them go from a long, jammy instrumental with a rock flavor, to a smooth and wholly traditional take on The Stanley Brothers Lonesome River.

They are clearly comfortable in this small club environment, and worked both the early evening “meet and greet” bunch and the late night stragglers with just the right vibe. The highlight for me was the very end of the show, where they encouraged everyone to leave their seats and join the band in front of the stage for a three song, unamplified conclusion. This kicked with Uncle Pen and closed with Blue Night, both showing that despite their occasional wandering from the trail Bill Monroe blazed, they are right at home with his music in a straightahead style.

The Infamous Stringdusters are Chris Pandolfi (Panda) on banjo, Jeremy Garrett on fiddle/vocals, Chris Eldridge (Critter) on guitar, Travis Book on bass/vocals, Jesse Cobb on mandolin and Andy Hall on Dobro/vocals.

Each is a superb musician, worthy of a good many pixels of praise, but I am consistently impressed in particular by the ChrisDusters – Eldridge and Pandolfi. Chris Eldridge is already an important voice in the flatpick guitar world, and is likely to be even more of one as he continues to develop as an artist. We saw him last fall as a member of Chris Thile’s How To Grow A Band, and he shone there among some of the most exceptional string musicians ever assembled.

Pandolfi is a master of understated banjo, and excels on his instrument in ways that may escape an uninformed observer. He and I talked last night about our mutual distaste for flashy, “look at me” banjo playing, so I don’t suppose it’s surprising that I enjoy his picking. With so much of what he adds to the band being designed to hold things together rhythmically, he doesn’t stand out as much as the other first rate soloists in the band, but be sure to keep an ear and an eye on the banjo when you see them live.

All three vocalists are terrific, with different styles that complement one another perfectly. I especially enjoyed Travis Book’s singing last night, as well as wondering when Jeremy Garrett’s face would explode when got to soaring in the ether. Andy Hall’s dobro work is always a joy, as is Jesse Cobb’s mandolin – both in accompaniment and taking the lead.

The band is about to embark on a whirlwind six-week tour, taking them all over the US from late June through early August, including a show at the North Shore Jazz Festival in Vancouver, BC and the Telluride fest in Colorado.

Check their schedule online, and catch this exciting young band if the opportunity arises.

They will be interviewed on GAC TV’s The Edge of Country show on Saturday (3/17). The show is hosted by Kylie Harris, and airs at 1:00 p.m. with a rebroadcast at 11:00 p.m. The show will also be shown on Monday (3/19) at 1:00 p.m., and again on Tuesday morning (3/20) at 3:00 a.m. All times are eastern.

Banjo picker Chris Pandolfi shared some thoughts on taping the segment with GAC.

“The Edge of Country was some of the first real ‘national’ media attention we have received, and the show went really well. We do many press opportunities as a full band, so it was a challenge to get everyone involved, but we did, in turn showcasing one of our greatest assets – we are a band.

It’s hard to classify exactly what we do, genre-wise, but ‘edge of country’ seems an appropriate catch-all for our music.

I asked dobroist/vocalist Andy Hall what is was like for them, with a new CD out on a major independent label after actively performing without label support for almost two years. He responded with high praise for the folks at Sugar Hill, and said that all was right with his world.

“This is a great time for us, as we have a full touring schedule and a brand new first record. What more does a picker need?”

Andy also mentioned that The ‘Dusters recently recorded a live segment for AT&T blue room, which showcases artists online with both in studio performances and interviews. We’ll be sure to post an update when that is available on the blue room site.

On Monday, the band will be in Knoxville for a live radio broadcast from the studios of WDVX. The show will air from noon to 1:00 p.m. (3/19) on 89.9 FM, and will also be available online via streaming audio.

If you just can’t get enough of The Infamous Stringdusters, you could listen to the WDVX audio stream from noon to 1:00, and then tune in to GAC and catch the interview.

Chris told us that they have a five song EP/CD available now in limited release. Only a relatively small number were manufactured, and they will not be reprinted when this supply is exhausted. Two of these five songs will also be on the new Sugar Hill project, including the title track.

Audio samples for several songs can be found on the band’s MySpace page, as can a track listing for the EP and a video clip of a tune from a recent live show.

The EP is only available directly from the band, and can be ordered from their web site.

Chris also mentioned that he has been taking advantage of some time off the road writing with an eye towards another solo project before too long. His CD, The Handoff, showcases both his inventive banjo playing, and his skills as a composer.

Let’s hope he finds time for a follow-up project soon.

Photos by Tami Roth © 2006

Jeremy Garrett	Chris Pandolfi	Andy Hall	Chris Eldridge
Jesse Cobb	Chris Pandolfi	Downhill Bluegrass Band	Frankie Nagle
Audie Blaylock	Michael Cleveland	The Lovell Sisters	Rhonda Vincent
Donica Christensen	Daughters of Bluegrass	Becky Buller	Dale Ann Bradley

Eldridge also filled the guitar chair on Chris Thile’s How To Grow A Woman From The Ground CD, and with Thile publicly stating that the band from the CD would become his touring band (including in his recent interview on The GrassCast), the notion that Eldridge would bolt for a gig with Thile seemed like a fair question.

Pandolfi assured me that Eldridge was in for the duration. Bryan Sutton has been playing guitar on any How To Grow A Band dates with Thile that conflict with Stringdusters shows, and all of the Dusters are excited about their long-term commitment with Sugar Hill (4 projects), and getting to record and perform as a band.

We have spoken on The Bluegrass Blog several times about this young band, and look forward to catching their main stage showcase on Wednesday night, or at one of their many other showcase appearances this week.