As we mentioned last month, 16 year old mandolin prodigy Sierra Hull is in the middle of a whirlwind tour of Japan.

She has just completed the first leg, performing with a group of young bluegrass all-starts, and is now touring with her band, Highway 111, in support of her debut release, Secrets.

Sierra sent along a few photos from the trip so far…

Every summer, the town of Kawaguchi in Japan hosts an International Exchange program for young musicians. The young players stay with host Japanese families and are exposed to Japanese culture during their visit, which culminates in the annual Lilia festival in Kawaguchi.

Last year, the members of Donald Grass - a Kawaguchi-based bluegrass band who performs regularly in area schools - asked prominent Japanese bluegrass promoter Saburo “Sab Watanabe” Inoue to become involved in petitioning the Exchange Program to bring young US bluegrass players to Japan for the festival, July 27-28.

The members of Donald Grass came to IBMA’s World Of Bluegrass several times and saw a lot of young pickers enjoying bluegrass there. They thought it’s cool to have those kids for International Exchange program of Kawaguchi. Since Donald Grass is known through their volunteer activity by mayor and city hall officers, they recommended bluegrass kids to the city. Finally for this year, Lilia choose to invite young artists from U.S.A.

Donald Grass asked me to make it happen. So I contacted to Dan and Nancy at IBMA. They were both excited about the plan and introduced me to Bluegrass in the Schools program’s Tom Kopp, and things started last WOB.

We’d like to thank Bridgestone Americas Holdings, Inc and the town of Kawaguchi for the funding.

Nancy Cardwell at IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) tells us that Lilia has invited two young amateur bluegrass groups for 2008, and a band made up from of several exceptional teen professionals.

“IBMA provided a list of high school and college-age based bands we knew of to Sab and the officials in Japan, we helped make the initial contacts to see if they had the dates clear, and then Sab and the gentlemen in Japan selected the groups. During World of Bluegrass last fall, several reps from the city of Kawaguchi and Sab met with Bluegrass in the Schools chair Tom Kopp, Dan Hays and the folks at the Nashville Bridgestone office.”

The amateur bands chosen to participate are the Gallatin County Youth Bluegrass Band of Warsaw, KY (faculty sponsor Kim Samuel) and the Wheeling Park High School Bluegrass Band of Wheeling, WV (faculty sponsor Bob Turbanic). (more…)

The Old Road To Jerusalem is the new CD from Eric Uglum, and his two talented stepsons, Christian and Austin Ward. It is just now released on Backcountry Records, with audio samples available online. Eric plays the guitar and mandolin, Austin bass, Christian fiddle, and Ron Block guests on banjo.

Christian and Austin play with Chris Stuart & Backcountry, though both are still in their teens. Stuart contributed two songs to The Old Road To Jerusalem, and Backcountry banjo picker Janet Beazely co-produced the project with Uglum.

Eric operates a recording studio, New Wine Sound, in California and is a respected bluegrass player, producer and singer. His debut solo release, Shenandoah Wind, was released in 2004. Featured artists on the CD include Alison Krauss, Ron Block, Stuart Duncan and Rob Ickes.

There are no audio samples for Shenandoah Wind on Eric’s site, but they are available in the iTunes Music Store.

You can also find audio from The Old Road To Jerusalem on Eric’s MySpace page.

Bob Webster at BluegrassCountry.org had a chance to talk with Chris Stuart and Janet Beazley before their performance at Luckett’s Schoolhouse last month. That interview is being aired this week on WAMU and online at BluegrassCountry.org.

Aspiring songwriters should take note at Chris describes the thought process he uses to write songs like Dear Friends & Gentle Hearts, Julia Belle, and Mojave River. There is also a preview of the title cut from Chris’ upcoming release, The old Road to Jerusalem. The song was written by Chris and is performed by Eric Uglum & Sons, Austin and Christian Ward.

I’m listening to the show online as I type, but if you miss it today it will air everyday this week. Here’s the schedule:

• Monday, November 27 - 10:00 a.m.
• Tuesday, November 28 - 9:00 p.m.
• Wednesday, November 29 - 7:00 a.m.
• Thursday, November 30 - 5:55 a.m.
• Friday, December 1 - 11:00 p.m.
• Saturday, December 2 - 8:00 p.m.
• Sunday December 3 - 6:00 p.m.

With the Arab Middle East so much in the news these days, and full of so many disheartening images, we are delighted to offer a encouraging story about bluegrass music and the Sultanate of Oman. Oman is located on the Arabian Sea, just east of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Three bluegrass bands from California are currently on tour in Oman, where they will perform at a variety of venues for both Omani and American/European audiences. The bands are Lost Highway, Chris Stuart & Backcountry and Eric Uglum & Sons. The tour was organized by Bud Bierhaus, a bluegrass musician who performed with the band Copperline in southern CA before going to work for Halliburton in Oman.

Last summer, Bud contact Eric Uglum to see if he and his boys (Christian and Austin Ward) might be interested in a tour in Oman. Eric’s enthusiasm for the idea led Bud to suggest that some other bands be involved as well, and before long, an 8 day tour was scheduled. It began with a show yesterday (2/9) at the closing night of the Muscat Festival, a 30 day event which celebrates the many cultures and musical flavors of the diverse Omani workforce and populace. The remainder of the tour includes both concerts and workshops, some for American citizens groups and schools, others for the American Embassy staff and guests, and a couple for private interests.

Eric Uglum is the guitarist and mandolinist with Lost Highway, which also includes Ken Orrick (guitar), Dick Brown (banjo), Mike Tatar Jr. (fiddle) and Joe Ash (bass). Chris Stuart & Backcountry is made up of Janet Beazley (banjo), Mason Tuttle (bass), Brian Wicklund (fiddle) and Chris (guitar).

Chris Stuart also shared some thoughts about the trip:

“We’re really looking forward to going to Oman. It’s going to be an adventure and I’m particularly looking forward to playing the big Muscat Festival. I’m also taking some IBMA ‘Discover Bluegrass’ DVDs to leave in a few of the schools over there. Who knows, maybe someday there will be an Omani bluegrass band!”

Stacey Uglum (Eric’s wife and Christian and Austin Ward’s mom) is also going on the trip, and she promised to get back to us when they return, and send photos from the tour. We’ll pass along her report and some photos later this month.

This past weekend, the Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend welcomed its first set of recipients of their annual Gibson/Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend Scholarship program. The three recipients were selected based on demonstrated ability from a pool of very capable applicants aged 13-24, which were received from all over the United States. Not only were these three exceptional young people able to attend the weekend’s instructional seminars and stay on site at the hotel at no cost to themselves, they were also featured on a song during the Saturday evening Faculty Jam Concert.

This year’s recipients (photos below) were Aaron Williams (mandolin) age 14 from Blacksburg, VA, Christian Ward (fiddle) age 13 from Hesperia, CA, and Haley Stiltner (banjo) age 17 from Windsor, VA. All three were interviewed by Roanoke TV station WSLS, but the video does not seem to be available online.

These scholarships for young bluegrass musicians are made possible through the generosity of Gibson Original Acoustic Instruments, whose donation each year of a professional quality bluegrass instrument to be offered in a raffle funds the scholarship. This year’s raffle was for a new Earl Scruggs banjo, which was won by Sam Kniffen of Vermillion, SD.

The photos below were taken by Dave Roye, and more from RBW can be found on Haley Stiltner’s web site. There is even a video clip of this remarkable young lady jamming with the other terrific RBW scholarship winners on her site.