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…

A video from the trip has also been promised, via Highway 111 banjo picker and budding filmmaker, Cory Walker. Having seen his work, we can be sure that his Japan trip video will be a hoot.

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.