After a hiatus of 16 months, Clay Jones has re-assumed the guitar chair with Mountain Heart.

Jones left the band in August of 2007 to deal with some personal and familial issues, and with Clay Hess having left the group to work with Sierra Hull, he is happy for the chance to return.

“I’m so excited to be back with all my brothers! I’m looking forward to seeing the greatest fans in any music again!”

I spoke with Mountain Heart fiddler Jim Van Cleve this morning, and he is likewise stoked to have Jones back onboard.

“It’s no secret that Clay Jones was a large part of the musical personality that MH had developed over the years. He brings a unique spark and intensity to the table that is all his own. That, along with his stage presence, is such a powerful combo. So, of course, we’re all super excited to get to pick with him again.

He and I go back a long time… I’ve known Jones since I was 15!

We just had our first round of rehearsals where we ran through about two and a half hours of music several times. We played all of our material and most all the songs we’ve been performing with Tony Rice. Jones knocked them all out of the park!

He grew up playing with Tony, so I guess that it shouldn’t have been a surprise that he knew that rhythmic feel and most of that material better than anybody! So, with a bit of a return to what MH has become known for, we are all chomping at the bit now to get out and do what we do this year!!”

Jim also mentioned that Clay’s first show back with the band will be at The Ark, in Ann Arbor, MI this coming weekend. This where they cut their current CD release, Road That Never Ends, The Live Album, which features Jones on guitar. From there, the band heads to Clay City, KY.

Sounds like this was meant to be…

You can find the band’s full tour schedule on their web site, and look for a chance to catch Clay with Mountain Heart – and Tony Rice – near you in ‘09.

Award winning dobro player and band leader, Randy Kohrs, has just added a couple new faces to the line up of his band, The Lites.

UPDATE: We just heard from Ashley Brown, Randy’s fiddle player, that the band name has been dropped and the group will henceforth be known only as The Randy Kohrs Band.

Joining the band on guitar is Clay Jones. Clay is a long standing member of the bluegrass flatpicking elite. He’s played and recorded with a number of well known groups and artists. Most recently Clay was a member of bluegrass powerhouse group, Mountain Heart. Clay is well known for his driving rhythm and forceful lead playing. The interaction between Jones’ flatpicking and Kohrs dobro should be exciting to hear.

The other new member of the band is Elio Giordano on bass. Elio is a local Nashville player, and brings more than just the low notes to the group. He plays many different styles rather than just the standard bluegrass bass line, and he sings lead as well.

Kohrs is trying the band out without a mandolin player at this time. The group sports a snare drum player, so rhythmically there is no hole. And with the addition of Jones on guitar, they certainly won’t be lacking for lead players.

Some of the more popular bluegrass instrumental projects of recent years have been in a Pinecastle series which came to be called the Bluegrass Annual projects, as each was designated by the year in which it was released. Seven CDs were eventually included, starting with Bluegrass ‘95, and concluding with Bluegrass 2001.

The series had a largely accidental genesis, initially recorded as a solo project for Clay Jones, now guitarist with Mountain Heart. When that project was finished, Clay made a decision to work outside of music, and Pinecastle was prepared to shelve the recording, seeing no venue to promote it. Scott Vestal, a long time friend of Clay’s who played banjo on the project, intervened with the label and convinced them to release it as an instrumental CD so that the artists who recorded with Clay (Adam Steffey, Wayne Benson, Aubrey Haynie, Barry Bales), could at least offer it for sale at their shows.

Scott was quoted in an August 2000 article in Banjo NewsLetter about this, and how he came to take charge of creating and producing an instrumental release for them for each of the next six years.

"I talked with Tom Riggs at Pinecastle and suggested that we release it in some form with a generic title so that at least the guys on the record could sell it at shows. I just threw out the name, Bluegrass ‚Äò95 and he liked it. No one expected it to sell so well but, when it did, Pinecastle turned the concept over to me and asked me to do one each year.”

Each was successful in its own right, but as the CD inventory for each title sold through, Pinecastle has elected to let them go out of print. Bluegrass 2001 is the only one still available as an audio CD.

They released a compilation from those CDs in the summer of 2005, called Ultimate Pickin, which featured 20 tracks taken from those recordings, and now a second compilation is out with a bit broader range that includes more tracks from those popular CDs.

The newly released More Ultimate Pickin also contains 20 tracks, taken from the aforementioned Vestal-produced projects, and other Pinecastle CDs like Bobby Osborne & Jesse McReynolds’ Masters Of The Mandolin, among others. A full track listing and a few audio samples can be found on the Pinecastle site.

You can still obtain the individual Bluegrass Annual projects as digital downloads in the iTunes Music Store. Follow the links below to find them in iTunes.

As a member of IIIrd Tyme Out, Steve Dilling is accustomed to having the month of December free each year. The band has long blocked the last month of the year off their tour schedule, both to allow for time with their families around the holidays, and to get rested and re-energized before starting up again in the new year.

A few years ago, Steve came up with the idea to put a group together with members of other groups, to perform shows during December. The idea has since grown into a mini-tour, with this year’s edition featuring Clay Jones from Mountain Heart on guitar, John Wade from The James King Band on bass, Ron Stewart from JD Crowe & The New South on fiddle, Darrell Webb from Wildfire on mandolin, and Dilling on banjo.

Steve says that the holiday tour grew from a single show, with interest in the band expanding as the word goes out.

“The idea of this band is something that I started a few years ago. Back then, it was just for one night on a local basis here around the Raleigh area. In 2005, I had the idea of seeing if I could take this on the road, and quickly booked a few gigs. After the success of last years shows, I thought that I would try it again. Now I am actually getting promoters wanting us to do a few festivals. I don’t know if that will happen, because we are all so busy with our individual bands… but it is kind of nice to be in demand.

I hope to record this band at some point, because I feel strong about the music that we are playing, and it would be nice to have something to sell on the road when we do play. Most of the guys have individual solo recordings, so we have worked up some material form each of those, we also do a few Christmas songs, as well as some standards, but most of all, we have a great time. It is a time to enjoy playing, and get out of the normal band routine situation. I hope that everyone will come out and see the band.”

They will do four shows over the next week or so in Galax VA, Grayson KY, Bradshaw WV and Frederick MD. You can find details on these shows on Steve’s web site.