We just got an update on this project from Brad Davis. He tells us the release date is set for November 21st, 2006. The label, CMH is currently evaluating songs on the project for release as a single. The title of the project is Where The Bluegrass Grows. At the present I couldn’t find any audio samples online, but I’ll update again when they become available. In the meantime, here’s the song list from the disc.

Songs:

• Real Good Man
• Indian Outlaw
• Where the green grass grows
• My best friend
• Please remember me
• Ain’t no angles – written by Brad Davis and Billy Montana
• Down on the farm
• I like it I love it
• Live like you were dying
• My thirty years
• Something like that

Brad Davis called me the other afternoon just to say hi, but as always I asked him what he had been up to. Brad is a busy guy. He produces a TV show, does his own touring, performs with Earl Scruggs, records and performs with Billy Bob Thornton, and produces. Like I said, he’s busy. After I asked, he told me about a couple new projects he’s involved with and I got his permission to share them with you here.

First, Brad is the co-writer for every song on a new CD by Billy Bob Thornton. Not only did Brad co-write all the material, he also plays and sings on the record. It’s not really bluegrass, but it can’t help but have some grass hidden in there somewhere when Brad is involved.

The other project he’s worked on recently is a bluegrass tribute to Tim McGraw. This is another CMH Records project similar to the Strummin’ With The Devil tribute to Van Halen. On this particular CD though, it’s really all Brad. Brad played guitar, mandolin and bass. He also sang all but one tune on the record. That one was sung by Billy Bob. Joining Brad on the CD are his brother Greg Davis on banjo, Rob Ickes on dobro, Hoot Hester on fiddle, and Larry Marrs on harmony vocals.

Brad produced this CD as well as being the principle musician on it. So, for all you Brad Davis fans this will be a must have I’m sure.

Interestingly, the CD is finished and I believe it’s already shipped to distribution, but I could find no info about it on the CMH website. Brad was calling me from the CMH parkinglot where he was picking up a box for himself. He promised to send me a copy, so I’ll be sure to share with you what I think after I receive it.

March 16, 2006 has been set as the CD release date for a unique retrospective project on CMH Records from Jimmy Gaudreau. Entitled In Good Company, the CD is a mix of new and re-issue tracks, both live and studio recordings, featuring Jimmy in his role as a celebrated bluegrass sideman, or band member, over his more than 35 years in the business.

The new CD contains previously unreleased recordings with Tony Rice, Charlie Waller, The Fox Family, Bel??? Fleck with additional performances from Jack Lawrence, Sammy Shelor, Robin & Linda Williams, Randy Waller, Mike Auldridge, Dan Tyminski, John Starling, Mark Schatz and Bill Clifton.

Jimmy was first introduced to bluegrass audiences in 1969 as the new mandolinist with The Country Gentlemen, and went on to also be a part of IInd Generation (with Eddie Adcock), JD Crowe & The New South, Spectrum (with Bel??? Fleck) and The Tony Rice Unit among several others. Both as a mandolinist and a distinctive tenor vocalist, Jimmy made his mark on each of these acts, and enjoys the respect and admiration of pickers and fans alike as a result.

We had an opportunity to discuss the new CD with Jimmy recently and discovered that it is a very personal project for him.

“It started several years ago with a few tunes I had in my collection which I thought would be a good mix/foundation for a compilation CD, as this is. I then decided to go into the studio(s) and record tunes/artists…both, to complete the picture I really wanted to see and suddenly I was looking at a list of more than 30 tunes (there’s actually another album’s worth of material which I had to cut in order to trim it down to a single CD…that was tough!)”

“I was fortunate to be the 2005 inductee into SPBGMA’s Preservation Hall Of Greats, and in preparation for my acceptance speech at their annual convention in Nashville last February, I decided my ‘theme’ would focus on how lucky AND blessed I’ve been to have been able to play in bands with some of the greatest pickers and singers in bluegrass. This year I, yet another ‘baby boomer’ will turn the big 6-0 (Yikes!) and as I approach retirement (oh yes. my good friend Bill Emerson has shown me that it can be done) I look back and see that it was LUCK that enabled me (who is, in my estimation, a limited-ability player and tenor singer) to land the job with the Country Gentlemen in 1969. That position and more luck down the line, opened the doors to numerous recording opportunities and associations with several ‘name’ bands over the last 37 years and the BLESSINGS came with all the friends I’ve made during this time. It is my true intention to project this sentiment with this release…not just to say ‘Kilroy was here.’ ” (more…)