Scott Anderson’s name has been a familiar one to bluegrass fans in Florida for the past 20 years. He performed and recorded on banjo with Endless Highway, Gentle River and The Bluegrass Parlor Band, and toured as a member of Jim Hurst’s band. Scott has also taught banjo, mandolin and guitar lessons for years in Gainesville.

He did release a solo CD, Rivers, in 2001 but his new project has him more excited than any musical project he has produced to date.

Another Day is a duo album with his teenaged daughter, Amanda. She is featured as the primary lead vocalist and fiddler, with Scott on banjo, guitar and vocals. Amanda, now 16, was 15 when this album was recorded, and had only been playing fiddle for two years at the time. The CD has already gotten some rave reviews, and folks in the bluegrass biz are paying attention to this talented young lady.

“Amanda played fiddle and did most of the lead singing, as well as singing one or two harmony parts at times. Amanda’s fiddle teacher and our friend Tommy Slaughter played of some of the tunes with us. The two of them also played fiddle together on Eileen’s Waltz which was written by my friend Mark Schatz, who also played bass on that cut.

Georgia On My Mind was played masterfully on guitar by another teenager, Austin Wilder. Jarrod Walker (yes, another teenager) played rhythm guitar on Looking In the Eyes of Love, and played some fantastic mandolin on several other tracks. Jarrod’s brother Cory Walker played upright bass on one cut and played some really slick resonator guitar on a few tracks. Most people know Cory as a banjo player (he’s now with Sierra Hull), but he is great on several instruments.

My old bandmate David McMillan (with whom I played in The Bluegrass Parlor Band years ago) played some bass and even drum parts on a few tunes and sang some harmony. He also did a great job of engineering and mastering the CD. My buddy Michael Godwin played upright bass on several tracks, including some really cool stuff on Georgia On My Mind.”

Georgia On My Mind – Listen Now (more…)

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…)