Despite his age, 88 and looking very well too, Curly Seckler continues to be professionally active.

Recently he has appeared on the public TV affiliated Song of the Mountains show, firstly with the Steep Canyon Rangers and then with Larry Sparks.

Song of the Mountains is an hour-long program, hosted by Tim White at the Lincoln Theatre in Marion, Virginia, that airs weekly on over 160 PBS affiliates nationwide. (Check local listings for the air date in your area.)

This coming weekend (June 26 to June 28) Seckler and a number of other bluegrass pioneers, including his long-time friend, Ramblin’ Tommy Scott, will be present as the International Bluegrass Music Museum (located in Owensboro, Kentucky) celebrates the premier of several new oral history documentaries. The film festival will be part of the River of Music Party activities with some events taking place at the Museum itself. Other events take place at the RiverPark Center downtown and at nearby Yellow Creek Park. For a full schedule of events and ticket information, visit their web site.

On Saturday, August 2, Seckler, along with Willis Spears, his old friend, singing partner and Lester Flatt double, will perform at the historic Carter Family Fold, as part of The 34th Annual Carter Family Memorial Festival & Craft Show, Hiltons, Virginia. The duo will perform an afternoon and an evening set. Tentatively scheduled to back them is the fantastic Virginia band, Big Country Bluegrass. The festival commences on the Friday, August 1, and scheduled show times for each day are from 2:00pm through to 11:00pm.

For a full list of the artists performing and ticket information, you may call: 276-386-6054 or by email.

Our UK correspondent, Richard F Thompson, tells us of Curly Seckler Day in Marion, VA.

I have just had a note passed to me by Penny Parsons, manager/friend and biographer to bluegrass veteran Curly Seckler.

On Sunday, January 6 The Pickin’ Porch Show, a Bristol-based weekly two hour bluegrass and old-time music show hosted by ‘Your Bluegrass Buddy’ Tim White, celebrated Curly Seckler Day.

Seckler is a true bluegrass pioneer who has worked with some of the biggest names in the business. He worked several stints with Charlie Monroe, beginning in 1939. He also teamed with various other bluegrass pioneers, including Jim and Jesse McReynolds, Mac Wiseman, the Sauceman Brothers and the Stanley Brothers.

However, he is best known for his work with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs’ Foggy Mountain Boys, whom Curly joined in 1949 as tenor singer and mandolinist. Except for a couple of brief absences, he remained with Flatt & Scruggs until 1962. He joined Lester Flatt’s Nashville Grass in 1973 and remained until Lester’s death in 1979. Thereafter he took over leadership of the Nashville Grass leading the band for fifteen years, until his retirement in 1994.

Though Seckler retired from touring, he continues to perform occasionally at selected events. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Hall of Fame in 2004. That same year he made a collection of new recordings, which have been released on two CDs by Copper Creek Records. Down in Caroline was released in the fall of 2005 and it was a finalist for IBMA Recorded Event of the Year. Bluegrass, Don’t You Know, released in late 2006, was picked by the Chicago Tribune as one of the top 10 bluegrass CDs of the year.

Penny relates …

We had a very special get-together for Curly and his friends, both old and new. The program began with Appalachian Trail, an excellent local band. David Helms, the mayor of Marion, Virginia dropped by to congratulate Curly for his lifetime achievements in Bluegrass music, and presented Curly with the key to the city. On January 5, the night prior to the event in Bristol, Curly had performed in Marion, at the historic Lincoln Theatre. There, along with the Steep Canyon Rangers, Curly taped the Song of the Mountains TV show for broadcast on PBS later this year. (more…)

Here is a charming look at Christmas from Curkly Seckler, tenor singer and manolinist with Flatt & Scruggs in their hey day. Curley also wrote several of their most memorable songs, like No Mother Or Dad and That Old Book of Mine.

Curly and his five brothers and two sisters grew up on a 150 acre farm near China Grove, North Carolina. Their dad passed away in 1929, when Curly was only 9 years old, but they still managed to have a special family celebration at the holidays each year. Christmas Day had special significance for Curly, since it was also his birthday!

Back when I was growing up, all of us had to hang up a sock, you know. Us kids, there was eight of us, used to hang them on the mantle. You’d hang up a big sock, and then they’d fill it up, over half way, with just parched peanuts, in the bottom of it. Then they’d put an apple or an orange or a tangerine in there, and then on the top of it you’d have a little knife or something like that, and that was it, back in them days.

I remember one year my mom give me a knife, and I kept that thing up until me and Eloise got married (in 1998), and through that move I lost that knife somewhere. I don’t know where it got to, but I lost it. And my mom only give, I think, about twenty-five cents for it. Back then you could get a pretty good knife for a quarter. I was about nine years old, probably, when I got that knife. I remember that real well.

I’ll tell you something else they did one time. They give us some little old stopper guns, you know, with a cork in the end of it. Little old pop guns. Us kids got them things, and you’d hammer it back, and then shoot it, and it’d go, “Poop.”

We’d always go out and cut a tree down and put it in the house, for Christmas. And we’d decorate that Christmas tree. We strung popcorn on it. But it seems like it was some kind of soap suds that we used to put on the tree, to make it look kind of snowy looking. Seems like we used to cut out some ducks and stuff and paste them on there. Little old things, out of a Sears and Roebuck catalog, and paste it on the tree. We had some good times together, all us kids.

And I’ll tell you something else we used to do along about Christmas time. (more…)

Kyle Cantrell at XM Satellite Radio’s Bluegrass Junction (track 14) tells us that he has a number of interesting interviews airing over the next two days.

Later today (11/20), Cadillac Sky will be featured in the 3:00 p.m. hour. On Wednesday (11/21), Kyle will have IIIrd Tyme Out, discussing their new Footprints CD, and spinning a few cuts. That IIIrd Tyme Out feature will run sometime between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m.

Then at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Kyle will replay his visit with legendary bluegrass singer Curly Seckler.

Kyle Cantrell, host of XM Satellite Radio’s Bluegrass Junction (track 14), passed along news about a few special programs and features coming up this week on XM.

The current edition of Studio Special, XM’s live-in-the studio bluegrass show, airs tonight (11/5) at 8:00 p.m. Cherryholmes is the featured guest, offering both live performance and some chit chat with Kyle during the program. It re-airs on Wednesday (11/7) at midnight (technically 11/8), and again on Thursday afternoon (11/8) at 3:00 p.m.

Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. finds Kyle with Frank Ray of Cedar Hill for a track-by-track run through of their latest release, Poverty Row. That show will re-air on Sunday (11/11) at noon, on 11/14 at 9:00 a.m. and on 11/16 at 3:00 a.m.

On Wednesday (11/7), bluegrass legend Curley Seckler will join Kyle in the studio for a live interview.

Then on Friday (11/9), Studio Special is rebroadcasting a live studio appearance from the US Navy bluegrass band Country Current in honor of Veterans Day. That show will also air on Saturday (11/10) at 6:00 p.m., on 11/12 at 8:00 p.m., 11/13 at midnight and on 11/15 at 3:00 p.m. All times for all shows are EST.

Kyle also passed along Bluegrass Junction’s Top 40 chart for November ‘07, based on October listener requests and how often individual albums were featured.

The top 5 albums for October were:

You can see the full Top 40 chart on the Bluegrass Junction web site. Just scroll to the bottom of the page and you’ll see a link to download the chart as a PDF file.

One of the endearing aspects of bluegrass music is the way that we treat our early pioneers. Instead of being shuffled to the sidelines, the founders of our music are celebrated by current bluegrass artists, and the larger audience generally welcomes the opportunity to show their appreciation for the contributions they have made.

A great example will be on display at next weekend’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco, CA. When The David Grisman Experience performs on this free, 3 day festival on October 7 in Golden Gate Park, David will welcome Curly Seckler to join him on stage.

Curly had a hand in shaping the way bluegrass tenor is sung, and is widely regarded as being as influential in the earliest days as Bill Monroe or Ralph Stanley. Not only did he record more than 100 tracks with Flatt & Scruggs during his 12 years with the band, he also wrote several of their most memorable songs, like No Mother Or Dad and That Old Book of Mine.

Curly performed as a member of Lester Flatt and The Nashville Grass from 1973 until Lester’s passing in ‘79, and then fronted the band himself up to his retirement in 1994. He didn’t retire completely, however, and marked the year 2004 - his 70th in bluegrass music - by recording a total of 28 tracks, released as two CDs on the Copper Creek label (hear audio samples in iTunes).

Later that same year, he was inducted into the IBMA Hall of Honor, and gave a memorable performance at the 2004 awards show.

You can find more details about the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival on their web site. Austin City Limits will be filming at the festival, and we sure hope that Curly will make the cut and appear when the footage is aired.

Three cheers for Curly Seckler - and for David Grisman as well!

Well…almost.

The new release from bluegrass legend Curly Seckler is now available, but not in the ways with which you may be accustomed. The folks at Copper Creek Records have decided to release this project almost exclusively for download.

A limited pressing of manufactured CDs were made, for distribution to radio and for Curly to sell at shows, but no audio CDs will be sold through record stores or other common CD sources.

Bluegrass, Don’t You Know is the name of this new release, which includes 14 tracks. 7 are Seckler originals, and Curly reprises some of his classic offerings from the days with Flatt & Scruggs as well. You’ll find new versions of Some Old Day, Why Did You Wander, Bouquet In Heaven, That Old Book Of Mine and Brother I’m Getting Ready To Go.

Helping out are such bluegrass luminaries as Larry Sparks, Russell Moore, Larry Cordle, Dudley Connell, Rob Ickes, Herschel Sizemore, Tater Tate, Larry Perkin and more.

You can hear samples from each track, or purchase the “CD” for download at Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Audio CDs can be obtained from Curly directly, via his web site.

There’s something plainly fascinating about seeing a member of bluegrass music’s first generation embracing new distribution models. Kudos to Curly, and Gary Reid at Copper Creek for giving this a try.