Friday’s (4/25) edition of Blue Plate Special on WDVX promises a very special performance by The Road Scholars, a “one weekend only” band with some high octane vocal power. In addition to their live radio appearance, they will be performing at EarthFest 2008 on the East Tennessee State University Campus on April 26.

The group features both Charlie Sizemore and Dale Ann Bradley, two of the finest voices in modern bluegrass music, along with John Golden on banjo, Roscoe Morgan on mandolin and John Miller on bass.

Blue Plate Special airs at noon (EDT). The show originates from Knoxville, TN and is broadcast in that market at 102.9 FM - and via live streaming online.

This childhood memory is from Dale Ann Bradley, one of bluegrass music’s most cherished voices.

One of my Christmas Memories is maybe my first. My parents and I had just returned from Michigan to resume living in Southeastern Kentucky. I must have been about 3.

My parents had gotten me a doll called “BABY SECRET.” You could pull a string and of course it had the recorded voice inside the doll. This was about 1967 and my dad thought it was the coolest gadget, and couldn’t wait to see how I would react.

In the weeks before Christmas, he would hide in the house and pull the string and the doll would talk. I couldn’t tell where the voice was coming from and, of course, reacted in the way a 3 year old would, which was really amusing.

When I got the doll that Christmas, I drove everyone crazy pulling the string constantly until eventually she talked in a warble. It was talked about all through the years of how Dad couldn’t wait to give me the doll, and how he had me wondering where the voice was coming from.

We still laugh about it.

Despite a nagging sore throat, Rhonda Vincent is heading out for her shows this weekend. She has quite a bit of time in the bus, with shows in Missouri, Nebraska and Texas over the next 3 days.

Darrell Webb will be in tow for the weekend, filling the guitar slot recently vacated by Josh Williams.

Rhonda has some very gracious words of congratulation on her message board for 2007 Female Vocalist of the Year, Dale Ann Bradley.

“Though I would have loved to have brought home #8, I am very happy for Dale Ann Bradley.  Congratulations to you.  You are awesome!”

We got to see a great deal of good music last night. The official IBMA showcase presentation in the main ballroom featured one strong act after another, and we managed to catch one after hours show before the travails of a day at IBMA sent us scurrying for the covers.

First up was Meantime, from The Slovak Republic. They are fronted by Daniela Hroncova, a talented vocalist and one of the primary songwriters in the band. They are popular in central and eastern Europe, and they are hoping to build an audience in the United States as well. The band’s sound - both in performance and in their choice of songs and arrangements - is decidedly modern, and they were very well received in the hall.

They were followed on stage by Grass Cats, a band that has existed in many different forms since 1997 as a vehicle for North Carolina singer, songwriter and mandolinist Russell Johnson. Their short set featured several of Russell’s songs, including Home To Carolina, which has spent a number of months on the Bluegrass Unlimited’s National Bluegrass Survey.

Any time Steve Gulley is singing, it’s time to pay attention, and last night was no exception. I had been looking forward to seeing Grasstowne live at IBMA, so when they took the stage next, my ears were perked up. The combination of Gulley with Alan Bibey on mandolin and Phil Leadbetter on dobro is the basis of this new group, still less than a year old, but with quite a reputation already in place.

As you might expect, they put on a strong show, mixing songs from their solo projects and the band’s debut CD, The Road Heading Home.

We also caught John Reischman & The Jaybirds, a Canadian band that performed an interesting mix of old time, bluegrass and folk music. John is known from his time as a member of The Tony Rice Unit and the Good Ol’ Persons. I was unfortunately beset with a computer issue while they were on stage, and wasn’t able to focus on their show, but they were very enthusiastically received in the room.

Dale Ann Bradley closed the evening’s showcase, and was joined by Mike Bub on bass and Ramona Church on banjo. Her set was mostly drawn from here current CD, Catch Tomorrow. There are few singers in bluegrass who can captivate an audience the way she can, and the band was sharp and on top of their game.

     

   

The Grand Ole Opry has some good bluegrass on tap this weekend, during both the Friday and Saturday night radio broadcasts.

Friday (7/6) has Mountain Heart in the 10:00-10:30 p.m. slot, and Jesse McReynolds in the 10:30-11:00 segment.

On the big Saturday night show (7/7), Mountain Heart is back (9:00-9:30, 11:00-11:30 slots), as is Bobby Osborne & Rocky Top X-Press (8:00-8:30 slot), Dale Ann Bradley (8:30-9:00 and 11:30-12:00 slots) and Mike Snider (7:30-8:00 and 10:30-11:00). All times are eastern.

As always, the Opry broadcasts can be heard online via streaming audio from the WSM web site, and their radio can be heard over a wide portion of the southern and central US at 650 AM. Friday’s show runs from 9:00-11:00 p.m., and Saturday’s from 7:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m.

Highlights of the audio broadcast will be available early next week in the WSM audio archives if you miss the broadcasts.

On October 28, 2006 The Daughters Of Bluegrass took home the coveted Recorded Event of the Year award for their second CD release, Back To The Well. The evening before the awards were announced, they also performed at an official IBMA showcase, and video from that show is now posted on YouTube.

Songs available from that show include:

All seven of the videos can be found on the Hope River Entertainment YouTube page.

The bluegrass trading season is in full swing and The Dale Ann Bradley Band has acquired new members in the recent trades. Dale Ann has gathered together some great bluegrass musicians to put together her new high powered band.

The first bit of news is that mandolin player and tenor singer Jeff Parker has left Lonesome River Band to join Dale Ann. Jeff’s mandolin style and soaring vocals should nicely complement Dale Ann’s music.

Brought in to nail down the low end of the music, award winning bass player, Mike Bub, has joined the band on upright bass. Bub played bass for years in The Del McCoury Band, winning numerous IBMA Bass Player of the Year awards. Mike also contributed baritone vocals to the McCoury mix and one hopes that Dale Ann will take advantage of his singing in her new band.

Banjo player Ramona Church has also joined Dale Ann, creating an opening in Big Country Bluegrass which has been filled by Lynwood Lunsford.

In addition to these changes, Troy Engle is now playing fiddle with the band. The band website also indicates that he may play some guitar from time to time. The site also continues to lists Deanie Richardson on fiddle. Will we hear some twin fiddling?

This is quite a line up and Dale Ann appears to agree.

I feel like I’m starting a new musical life with this entourage. And that’s just the truth. With the musical talent of these folks, along with their personal character & their true dedication to making this musical unit as good as it can be, I have nothing but the highest hopes for all five of us.

The November/December issue of Bluegrass Music Profiles is in the mail, with Rhonda Vincent on the cover. Publishers Kevin and Lori Kerfoot tell us that this is their first Women In Bluegrass edition - an “all girls issue” - something they plan to make into an annual project at BMP.

In addition to the cover feature - an interview with Rhonda - there are interviews with Claire Lynch, Dale Ann Bradley, Alecia Nugent, Alison Brown, Missy Raines, Martha Adcock, Sandy Cherryholmes, Dixie Hall and Lorraine Jordan.

Here’s how the Kerfoots describe this issue:

Rhonda discusses her new Christmas album as well as how she looks at the controversy created by her All American Bluegrass Girl project and how she decided on which photo to finally use for the cover.

Claire opens up about the reason for her absence from touring and recording and why her new CD is titled New Day.

You’ll also learn Sandy Cherryholmes’ favorite food, why Martha Adcock is in the studio and where Missy Raines got her 1937 Kay bass.

The issue also has a photograph of Josh Graves at his last performance, the details of his funeral, and Jerry Douglas and Phil Leadbetter’s thoughts on the Dobro world losing its King.

You can read portions of the Rhonda Vincent interview, and find subscription details on the BMP web site.

We posted back in August about Dale Ann Bradley’s newest release, Catch Tomorrow, when we first received a promo copy.

The hope we expressed at the time was that now, at long last, this extremely talented vocalist and expressive song stylist may finally have all the pieces in place to make a lasting mark on the music world. With a new (aggressive) label, and first rate material top to bottom, Catch Tomorrow may be capable of generating the attention this verstatile artist deserves.

The CD has been available at Dale Ann’s shows for several months, and from her web site, but has just shipped to stores this week. Look for it wherever you prefer to purchase bluegrass music, on the Compass Records site, or in Apple’s iTunes Music Store where you can hear audio samples as well.

You can also hear Dale Ann discuss a number of the songs from the new CD - and give an interesting overview of her bluegrass career (including the New Coon Creek Girls) - in her recent GrassCast interview.

John visits with Dale Ann Bradley in this episode of The GrassCast. John and Dale Ann discuss her new CD Catch Tomorrow, and specifically talk about about several of the tunes. They also trace Dale Ann’s carreer in bluegrass music, talk about her band members both past and present, women in bluegrass, and what’s in store for the future.

The GrassCast is configured to be delivered in a variety of formats. You can listen right now within this window, subscribe for free via Apple’s iTunes Music Store to receive each new episode as it is published, or download the file to your computer to listen at your convenience. All those instructions and link can be found below.

This episode is 24 minutes in length, with a download size of 23 MB (for the MP3 file).

Just click the Listen now link below to hear the interview now. The GrassCast available through the iTunes music store is an enhanced podcast containing photos and hyperlinks relative to the subject matter being discussed in the interview.

*NOTE: If you are using IE you will need to click the player below once to activate it, and a second time to start it playing. It may take a few moments for the audio to begin. If you are using a standards compliant browser such as Firefox you should be fine.*

Listen now:

Direct Download: ep47_daleann_bradley.mp3
Subscribe with:
Free Download: The GrassCast iPodder software

To subscribe with your own podcatching software, copy and past this url into the appropriate entry box in your software: http://www.thegrasscast.com/rss

We’ve posted a number of times recently about Dale Ann Bradley, her new CD Catch Tomorrow, and the recent changes in her touring band. In those posts, we expressed hope that her new association with Compass Records would help her music be heard by a larger audience, and suggested that this new CD was well-positioned to do just that.

This Saturday (9/2), Dale Ann will be featured on The Grand Ole Opry radio broadcast from Nashville. You can hear the Opry program live over the air (650 AM out of Nashville) or via online streaming, between 7:30 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. (EDT) Saturday evening.

Listen for Dale Ann and her band in the 8:30-9:00 p.m. and midnight to 12:30 a.m. segments. The Isaacs will also be on the show, performing in the 9:30-10:00 p.m. and 12:30-1:00 a.m. slots.

Grand Ole Opry Live on GAC TV is a repeat this week, unfortunately, so no luck catching Dale Ann or The Isaacs there.

One of the advantages of operating a news resource like The Bluegrass Blog is the opportunity to hear new CD releases before they are sent to radio, or made available to the general public. There is nothing like being in on a secret, especially when it’s a good’n.

The new CD from Dale Ann Bradley, Catch Tomorrow, surely falls into this category. Even in a long career filled with stellar recordings, this new project really catches the ear.

Many observers have noted that with as pure a voice as Dale Ann possess, and such a knack for choosing material suited for its strengths, she must only lack the support of a top notch band, and a record label willing and able to promote her, to see some legitimate success in this business.

The bands she has had for several years, and like so many in bluegrass, the membership is ever changing. Catch Tomorrow features primarily the members who contributed this past few years, like Michael Cleveland, Jesse Brock and Pete Kelly now departed, with Brock moving to Europe to marry and make music, and Cleveland and Kelly forming Michael’s new Flamekeeper band with Audie Blaylock. She now has vets Deanie Richardson and Scott Napier on the road with her and long-time bassist Vicki Simmons, and a new banjo hire is anticipated shortly.

With Catch Tomorrow, her debut collaboration with Compass Records, there is hope that the business partnership side of the equation is in place as well. This new release was produced by Compass founder and President, Alison Brown, who also contributes her banjo on several tracks. Dale Ann gives great credit to Brown for help with song selection and arranging, and it could be argued that this is the most cohesive and start-to-finish strong project from Bradley to date.

Much of the strongest material comes from Dale Ann herself, with autobiographical touches on songs like Run Rufus Run and Grandma’s Gift that tell as much about the world she grew up in as it does the actual characters in the stories. There is also a simply marvelous country-style duet with Marty Rabon on the old Dolly and Porter song, Holding On To Nothing, and a sparse and moving Gospel duet with Larry Sparks on Pass Me Not.

Dale Ann’s web site offers a few audio samples from the new release, and a pre-order option exists. It isn’t clear whether the orders can be shipped right away, or will arrive after the release date, but they are being accepted online now.

We have a terrific interview with Dale Ann which will be the subject of an upcoming episode of The GrassCast. It will be available here on The Bluegrass Blog and to all GrassCast subscribers closer to the official release date for the new CD (October 10). She talks at some length about her early days performing in Renfro Valley, KY and with The Coon Creek Girls as well as her more recent musical endeavors.

Be sure to keep an eye out for that GrassCast, and the release of Catch Tomorrow.