Song of the Mountains is broadcasting some good bluegrass this weekend on public television stations.

This weekend’s episode features both Dale Ann Bradley and The Circuit Riders. At the time of taping, Dale Ann had Gena Britt Tew on banjo, Jeremy Abshire on fiddle, Tim Laughlin on mandolin, Charles Fields on bass, and Randall Conn on dobro.

The show airs this Saturday night at 6pm on UNC-TV for North Carolina viewers, and at 9:30pm on Blue Ridge PBS for Virginia viewers.

A complete listing of broadcast stations nation-wide is available here.

Dale Ann Bradley graces the cover of the latest edition of Bluegrass Unlimited.

The August 2009 issue also includes a lengthy article about Bradley by Larry Nager, which chronicles her career in bluegrass from her early days with the New Coon Creek Girls through her latest compass CD, Don’t Turn Your Back, and her ongoing struggle with diabetes.

There is also a fascinating travelogue written by Dan Loftin, Nashville photographer and teller of tall tales, about his road trip with Jim Mills to shoot some of the pre war banjos for Mills’ book, Gibson’s Original Mastertones: Flathead 5-String Banjos of the 1930s-40s.

Casey Henry has a piece on dance troupe Footworks, and Murphy Henry has one on bluegrass pioneer Gloria Belle. Regular features include the BU personal appearance calendar, Notes & Queries and the monthly National Bluegrass Survey chart, where Lonesome River Band continues their run at #1 with Them Blues from their No Turning Back CD.

In discussing the August issue with BU Managing Editor Sharon McGraw, it came out that this cover is the second of three in a row that will feature female artists – a first from the magazine. Valerie Smith and Becky Buller had the July cover, and Claire Lynch will be there for September.

You can read the cover story on Dale Ann, and find subscription and single issue purchase information on the Bluegrass Unlimited web site.

Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article on Alison Brown and her company, Compass Records, that also includes brief interviews with three Compass artists who have recent releases – Dale Ann Bradley, Missy Raines, and Brown herself.

The article – The Sisterhood of Bluegrass by Barry Mazor – discusses how the bluegrass/acoustic world has warmed of late to female-headed bands, and how these three all find themselves on Compass at this point in their careers.

“It’s a kind of sisterhood, really,” Ms. Brown notes, and she should know. She’s not only a widely admired banjo virtuoso, and in 1991 the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association’s banjo player of the year award, after a stint playing with Alison Krauss. She’s also a former investment banker who co-founded and heads Compass Records along with her husband and bandmate, Gary West. While the three 40-something bandleaders on Compass are different musically, Ms. Brown stresses their common history.

“We’re all about the same age,” she said in an interview at Compass’s Music Row offices, “and all three of us have seen change and what women can do in the field. When I was playing festivals growing up, people always felt compelled to say ‘you’re really good — for a girl,’ and it wasn’t even meant as an insult. But you don’t hear that so much any more; women are leading the charge with the most interesting bluegrass.”

You can read the full piece online, complete with audio tracks from the Brown, Bradley and Raines CDs.

The video for Don’t Turn Your Back, the title track from Dale Ann Bradley’s new CD on Compass, is making waves at CMT Pure. She beat out country heavyweights Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and Alan Jackson polling #2 in last week’s voting.

Online viewers are invited to pick their favorite videos from a much longer list, and the top 12 are announced as the CMT Pure 12 Pack each week.

Bluegrass fans who would like to see Dale Ann hang in there at the top of the charts for another week can cast their vote at CMT.com. And since you are allowed to select up to 12 videos with your vote, be on the lookout for a number of other bluegrass or bluegrassy videos worthy of your attention in the poll:

• The Abrams Brothers – Viva la Vida
• Melonie Cannon – Back To Earth
• The Duhks – Fast Paced World
• Old Crowe Medicine Show – Caroline
• Dan Tyminski – Wheels
• Bradley Walker – A Little Change

How cool would it be to see all those videos in the top 12!

Voting each week ends on Friday, so head over to CMT.com if you want to make your opinion known.