The Crowe Brothers have a new CD on Rural Rhythm, Brothers-n-Harmony, which again showcases their brand of traditional bluegrass and country music, with an emphasis on brother duets.

The 12 tracks include classics from the Louvin Brothers and Don Reno, along with new songs from Josh Crowe, Dixie Hall, Eric Gibson and Cody Shuler. Josh and Wayne Crowe handle all the vocals, and play guitar and bass respectively, with Steve Sutton on banjo, Darren Nicholson on mandolin, Steve Thomas on fiddle, and Randy Kohrs on resonator guitar.

Don Wayne Reno guests on banjo for his dad’s song, Better Luck Next Time, and Ronnie McCoury provides mandolin on another Reno song, Country Boy Rock & Roll. 

Josh Crowe says that it is no coincidence that two Don Reno songs were chosen for the new CD.

“We were good friends with Don up through the years and the duet singing of he and Red Smiley were a major influence on us, as were The Louvin Brothers, Wilburn Brothers and several others.”

Audio samples from Brothers-n-Harmony can be found on the Rural Rhythm site.

The latest issue of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine is now mailing to subscribers. This issue is Volume 11, Number 4 – May/June 2007. The cover story this time around is The Pioneers of Flatpicking. The pioneers of bluegrass guitar covered in this issue are (in no particular order):

• Edd Mayfield
• Maybelle Carter
• Riley Pucket
• George Shuffler
• Hank Snow
• Don Reno
• Delmore Brothers
• Jimmie Rodges
• Doc Addington

Yes, the folks at FGM are aware that not all these players used a flatpick.

Although not all of these early performers used a flatpick, they all certainly had a great influence on those of us who flatpick today.

The usual columnists are all on board providing lessons and tabs of tunes played by these pioneers. The entire issue is a great lesson in the history of bluegrass and flatpicking guitar.

Here’s a link to the subscription info.

Jason Skinner is a devoted student of the banjo style of Don Reno. At age 29, he’s spent 15 years studying the Reno style, and has set out on a crusade to bring more banjo players to embrace Don’s music by producing a 5 DVD set of Reno style instruction for banjo, and offering the entire set for only $65.

“It really bothers me that even to this day Don doesn’t get the credit he deserves. I think it is partly because people find his style hard to figure out. So I figured the best way to help get more people interested in Don’s music was to help them learn.”

For Reno devotees, the fact that the Earl Scruggs banjo style has largely eclipsed Reno’s is a bone of contention, and anyone who spends time with banjo pickers has probably encountered an episode of the long running “it all would have been different had Reno gone to work for Monroe instead of joining the Army, forcing Monroe to go with his second choice, Earl Scruggs” argument.

Jason is unique in having taken steps to educate more banjo players – or at least help them educate themselves. Last year he introduced an online Reno workshop, which uses text descriptions, tab displays and audio clips to both distinguish Don’s style from Earl’s, and to teach many basic elements of Reno’s approach. This workshop is offered free of change, and is still available online.

There are some video snippets from the Reno DVDs available on the The Skinner Family Band web site and on Jason’s YouTube page.

“I did not do this DVD set for the money as you can see that I am not charging a lot for them. I just want to share my love of Don Reno’s music with as many people as possible. Maybe these DVD’s can help people get over that first hump so they won’t give up on his style.”

A full description of the 5 DVD set (tunes, topics) can be found on online, along with ordering information.

We just heard from our friend Russ Jordan with a list of the winners of the 2006 RenoFest competition.

RenoFest Guitar Contest:

RenoFest Banjo Contest:

RenoFest Band contest

RenoFest is an annual festival which bills itself as “a celebration of the life and times of Don Reno.” The competition ran as a part of the festival, which took place last weekend in Hartsville, SC. The prizes ranged from new professional quality instruments to cash prizes – as much as $1,000 for the first place band.