The second album from the Songs From The Road Band, As The Crow Flies, in now available online. The band is a side-project for members of several bands based in North Carolina, the brainchild of Charles Humphrey III, bass player with Steep Canyon Rangers.

In addition to the Rangers, members of SFTRB are drawn from The Emmit Nershi Band, Shannon Whitworth and the Refugees, Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, Town Mountain, Super Grit Cowboy Band and The Grit Pixies. Pickers include Charles on bass, Mark Schimick on mandolin, Andy Thorn on banjo, Nicky Sanders on fiddle, and Sam Wharton on guitar. Vocalists are Robert Greer, Lance Mills and Shannon Whitworth.

Audio samples can be found on the band’s MySpace page. CDs can be purchased from CD Baby and downloads are available at iTunes.

With Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas still to come, tickets for Del McCoury’s New Year’s Eve have already gone on sale.

McCoury Music has announced that tickets for their New Year’s Eve Party at The Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee, are available on line from Ticketmaster.

Joining the Del McCoury Band & Friends will be Colorado’s Emmitt-Nershi Band and The Infamous Stringdusters. The party starts at 8:00 pm on Wednesday, December 31 and tickets are variously selling at $49.50, $34.50 and $24.50

McCoury Music promises over 4 hours of non-stop music, unique musical collaborations and unexpected guests.

Songs From The Road is a loosely-knit side project band that features members of such noted touring acts as Steep Canyon Rangers, The Emmit Nershi Band, Shannon Whitworth and the Refugees, Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, Town Mountain, Super Grit Cowboy Band and The Grit Pixies.

Their debut CD, Songs From The Road, was released in 2006, produced by Charles Humphrey III of Steep Canyon Rangers, who also played bass.

A second project is in the works, Songs From The Road Vol II – As The Crow Flies, is due on January 15, 2009. A download-only, three song EP will be released shortly featuring a sneak peek of material from the upcoming CD. It will be available from CD Baby and iTunes.

The lineup on the new CD has Charles on bass, Mark Schimick on mandolin, Andy Thorn on banjo, Nicky Sanders on fiddle, and Sam Wharton on guitar. Guest vocalists include Robert Greer, Lance Mills and Shannon Whitworth.

One song from As The Crow Flies can be heard now on the band’s MySpace and ReverbNation pages. The songs is Taxman, and the lyric is one that may grab the attention of a lot of folks in the US during an election year.

Taxman, taxman leave me alone.
Stop knocking on my door ’cause there ain’t noboby home.

Long Road, the new CD from former Leftover Salmonite Drew Emmitt, is due out next Tuesday (7/15) on Compass Records.

The bulk of the songs are Emmitt originals and the core group of musicians include Chris Pandolfi on banjo, Tyler Grant on guitar, Eric Thorin on bass, Jeff Sipe on drums, Steven Sandifer on percussion, and Emmitt on mandolin and lead vocals. There are also guest appearances from Bill Nershi and Andy Hall on resonator guitar, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, and Tim O’Brien, John Cowan and Darrell Scott on vocals.

Audio samples can be found on Drew’s MySpace page and on the Compass Records web site.