Versatile old-time musician Matt Brown has a new CD due for release March 18 from 5-String Productions. My Native Home features Brown on fiddle, banjo, guitar and vocals, assisted by Tim O’Brien on guitar and harmony vocals, Brittany Haas on fiddle, Ben Krakauer on banjo, and March Schatz on bass.

Brown is a talented instrumentalist who sings with a plaintive voice that is thoroughly convincing on the sort of traditional ballads he offers here. Most of the arrangements are sparse, with four songs presented unaccompanied.

The tunes are my favorite parts of the CD, again presented without much adornment. Matt recorded Folding Down The Sheets and Sandy River Belle as solo banjo tracks, and Happy Hollow by himself on fiddle. A standout to me is the duet he does with Haas, which Brown says was a blast for him to record.

“The Carroll County Blues is a duet with me on 4 string violin and Brittany on 5 string.  So… 2 people, 9 strings, lots of fun.”

Carrol County Blues:      

Another especially strong cut is Taylor Girls, a fiddle tune of Matt’s. I have always been partial to the sound of 3-finger banjo in old time music, and this tune is a perfect vehicle.

“I wrote this tune at the Philadelphia Folk Festival a number of years ago. I was playing a square dance there, and my friend Bob Taylor was playing bass. At one point between dances, his daughters, Lindsay and Laura, walked in. They are beautiful young women and dear friends, and the sight of them inspired this tune, which unfurled itself in minutes. We played it for the very next dance.”

Taylor Girls:      

Samples from all 17 tracks can be heard at Brown’s web site. Though the CD isn’t officially out for a few more weeks, copies are available now for immediate delivery.

We have reported in the past about Jan Johansson’s health problems and a benefit concert to provide him and his family with some financial assistance.

Swedish-born Johansson, a multi-instrumentalist and fiddle teacher based in Cary, North Carolina, was diagnosed in 2008 as needing a heart transplant. On December 29, Johansson was admitted to UNC Hospital and placed at the top of the list for a heart transplant. However, a match has not yet been found and last week the doctors decided to implant a heart pump as an interim measure. This will provide Johansson some stability for his condition, but he still needs a heart transplant. He will remain on the heart transplant list, although as a lower priority.

Johansson will be in the hospital for about two more weeks. News 14 Carolina recently broadcast a report about Johansson’s hospitalisation.

You can see and hear Jan’s fine fiddle playing in this video, performing with Bobby Hicks, Carolina Junction, Lindsey Tims and Julie Elkins.

Anyone who would like to make a donation towards his substantial medical costs can do so at the National Foundation for Transplants web site.

Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints for their impressive Super Bowl victory. I know that their are plenty of Who Datz in the bluegrass nation, and I’m sure they are savoring the moment.

Once again, the commercials between game segments were a big focus of the evening’s entertainment and it appears that the breakaway winner this year is the fiddlin’ beaver, brought to us courtesy of Monster.com.

One presumes that Monster was able to get this little guy his big break. Don’t all you fiddlers rush to Monster at once!

Stop me if you’ve heard this story before…

A talented young bluegrass picker makes a name for themself with regional groups, gets a shot at touring with some bigger acts, and moves to Nashville. Bigger things start to happen musically, but a new family seems more important and they decide to give up on the road life.

Sound familiar?

Well that is the story of Troy Engle, a crackerjack multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter who has spent time with Mark Newton, The Isaacs, Dale Ann Bradley and Patty Loveless. He was working with The Isaacs when his second child was born, and chose to seek his living in the studio, exercising his many skills and his entreprenuerial streak instead of his road shoes.

Troy started a company called Unplugged Demos, along with the similarly multi-talented Justin Carbone, to create quality studio demos for acoustic songwriters on a tight budget. Now he has launced an overdub business to make it easy for small home studios and low-budget projects to have him lay down instrumental tracks for their recordings.

This new venture is known as Acoustic Overdubs, and the web site explains how Troy can add banjo, mandolin, guitar, fiddle, resonator guitar, pedal steel and several other instruments to your track, quickly and for a very reasonable fee.

Get all the details online.