We got this follow-up note from Ivan Rosenberg, a respected resonator guitarist and clawhammer banjo player in the Pacific Northwest. He wanted to let everyone know the status of Cluny Macpherson in the Class Act Canada online scholarship contest, and how our readers have made a difference.

Thanks largely to a big surge of votes following a previous post on The Bluegrass Blog, banjo picker Cluny Macpherson from Victoria, BC made it to the 3rd and final round of a contest to win up to a $100,000 college scholarship. The Class Act Canada contest will award 10 deserving students from around the world with an all-expenses-paid education at Sprott-Shaw Community College in British Columbia, Canada. Voting ends this coming Friday, and the judges will select 10 winners (out of 20 finalists) based on the merit of contestants’ video entries as well as their ability to earn votes.

Cluny intends to work in the field of geriatric nursing. His video entries have displayed some nice banjo chops while also speaking of his desire to make a difference in the community by serving elderly residents.

If you get a chance, please visit Class Act Canada to see Cluny’s new video. According to the contest rules, each IP address can vote 10 times in a row each day. No personal information is required, and just takes seconds to vote–Cluny mentioned that after the first post about this in the Bluegrass Blog, he jumped up 10,000 votes that very day. Competition is tight, and he’s currently around #18 out of 20. But with a few more days of clicking, we can help a great banjo player reach his very commendable educational and professional goals.

Remember, you can vote 10 times in a row each day. Thank you!

We got this note from Ivan Rosenberg, a respected resonator guitarist and clawhammer banjo player in the Pacific Northwest. He is hoping that readers of The Bluegrass Blog might respond and help send Cluny Macpherson to college on scholarship.

The Class Act Canada contest will award 10 deserving students from around the world with an all-expenses-paid education at Sprott-Shaw Community College in British Columbia, Canada. Currently in Round 2, contestants upload videos describing their educational goals, and the top 20 vote-getters will advance to the final round. Currently in the top 20 with around 70,000 votes is one of British Columbia’s top bluegrass musicians, Cluny Macpherson, from the band Flash in the Pan.

His current video shows off his banjo chops while making the case that music is also good medicine – Cluny intends to work in the field of geriatric nursing, and his band is always happy to drop in on area nursing homes to help lift the spirits of elderly residents.

If Cluny gets in the final round – and we can help him get there with our votes – judges will pick the 10 winners using several criteria, one of which is being able to use “social networking sites, video-sharing sites, blogs and more to get as many votes as possible.” Readers of The Bluegrass Blog certainly fit the bill! Please visit Class Act Canada to see Cluny’s video.

According to the contest rules, each IP address can vote 10 times in a row each day. No personal information is required, and just takes seconds to vote. I’ve bookmarked the site and visit it daily, and with the help of more bluegrass fans, we can hopefully help a great picker get a world-class education and make a difference in the lives of our oldest and wisest. Round 2 ends this Friday, so vote soon and often!

Go here to vote.

The Donkeys, from Ivan Rosenberg and Billy Cardine, may not be the only dobro CD to open with a banjo duet, but it’s the first one I’ve found to do so.

OK… so it’s not really a dobro CD, but both Rosenberg and Cardine are known primarily for their work as resophonic guitarists, and my expectations suggested that slide work would be the focus. In truth, what the pair really dedicate this new collaboration project to is melodies, and new ways of incorporating reso guitars into interpreting them.

The pairing is both stylistically and geographically interesting, as Rosenberg is a California-based musician whose compositions have been used in a number of television and movie soundtracks, and Cardine lives in North Carolina and performs with The Biscuit Burners, an eclectic string band who describe themselves as playing “fiery mountain music.”

The music, most of which is written by the dobro duo themselves, is performed primarily with members of the resophonic family of guitars, with several tunes featuring twin dobros. Both Cardine and Rosenberg are fine banjoists as well, and they add a few tastes of the old five throughout, with Billy playing 3 finger style, and Ivan clawhammer.

Two tracks are vocal features, with Mary Lucey and Sharon Whitworth doing the honors. The Donkeys even offers a few using the dobro and banjo stating and reworking the melody together, a pairing that has always appealed very strongly to me. Dan Bletz also guests on guitar, and Darrell Muller on bass.

The interesting title of this CD comes from the fact that three of the tunes, The Creptid Donkey, The Donkeys Of Harmison Crevice and Farewell Little Donkey, pay musical homage to the beloved Equus asinus. You can find a few audio samples on either Ivan’s or Billy’s MySpace pages, and orders can be placed online.

On a final pair of Rosenberg/Cardine related notes…

Look for The Bisciut Burners on The History Channel this Friday, August 24. They will be featured on Our Generation, which airs at 6:30 p.m. (ET) with music from their Bonaroo set this past June, as well as discussion with the band.

Rosenberg will be touring in Canada this fall as a part of the New Voices In Slide Guitar show with Doug Cox and Steve Dawson.