WDVX broadcasts at 89.9 FM, and listeners worldwide can catch the show via live streaming from the WDVX web site. The station does not archive these live shows, so be sure to tune in when it airs on Saturday at noon.

The boys also recorded a show for XM’s Bluegrass Junction yesterday, which is set to run on Wednesday next week. They join host Kyle Cantrell for a visit, and surely talk about the two awards they received last weekend at SPBGMA. Look for that one at 3:00 p.m. on XM 14, February 13.
On another Grasstowne-related note… Banjo picker Jason Davis is on the cover on the February issue of Banjo NewsLetter. At 19, I’m not sure if Jason is the youngest banjo artist to grace the cover of BNL, but he is bound to be close.

When that band fell apart, Jason was scooped up by Grasstowne, and is featured on their bedut CD, The Road Headin’ Home. If all that wasn’t enough for the now 19 year old Virginian, he has just released his first solo project, Steppin Out, on Pinecastle Records.

Jason’s banjo playing is solid and strong, firmly in the Scruggs-style tradition, but with a creative spark and voice all his own.

The CD is about half and half, vocal vs. instrumental. The choice of songs shows a degree of maturity you don’t expect in so young a musician, and the list of guest artists demonstrates the rarefied air in which he works.

Contributing vocals are former BlueRidge band mate Junior Sisk, IIIrd Tyme Out’s Russell Moore and Greg Luck, Jeff Parker of The Dailey Vincent Band and Grasstowne brethren Steve Gulley and Alan Bibey. The rhythm section is equally stout – Tim Stafford on guitar, Alan Bibey on mandolin, Zach McLamb on bass, Phil Leadbetter on dobro and Justen Haynes and Ron Stewart on fiddle.

I caught up with Jason long enough to get some of his thoughts on Steppin Out – both of the project in general, and the songs he included, several of which he composed.

“Getting to cut with all these guys was an awesome experience! It was pretty humbling at the same time. Ive looked up to Tim Stafford for about as long as I’ve been playing. He’s been a part of some of my all time favorite records and to get to have that guy playing rhythm behind me was unreal. He had tons of great arrangement ideas and what little bit I was around him, I really felt like I learned a lot. The whole thing was a really great experience and I’m very thankful that Tom Riggs gave me the opportunity.

I wrote the tune Burnt Fuzz a couple of years ago with a different B part. When I wrote another tune recently but didn’t like the first part, I kind of combined the two. I really have no idea where that name came from – I guess I was just trying to think of something random.

The idea for Open Road came when I was sitting around just rehearsing some stuff about a week before I went into cut this record. I kind of had the idea for the first few measures in my head, and within five minutes or so I had the whole thing. I didn’t even know if I was going to cut it, but when we got to the studio, I tried it with the guys and it felt really good. I never really sit down to write a tune – it just kind of happened I guess.

Heel Country was a tune of Alan Bibey’s. I told him I was looking for another instrumental and he let me cut this. It has a cool melody that sits really well on banjo, and I liked it the first time I heard it. Pinnacle Mountain was a tune I got from Steve Gulley. It was a tune that his dad’s band cut back in the 60s and I really liked it because it sounds like an old traditional tune but very few people have ever heard it.”

Jason also chose to cut a version of Pike County Breakdown, a difficult tune which Earl Scruggs recorded many years ago – one that a great many banjo pickers avoid for fear of drawing the comparison.

Pike County was a pretty gutsy thing I guess. Earl pretty much destroyed the earth with his cut. I just wanted to include a banjo tune that most folks would recognize, plus it’s just a really mean kind of banjo tune and I knew these guys would really burn it up.”

You can hear audio samples on Jason’s MySpace page and on the Grastowne site, where you can order the CD in time for holiday giving.

He has almost completed his debut solo project, Stepping Out, expected on Pinecastle in the fall of this year. Just a bit of final mixing is left before the master is turned over to the label.

Jason tells us that the new CD will be roughly half vocal and half instrumental, and he has assembled quite a cast of supporting artists to help him on this project. Bandmates Alan Bibey (mandolin) and Phil Leadbetter (dobro) are featured, along with Tim Stafford on guitar, Zak McLamb on bass, Alan Perdue on mandolin, and Ron Stewart, Justen Haynes and Greg Luck on fiddle.

Handling the vocal chores is a stout chorus as well: Russell Moore, Steve Gulley, Junior Sisk and Jeff Parker.

The material is a mix of old and new, and Jason is very pleased with the songs he recorded.

“I wrote a couple of instrumentals, and we cut one really cool tune that Alan Bibey wrote. The vocals are all older songs that haven’t been cut in forever.

I’m really excited about this CD, and thank the folks at Pinecastle for giving me the chance to do it.”

We’ll be sure to post back with more definite news about a release date once it is announced.

One thing that came up in the discussions was that they have brought Jason Davis into the band to play banjo. He had been filling in with BlueRidge this past few months, and will leave with Alan when the new band starts rehearsals in the next few weeks.

Alan said that they will be auditioning bass players next week, and will announce that as soon as a decision is made.

This time out, Huber is featuring Jason Burleson (Blue Highway), Greg Cahill (Special Consensus), Cia Cherryholmes (Cherryholmes), Joey Cox (BlueRidge), Jason Davis (Kenny & Amanda Smith), Steve Dilling (IIIrd Tyme Out) and Jim Mills (Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder). Each player picks two tunes of their choosing, using their own personal Huber banjo.

The official release date is set for October 24, to coincide with the start of the IBMA World Of Bluegrass convention in Nashville, TN. Copies will be available on site from Huber Banjos, or pre-release orders can be placed with AcuTab to be shipped that week.

Audio samples are available on the AcuTab site as well.

Your blog authors were heavily involved in this recording, being produced by John Lawless of AcuTab and recorded by Brance Gillihan at Clear Blue Productions.

“This will be a great learning experience for me, and a lot of fun. Kenny’s guitar rhythm feels like it’s just made for a banjo, and I’ve been practicing like to crazy to learn all their material.”

Kenny Smith is also excited about the new addition, and what Jason can bring to the band:

“Jason has a drive and a timing that I had never really heard before, and it fits in great with the way I play.”

Jason will be with the band this coming weekend in Bloomingdale, GA at Randy Woods Guitars, at IBMA the following week, and at all subsequent shows.