With so much of the world focused this week on the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, it seems fitting that a video of Chinese bluegrass has been posted on YouTube.

Here is Mei Han’s Red Chamber picking a solid version of Katy Hill along with John Reischman and the Jaybirds, taken from a concert this past spring.

Han is a noted master of the Chinese zheng, though she is performing on the liuqin in this video, posted by her record label, ZaDiscs.

John Reischman & The Jaybirds have a new CD, which given the high praise the group has earned from both peers and critics, seems aptly named. Stellar Jays was released in mid-May, and audio samples are available at CD Baby.

This is their fourth release as a band, with members actively involved in various musical projects along the US west coast and Canadian Pacific Northwest. Jim Nunally is on guitar, Trisha Gagnon on bass, Nick Honbuckle on banjo, Greg Spatz on fiddle and Reischman on mandolin.

You can find out more about The Jaybirds, and check their tour schedule, on the official web site.

We’ve written a good bit recently about Chris Thile, and his return, if not necessarily to bluegrass, at least to recording and performing within the structure of a bluegrass ensemble. It seems somehow appropriate in this setting to highlight two new recordings from David Grisman, an artist with some interesting parallels to the young Mr. Thile, and without whose contributions what Thile does musically is not likely to have progressed as it has.

Like Thile, Grisman was drawn to bluegrass music - and the mandolin - a very young age. Similarly, he developed a new sub-genre of more experimental string music that managed to draw in new fans, while also repelling others.

I well recall my first hearing of the debut recording from The David Grisman Quintet when it was released thirty years ago. It was a bit like my hearing JD Crowe’s “Old Home Place” Album (Rounder 0044) around the same time. I knew that the music I was new, powerful, and likely to have a far-reaching impact.

And so it has proven to be.

Grisman has chosen to celebrate this 30 year anniversary of the introduction of Dawg Music, as his early fans dubbed his new jazz-inflected string band style in the mid-1970s, with two new releases. Both will be released on his own label, Acoustic Disc, on October 3, and together they showcase his appreciation and passion for both traditional bluegrass and more adventurous acoustic string music.

We made a brief mention of DGBX, the CD from The David Grisman Bluegrass Experience, back in July. At the time, Brance simply saw a notice about the CD online, and neither of us had heard it. The group has served as Grisman’s outlet for bluegrass, and has performed sporadically over the past few years in the Bay Area of California, where the various members reside. (more…)