Festival season has officially begun and this last weekend saw bluegrass fans from all over converging on Farmington, NC for the 1st Annual FarmFest at Farmington Dragway.
Festival organizers tell me the event was a success and plans are already underway for next year.
The lineup for the festival was an impressive list of both regional and national bluegrass acts. Saturday night included a special All-Star Jam including Terry Baucom and Wes Golding, both of whom were members of Boone Creek when the debut album was released 30 years ago. Baucom and Golding were joined on stage by long time musical collaborator Lou Reid, and relative newcomer Josh Williams.
I wish I could have heard that! Cindy Baucom sent along this photo taken by Mike Lane.
Josh Williams unveiled his new band last Saturday at The Station Inn in Nashville. It was their first public performance, and a good many of Nashville’s bluegrass folks were on hand.
Among them was veteran songwriter and bluegrass entrepreneur Tom T. Hall, who shared a few words about the show on Josh’s web site.
At nine-fifteen, a hush lay over the crowd and then suddenly a wild burst of applause swept the room as Josh, Clayton, Tim, Jason, and Chase took the stage; after all the years of playing in other bands, including Rhonda Vincent’s Rage, we were now looking at The Josh Williams Band.
All of the songs that Josh had recorded over the years could now be performed at his own discretion. He made mention of the fact that he had worked many nights when he got to sing only one song. And now he had the stage all to himself with his own band.
Miss Dixie and I looked at one another and smiled. After all the learning, practice, watching, patience and dedication to his craft and his art, Josh Williams had arrived.
Josh’s band features Clayton Campbell on fiddle, Tim Dishman on bass, Jason McKendree on banjo, Chase Johner on mandolin, and Williams on guitar and lead vocals.
You can read the rest of Tom T.’s comments on Josh’s site, and see several photos from the show on photographer Bobby Jones’ web site.
Recently we told you about the announcement of the Josh Williams Band. Josh has since let us know some more specifics of his plans for the 2008 festival season.
For the next two weekends, Josh will be performing with the Alecia Nugent Band. He’ll do shows with her on February 9, 10, 15 and 16.
Josh’s band will then debut at the Station Inn in Nashville, TN on February 23, 2008. Josh’s management team will begin considering booking offers for festivals and shows during the 2008 and 2009 seasons, at that time.
But if you want to see Josh play, you’ll have plenty of opportunities, as he will be filling in with the Larry Stephenson Band through the remainder of the 2008 season. Josh said he anticipates very few scheduling conflicts between the Larry Stephenson Band and his own band.
Our Grasstowne buddies, Alan Bibey and Phil Leadbetter, both contacted us earlier this week mentioning the big doin’s in Bristol, TN on Saturday (1/26).
It’s the 3rd annual Pickin’ at the Paramount all star show where top bluegrass artists get together for two shows, performing together in round robin-type groupings quite different from the way fans are used to seeing them.
Artists involved in this year’s show include Mike Bub, Tim Laughlin, Ron Stewart, Adam Steffey, Jim Hurst, Dale Ann Bradley, Bradley Walker, Alecia Nugent, Terry Baucom, Phil Leadbetter, Alan Bibey, David Talbot, Missy Raines, Ricky Wasson, Kenny & Amanda Smith and Josh Williams. Cindy Baucom will be the emcee.
If you live within a comfortable drive’s distance of Bristol, this show would be well worth the trip. Shows are at 3:00 and 7:30 p.m. at the Paramount Center for the Arts, a restored art deco movie house from the 1920’s.
More details about online ticket purchasing can be found on The Paraount site.
posted by Brance on 01.24.08 @ 9:53 am Tag: Josh Williams
Josh Williams recently appeared at Music from A Front Porch, the annual Murray State University fund raiser concert in support of the college station WKMS. Josh was there to introduce the Peter Rowan/Tony Rice Quartet. With more than 1,000 people in attendance, Josh took the opportunity to make a little announcement of his own, The Josh Williams Band.
After his hasty departure from Rhonda Vincent’s band, The Rage, prior to the IBMA award show last October, speculation swirled as to what Josh would do. Some said he should start his own band, and he took their advice to heart. The Josh Williams Band will begin touring this summer, and Josh has announced the band line-up, short a mandolin player.
Josh is an accomplished player on almost every instrument in the bluegrass line up, but he has chosen to stick with the guitar in his new band. Tim Dishman will be playing bass in the band. Dishman and Williams know each other from their days together as members of the Special Consensus, Greg Cahill’s Chicago based band. Josh is calling on two boyhood friends for the fiddle and banjo slots in the band. Clayton Campbell will play fiddle and Jason McKendree will be picking the banjo. Both of these young men are western Kentucky natives and long time friends of Josh.
The band will make it’s debut appearance at the world famous Station Inn in Nashville, TN next month on February 23, 2008. Josh expects to announce a mandolin player before that show. He tells me he is still actively looking for the right player to fit the band’s style and personality.
I spoke with Tony Williams yesterday, Josh’s dad, who will be booking the band through Awsipro Music. Tony tells me the band is planning to record almost immediately.
This new group is already planning to step into the studio to record an initial project. Josh has been gathering material ranging from seldom done golden oldies of the first generation bluegrass repiture to original material he and others are writing. The band will be working these songs up for performance in addition to the material from Josh’s other projects on Pinecastle records, including the still unreleased third project.
And what about that unreleased CD? Josh says it only lacks a few vocal parts here and there and he plans to have it finished and released sometime early summer of this year.
Keep an eye on Josh’s website, JoshWilliamsMusic.com, for updates about the band and tour schedule information.
The folks at Flatpicking Guitar Magazine have posted an online clip from the most recent DVD release, Guitarmageddon. It features Josh Williams, Andy Falco and Chris Eldridge tearing up Cherokee Shuffle on stage at the Station Inn in Nashville.
As you might expect, the boys pick it solid throughout, and surely do so throughout this one hour production.
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine has released their latest concert DVD, following the familiar theme of grouping popular flatpickers they have set with previous releases.
Guitarmageddon, co-produced with SimpleFolk Productions, showcases three young flatpicking firebrands who have been making their presence felt in bluegrass this past few years. Chris Eldridge, Andy Falco and Josh Williams are featured in this one hour DVD performing live at Nashville’s storied Station Inn in a variety of settings.
The three each offer solo arrangements, are paired as duos, pick as a trio, and are joined by Cody Kilby on banjo and Mike Bub on bass for some rockin’ bluegrass numbers. Each of the three guitarists are interviewed, as is J.T. Gray, current owner of the Station Inn.
A total of 15 songs are included, among them favorites like Cherokee Shuffle, East Tennessee Blues, Jesse James, Nine Pound Hammer, and Salt Creek.
There doesn’t seem to be a video sample up online yet, but they may be posted soon on Flatpicking Guitar’sYouTube channel.
You can find more details in the Flatpicking Guitaronline store.
Our friend Tony Williams, promoter of the Kentucky Lake Bluegrass Festival, recently contacted us with news concerning a benefit concert being organized in his area of Kentucky.
The concert is to benefit Mr. Scottie Henson, one of the charter members of the Jackson Purchase Friends of Bluegrass, the organization behind many bluegrass events in Western Kentucky. Henson is known to the bluegrass community as an instructor, as well as a member of The Kentucky Opry in Draffenville, KY. Recently Henson underwent double aortic aneursm surgery at Vanderbilt Medical Center.
The surgery went well, but shortly after the operation Scottie started being plagued by all kinds of setbacks, including pneumonia and kidney failure, but through the miracles of medical science and the prayers of hundreds of his friends, he has survived, and has now been moved to Select Specialty Hospital in Nashville to begin a long and difficult rehabilitation. His wife and daughter have been with him in Nashville since August 28, 2007 sleeping on the sofas in Vanderbilt Surgical Intensive Care waiting room, and in Motels, and eating every meal out the entire time.
Now that the worst is past and Henson seems to be recovering, Josh Williams, who had Scottie as his first musical instructor, along with the Campbell Family, the proprietors of The Kentucky Opry, JPFOB, and members of Henson’s home church, the Hamlet Baptist Church, have planned this benefit to help defray the medical costs not covered by Henson’s insurance.
The show is scheduled to take place at The Kentucky Opry on December 7, 2007 from 7 PM to Midnight. There is no set price for admission, they ask that attendies simply make a donation to the fund.
The Kentucky Opry is located 5 miles North of Benton, Kentucky on U.S. Highway 641 North. It is also six miles south of Kentucky Dam Village State Park. It is less than one mile from the Purchase Parkway South via Exit 47, and only 5 1/2 miles off Interstate 24 at Kentucky Exit 25A.
For many years now the legend of the Sidemen has lived on even though the group no longer performs at Nashville’s Station Inn.
In recent months, a new group of sidemen have come together to fill the void. They call themselves the Mashville Brigade. The group performs most Tuesday nights at The Station Inn and consists of pickers who all play in different bands on the road.
The line up may not be exactly the same every night if one or more of the guys has a gig somewhere, but the group more or less consists of Aaron McDaris (banjo), Ashby Frank (mandolin), Darrel Webb (guitar), Greg Martin or Randall Barnes (bass), and Jim VanCleve (fiddle).
The group makes an effort to play a strait up hard driving bluegrass setlist each Tuesday night, entertaining the crowd of hardcore fans who turn out for the shows.
Tonight, the line up will be a little different, as the band welcomes a few friends to the stage to “Mash” one with them.
At tonight’s show, band will be:
Josh Williams - guitar and vocals (formerly of Rhonda Vincent)
Darrel Webb - Mandolin and vocals (Currently with Rhonda Vincent)
Tim Dishman - Bass (Special Consensus) Scott Vestal - Banjo (Sam Bush Band) Jim VanCleve - Fiddle (Mountain Heart)
Daren Shumaker - sound engineer (Ronnie Bowman & Mountain Heart)
We’re expecting a fun crowd and a lot of energy, as we just recently fronted a show for Dierks Bently (where he graciously gave the Mashville Brigade a glowing review from the stage) at a Charity event in Nashville. You just never know who’s gonna drop in and mash one or two with the band, too, so it’s usually pretty interesting!
The Station Inn has dubbed the Mashville Brigade shows as $5 Tuesdays. The cover charge, pizzas, and pitchers of beer are each $5. If you’re in town, be sure to stop by and watch the guys Mash one!
The first piece of news we picked up when we arrived in Nashville came when we ran into Josh and Tony Williams in the exhibit area here at IBMA. Tony runs the popular Kentucky Lake Bluegrass Festival, and Josh has been the guitarist and vocalist with Rhonda Vincent & The Rage.
We had heard that Josh was no longer with Rhonda, and had been eager to see him and find out if it was true. When we approached, I noticed that the affiliation on his IBMA name badge had been blacked out, and figured I had my answer.
Tony told us that after the band’s final set at Dollywood this weekend, Josh was told that it would be his last show with the band. Josh has received several offers already but isn’t ready to make a decision just yet. Every time I’ve seen Josh since, he’s had a cell phone to his head.
Rhonda’s web site had only this brief announcement regarding the switch, dated yesterday (9/30):
Today, Josh Williams performed for the final time with Rhonda Vincent and The Rage.
He is an incredibly talented and gifted musician, and we will miss him. I thank him for his many contributions over the past 4 years, and wish him the best in his future endeavors.
We will be conducting a search for a permanent replacement.
For the time being, Josh plans to focus on completing a solo project, and perhaps start a new one with Carl Jackson producing.
No one can doubt that this gifted young man has a bright future in bluegrass, wherever he may land.
This morning I’m on my way to Nashville for the concert DVD shoot I told you about a while back. This show features Josh Williams, Chris Eldridge, and Andy Falco. A few special guests are going to help the guys out as well, including Cody Kilby, and Mike Bub.
If you are in Nashville today be sure to stop by the Station Inn at 7pm or 9pm to catch one of the sets. I you can’t make to the show, you’ll be able to buy the DVD from Flatpicking Guitar Magazine here in a month or two.
Next month I’m heading to Nashville for a day to record a live concert DVD with three fantastic young guitar players. They play in some of today’s top bluegrass bands. Here they are.
Chris Eldridge - The Infamous Stringdusters / Chris Thile and How To Grow A Band
Andy Falco - Alecia Nugent
Josh Williams - Rhonda Vincent & The Rage
The show will be held at the world famous Station Inn (It’s not on their calendar yet, but it was just confirmed.) in Nashville, TN on February 19, 2007. That’s a Monday night, so if you’re in Nashville that week, be sure to come out. Who knows, you might end up on video!
We’ll be recording two shows that evening, one at 7PM and the other at 9PM. Tickets are $10 per show or $15 for both. I don’t believe there is any advance ticketing, it’s just pay at the door and first come, first serve.
The concert is being produced by Dan Miller at Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, and is the fourth in a series of concert DVD productions he and I have done together. The first three are available from Flatpicking Mercantile and feature the “A list” of bluegrass flatpicking guitarists. Here’s a clip from the last one in the series, Live In Kansas City, featuring Cody Kilby, Brad Davis, and Tim May.
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Festival season has officially begun and this last weekend saw bluegrass fans from all over converging on Farmington, NC for the 1st Annual FarmFest at Farmington Dragway.
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