Earlier in the month we told you about the Dan Tyminski video for the title track from his album Wheels, released June 17 on Rounder Records.

Rounder has revealed a little about the making of the video and the picturesque setting that all but steals the show.

Directed by Rocky Schenck and produced by Rocky Schenck and Brad Paul, the video, was shot on the unique Sierra Hotel train car on June 10 -11 in California.

The Sierra Hotel car was part of the California Zephyr line that ran from Chicago to Los Angeles from 1948 to 1983. The car was then purchased privately and completely restored and customized. The producers of the video chartered the car and had it attached to the Amtrak Coast Starlight train (which runs from Seattle to Los Angeles) in Oakland and shot the video during the journey south to Los Angeles and back to Oakland the next day. Wheels features grand iconic scenery, informal performances and humorous vignettes about the band finding ways to stay entertained while on the road.

The video is being added on GAC on Tuesday, July 22 and is currently in heavy rotation on CMT Pure. It can also be viewed online.

Our friend David Conner shared this YouTube link with us. It features a number of videos shot during an appearance by The Dan Tyminski Band at The Birchmere on March 1 of this year.

Ten songs from the show are posted, including the title track from Dan’s upcoming Rounder CD, Wheels, several cuts from his previous solo release (Tiny Broken Heart, Stuck In The Middle Of Nowhere) and a few bluegrass classics (Rocky Road Blues, Man Of Constant Sorrow, Muleskinner Blues, Mary Ann).

The band includes Tyminski on guitar and vocals, Ron Stewart on banjo, Adam Steffey on mandolin, Barry bales on bass and Justin Moses on fiddle.

The video was shot with a hand held camera, so it’s a bit shaky at times, but the audio is terrific and they give a fine taste of how strong this band is in concert. This show in March took place one day after I saw the band perform in Roanoke (review here).

You can find all the videos on YouTube, and we’ve included the Wheels video for your enjoyment here.

Brance and I had the opportunity to see The Dan Tyminski Band in concert on Friday (2/29) at The Jefferson Center here in Roanoke, VA. We had been looking forward to seeing them perform since the formation of the band was announced during the 2007 IBMA World Of Bluegrass convention, and The Jefferson’s Shaftman Hall was a near-perfect setting.

The band is composed of Barry Bales on bass, Justin Moses on fiddle/dobro, Adam Steffey on mandolin, and Ron Stewart on banjo with Tyminski on guitar and lead vocals. I had spoken with Dan earlier that day, and had several prior conversations with Ron and Adam about the new band. That, together with my keen awareness of each member’s musicianship, left me with some fairly high expectations going into the show.

They emerged from stage right with no introduction, and launched into a blistering, nearly-two hour set of traditional bluegrass music with the characteristic front-of-the-beat drive that distinguishes the finest practitioners of the art. It was a powerful ensemble sound, with vocals to match.

The material was chosen from Dan’s 2000 release, Carry Me Across The Mountains, the band’s upcoming Wheels CD, plus numbers Dan (and Adam) had recorded with Alison Krauss & Union Station. Throw in some bluegrass classics and you had a full concert of expertly performed, passionately delivered music.

Tyminski’s voice has been a familiar one in bluegrass since his emergence with Lonesome River Band in the late 1980s, and he gave an impressive performance Friday night. He offered versions of One Tear and Free Born Man on top of cuts from his CD like Carry Me Across The Mountain, Stuck In The Middle Of Nowhere, Think About You Every Day and Tiny Broken Heart.

Of course they also performed Man Of Constant Sorrow, the most recent bluegrass song to hit pop and country radio with a vengeance, for which Dan provided the voice over in the O Brother, Where Art Thou movie. If you have caught Dan doing this one with AKUS, you’ll have heard his amusing tale about breaking the news about scoring the movie gig to his wife, but it is a funny one even on subsequent rehearings. (more…)

Here are a bunch of photos I took at the Dan Tyminski Band concert on Friday night. The band was great, on stage and off. They did a fine show, and took plenty of time to visit with fans afterwards.