Back in May, Brance posted about a new CD release from Kassie DePaiva, better known as Blair from the daytime drama, One Life To Live. Her CD, I Want To Love You, mixes bluegrass and country in a primarily-acoustic set, her third release as a solo artist.

Tomorrow (9/21), Kassie will join Gracie Muldoon on WorldWideBluegrass.com to talk about the CD, and whatever else comes to mind, at 1:30 p.m. (EDT).

To listen to the 24/7 WWB audio stream online, just visit their streaming page, and choose a connection speed and file type.

Downtown Nashville will soon become home to the 2007 CMA Music Festival. The event is held annually in downtown Nashville, TN and features over 70 hours of concerts in four days. Each year upwards of 160,000 country music fans attend the event to hear, meet, and interact with their favorite country music artists. This year’s event is schedule to be held June 7-10, 2007.

While the festival is mainly about country music, bluegrass does have a presence. One such presence is the Bluegrass Booth in the exhibit hall. Dave Burley hosts the booth and encourages all bluegrass fans in attendance to stop by for a shake and howdy.

The artist lineup for the event also includes a number of bluegrass performers. I looked over the list and plucked out a few names that caught my eye, but this is not meant to be an exhaustive list of bluegrass artists at the event, just a sampling. The complete list is available here.

• Alecia Nugent
• Cherryholmes
• The Grascals
• The Infamous Stringdusters
• Carolina Road
• Kassie DePaiva (more info here)

A ticket for the four day event will set you back $110 at least, with higher prices for better seats. Tickets are available online through TicketMaster.com or by calling the festival box office at 1-800-CMA-FEST (262-3378).

For those of you who watch daytime soap operas, you know who you are, you might be familiar with the name Kassie DePaiva. Or maybe you know her better as Blair from One Life To Live. What you might not have known was her background in country/bluegrass music.

DePaiva was born and raised in Kentucky (Morganfield) where she was surrounded by country and bluegrass music. As a teenager she sang backup in a show at Opryland in Nashville, TN. And at 18 she performed as a soloist on the Grand Ole Opry. She later moved to Los Angles and sang in a four-part harmony band called Newport. Following that she performed on a USO tour of Japan, Korea, and Okinawa. Returning to the states she sang back up for Bobby Womack and then opened for Kenny Rogers. It was after all this experience in the music business that she started acting.

She currently works as a full time cast member on One Life To Live, and beginning this September she’ll be hosting a new show on PBS called Knit and Crochet Today. In the midst of all this activity she’s releasing a CD this month entitled I Want To Love You. The CD could best be described at bluegrass influenced, mostly acoustic, country music. The disc contains 14 tracks that are heavy on acoustic guitar, mandolin, and dobro. I couldn’t find any banjo on the CD, but I did hear a number of G Runs from the acoustic guitar.

The promotional copy of the disc I have doesn’t list the musicians so I don’t know who they are, but the performances are very good. A couple songs that stood out in my mind are One Thing Even God Can’t Do, a tune about how even God couldn’t make an honest man out of the person she’s singing about, ouch! Get On Over Here is a very cool bluesy tune that had an infectious grove that made me want to hit repeat.

Audio samples are available on DePaiva’s website. The CD will be released nationally on May 22, 2007, but is available for pre-order directly from her site.

Kassie will be co-hosting The View on May 22, the day I Want To Love You is released. In addition to hosting duties that morning, she’ll also be performing on the show. She will then be a guest and sing on Fox’s The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet on May 25th. DePaiva will also be appearing at the CMA Music Festival in Nashville, TN next month.