Jr. Williams, long-time banjo player with NewFound Road, has decided to leave the band to be more available for his family – in more ways than one.

He will instead be performing with his wife, Kati Penn, in her group.

Jr. sent this note last night…

“After months of prayer and reflection, I have decided to resign my position with NewFound Road.

Nearly 8 years on the road have left little time for family, school plays, softball games… so as to spend more time with my wife and kids, I have decided to make this change.

I will be joining the Kati Penn Band and look forward to traveling with her and band members CJ Cain, James Kee, and Terry Poirier.

My thanks to Tim, Joe and Jamey and my best to them and continued success of NFR.

Thanks, and come see the Kati Penn Band when we’re in you area, my best, Jr.”

Here are a couple of good choices for online listening for Friday, January 9.

At noon, The Kati Penn Band will perform live on Blue Plate Special, broadcast from The Square Room in Knoxville, TN on WDVX.

They will perform material from her latest CD, My Turn To Cry. Joining Kati will be her touring band, which features CJ Cain on guitar, Jimmy Redden on banjo, Jame Kee on mandolin, Terry Poirer on bass and Penn on fiddle and vocals.

The WDVX is available over the air at 89.9 FM, and via audio streaming online.

RB Morris will also appear on the show.

Then at 1:00 p.m., Marty Raybon will join Gracie Muldoon on WorldWideBluegrass.com for a discussion about his new CD, This That and the Other, and the band’s tour in support which begins in February.

The WWB online bluegrass feed is available 24/7 at worldwidebluegrass.com.

You can read a bit more about the new CD in this piece we published last summer.

The Kati Penn Band has announced the addition of Terry Poirier on string bass and vocals.

Terry is a native of New Brunswick, Canada and lives now in Lexington, KY. He has performed in a number of bands and worked in sound reinforcement recent years, and also hosts a twice-weekly radio show on WorldWideBluegrass.com.

You can check the band’s schedule on their web site to see when they’ll be playing near you.

Fiddler Kati Penn has just released her new CD, My Turn To Cry. The recording is produced by resophonic guitarist Rob Ickes and includes an all-star cast of players.

In addition to her fiddling, Penn also contributes lead and harmony vocals to the project. She is joined by Rob Ickes on dobro; Jr Williams on guitar, lead and harmony vocals; Bryan Sutton on guitar; Dave Pomeroy on bass; Andy Leftwich on mandolin; Aaron McDaris on banjo; John Cowan, Jon Randall, and J.P. Pennington on harmony vocals.

Shawn Lane, Donna Hughes, Tony Furtado, John Pennell, and J.P. Pennington all contributed compositions to this recording.

Audio samples are online at Kati’s Myspace page.