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.”

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.

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.

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.

She has added Jimmy Redden on the 5-string banjo. Born in Soddy Daisy, TN, Jimmy has been playing the banjo since he was 10. In 2004 he embarked on the journey of becoming a professional bluegrass musician, playing with the band Fisher and Company. He then covered for Steve Dilling of IIIrd Tyme Out when Steve had hand surgery in 2005. Jimmy got to perform on The Grand Ole Opry during that time. He played with the Anita Fisher Band for 3.5 years before joining the Katie Penn Band. Jimmy currently lives in Chattanooga, TN.

The other addition is Nick Powell on bass and vocals. Also living in Chattanooga, Nick is a native of Young Harris, GA. An avid bluegrass fan, Nick is also an accomplished mandolin and guitar player who picked up his first instrument at the ripe young age of 5. At age 12 he began performing as part of his family’s band, The Powell Family. His previous bluegrass experience includes performing with the Marksmen Quartet and the Anita Fisher Band.

More information about all the band members is available on Kati’s MySpace page.

Kati tells us the new CD, produced by Rob Ickes, is to be released soon. We’ll let you know when we have news of that.

Back in December, James Kee joined the band on mandolin. James hails from Chattanooga, TN and has played with many bands in that area, and with The Anita Fischer Band.

Then early last month, in January, Ken Shackelford was added to the lineup as bass player. Ken is from Tyner, KY.

I’m not clear if these new band members are included on the recording currently underway, or not. Kati’s website does list the CD as nearly completion. It’s being produced by Rob Ickes and the plan is to release the disc sometime early summer 2008.

Kati Penn is working now on a new project with Blue Highway’s Rob Ickes producing. She is planning a mid-2008 release.

Starting soon on a new album is Revonda Roberts & Harvest Wind, hoping to follow-up the success they saw with their Ancient Days CD,  which garnered a 2007 Dove Award Nomination.

Also tracking this fall/winter are The Infamous Stringdusters, with plans to turn over a final master to Sugar Hill early in ‘08. When I saw them earlier this year, there were a number of new songs in the show which they mentioned had been recently written by band members, all of which would be excellent candidates for inclusion on a new release.

No word yet on a release date for the second ‘Dusters CD.

2008 is shaping up as a powerful year for new bluegrass releases.