Associate Professor of Music (Hamilton College) Lydia Hamessley, says that the banjo manufacturers of the late nineteenth century engaged in an effort to elevate the banjo to the status of “a respectable instrument for ladies” by prominently featuring women in their marketing.

Unfortunately, during this same time, certain elements of society were promoting an image of the “New Woman,” meant to free women from the constraints placed on the gender by the culture. Part of this “New Woman” image included three-dimensional photographs known as stereoview cards. These cards were popular as parlor entertainment, and many of them

…presented humorous and sometimes risque scenes of banjo-playing women. Further, virtually no stereoviews exist that show the banjo played by a lady in a parlor setting.

Hamessley goes on to argue that

…the link between the banjo and the New Woman had a decisive and negative impact on the effectiveness of the banjo elevation project. Through an examination of these three-dimensional views, and drawing on late-nineteenth-century writing and poetry about the banjo, I show how the banjo in the hands of the New Woman became a cautionary cultural icon for middle- and upper-class women, subverting the respectable image of the parlor banjo and the bourgeois women who played it.

So while it might have been polite, ladies, who valued their reputation, didn’t play the banjo during this period of American history.

Fortunately things have changed for the better and the banjo is now a perfectly respectable instrument for ladies to play. The International Bluegrass Music Association recently celebrated the accomplishment of one such lady with the awarding of Banjo Player of the Year for 2008 to Kristin Scott Benson.

So, in 2009 the answer to the question is: Yes, ladies should play the banjo!

First up is Second Season, from 2008 IBMA Banjo Player of the Year, Kristin Scott Benson.

This CD has been “sort of” released for a few months. Though its official street date is tomorrow (1/13/09), Pinecastle shipped it to radio in late October of last year and had copies available for sale through the Music Shed over the holidays. The CD has already showed up in the Top Albums chart for XM and Sirius satellite radio, so you may have heard some cuts already.

There is so much to like about this project. Kristin’s banjo playing is crisp, clean and note-perfect throughout. The song choices – including four new instrumentals of hers – show her skill as a producer, arranger and composer for the banjo. The opening track, Kristin’s Don’t Tread On Me, and Bill Emerson’s No Steering, No Brakes have her tearing up the five bluegrass-style, while her arrangements of Sandy River Belle and Greencastle Hornpipe indicate her facility bringing old time and Celtic tunes into the bluegrass realm.

The vocal numbers mixed among the instrumentals are appropriate to the general feel of the CD, and all feature vocalists with whom Kristin has worked over the years. No Southern Comfort, sung by Josh Williams, is a real standout, as is Imagine That, sung in close duet harmony by Sally Jones and Mickey Harris.

As if all that wasn’t sufficient reason to recommend this recording, it also has guitar wizard David Grier featured on six of twelve tracks, and boy does he shine. David performs primarily in a solo setting these days, and what a treat to hear him in a bluegrass setting.

All of the pickers and singers provide first rate performances. Jim Van Cleve and Shad Cobb play fiddle, Andy Todd and Mickey Harris are on bass, Cody Kilby also plays guitar, and Kristin’s husband Wayne Benson is on mandolin.

With tomorrow’s wide release, you should be able to find Second Season wherever you shop for bluegrass recordings, both on compact disc and via digital download.

Audio samples are available from iTunes and Music Shed.

Benson spoke about her very interesting musical background ..

“My maternal grandfather, my Mom’s dad, was a professional mandolin player and he was half of the duet called Whitey and Hogan (Roy ‘Whitey’ Grant and Arval Hogan),” said Benson. “Hogan is my grandfather’s name. They were part of a larger group called the Briarhoppers. They had a 50-year career as Whitey and Hogan and with the Briarhoppers, and their heyday was in the 1940s. They played on WBT Radio in Charlotte, North Carolina, which was a powerhouse radio station in the day, and they had a daily radio show. Then, my Dad, all of his life, he just played for fun.”

The full story is available on line.

Not long after that, we heard from a reader who wondered why a title we had just indicated wouldn’t be released until next year was showing up as available now online elsewhere. We checked with Pinecastle, and Ethan Burkhardt told us that they decided to do a limited early release of the four upcoming titles.

“Because of how our release schedule lined up, we couldn’t get these albums ‘officially’ released by Christmas.  We are however going to have them available to The Music Shed and County Sales for the Christmas season.”

You can find audio samples, more details and online ordering for these Pinecastle projects online.

• Second Season – Kristin Scott Benson (1/13/09)
• Lord Bless This House – Nothin’ Fancy (1/27/09)
• The Hangman – Ernie Thacker & Route 23 (2/10/09)
• Three Silver Dollars – David Parmley & Continental Divide (2/10/09)

Aaron McDaris is leaving The Grascals, and Kristin Scott Benson will be leaving Larry Stephenson’s band to accept the job. She will start with The Grascals in two weeks.

The guys are stoked to have Kristin on board…

“The Grascals are VERY PLEASED that the 2008 IBMA Banjo Player of Year, Kristin Scott Benson, will be their new banjo player!  This is a very exciting time and the guys are truly thrilled that Kristin will be the newest Grascal.”

Promos are being sent to radio this week, despite the lag of as much as three months between now and the actual street dates for these new albums.

• Second Season – Kristin Scott Benson (1/13/09)
• Lord Bless This House – Nothin’ Fancy (1/27/09)
• The Hangman – Ernie Thacker & Route 23 (2/10/09)
• Three Silver Dollars – David Parmley & Continental Divide (2/10/09)

We asked Matt Hood, Pinecastle’s Director of Radio promotion, why they send promos out so early for new releases, and about their promotional download service for radio.

“For some time we have been using a new schedule for our mainstream releases. There are a few reasons why we send out CDs to radio so far in advance. The first one has to do with the production timelines of the major bluegrass print magazines. It takes a magazine a certain amount of time to prepare each issue for printing and it takes the printer a certain amount of time to print the magazine. There can be a lag time of a couple of months. In order to chart a single during the month of the release date the DJs have to have a CD in time to review it, put it in rotation, and (if the CD merits it) report it to the folks that publish these airplay charts. The same issue applies to album reviews.

Also, many folks in the media have such a backlog of CDs to review that it can take them several months to even review a CD. The point is to get as much exposure during the immediate timeframe of the street date as possible and we’ve found that shipping CDs several months in advance of the street date helps us do that.

Our first real proof of concept was with Special Consensus’ The Trail Of Aching Hearts, which appeared on the National Bluegrass Survey in Bluegrass Unlimited the month of the release date. Almost every album we’ve released since then has done the same. We’ve also had similar results with the chart in Bluegrass Music Profiles that they started in 2007.

All of the charts, reviews, and airplay provide invaluable information to sales reps from our distributor who then work to place Pinecastle product into stores.”

Hood also shared an update on the radio download service where show hosts, producers and music directors can get either MP3 or lossless WMA files from new Pinecastle projects as soon as they are announced.

“The download service is something that I have wanted to do for a couple of years and have finally been able to implement it into our website. We have had a very positive response to the download service. I have had some really good comments about it. We have a 10% adoption rate among all the DJs on our list, which I am very pleased with as it falls in line with my expectations.

Some folks have asked if we will stop sending CDs but we don’t have any plans to do that in the immediate future. At this point, if a DJ wants to voluntarily opt out of receiving a physical CD we will oblige as it saves us on cost, however, we will not automatically stop mailing to the downloaders.

The main idea behind this service is to allow DJs quick and easy access to Pinecastle material. All of our new releases are available to DJs in a CD quality lossless format as well as 320 Kbps MP3s. The artwork is available for download as well. We can also provide easy access to our catalog titles and possibly some titles that may currently be out of print.

As I’m writing this, we have several CDs in the queue to mail out and there are many DJs who have already downloaded the music to use on their programs.”

You can find out more about Pinecastle Records and their artists by visiting their web site.

This CD, the second album for the Blue Circle Record label by the Daughters of Bluegrass, is a landmark extravaganza featuring over 50 daughters and 17 songs.

The opening cut, Proud To Be A Daughter Of Bluegrass, certainly is an extravaganza with Dale Ann Bradley leading 20 other ladies in a remembrance of their forebears in bluegrass and delighting in their own involvement in the music. Such esteemed members of the fairer sex as Heather Berry, Lisa Martin, Gloria Belle, Sierra Hull, Rhonda Vincent, Lisa Ray, Linda Lay, Sally Jones, Carol Lee Cooper, Jeanie Stanley, Sonya Isaacs, Becky Isaacs Bowman, Michelle Nixon, Jeanette Williams, Sophie Haislip, Louise Tomberlain, Mindy Rakestraw, Lizzy Long, Frances Mooney, Lorraine Jordan, Annette Kelly, Lily Lieux, Dixie Hall, Judi Marshall, Beth Lawrence, Melissa Lawrence, Donica Christensen, Rebecca Frazier, Jenni Lyn Gardner and Lisa Manning all share in that pride.

In varying combinations that cast of songstresses, re-enforced by the talents of vocalists Janet McGarry, Valerie Smith, Stacy York, Dara Wray, Alecia Nugent and Jennifer Strickland bring to luscious life some exceptional songs each of which was written by the people at Good Home Grown Music, namely Dixie Hall, Tom T Hall and Troy Engle, with an assist on one song by Billy Smith, who is himself no slouch with a guitar and a pen.

Providing the instrumental drive and finesse are Gena Britt, Vicki Simmons, Megan McCormick, Becky Buller, Tina Adair, Kristin Scott Benson, Rebekah Long, Jenee Fleenor, Jeana Martin, Janice Martin, Larita Martin, Martha Adcock, Amber Burks and Beth Stevens.

Song samples and ordering can be found at the Daughters’ website and on CD Baby. Albums are also available for purchase from most of the featured artists at their live performances and their respective websites.

That news led her to pass on the teaching job, and continue performing until the arrival of their son, Hogan, in October. Kristin left Lonesome Standard Time to be with the baby, but she has now returned to the stage, in familiar surroundings.

Kristin has accepted the job playing banjo and singing with The Larry Stephenson Band, with whom she traveled for nearly five years while she was in college. Both she and Larry are delighted to be working together again.

You can find their schedule on the official band web site.

UPDATE 1:15 p.m. Dreama Stephenson tells us that Kristin never actually left LST when Hogan was born. It just turned out that there was a hole in the band schedule at that time. Kristin was still a memebr of LST when she left to join Larry Stephenson.

There is a hospital photo of young master Benson up on Larry Cordle & Lonesome Standard Time’s web site.

If ever a child was born with an impeccable bluegrass pedigree, young Hogan may be the one. Our most sincere congratulations go out to Kristin and Wayne, who we trust will be as exceptional as parents as they have been on stage and in the studio.

We heard from Kristin yesterday, and she passed along this update:

“We went to the doctor today and everything looks good. We’re past the 1/2 way point and are both really excited.

I decided against the full-time position at ETSU, after learning that we would have a baby in the fall. It’s a great job, but the days are long and demanding….not very ideal, with a newborn at home. Maybe something will work out in the future.

I am going to continue playing with Larry. The schedule is nearly tailor-made for an October delivery. I’ll only have to miss 1 or 2 shows, if everything goes smoothly. Cord is extremely understanding and I couldn’t imagine working for a better guy. It’s a fun band.”

It looks as though the future Master Benson will be well acquainted with the sounds of a five string banjo by the time he breathes his first in October. We repeat our congratulations to Kristin and Wayne.

We have no word yet about Kristin’s schedule with the band, but we will be sure to pass along any information we receive.

On behalf of The Bluegrass Blog, we extend our congratulations to these two fine young people, who also happen to be first rate musicians, and who represent our music at its best.

There is, however, a music program which offers a four year degree program that focuses on bluegrass music. It is the Bluegrass & Country Music Program at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN. The program was launched in 1982, but without an expectation that it would evolve into a full time program. Under the direction of Jack Tottle, this program has become quite popular, bringing serious young musicians to ETSU from all over the United States. The list of celebrated alumni includes well know bluegrassers like Tim Stafford, Adam Steffey, Barry Bales and Warren Amberson and Kelly Green of Acoustic Endeavors, plus country superstar Kenny Chesney, who got his start at ETSU.

After so many years nurturing this program, Tottle is moving towards retirement, and is only teaching during the fall semesters. A full time, adjunct professor will be hired for the spring terms through 2008, and the position for 2006 has been given to Kristin Scott Benson, current banjo player with Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time.

She will coach 5 student bands, teach 11 individual lessons, and teach 3 guitar classes, as well as a weekly seminar that covers a wide array of topics. Since starting a few weeks ago, Kristin has been delighted with her experiences teaching at ETSU.

“I’m continually impressed with the program and its students. In all my experience as a musician, I’ve never encountered people who are more eager to learn. The curriculum is extensive and about 200 students are enrolled. I teach Monday through Thursday, so I stay in Johnson City during the week and come home to Nashville on Thursday nights. Of course, I’m still able to play full-time with Larry Cordle. Raymond McLain, Director of the program, has taught at the university for over five years and continues to tour as part of a duet with Mike Stevens.”

Kristin had previously worked with The Larry Stephenson Band while she was in college, and is married to former IIIrd Tyme Out and current John Cowan Band mandolinist Wayne Benson.

“Teaching these young, enthusiastic students, who haven’t become jaded by the business, has been a wonderful experience. They have rejuvenated my own interest in music, reminding me what it felt like before music was the way I made a living. Wayne and I are thankful for the opportunity and the longer I’m there, the more impressed I am with Raymond, the students, and the program, as a whole.”

Interested potential students can find more information about the Bluegrass & Country Music Program at ETSU, and the various scholarships that are available, on the college’s web site.