Crossroads Music has announced January 20, 2009 as the release date for Last Train To Kitty Hawk, the sophomore effort from North Carolina’s Balsam Range. The CD will feature 12 tracks, mostly new songs, many of them written within the band.

Balsam Range consists of Marc Pruett on banjo, Caleb Smith on guitar, Darren Nicholson on mandolin, Tim Surrett on bass, and Buddy Melton on fiddle.

We had a chance recently to discuss the new project recently with Melton, and he shared a few thoughts about the songs, starting with the title cut.

“The Last Train to Kitty Hawk was written by a couple of friends of mine in Nashville (James Ellis and Steve Dukes). I first heard the song several years ago and have been a fan of this song since.

The song is about progress and change.  ‘No nothing lasts forever,’  ‘They say progress makes us better….time ain’t standing still for any man… all aboard the last train to Kitty Hawk….’

I think it is such a well written song with a very artistic view of progress. Balsam Range was born in the Carolinas, as was the first flight. The connection of the Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina made this song even more appealing.”

Balsam Range and Crossroads have agreed to allow us to post an audio sample of the song, which will be distributed to bluegrass radio early in ‘09.

Listen now:

Buddy also spoke about the process of collecting songs for the new album, something that will be familiar to most any recording artist.

“Finding material for a new project is always a challenge but is also one of fun parts of making a CD. Seeing a song come together from start to finish is rewarding. All the guys in Balsam Range are great at taking a song and making it fit the band. We really worked hard and finding and creating good variety of music for this second release. (more…)

Jon Weisberger is not at all lonesome. The Nashville-based bass player of more than 20 years standing – and noted writer about bluegrass matters – was married only a short time ago.

He is also known for his songwriting, and as an active member of the IBMA Board of Directors. You can now add to his busy schedule, a job playing bass with Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time.

Let Jon tell us how this arrangement came about …….

“Cord called me shortly after New Year’s Day to ask me if I’d like to join Lonesome Standard Time. My reply, of course, was “absolutely.” I’ve been a big fan of Larry’s music for many years, going back to when Ricky Skaggs first hit with Highway 40 Blues, and I’d written about him back when Murder On Music Row came out. I filled in with him on one date in Columbus, Ohio, just about a year ago, and had a great time – and last weekend’s dates in Fairview, Ohio and Milton, West Virginia confirmed that that’s the norm. Cord’s a great writer, a great singer, and a great front-man – he really knows how to get the audience on our side and keep them there.

The rest of the band is superb, too; Booie Beach (guitar) and Kim Gardner (Dobro ¬Æ) are both exceedingly under-rated instrumentalists, and it’s great to be reunited with Chris Davis (mandolin, vocals) – he had played and sung in my band, Union Springs, back in 1998, shortly before it disbanded. And, of course, it’s cool to have my frequent musical companion Ned Luberecki playing banjo for the rest of the month’s dates.”

Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time has a recently released CD, Took Down And Put Up on the Lonesome Day Record label (LDR 011), a collection that has just figured in the Top 15 Bluegrass Albums chart in The Bluegrass Unlimited Natural Bluegrass Survey listing for January.

You can check the band’s tour schedule online for a chance to catch them live.Weisberger concludes by telling us about his other activities and his hopes for this year. He certainly leads a busy life‚Ķ..

“In the meantime, I’ll continue to perform with Chris Jones & The Night Drivers, the Harley Allen Band, Radiola, Roland White, et al, as I’m able to – so far the dates seem to be working out OK for that. And I’m looking forward to a good song writing year; I’ve got a co-write with Tim Stafford and Bobby Starnes coming out on the new Blue Highway album, and a couple of other songs of mine look like they’re going to get recorded this year, too.”

Lonesome Day Records has two new artists on the roster, both of whom will have new projects in the near future.

Back in June, Brance reported that Larry Cordle’s new project, Took Down and Put Up, would be released on Lonesome Day later this summer. We still haven’t seen a street date for this project, but we’ll be sure to update when we get the word.

Just this week, Lonesome Day announced that Ralph Stanley II will be the newest addition to their artist roster. “II” (two), as he is nick named, is the youngest son of the venerable Dr. Ralph Stanley, now just shy of 30 years old. He has released four previous CDs for Rebel Records and looks at the new agreement with Lonesome Day as an opportunity to define his own sound, which Lonesome Day describes as mixing the mountain Stanley sound with some more contemporary material.

One stylistic break from the earlier projects involves the backing musicians. On his prior CDs, Stanley was accompanied primarily by his father’s touring band, The Clinch Mountain Boys, but this time out he had a stellar group of bluegrass superpickers with him in the studio. Tim Crouch, Steve Gulley, Cody Kilby, Randy Kohrs, Marty Raybon, Adam Steffey and Ron Stewart are listed as guest performers.

No title has been announced and a spring 2008 release is expected.

UPDATE 9/14: Reader Rick Randol emailed to say that he recently purchased the new Cordle CD from The Music Shed. Not sure why there is no mention of the release on eitehr the Cordle or Lonesome Day web sites. If it is offered by one retailer, it should be widely available now.

UPDATE 9:45 a.m.: The Took Down and Put Up CD is officially released on September 18, and will be available for sale everywhere at that time.

As you’re setting up your calendar for this week, you might want to keep a couple hours free this Thrusday afternoon. July 12th from 4PM to 6PM EST, Uncle Billy Dunbar, a host at WorldWideBluegrass.com, will be interviewing Larry Cordle on his show Country Unplugged.

The interview will include a discussion of Larry’s new relationship with Lonesome Day Records, and the release of his new CD Took Down and Put Up. They will also be discussing the first single planned for release from the new recording.

It should be an interesting interview with a great bluegrass songwriter!