James Roy “Pop” Lewis passed away in 2004. The founder of bluegrass gospel group The Lewis Family, was 98 at the time. He is now being honored in his home town, as the road his family lived on has been renamed as a memorial to his legacy.

Last Monday, a section of State Route 378 in Lincoln County, GA was renamed The James Roy “Pop” Lewis Memorial Highway. It was Pop’s 103rd birthday.

Little Roy Lewis has told reporters that the Lewis family house in Lincolnton, GA will be converted into a museum, which should be opened to the public sometime next year.

Back in January, John posted about a CD in the works from new comer Lizzy Long. The CD was released last week and includes a bonus DVD featuring interviews with all three artists, and discussions about the recording process.

What is interesting about the CD is the involvement of both Earl Scruggs and Little Roy Lewis on the CD of a relatively unknown 23 year old artist. They also appeared on stage with Long at the CD release part last week, held at the Station Inn in Nashville.

Scruggs treated the packed crowd to his legendary talents on the banjo, demonstrated his understated humor by helping 23-year-old Elizabeth remember her words, and contributed harmony vocals to several songs.

Little Roy Lewis, known for his banter and showmanship on guitar, autoharp and banjo, called the night “a dream come true,” and easily proved to the crowd why he is the 7-time GMA/Dove Award-winning front man for The Lewis Family.

Elizabeth “Lizzy” Long also impressed the audience with her fiddle playing and her

memorable vocals and harmonies to bring life to original and classic songs

Lewis, Scruggs, and Long: Lifetimes is on the Vine Records label and should be available now at stores inclined to carry such music.

Photo courtesy of Aaron Crisler for gospelmusicupdate.com

What sort of talent must it take to convince bluegrass legends like Earl Scruggs and Little Roy Lewis to participate in the label debut release for a 23 year old artist?

Or generate praise like this from Mr. Scruggs?

“I have been traveling for many years, but it is seldom that you see such a talented newcomer as Elizabeth Long. She’ll be a household name among bluegrass fans.”

The talented newcomer, Elizabeth “Lizzy” Long, has her first project with Nashville’s Vine Records set for an April 16, 2007 release. The young fiddler and singer actually has four CDs she has released on her own, and they show her at home with both old time fiddle favorites and songs with a country feel.

The official press materials from Vine describe the new CD, Lifetimes - Lewis, Scruggs and Long, in this way:

Listeners can look forward to traditional bluegrass favourites and instrumentals on this release, as well as original compositions written by Long, Haun, and a list of award-winning writers, including Barry Dean, Don Poythress, Joel Lindsey, Wayne Kirkpatrick, and Mac Wiseman.

The CD is produced by Wayne Haun and Kevin Ward, and will be distributed by Crossroads Marketing.

Thanks to our friend Richard Thompson, who first brought this new project to our attention.

The folks at BluegrassCountry.org are in a festive mood this week, as they celebrate the start of their fifth year of cybercasting bluegrass music, and two weeks of special programing and events in recognition of this milestone.

This Internet bluegrass radio outlet has been a pioneer in this field, and is an offshoot of WAMU, the large public radio affiliate in Washington, DC. Residents of the DC area will recall that WAMU was once a premier source of bluegrass, folk and acoustic music over the air, with several hours of daily programing, plus the long running Bluegrass Overnight show that spun bluegrass in the wee hours of each night. When the station moved to a talk/news format several years ago, bluegrass lovers in the area were dismayed, and many expressed their frustration to the station management.

Enter, BluegrassCountry.org, which was WAMU’s answer to the dilemma, where shows and show hosts who were on the air prior to the switch found a home on the Internet, and which has since grown to include hosts and shows from all over the world. Bluegrass programming is available as an audio stream all day, every day, delivered in a commercial free environment.

As a part of their anniversary celebration, they are running a major fundraiser, hoping to generate $50,000 to secure the continuation of the cybercasts. If you listen to public radio, you are familiar with this sort of annual appeal, and will perhaps be receptive to the idea of helping to support commercial-free radio on the Internet. They have quite a ways to go to reach their goal, and are asking bluegrass lovers worldwide to consider becoming a member and supporting them financially. (more…)

Gospel veterans Jeff & Sheri Easter are spearheading an effort to restore the original Lewis Family Homeplace in Lincolnton, GA. This is the house where Mom and Pop Lewis raised their children, and where members of the legendary Lewis Family (Polly, Janis, Talmadge and Little Roy) were born.

They are raising money now to return the house to its original condition when first built in 1935 by the Lewis patriarch. Contributions are tax deductible, as the restoration project is organized as a non-profit 501c(3).

Details about contributions can be found here.

Sheri Easter is a member of the Lewis family, and a former member of the Lewis Family. Her mom is Polly Lewis (Polly Williamson Copsey), and Sheri performed with the group along with her husband, Jeff, until they struck out on their own in 1988.