Wednesday night at IBMA, we spent an hour or so at a special Rural Rhythm Records showcase, held to highlight a number of their top acts, and to announce a major initiative for 2010. Next year, they will celebrate 55 years in business recording bluegrass, Gospel and traditional American Music and will join with the Graves Mountain Festival of Music in Syria, VA for a one-of-a-kind, all day event.

We were treated to performances by Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain and Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, and had just missed a set from Audie Blaylock & Redline, who had turned in a brilliant show the night before on the main stage. Michael Martin Murphey made a special appearance with Carrie Hassler, where they sang a duet on his biggest hit, Wildfire, which the pair has recently re-recorded for Murphey’s second project with Rural Rhythm, due in February of next year.

During the IIIrd Tyme Out’s set, 1970s country star Lynn Anderson joined them on stage for a rousing version of Rocky Top. She was lively and animated, and clearly enjoying herself.

All this music, however, was leading up to the announcement of Rural Rhythm and Graves Mountain collaborating for the festival in June. Six Rural Rhythm artists will appear on Friday, June 4, and the entire day will be given over to a 55th birthday party or the label. Kyle Cantrell of Sirius-XM will serve as emcee, with performances from The Crowe Brothers, Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain, Audie Blaylock & Redline, Lou Reid and Carolina, Lonesome River Band and Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out.

All of the day’s music will be recorded for a commemorative CD to be released later in 2010. Many of these artists will combine for special sets.

• Crowe Brothers with Russell Moore, Sammy Shelor
• Carrie Hassler & Hard and Brandon Rickman
• Audie Blaylock & Redline, Carrie Hassler, Russell Moore, and Lou Reid
• Graves Moutain Jam and Rural Rhythm all-star tribute featuring Grave Mountain Memories:  Carl Jackson, Mark Newton, Russell Newton, Lou Reid, Carrie Hassler, Andy Ball, Sammy Shelor, Mike Anglin, Justin Haynes
• My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains – Brandon Rickman, Crowe Brothers, Audie Blaylock, Mike Hartgrove, Wayne Benson, Steve Dilling, Edgar Loudermilk
• Instrumental Jam featuring many of the Rural Rhythm artists

You can find ticket and schedule information for the Graves Mountain festival on their web site. We’ll post with more details about the live CD as they emerge.

Just a quick reminder about tonight’s (10/1) International Bluegrass Music Awards, and our live coverage on The Bluegrass Blog.

Brance and I will be in the press gallery at The Ryman Auditorium, announcing the winners here live as they are announced on stage. Dean Hoffmeyer will also be shooting photos during the show, which we will posting as we get them while the show proceeds.

The show should be a whopper, opening with Lonesome River Band and their version of Them Blues.

If you can’t be here in Nashville, or at The Ryman tonight, be sure to join us online starting at 7:30 (CDT). Don’t be late!!

In addition, we will be shooting Red Carpet interviews with the nominees before the show, which will be posted as soon as possible, probably sometime this weekend. Katy Daley (the 2009 IBMA Bluegrass Broadcaster of the Year!) and Doug McKelway of WJLA in Washington will be our hosts.

Brandon Rickman, known to grassers as the talented guitarist and lead vocalist with Lonesome River Band, is set to release his first solo project this summer.

Young Man, Old Soul is scheduled for a June 30 release on Rural Rhythm Records. It showcases Brandon not only as an expressive singer, but also as a songwriter. 10 of the 12 tracks were co-written by Rickman, with assistance from Chris Stapleton, Tammy Rogers, Jerry Salley, Kevin Denney, and Charley Stefl.

A single is going to radio next week on Rural Rhythm’s new Fresh Cuts and Key Tracks CD. Here’s a sample…

Brandon plays guitar, mandolin and bass on the new album with Aaron McDaris on banjo, Jenee’ Fleenor on fiddle, Andy Ball on amndolin, Mike Anglin on bass and Randy Kohrs on resonator guitar. Providing harmony vocals are Terry Eldridge and Jamie Johnson from The Grascals.

Lonesome River Band founder and former member Tim Austin has posted a number of video clips on YouTube from a 1993 concert in Ferrum, VA. This is shortly after the group starting making a big noise in bluegrass – just two years after their breakthrough album, Carrying The Tradition.

The band at that time was Austin on guitar, Sammy Shelor on banjo, Ronnie Bowman on bass and Dan Tyminski on mandolin. Bowman and Tyminski were just coming into their own as vocalists, and the two of them made for a formidable combination on stage, and on records.

Here’s the clip of them on Bowman’s Game I Can’t Win…

Watch the rest of the clips, 9 in all, on Tim’s YouTube channel. Don’t you just love the hair?