I had a chance to speak today with Jessica Lovell, the fiddling third of the sibling trio, The Lovell Sisters. She was making final preparations to leave for their European tour, which begins this Sunday (8/31) in Norway.

We talked in some detail about what the three young ladies have been doing for the past year or so, and got an answer to the question they have been hearing from their fans for the past two years… “When are you guys going to have a new CD out?”

The only studio recording they have released came in 2005 (When Forever Rolls Around), not long after they won the National Teen Talent Competition on Prairie Home Companion, and only a short time after the three of them embraced bluegrass music, leaving their classical studies behind.

Big things have happened for the girls since then, and their sound has matured as their professional life has expanded. A new album seemed like an obvious next step after being invited to showcase at IBMA in the fall of 2006, and by the middle of 2007, Jessica said that it looked like all their hopes were about to be fulfilled.

“We were working with a manager who was shopping us to labels in Nashville, and we had met with five of them who were serious about signing us. After a lot of thought and discussion, we decided to sign with Lyric Street Records, which is a division of Disney.

They had paired us up with producer Mark Bright, and everything seemed perfect. Mark had just finished producing Carrie Underwood, so we knew he could work well with female artists, and he had previously produced Mountain Heart, so we knew he was great with bluegrass and acoustic instruments.”

As they got closer to start recording, they started to get nervous about the direction things were taking. It was becoming clear that the label had chosen a path and a sound for the Lovells, and that the artist’s input wasn’t a high priority.

“It really hit me when Mark Bright mentioned one day that when he worked with Rascal Flatts, the biggest problem he had was convincing them not to record any of their original material. That hit me hard, as we wanted to do exactly that!

I don’t mean any disrespect to Mark or Lyric Street. They were great to us and treated us very fairly. It just started to look like we were heading into a place where we would lose control over our music.” (more…)

If you’ll be near your computer, there are a number of online shows you might want to catch today (6/20).

At 11:00 a.m. this morning, Jimmy Gaudreau will join host Carol Beaugard on Lonesome Pine RFD, broadcast from 9:00 a.m. to noon on 89.1 FM in the New York City area. Jimmy is on tour now with Moondi Klein supporting their duo Rebel CD, 2:10 Train. They are opening for Emmylou Harris over the course of her summer tour.

You can find their tour dates on the duo’s web site.

If you aren’t in the NYC area, Lonesome Pine RFD is streamed live online at WFDU.fm.

At noon, The Lovell Sisters will perform live on WDVX’s Blue Plate Special. The show originates from Knoxville, TN and is broadcast in that market at 102.9 FM - and via live streaming online.

Blue Plate Special airs at noon (EDT).

For those who subscribe to Sirius satellite radio, here’s another one worth your attention.

The Infamous Stringdusters will be on Sirius Bluegrass tonight at 8:00 p.m. (EDT). The broadcast will feature a live set recorded last week at Nashville’s Station Inn where the guys run through all of the songs from their new CD, The Infamous Stringdusters, plus a couple of bluegrass favorites.

Should you miss tonight’s show, it will replay on Sirius Bluegrass on Saturday (6/21) at 10:00 p.m. and on Sunday (6/22) at 4:00 p.m. (all times eastern).

Sirius Bluegrass can be found at channel 65 on your Sirius Satellite Radio receiver. They also offer a subscription-based online service, Sirius Internet Radio, and free 3-day trials are offered to non-subscribers.

We just received an email from a show promoter in Norway announcing that The Lovell Sisters would be spending two weeks touring Norway and Belgium in September of 2008.

There is nothing up yet on the sisters’ official web site - they only list dates through August - so keep an eye on that site for further details.

The Lovell Sisters (Jessica, Megan, and Rebecca), a trio of talented young women from Georgia, have released a live concert DVD. Filmed at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, it is titled The Lovell Sisters - Live at the Philadelphia Folk Festival.

The girls, between 16 and 21, are relative newcomers to bluegrass but as their debut CD and this live concert release show, they are very quick studies. Jessica plays fiddle, Rebbecca mandolin, and Megan resophonic guitar, with all three singing. They are joined by Jake Stargel on guitar and Andy Nall on bass.

Jessica tells us that the DVD was an unplanned event.

“Actually, we weren’t aware the set would be filmed until we arrived at the festival. It was truly an awesome night! We played the late night slot just prior to Doc Watson. The footage turned out really well.”

Ten songs are featured, and a track list can be found on their web site.

Musical guests today (10/11) on WDVX’s Blue Plate Special will be The Lovell Sisters. These three young women are already experienced performers, though still in their teens or early twenties. Megan plays resophonic guitar, Rebecca mandolin, and Jessica fiddle and all three contribute vocals.

Blue Plate Special airs live performances each weekday at noon (eastern), broadcast from Knoxville, TN at 89.9 FM. Listeners worldwide can catch the show via live streaming from the WDVX web site. The station does not archive these live shows, so be sure to tune in when it airs later today at noon.

Audio samples from the girls’ debut CD can be found on their web site, and they have a number of live videos available on YouTube.

The Lovell Sisters Band performed on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center on August 11, 2007 and that show is now available for online viewing.

The audio mix is a little disappointing during the first part of the show. This is not the fault of the girls though and it does improve marginally as the concert proceeds. Thankfully the vocals are mixed up where you can hear them most of the time, but the mandolin is often absent just when you want to hear Rebecca cut loose. None the less, this band is worth hearing, even with a less than desirable audio mix.

Check their tour schedule to see them near you.

Brance mentioned last month - just ahead of the Merlefest weekend - that a number of live onlive audio streams would be available from the festival, and that audio archives would be available as well after the fact.

You can find these archives at Martha’s Vineyard Radio (mvyradio.com) where a mix of stage shows, workshops, jams and interviews from Merlefest 2007 are listed alphabetically.

With the far ranging musical diversity that is a Merlefest trademark, you can expect to find sets from some of your favorite acts and also discover something new. Bluegrass and acoustic music fans will surely be interested in the performances from headliners like Sam Bush, Cherryholmes, Del McCoury, Doyle Lawson, Peter Rowan and The Nashville Bluegrass Band.

Some special highlights are the guitar mini-concert with Bryan Sutton and Chris Eldridge, multiple performances by The Infamous Stringdusters and Uncle Earl, a set by Crooked Still and one by The Lovell Sisters.

Songwriters get their due as well, with a open mic set from Mark “Brink” Brinkman and Chris Austin Bluegrass Songwriting contest winner Jeanette Williams.

There are hours of great live music at the mvyradio.com Merlefest 2007 audio archives. Set some time aside and sample the sounds.

The 2007 International Folk Alliance Conference has invited two bluegrass acts to their official showcases, both female or female-fronted bands.

The Claire Lynch Band and The Lovell Sisters will represent bluegrass music at the conference, held in Memphis, TN February 21-15, 2007 at The Cook Convention Center and The Marriott Convention Center Hotel. Unlike the IBMA’s annual convention, which is held each year in Nashville, Folk Alliance chooses a new convention site each year.

You can find convention information (registration, schedule, etc) on the Folk Alliance web site.

The Lovell Sisters, who we interviewed in a recent GrassCast, were also just featured in the Chattanoogan. The story is about the Southeast Whitfield High Bluegrass Jamboree “06, at which the Lovell Sisters Band is headlining.

The sisters - Jessica, 19 (violin/fiddle); Megan, 16 (resophonic guitar); and Rebecca, 14 (mandolin) of Calhoun, Ga. are joined by fellow Georgian Andy Nall, on bass, and 19-year-old guitarist Brad Frazier, of Evansville, Tn.

This year the SHS Bluegrass Jamboree will be composed mainly of bluegrass performed by talented teens. In addition to the LSB, will be The Baker Boys from Indiana, The Barker Brothers from Copperhill, TN; Browngrass of Gainesboro, TN; and Garrett Arb and the Grassy Mountain Boys of Dalton. There will also be veteran bands appearing, including Peach Tree Station of the greater Atlanta area, Autumn Harvest of Dalton, and Spatial Effects from Northwest Georgia.

The club is hoping to increase the size of this year’s event and calls the line up,

one of the finest line ups of teen talent ever to appear at a venue in the Southeast.

Episode #17 of The GrassCast features two interviews. The first is with singer Alecia Nugent. We talk about her new CD A Little Girl…A Big Four Lane. The second interview is with The Lovell Sisters. We talk with all three sisters about their CD as well as their journey to bluegrass.

This GrassCast is 13 minutes in length and the file download size is 12MB.

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Direct Download: ep17_nugent_lovell.mp3
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