Sam Bush has two new videos on YouTube, sharing what has been consuming much of his time this year so far.

First up is a sneak peek at the recording of his upcoming Sugar Hill CD, which he has told us will be much more of an acoustic project than his last few albums. He won’t be playing any electrified instruments himself, and predicts that his many fans in the bluegrass world will find much to like in this one, Circles Around Me, due on October 20.

Hayes Mandolins, built by hand by luthier Rick Hayes, has used the launch of their first guitar model as the occasion to change company name to Rick Hayes Instruments.

Rick has teamed up with fellow luthier Dann Ross to augment his F-style mandolins with a handcrafted, steel string guitar. It is made with a AAA red spruce top and Honduran mahogany back and sides. The bridge and fingerboard are ebony without fretboard position markers, and Rick’s signature is inlaid at the 14th fret.

Until last fall, Rick toured as the mandolinist with The Gibson Brothers, a position he relinquished in October ‘08 to concentrate on his instrument building and recording studio businesses. Hayes has also worked as a graphic artist, and feels that his performing/recording experience, together with the eye of an artist, allows him to build instruments that please both the eye and the ear.

The Hayes guitar sells for $2999 with a hard shell case. They are available directly from Rick’s shop, or through MyFavoriteGuitars.com.

Just in time for the summer festival season, Gibson has unveiled two new mandolins priced to catch the eye of the budget-conscious picker. They have a style A and a style F model in this new Jam Master series, both coming in well below the cost of their top pro mandolins.

To keep the price down, Gibson has built these two without neck or headstock binding, a sunburst finish, or a fancy peghead overlay. The body is bound with a simple dark material, and the fingerboards have side markers but no inlays.

Both, however, are made with a carved solid spruce top and figured maple back and sides. The necks are set with Gibson’s radiused dove-tail joint and the mandolins have an adjustable ebony bridge, bone nut and Grover tuners. Each ships is a padded gig bag rather than a hard shell case.

Gibson is also making the Jam Master mandolins with a slightly wider neck (1 3/16” at the nut) and with larger frets, both modifications designed with less experienced pickers in mind.

The A-style Jam Master carries a MSRP of $1199, and the F-style $3110.

They are available now from any authorized Gibson dealer.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum continues with its fight to keep Bill Monroe’s mandolin.

According to a report on WGNS Radio, Murfreesboro, TN, the museum has raised about $680,000 of the $1,100,000 needed to keep several prized instruments on display.

In addition to Monroe’s Lloyd Loar mandolin, Mother Maybelle Carter’s Gibson guitar and Johnny Cash’s guitar could both be lost by the museum.

As reported previously, the predicament stems from the forcing of Robert McLean’s estate into bankruptcy. The Murfreesboro investor donated funds for the instruments, but was accused of obtaining the money fraudulently.

The Ask Doyle webisode series continues today with #3, wherein Doyle Lawson answers fan-submitted questions about his mandolins, his footwear collection and songs that have been submitted for consideration by the band.

You can submit your own question for future episodes by simply adding a comment to this post.

The folks at Fretboard Journal welcome a special guest to this week’s edition of Fretboard Journal Talk Radio. Mandolin virtuoso Mike Marshall will be the guest today at 1pm PST. You can stream the show live here, or download it later for listening on your own time.

The show’s hosts encourage listeners to participate as you would with any other talk radio.

…if you have a question for Mike, feel free to call in or email us and we’ll ask him for you!

Sounds like fun, be sure to tune in later today for all that mandolin goodness.

Jimmy Gaudreau’s musical legacy in the bluegrass world is already partly written. He is what the baseball writers would call a “future hall of famer” - an active player who has already achieved sufficient notoriety to ensure his eventual induction as one of the greats.

His career in bluegrass began more than a generation ago when he stepped in to fill John Duffey’s place with The Country Gentlemen in March of 1969. Over those 40 years Jimmy has toured and recorded with The Tony Rice Unit, JD Crowe & The New South, IInd Generation and a number of others, and splits his time these days supporting Robin & Linda Williams as a member of their Fine Band, and as a duo partner with Moondi Klein.

Gaudreau is hard at work finishing a new album of his instrumental tunes for mandolin, one that he hopes will be released before the end of 2009 on a new label, Stonebridge Records, which he has formed with Stuart Martin. The two met when Martin was engineering 2:10 Train, Gaudreau’s 2008 CD with Moondi Klein on Rebel Records. Jimmy and Stuart have become serial collaborators, and will be working together on the new instrumental project as well.

“The basic concept of my project is to feature ‘pieces & bits’ ( a possible title) of instrumental tunes I’ve composed over my career, some of which I have recorded on earlier albums and some I simply haven’t gotten around to recording until now. The ‘pieces’ will include rhythm guitar, bass and various other lead instruments while the ‘bits’ will feature abbreviated versions and include only mandolin or mandola backed by rhythm guitar, octave mandolin or bouzouki. The idea is to weave these in between the production numbers possibly using a fade-in/fade-out technique, although that’s merely one idea we’re tossing around.

In the end, I’m sure what will happen is that Stuart will hit on the ideal way to tie it all together, and we’ll go for it. He’s just that good!” (more…)

Missy Raines‘ fine band, The New Hip, keeps getting younger, and Missy just keeps getting… better!

She has announced that Dominick Leslie, mandolinist l’enfant terrible currently studying at the Berklee College of Music, will be joining her on the road this summer.

They will be heading out next week for a tour of Colorado and California with young Dom in tow.

• June 4th: Swallow Hill, Denver CO -  With the Boston Boys
• June 6-7: Pagosa Springs Folk and Bluegrass Festival - Pagosa Springs, CO
• June 9th: Don Quixote’s Music Hall - Felton CA
• June 11th: Freight and Salvage - Berkeley CA
• June 12th: Sutter Creek Theatre - Sutter Creek CA
• June 13th: The Youth Annex - Sebastopol, CA
• June 14th: The Palms Playhouse -  Winters CA

In addition to Missy on bass and vocals and Dominick guesting on mandolin, The New Hip consists of Mike Witcher on resonator guitar, Ethan Ballinger on guitar and Robert Crawford on drums.

A new CD has been released from Sound Art Recordings as a tribute to the late Butch Baldassari, who founded the company, and ran it until his death earlier this year.

Butch was a true leader in the mandolin world - as a player, composer, instructor, entrepreneur, and fierce proponent of musical literacy for mandolinists. He had performed with seminal bands like Weary Hearts and Lonesome Standard Time and was instrumental in the formation of the Nashville Mandolin Ensemble.

He was diagnosed with an inoperable brain cancer in June of 2007, and fought long and hard against what would be a formidable and ultimately invincible foe. Butch’s wife Sinclair continues to run the company and manage Butch’s musical legacy, and she was very pleased to be able to announce the release of the new CD.

The Road Home - A Tribute To Butch Baldassari contains 20 tracks of music from Butch’s many friends in the bluegrass and mandolin worlds. There are contributions from Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Sam Bush, David Grisman, Tim O’Brien, Mike Compton, Roland White and many others.

Proceeds from the sale of this album will go to a college fund for Butch and Sinclair’s teenaged son, Blake.

They are available now for $15 from the Sound Art web site. Buy several, and share them with your friends. It is a fitting tribute to a great artist and a fine, funny and lovable man.

Adam Steffey is surely one of the most recorded mandolinists in bluegrass this past 15 years or so.

He has spent time with two powerfully influential acts - Alison Krauss & Union Station and Mountain Heart - where he has been featured on both mandolin and lead vocals. Adam is currently a member of Dan Tyminski’s band, and lent his mandolin to Dan’s Wheel’s CD.

Steffey’s name can also be found in the credits on a great many new recordings, with Alecia Nugent’s Hillbilly Goddess being the most recent. He has been voted as the IBMA’s Mandolin Player Of The Year 7 times, and is an adjunct faculty member in the ETSU Bluegrass, Old Time & Country Music program.

But for all that, solo projects under his name have been in short supply. Save one CD from 2002, Grateful, Adam’s music has been found only on albums by other artists.

Thanks to Sugar Hill Records, that is all about to change. They will be releasing a new Adam Steffey CD in September showcasing his singing and mandolin playing, and the musical artistry of the many fine musicians with whom he has been associated in the recent past.

The new album will have 12 tracks, split three ways. Four will be instrumentals, Adam sings five, and three feature guest vocalists. And what a group of guests! Alison Krauss, Ronnie Bowman and Dan Tyminski each take center stage for one song.

Helping out on the picking side are Ron Block and Ron Stewart on banjo, Clay Hess, Bryan Sutton and Dan Tymisnki on guitar, Stuart Duncan and Ron Stewart on fiddle, Randy Kohrs on a variety of resonator and slide guitars, and Barry Bales on bass. Tina Steffey, Adam’s new bride, adds clawhammer banjo to one track as well.

I met with Steffey last week to talk about the new CD, and he mentioned how excited he was to see it as a Sugar Hill release.

“This is something I’ve been thinking about doing for some time, but was unsure how well it would be received in today’s uncertain climate for record labels. I discussed it with Crossroads Music, where my Grateful CD was released, and found that they were moving towards digital-only distribution.

I really wanted actual CDs for sales at shows, and Barry Bales suggested that I contact Gary Paczosa at Sugar Hill.” (more…)

A number of companies who offer products to the bluegrass market are offering contests and giveaways to celebrate May as Bluegrass Music Month. In one such promotion, Mel Bay Publications has partnered with Michael Kelly Mandolins and will be giving away a Legacy Eleganté model at the end of the month.

No purchase is necessary to enter the drawing, and online registration is available. Only a single entry is allowed per person, and the contest is limited to legal residents of the United States. The contest deadline is May 31, 2009 and a winner will be selected by random drawing in mid June.

The Legacy Eleganté, valued at $1285, is a solid wood mandolin with a hand carved top, a radiused ebony fingerboard and gold plated hardware.

You can find more details about this model on the Michael Kelly web site, and full contest rules and online registration at the Mel Bay site.

Mel Bay has a couple of new instructional books that will be of interest to the bluegrass community.

First Jams: Dobro is a starter book (with audio CD) designed for young players who want to learn some simple, familiar songs on resonator guitar. It will also be suitable for a beginner at any age, offering tab and standard for the basic melody of 20 jam session standards.

The First Jams series includes similar books for guitar, mandolin, banjo, ukulele and mountain dulcimer, each showing the melody of the same popular tunes, selling for $14.99.

Also new from Mel Bay is Bluegrass On Hammered Dulcimer, which contains arrangements of 24 familiar bluegrass songs for malletheads. This one was written for intermediate to advanced players, and is written in standard notation.

8 vocal popular pieces are included along with common instrumentals, taken from the traditional repertoire and from The Father of Bluegrass himself. Jerusalem Ridge, Big Mon, Rawhide and Bluegrass Stomp appear from Bill Monroe’s legacy of great tunes.

The book sells for $14.95.

I heard recently from Grasstowne mando man Alan Bibey, who reports that tracking for their next CD is complete. They are in the process of mixing now, and hope to have the project delivered to Pinecastle Records shortly.

The album is tentatively titled The Other Side Of Towne, and no release date has yet been announced.

Their debut project, The Road Headin’ Home, was recorded only a few weeks after the band was formed in December of 2006, and Al says that they cherished having the chance to mull carefully over the songs they might choose for this one.

“We did have a lot more time put in on finding the right combination of songs this time, and had to cut a lot of great tunes out to get down to the 14 that are on the project.”

Bibey ran down some of the material for us…

“We’re lucky to have co-songwriter of the year Steve Gulley in the band and have three tunes from him. Lifting Up The Cross is a great Gospel tune he wrote with Ken Mellons and we have included two other tunes he wrote with his writing partner Tim Stafford. Everyone know what great writer these guys are.

We were also fortunate to have 4 tunes from Wayne Winkle (my former Blueridge bandmate) and Craig Market, a couple they co-wrote and a couple on their on. The title track is one of Wayne’s.  We have one a cappella Gospel number on the CD written by Michael Bentley that’s brand new, but really sounds old and my dear friend Terry Baucom is singing bass on that one. I also co-wrote one song called Pay Your Dues with Ronnie Bowman and Shawn Lane, and wrote another couple tunes including a new instrumental called Tobaccoville Road that I hope the folks will like.”

Grasstowne consists of Bibey on mandolin and vocals, Gulley on guitar and vocals, Phil Leadbetter on resonator guitar, Jason Davis on banjo and Travis Greer on bass. Stuart Duncan also adds fiddle to the new CD.

Charles Dumont, who developed the MandoChords and BanjoChords apps for the iPhone, has a new addition to his roster.

JamBuddy will turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into… well, a jam buddy. It will provide either mandolin or guitar accompaniment for 50 familiar jam standards, plus you can program in as many other songs as you like. Playback speed is adjustable and songs can be entered in either 3/4 or 4/4 time.

As the JamBuddy page in iTunes tells it..

JamBuddy will keep playing all night and never complain that you are hogging the spotlight.

The app is compatible with any iPhone or iPod Touch running iPhone 2.2.1 software.

Jesse Cobb of the Infamous Stringdusters wrote in to inform us of his brother’s loss of four instruments.

The guitar should be easily identifiable by its serial number. The other instruments will not be so easy to identify. But if you have any information that might lead to the recovery of these instruments, please contact Jesse at the email address below.

UPDATE (1:43PM EST): We’ve received photos of the fiddle and mandolin.

Hello friends, Shad Cobb of the John Cowan Band has suffered the loss of four instruments today. Shad has taken the news as only he could and is saddened by the loss but thankful and comforted by all the friends who have reached out to him today.

Sometime in the afternoon of Monday, May 4th, unknown thieves kicked in the back door of his little cabin home in the hood and made off with the following instruments. We would appreciate any help anyone could give in locating them. Unfortunately, we only have a serial number for one of the instruments and limited info on the fiddle and banjo. If you see these instruments for sale anywhere please contact me, Jesse Cobb at: mandocobb@hotmail.com.

1). Nashville Guitar Company. D size, mahogany guitar, very light colored wood on the top. serial# 03115. There is some finger wear near the bottom of the strings from posting fingers.

2). Approximately, four year old Bart Rider open back banjo. Shad thinks it was modeled after a White Lady banjo, with no distinguishing marks other than some wear on the head. Shad is trying to contact the builder get the serial number.

3). 7-8 year old Fairfax Abraham fiddle, with a Guarneri (spl?) label inside. The fiddle has a LR Baggs pickup installed and a bit of finish wear by the top of the fingerboard.

4). ‘98-’99 Ratliff F model mandolin. I used to own this one, it has major pick wear on the top, near the scroll. The fingerboard extension has been cutoff and there is a mark on the top where my saw slipped. There is also a repaired crack in the top f-hole. Dark sunburst finish.

Sam Bush will be a musical guest on this weekend’s edition of A Prairie Home Companion, aired on hundreds of public radio stations throughout the US. The show will be broadcast live on Saturday afternoon (5/2) at 6:00 p.m. (EDT) from The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

Unlike many recent Bush guest spots on PHC, Sam will have his fine band with him this time out - Scott Vestal on banjo, Stephen Mougin on guitar, Byron House on bass and Chris Brown on drums. Country superpicker Brad Paisley will also be appearing on the show.

The radio broadcast is sold out, but there will be a special “off the air” show at The Ryman starting at 9:00 p.m., Nashville time. Not sure what that will entail, but Sam and Brad will both be involved.

Though the show airs live in many radio markets, others hold it for broadcast on Sunday afternoon. You can check the official station list to double check when it airs in your area - or tune in online where the show will stream live at Saturday at 6:00.

It’s been ten years since the Sam Bush model Gibson mandolin was introduced to market.

During that time, it has been a strong seller for Gibson, and the impetus for them to create limited edition artist models for a number of other prominent bluegrass mandolinists, Alan Bibey, Wayne Benson, Doyle Lawson and Adam Steffey among them. The Bush, however, has been the only artist model to remain as a stock item in the catalog.

Reflecting on this ten year run, Sam and Gibson have created a new, limited edition model, inspired by a drawing in a 1934 Gibson catalog. It will called the Sam Bush Limited Edition Inspired By ‘34 Fern, with only 25 made before the model is retired.

Sam tells us how it came to be…

“It is a collaboration between David Harvey at Gibson and me, to revive interest in the Bush model after ten years time.

I’ve always been fascinated by that 1934 Gibson catalog, especially the way the Fern F-5 was drawn. This catalog didn’t have photos - it was artist renderings of the instruments - and the headstock on this Fern must have come from the artist’s imagination.

The logo was shown at an odd angle, with large script lettering, and there was no ‘The’ - just ‘Gibson.’

I always thought it was the neatest looking mandolin, and I had never seen one built that way.”

Research by Gibson verifies Sam’s recollection. They have no records of a mandolin built with this headstock design.

Other appointments also mimic the ‘34 catalog drawing. The mandolin has pearl block inlays in the radiused, ebony fingerboard and a lighter finish, which Gibson describes as an Iced Tea burst.

“The block inlay was a tie in with the existing Bush model. We rounded off the fingerboard extension like an L-5, like John Monteleone did on the board for Hoss, my old mandolin.  Can you believe I’m on my 4th fingerboard now!

I had asked for a lighter sunburst - finishes will often darken over the years, so we wanted one that looked different from a regular F-5.” (more…)

Austin360.com has a nice story up about Sarah Jarosz and her forthcoming recording, Song Up In Her Head. Co-produced with Gary Paczosa, the project is set to be released June 16 on Sugar Hill Records.

If you’re unfamiliar with Jarosz, be sure to read the story we published in June of 2008, Sarah Jarosz signs with Sugar Hill.

The Austin360 story concludes with this,

The long journey just begun gets really interesting in the next few weeks as Sarah Jarosz graduates from high school, turns 18 and releases her first album.

And in September she’ll be moving to Boston to attend one of two prestigous music schools who have both accepted her, Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory. Jarosz says she hasn’t made her mind up yet, and with choices like that I can see that it might be difficult.

Jarosz plays several instruments, but considers the mandolin to be her primary instrument. If you haven’t heard her yet, it might be worth your time to give her a listen.

Sam Bush will be doing three west coast dates this month with jam band sensation, Yonder Mountain String Band. It should be a jammin’ good time.

The shows are:

• 4/16 - Eureka, CA
• 4/17 - Eugene, OR
• 4/18 - Seattle, WA

You can find more details about these dates on the official YMSB web site - including four shows this week in California with fiddle magician Darol Anger.

Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out are loading up the bus this morning and heading out on a two week tour that will take them from their home base in Georgia out to the west coast and back again.

Banjo picker Steve Dilling has agreed to send us updates and photos along the way, which we will publish here as often as they come in. Should be fun.

The tour will find them in Tennessee, Arkansas, California, Nevada, Colorado and Idaho doing a mix of club shows and concerts along the way.

• Fri April 3 - The Down Home,  Johnson City, TN
• Sat April 4 - GoodFolk Productions,  Fayetteville, AR
• Tues April 7 - Freight and Salvage,  Berkeley, CA
• Wed April 8 - The Maverick Saloon,  Santa Ynez, CA
• Thur April 9 - Don Quixote’s Music Hall,  Felton, CA
• Fri April 10 - Trinity Alps Performing Arts Center,  Weaverville, CA
• Sat April 11 - Willits High School,  Willits, CA
• Mon, April 13 - Brewery Arts Center,  Carson City, NV
• Tues April 14 - Special Event Center, Boise St. University Boise, ID
• Wed April 15 - The Swing Station,  Laporte, CO
• Fri April 17 - XM/Sirius Radio Special Taping,  Nashville, TN
• Sat April 18 - The Grand Theater,  Cartersville, GA

You can find more details on any of these tour stops on the IIIrd Tyme Out web site, including afternoon workshops for banjo and mandolin before the Boise State University show in Idaho on 4/14.

Steve Dilling and Wayne Benson will lead the workshops, and attendees get a free ticket to the concert that night.

Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter Steve Smith will be a guest on today’s (3/27) edition of Blue Plate Special on WDVX.

Steve is based in New Mexico, and is currently completing a tour of the southeast which finishes tonight at The Palace Theater in Maryville, TN. He is a gifted singer with a very distinctive voice, and plays mandolin, banjo and guitar with the best of them.

Catch him on WDVX at noon, broadcasting from Knoxville at 105.9 FM, and online via online streaming at wdvx.com.