Thanks to Karen Kouns of Main Street Entertainment we have learned of the formation of Summertown Road, a fresh and creative new band from that bluegrass music hotbed, the Ashland area of Kentucky.

The name, Summertown Road, came from a Marty Raybon song with the same title.

The elder statesman in the quartet is Jack Hicks, innovative banjo player and former Blue Grass Boy (April 1971 - September 1973), who has had a long and varied musical career. He has also been a part of such legendary groups as Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys, the Whites, Lester Flatt, Sonny James and Conway Twitty, with whom he worked for about 10 years.

Alongside Hicks is guitarist Bo Isaac, a part of the Kentucky Opry and a member of the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame. Isaacs has played with the Ernie Thacker, Dave Evans and Larry Cordle. He has also made guest appearances with IIIrd Tyme Out and Marty Raybon. As a soloist, Bo’s first single stayed on the bluegrass charts for 10 months. His eponymous solo album has earned rave reviews. He has been nominated for the IBMA Emerging Artist of the Year award.

The other two members are John Rigsby and Randy Thomas.

Rigsby is a Grammy award winner for his talent on the mandolin and fiddle. He started out his musical journey with Dwight Whitley and Sideroads while he was still in high school. Rigsby has played with such notables as Ralph Stanley and Melvin Goins. He is cousin to Don and Ron Rigsby.

Thomas (bass) has made his name working with Dave Evans, Tony Rice, Hylo Brown, Don Reno, the Marshall Family and Bo Isaac and the Wheelwrights. (more…)

We heard recently from Daniel Grindstaff, banjo picker with Marty Raybon, with news about Marty’s new CD and the band’s recent travels.

As many of our readers are aware, Raybon got his start as a bluegrass artist in Florida performing with his family band before achieving chart-topping success with the country band Shenandoah.

Daniel tells us that the new CD is tentatively titled, This That And The Other, and will touch on many of the various musical styles Marty has performed over the years - to include ballads, up tempo bluegrass, and Gospel music. It will be his first double disc project, and an early release to bluegrass radio is due to be shipped in August.

Marty has wanted to release a project like this for some time, based on recurring fan requests, and shared his own thoughts about the new CD:

“This has been a long awaited project of material that I truly believe will take the fan of yesterday and today to a reminiscence of the past while keeping pace with what looks like a very bright and successful future.”

The band has just returned from a tour of Canada, and Daniel says that despite high fuel prices, attendance at shows was very strong. On the way back, Marty and the guys found time for a stop in New York City to take in a Yankees game.

Marty will be on tour throughout the remainder of the year and is planing for a very busy 2009 tour to promote the new double album.

We’ll have more on the new release as details emerge.

Marty Raybon is about to start work on his next bluegrass CD. He will be including a number of new songs he has written, and is in the process of gathering additional material now.

No title has been discussed as yet, and Marty is looking at a mid-summer 2008 release.

We understand that Marty has also booked studio time for a new all-Gospel project, with a fall 2008 release date. Busy little beavers…

You can find Marty’s tour schedule online if you’d like to catch him and his band, Full Circle, live this season.

We just got a note from Uncle Phil - Phil Leadbetter, that is - dobro man with Grasstowne, and proud papa of fellow resonator guitarist Matt Leadbetter.

We reported over the weekend that Matt had left Lonesome River Band, largely to spend more time at home with his wife and young son. Phil wanted to let us know that Matt just took the gig with Marty Raybon & Full Circle.

“Marty’s schedule and logistics seemed to work better with Matt. He had a wonderful time with the LRB, and it was a very hard decision to leave. He is looking forward to the new page in his career with Marty Raybon.”

Matt is actually a third generation bluegrass picker. Not only is his dad a prominent professional picker, his grandfather John Leadbetter was a banjo player.

Must be something in the water…

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This week on The GrassCast we continue our interview with bluegrass legend Paul Williams. Last week we took a look at Paul’s background in the music business, how he got started, and left the discussion after listening to a song he had written and performed on a live DVD production.

Part 2 of the interview continues this week as Paul discusses one of his most popular tunes, My Walkin’ Shoes Don’t Fit Me Anymore, and then goes on to tell us about a new song he has written that has been recorded on a recent Marty Raybon release. We’ve included a verse and chorus of Marty singing the song.

Paul then goes on to talk about his DVD release and his plans for the future. This is the conclusion to a great interview, be sure to listen to both parts.

Direct Download: ep54_paul_williams_pt2.mp3

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Marty Raybon will be releasing two new CDs later this month. The Grass I Grew Up On is a bluegrass CD and When The Sand Runs Out will be simultaneously released as a country project. Singles from both projects have already been released to radio. I had the chance to converse with Marty about these projects recently and ask him a few questions. My concern was mainly with the bluegrass project, but we did discuss the country release some as well. Here’s the interview.

Marty can you tell me about the players on this CD? Who they are, and why you wanted them involved in this project?

Well, the band that I had together at the time of the first initial recording was Patton Wages on banjo, and after having a baby, he decided to stay at home and has gone to work land surveyin’. Patton played banjo on all of the cuts except for Tall And Tough, the Paul Williams number from the album. I replaced him with a young man by the name of Derrick Dillman who played with Mr. Good ‘N Country, Jimmy Martin and he was one of the Sunny Mountain boys the last 4 years of Jimmy’s life. He has the attitude to work and the willingness to play it right. I felt like it was essential to have Derrick be apart of this album. When you feel a part of something then you become one of the guys and that is very important to me.

Ashby Frank in my best definition is one of the finest mandolin players and stylists this music has ever known. Shane Blackwell plays all the lead guitar work and is an individual, because of his character, that anybody would want workin’ for him.

Edgar Loudermilk is a fine young man. He is very enthusiastic and cares about his job a great deal. What I truly personally enjoy about Edgar is that he is a people person, a bass player and a tenor singer.

Glen Harrell played some of the finest twin fiddle work that I have ever heard. He has a knack to find the right part to play and what makes his playin’ so well, is he knows when to play and when not to. That is a very wonderful trait for a musician to have.

Andy Hall helped out on the dobro and done an absolutely fine job on the Pete Goble and Leroy Drums “Dixie In My Eye”.

This album is an attempt to prove my heart and the love that I have for music is bluegrass. I decided to get back into bluegrass music because of the fellowship with the fans and the pickers. My goal, which is definitely a labor of love, is to do everything that I absolutely can to bring this music and the approach and the vision to as many people as I possibly can. To quote Helen Keller, when asked what would be worse than being blind, she said “to have sight with no vision”.

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