Kathy Mattea will be live on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country this morning (4/2) at 11:00 a.m. with Katy Daley and Lee Michael Demsey to talk about her latest CD, Coal. The new release, produced by Marty Stuart, is as the title suggests, a set of tunes about the life and times of coal miners.

Mattea grew up in West Virginia, raised in a family of mine workers, so the music is very personal for her. Many of the titles will be familiar to bluegrass fan - The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore, Dark As A Dungeon and Blue Diamond Mines, just to name a few - and the treatments are largely acoustic in nature.

WAMU’s Bluegrass Country is the new name for the free 24/7 bluegrass radio service previously known as BluegrasCountry.org, and streamed at that web address and on HD WAMU-Channel 2 in the Washington, DC metro area.

You can read more about Coal in a piece Richard posted here earlier this year. Audio samples can be found on Mattea’s web site.

You can also see a set of photos from Kathy’s recent visit to the Robinson Run Mine in West Virginia last week online.

For some Kathy Mattea is to West Virginia what Patty Loveless is to Kentucky, although the former hasn’t embraced bluegrass music as has the latter - until now, perhaps.

Raised near Charleston, West Virginia, Grammy-award winning singer Mattea is to release a CD, simply entitled Coal, on the newly formed label, Captain Potato Records, on April 1. From what I can glean, it is one that is sure to attract some bluegrass fans - it’s her first album minus drums, even.

Being from the coal-rich hills of West Virginia, Mattea is readily aware of the nature of the industry. She is still haunted by memories of the Farmington Mine disaster of 1968 near Fairmont, West Virginia, and both her grandfathers were miners while her mother worked for the United Mine Workers Association. Nevertheless, it’s a project that wasn’t taken lightly. In fact, Mattea said the Sago Mine Disaster (also West Virginia) and the death of 12 of its miners made her realize it was time to tackle the Coal project, which, she says, has been on her mind since she was 19, when she first heard Dark As A Dungeon.

“This record reached out and took me. It called to me to be made. When Sago happened, I got catapulted back to that moment in my life and thought, ‘I need to do something with this emotion, and maybe this album is the place to channel it’. I knew the time was right.”

The album features traditional and contemporary songs, many of them by songwriters with Appalachian roots; Jean Ritchie, Billy Edd Wheeler, Hazel Dickens, Utah Phillips, Merle Travis, Si Kahn and Darrell Scott. Some of the highlights are Black Lung, The L & N Don’t Stop Here Anymore, Coal Tattoo, Green Rolling Hills [with Tim and Mollie O’Brien providing harmony vocals], Blue Diamond Mines [with Marty Stuart and Patty Loveless - background vocals], The Coming Of The Roads, Red-winged Blackbird and Lawrence Jones. As Mattea says, the songs were chosen because they articulate “the lifestyle, the bigger struggles,” and “speak to the sense of place and sense of attachment people have to each other and to the land.”

The backing musician includes names that are no strangers to bluegrass aficionados, beginning with Mattea’s hand-picked producer [who also plays guitar and mandolin], Marty Stuart, who plays guitar, mandolin and mandola on the tracks and joins Patty Loveless for background vocals on one song also. Bryon House (bass) and Stuart Duncan (fiddle, mandolin and banjo) are household names in the bluegrass world. Lesser known are Bill Cooley, who has been with Mattea for 20 years, handles the guitar duties, while John Catchings (cello), Randy Leago (keyboards and accordion) and guest steel player Fred Newell round out the album’s sound.

Kathy Mattea’s web site features an interview from her recent appearance on NPR’s Living On Earth that features some of the music from Mattea’s forth-coming album Coal as well as some personal insight into growing up, living in a coal mining community and the environmental effects of the coal industry.

It seems Marty Stuart has given quite a Valentine’s Day gift to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. On Wednesday, February 13, 2008, he donated Lester Flatt’s old 1950 D-28 to the museum.

History tells us Lester bought the guitar for $115 at a pawnshop in Charleston, WV, in 1956. He used the instrument for the better part of his career.

Home to Flatt’s world renowned G-run for nearly 25 years, the Martin was used on most of Flatt & Scruggs’s classic recordings and live performances, including Grand Ole Opry broadcasts and their appearances on the national television show Beverly Hillbillies and the Martha White-sponsored Flatt & Scruggs Grand Ole Opry.

This instrument is just part of a larger collection of items donated by Marty Stuart and Connie Smith. You can view the complete list of donated items on the museum’s website.

Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs were honored last night as they were inducted into Nashville Songwriters Association International’s Hall Of Fame at their 38th Annual Hall of Fame Dinner and Induction Ceremony.

Marty Stuart inducted Flatt & Scruggs, recalling how he joined Lester Flatt & The Nashville Grass when he was 13 years old. The Del McCoury Band performed a number of Flatt & Scruggs compositions (If I Should Wander Back Tonight, Earl’s Breakdown, Little Cabin Home on the Hill, Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’ and The Martha White Theme) and were then joined by Stuart for Scruggs’ classic Foggy Mountain Breakdown.

From the NSAI press release:

Joining Scruggs to accept the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Manny Award (short for manuscript) were Flatt’s widow, Gladys Flatt, and granddaughter Tammy Brumfield. “It’s been a wonderful ride,” Scruggs said. “Thank you all very much.”

Also inducted last night were Bob DiPiero, Mac McAnally, Dottie Rambo and Hank Williams, Jr.

Country and bluegrass stalwart Marty Stuart has signed on to host a one hour weekly radio program on XM Satellite Radio. Marty Stuart’s American Odyssey will debut on Friday, October 5 at 8:00 a.m. on XM’s classic country channel, America (track 10).

Marty plans to showcase a wide variety of American music styles - traditional country, blues, rockabilly, bluegrass, gospel and rock - focusing each week on a different part of the country. He’ll interview and showcase local musicians from each highlighted city or town, and will perform himself with both studio and live sets.

Marty Stuart’s American Odyssey will also be featured all day October 5 on XMX (track 2), so you can tune in whenever it may be convenient.

Last week we told you about a couple of ebay auctions by WDVX in Knoxville that were part of it’s 2007 fundraising efforts.

The first auction was for an autographed Martin DXM guitar. The second auction was an autographed Tony Rice model Santa Cruz guitar. Friday evening the third, and final, instrument went up for auction on ebay.

This time it’s a mandolin. An “F Style” Liddy Mandolin featuring a fern peghead inlay and tobacco sunburst finish. The instrument is sporting autographs by Ricky Skaggs, Sam Bush, Ronnie McCoury, Doyle Lawson, David Grisman, Marty Stuart and more.

Once again this instrument and the accompanying case have been provided by Smoky Mountain Guitars in Pigeon Forge, TN.

The bidding began Friday evening February 16th, and will continue through the auction’s closing date of Sunday February 25th, at 6PM EST.

More photos of the instrument are available on the ebay auction page.

There are a number of other bluegrass artists with Grammy nominations announced yesterday.

Rhonda Vincent and Bobby Osborne are nominated in the Best Country Collaboration With Vocals category for Midnight Angel, from Rhonda’s All American Bluegrass Girl CD.

The Del McCoury Band received a nomination for The Promised Land in the Best Southern, Country, Or Bluegrass Gospel Album category.

Then, of course, we have the Best Bluegrass Album category. Those nominees are:

See the complete list of nominees on the Grammy web site.

UPDATE 8:00 a.m. Also receiving a Grammy nomination yesterday was Ralph Stanley. His A Distant land To Roam CD was nominated in the Best Traditional Folk Album category.

From Ronnie Reno, via J.D. Rhynes, who posted on the California Bluegrass Association web site, comes word that Merle Haggard is working on a bluegrass project.

That CBA news posting elicited a response from Elida Ickes on the CBA message board that her son, Rob, was playing dobro on the Haggard bluegrass sessions.

Rob said initially they all sat in a circle and just jammed on a few tunes that Merle was interested in doing. (Other players are: Aubrie Haynie, Marty Stuart, Ben Isaacs, and Charlie Cushman) Hope I spelled everyone’s name correctly and remembered everyone that was there. Then Merle said he liked this and suggested that they record just sitting in a circle jamming!!! That is what they did so it will be mostly live taping!! Rob said the first song they did was “I Wonder Where You Are Tonight.”

Another song Rob really liked is a new one that Merle wrote called, “Pray.” Rob said the whole time he could not believe he was sitting in the circle “jamming” with Merle Haggard. Again, it was the highlight of Rob’s life. He goes into the studio again today to finish up. They did 8 songs yesterday and hope to do 4 or 5 more today.

You can read the news posting on CBA’s site, and the follow-up bulletin board discussion there as well. We will try to contact some of the players and find out more about this project, which I am certainly eager to hear.

Thanks to Megan Lynch who first alerted us to this story, and Rick Cornish and Craig Wilson with CBA for their help finding the original post in their archives.

The IBMA has announced that the host for this year’s International Bluegrass Music Awards show will be Marty Stuart. The show will be held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville on September 28, 2006, at which time the winners of the 2006 IBMA Awards will be announced, and trophies presented.

Stuart got his start as a bluegrass artist, performing with Lester Flatt & The Nashville Grass as a young teen, returning to his bluegrass roots after a successful country music career with his newest CD, Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives - Live at the Ryman.

Tickets for the show will go on sale August 11, with details appearing soon on the IBMA web site.

Dennis Jones just wrote in to tell us that Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives are going to be on WNCW FM 88.7 live today at 3:00pm. He will be talking about his “Live At The Ryman” disc, history with Lester Flatt, and tour dates etc. The set up is the same set up as the Ryman/Opry shows.

Be sure to tune in and give it listen. Online just visit the radio station’s website and click the Listen Live button in the upper left.

Marty Stuart, who just released a live bluegrass CD, will be featured on Great American Country’s “GAC Classic,” this evening, Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 10 a.m. (ET). Stuart will telling some amazing tales of his life in the music business.

“From the first time I played with Lester Flatt, I sensed an extreme amount of history around me,” Stuart said. It’s no surprise, then, that Stuart has been a collector of country music memorabilia for as long as he can remember. “The first things I acquired were guitars and costumes,” he said. “Nobody in Nashville was really paying attention to the old Nudie suits; people basically were ashamed of that image and they were being sold and pawned.”

Be sure to tune in and give it a listen.

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Marty Stuart - Live At The Ryman

Marty Stuart has a new CD out titled Live At The Ryman. The CD is a live recording of a bluegrass concert Marty did last year with his band and a few special guests. Here’s the line up on the CD:

The Superlatives
Kenny Vaughan - guitar
Harry Stinson - percussion
Brian Glenn - bass

Special Guests
Charlie Cushman - banjo
Stuart Duncan - fiddle
Uncle Josh Graves - dobro

Marty of course, played mandolin as he once did with Lester Flatt on that same stage.

The Ryman Auditorium is my home show place. I have an ongoing love with the building and adopted it years ago. It’s the first place I ever played in Nashville. It was my home with Lester Flatt’s band for nearly two years before the Grand Ole Opry moved the show across town…Much of my musical life has been lived out on that stage.

Marty didn’t even realize the show was being recorded at the time. He was just concerned with playing some good music for a sold out audience.

At the end of the evening as I was about to walk out of the building, Les Banks walked up and handed me two CDs and said, “You should listen to this.” I asked him what it was and he said, “Proof of what just happened on stage.” I did listen and it was special.

Now the CD has been released and you and I can hear what Marty heard when he listened for the first time.

I tried to find the CD online, but Marty doesn’t have anything about it on his website. The unofficial fan website has some reviews, but nothing more. So I’ll have to send you to Amazon to listen to samples of the 15 tracks (including an intro by Eddie Stubbs).

PS - Marty told me his favorite track was #3 No Hard Times Blues. When I asked why he said “Just because.” And even in an email I could see the grin on his face.