It’s always encouraging to see bluegrass being supported by those outside the genre, but it comes as no surprise that the state of Virginia, with it’s rich bluegrass heritage, would be involved in promoting bluegrass music.

The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation is sponsoring a tour called Blowin’ the Dust Off. The series features Steve Bassett along with bluegrass band, Michelle Nixon & Drive. The tour includes stops at sixteen Virginia State Parks beginning at Natural Tunnel State Park in Duffield, VA on May 5, 2007. Each concert will be accompanied by a “Picker’s Camp” and a display/demonstration of pre-1900’s music instruments. Tickets are $4 for adults, with children 12 and under getting in free.
Bassett is a singer who’s style has been described as a synthesis of America’s roots music. But he’s not bluegrass, so I won’t dwell on his contribution to the series.

Michelle Nixon & Drive however, are bluegrass. Nixon is a Virginia girl with a decidedly Virginia sounding bluegrass band. She has won awards from SPBGMA in recent years for her traditional style vocals. She is also a part of the IBMA award winning Daughters of Bluegrass group. And her band…what can I say?

The band consists of Patrick Robertson on guitar and vocals, Jamie Harper on mandolin, fiddle and vocals, Jeremy Boling on banjo, and Travis Greer on bass and vocals. I must admit some partiality where this band is concerned. Some of the guys are hometown pickers from this part of Southwest Virginia and so I have a natural pride in their accomplishment. And while Jeremy Boling is a recent transplant to this part of Virginia, he is truely a hometown picker for me. We both grew up in the Kansas City, MO area and I’ve known and picked with him since we were both youngsters. With that disclaimer out of the way, I will say this a great sounding bluegrass band and you should take the time to check them out if you haven’t already.

Visit the Blowin’ the Dust Off tour website for more information and a full listing of Park locations.

Clyde Scott writes in to tell us about some upcoming live shows that will be available on BluegrassRadio.org this weekend.

We are very excited to announce that next weekend the fun in South Georgia continues. Saturday 3/17, we will present Michelle Nixon and Drive, Live in the Bluegrass Radio studios. on Sunday 3/18, we will present Blue Moon Rising. Both bands will do a complete set live and we will record each for playback later each day. This is a wonderful time for BluegrassRadio.org considering that every effort is being made to kill internet radio. We will not let the music stop.

You might want to go read these posts here, here, and here if you don’t understand what Clyde is referring to with his last two sentences. Make sure you read the comments on that first post as well.

If you have any trouble connecting to BluegrassRadio.org during the shows, be patient and continue trying. Clyde has mentioned that due to this recent ruling he will be limiting the number of connections to the stream.

On October 28, 2006 The Daughters Of Bluegrass took home the coveted Recorded Event of the Year award for their second CD release, Back To The Well. The evening before the awards were announced, they also performed at an official IBMA showcase, and video from that show is now posted on YouTube.

Songs available from that show include:

All seven of the videos can be found on the Hope River Entertainment YouTube page.

This week’s edition of Studio Special on XM Satellite Radio’s Bluegrass Junction (Channel 14) features bluegrass singer Michelle Nixon. The show will be a mix of live performance by Michelle and her Band (Drive), and conversation with host Kyle Cantrell.

The show debuts today (10/27) at 8:00 a.m., with rebroadcasts throughout the next week.

Airtimes for the Studio Special broadcasts are:

All times shown are Eastern.

What More Should I Say, the most recent Pinecastle release for Michelle Nixon & Drive, debuted this week on the Billboard Magazine bluegrass chart at #46. This chart is compiled using Soundscan reports, a service of the Nielsen Company - the same folks who compile viewer data for television and radio broadcasting.

Soundscan compiles their data based on the actual sale of CDs at over 14,000 retailers in the US and Canada, using the bar code scan at the register (hence the name). Of particular interest to bluegrass artists and labels, Soundscan also allows bands who sell directly to consumers at their shows to report those sales to Nielsen via a portable hand held scanner. There is no cost to submit a title to Soundscan, but obtaining the reports requires a hefty subscription fee, which may be the reason why only a few bluegrass-oriented record companies are taking advantage of the service.