We just got a note from fiddler Megan B. Lynch, fiddler with 3 Fox Drive, announcing a summer camp she is conducting for young fiddle players.

The week of July 16-20, 2007 will see the first FiddleStar Youth Fiddle Camp. The camp will be held in Ridge Top, TN. Megan will be teaching fiddle tunes, but there will be much more than that at this camp.

Every day from 9AM - 3:30PM we will work on fiddle tunes, learn how to rehair bows and do basic fiddle repair, take hikes, learn to dance to fiddle music, and lots more. We’ll even get a chance to record in a real recording studio and the students will get a CD of their hard work!

Megan told me her goal with this camp is to create a new generation of bluegrass and traditional fiddlers. Assisting her with the camp will be Mike Anglin from the Lonesome River Band. Plans are in place to host several camps in 2008, adding an adult fiddle camp, and a full-on bluegrass camp.

The cost of attending the camp depends on your plans. They have different rates for daytime attendees and sleep-over attendees. Parents are welcome as well. Costs for students range from $250 - $425. Various meals are provided depending on the package purchased. All student fees include camp t-shirt and CD.

Visit FiddleStar.com for more information, or register by phone at 615-428-1681.

Sammy Shelor let us know today that he has two new members with him in Lonesome River Band. To be precise, it’s actually one new member, and one returning.

Brandon Rickman is back with the band, playing guitar and singing lead, returning after being gone for a year and a half. He had asked out in the fall of 2005 to focus on his songwriting and spend time with his family, but decided that performing is where he wants to be.

Sammy sounded pleased to have him back.

“Brandon is a great vocalist and songwriter, and one of the best emcees I’ve ever seen. It will be good to have him on stage with us again.”

New to LRB is bass player Mike Anglin, who has recently been working with both Larry Cordle and 3 Fox Drive, and previously with Continental Divide, among other stage and studio gigs. Sammy said that Mike brings something to the band he has wanted for some time.

“Mike can wail on either the upright or electric. If we are playing a traditional bluegrass show, he can play the acoustic, and if we are at a jam grass or high volume show, he can grab the electric.”

Rounding out the band is Matt Leadbetter on dobro, Andy Ball on mandolin and Sammy on banjo.

The newly revised version of the band will be on display next weekend for the first time, performing on the radio and on stage. On Friday (2/23) they will be a featured guest on WDVX radio’s The Blue Plate program between noon and 1:00 p.m., and later that evening at The Station Inn in Nashville.

They will also be in Clay City, KY on February 24 at the Meadowgreen Music Hall. You can find the full LRB schedule on the band’s web site.

We have word that Larry Cordle is only one song away from having the mixes finished on his new CD, Rough Around The Edges. The title cut is a duet with Travis Tritt. Randy Kohrs also sings a duet on the disc, a story-song that evokes thoughts of Frank and Jesse James, Last Train Robbery. Cordle’s band, Lonesome Standard Time, is featured throughout the CD. Band members include Kristen Scott-Benson on banjo, Booie Beech on guitar, Chris Davis on mandolin, Kim Gardner on dobro, Jenee Keener on fiddle, and Mike Anglin on bass. Anglin also sang the baritone parts and Chris did most of the tenor. Wayne Benson also guests on a couple tracks on mandolin.

The CD was recorded, with the exception of the title track, and mixed at Slack-key studios, owned by Randy Kohrs, in Nashville, TN. The project was engineered by Mike Latterell and Randy, and it was mixed by Larry Cordle & Randy Kohrs.

Randy tells us:

The last song, notably, is an incredible, heartfelt original with just Larry playing guitar and singing into the mic, all one take, no overdubs.

Larry is known far and wide as a prolific song writer and this project is no exception.

The project will have 13 new songs on it, 9 of which were written or co-written by yours truly, and Kimbo & Booie wrote the instrumental that’s on there.

Cordle is planning on a March 27, 2007 release while still talking to record labels about picking it up “but if not, I’m just gonna go on and put it out myself.”

The title cut has already been released to radio and currently resides at #17 on the Bluegrass Unlimited National Survey. We look forward to hearing the rest of the disc come March!