News from Missy Raines & The New Hip…

Original guitarist Megan McCormick has departed to pursue a career in indie rock, and 17 year old Dillon Hodges - 2007 Winfield Flatpicking Champion - is stepping in.

Missy shares the mixed feelings that always accompany a personnel change.

“There’s no question Megan has played a crucial role in the realization of this band, I’m so glad she was there, it has been an amazing time! At the same time we couldn’t be happier with Dillon. He’s a brilliant player. He also has a musical maturity that belies his young age.”

The band’s self-titled short form CD is now available, with audio samples available online.

Missy Raines is one of those musicians who seems to defy all the laws of both nature and logic. How can someone be that small, and that good on such a large instrument? Why would a bass player front a band? She is exemplary at both these tasks.

Missy Raines & The New Hip is the name of that band and this five piece ensemble lives up to their name.

Today is the release of the group’s first recording. The self-titled disc, Missy Raines & The New Hip includes 5 tracks and one free download if you buy before midnight tonight.

Today is the day we’ve been waiting for for a long time. We’re releasing our new EP, the very first recording by missy raines & the new hip! For the bluegrass lovers it’ll be obvious that our roots are showing, but we’ve also stirred a few other things into the pot- a little jazz, a little groove and a whole lot of hip!

Go listen to this recording expecting to hear traditional bluegrass and you’ll surely be disappointed. Go expecting to hear some great music that includes some bluegrass sensibility, and you’ll be very pleased.

The band consists of Raines on upright acoustic bass, Ethan Ballinger on mandolin, Michael Witcher on electric (jazz style) guitar and resonator guitar, Megan McCormick on acoustic guitar, and Lee Holland on drums. Don’t worry, he’s very tasteful! There are a few special guests on the recording as well.

Don’t forget that ordering your copy before midnight tonight will get you in on the exclusive download of Silver Lake.

We have a special track just for you: Silver Lake, a funky instrumental of mine. This is a previously unreleased studio cut by the new hip. Some of you may remember this tune from my ‘My Place in the Sun’ cd, complete with James Brown horns, or you may have heard Jim Hurst and I work our chemistry on it live with just bass and guitar. Well, I’ve always wanted to record this tune with the band to see what would happen with it. The cool thing about Silver Lake is that it continues to live well in whatever context we put it- and it feels like it was made for this band. We had a blast cutting it, and want to share it with you. But this is the only time we’re offering it, so be the first on your block to get it and ORDER NOW!!

The band website has been completely overhauled for this release, with a new look and feel. Look for the band on all the usual social network sites (Facebook, Myspace, ReverbNation) and be sure to drop them a note.

If you’re a DJ you can have instant access to the tracks via AirplayDirect.

The band has also entered a contest on Ourstage.com to win a slot at the Newport Jazz Festival. If you’re so inclined, you can sign up and vote for the band. Maybe they’ll get to represent bluegrass to some jazz fans. I’d be proud to send them as our delegates!

When you finish listening to Cherryholmes live on WFDU.org, you can point your browser over to WDVX.com and hear Missy Raines & The New Hip perform on Blue Plate Special. They will be performing live before a studio audience between noon and 1:00 p.m. this afternoon (2/29).

The New Hip is Missy’s musical youth movement, featuring a quartet of talented string musicians. Megan McCormick is on guitars and vocals, Michael Witcher on resonator guitar and vocals, Ethan Ballinger on mandolin and guitar, Lee Holland on percussion and Raines on bass.

Missy has spent her career as a bassist with a number of successful acts (most notably Claire Lynch) and has been named Bass Player of the Year seven times by the IBMA. This marks her first excursion as a band leader, with a group of eager co-conspirators in pursuing new sonic horizons.

WDVX broadcasts on a number of FM frequencies in East Tennessee, and online at WDVX.com.

Our Grasstowne buddies, Alan Bibey and Phil Leadbetter, both contacted us earlier this week mentioning the big doin’s in Bristol, TN on Saturday (1/26).

It’s the 3rd annual Pickin’ at the Paramount all star show where top bluegrass artists get together for two shows, performing together in round robin-type groupings quite different from the way fans are used to seeing them.

Artists involved in this year’s show include Mike Bub, Tim Laughlin, Ron Stewart, Adam Steffey, Jim Hurst, Dale Ann Bradley, Bradley Walker, Alecia Nugent, Terry Baucom, Phil Leadbetter, Alan Bibey, David Talbot, Missy Raines, Ricky Wasson, Kenny & Amanda Smith and Josh Williams. Cindy Baucom will be the emcee.

If you live within a comfortable drive’s distance of Bristol, this show would be well worth the trip. Shows are at 3:00 and 7:30 p.m. at the Paramount Center for the Arts, a restored art deco movie house from the 1920’s.

More details about online ticket purchasing can be found on The Paraount site.

Claire Lynch will be appearing on WNCW’s Goin’ Across The Mountain program on Saturday (1/12) at 2:00 p.m. (EST).

She and her fine band will perform live in the station’s Studio B, where they will also chat with host Dennis Jones. This show will be among the last before Missy Raines will take her leave, with Mark Schatz set to step in on bass.

The WNCW signal is available as a free online audio feed if you can’t catch their broadcast at 88.7 FM in the Charlotte, NC area.

We posted last week with the news that Missy Raines would be leaving her position with Claire Lynch to pursue her own group full time.

We asked Missy to share a few words about her new endeavor, and her feelings upon leaving her long-time home with Claire Lynch to do so.

I am excited to announce that as of January 2008, I will be touring full time with my new band, Missy Raines & The New Hip.

Let me tell you a little about the band: It features Megan McCormick- vocals, electric and acoustic guitars; Michael Witcher- vocals, dobro and lap steel, Ethan Ballinger- mandolins and guitar, Lee Holland- all things percussive. Everyone writes, and we’ve also started writing together as a band, exploring and creating our sound as we go along. We aren’t obsessing too much about labeling what we do right now, we just know it’s incredibly exciting and a lot of fun, and well, pretty hip. These ‘guys’ are gifted, sensitive, mature musicians and I’m just thrilled to be traveling the roads with them. We are just putting the finishing touches on an EP to be released this spring and have plans to release a CD in the fall.

The formation of the New Hip has been a dream of mine for a long, long time. Every step I’ve taken through the years has in some way or another been leading me to this point. When Jim Hurst and I started our duo back in 1998, we had a strong vision of what we wanted both musically and career- wise. We had long-range goals and we knew that striking out as a duo- sharing the duties of ‘fronting’ the show and pushing ourselves musically would propel us into our next adventures. And, although I’ve been inspired and affected in no small way by all the bands I’ve played with through the years, probably nothing prepared me any better for this path right now than that duo.

This is a bittersweet time though, because I’ll also be saying goodbye to some of the best people I’ve ever known or worked with- Claire Lynch, Jim Hurst and Jason Thomas, The Claire Lynch Band. It has been my great honor to be Claire’s bass player the better part of the last 12 years, and nothing will ever replace those times. Thank you, Claire, for teaching me so much and for giving me “room to breathe!” It has been an incredible ride and my great honor to play music with you and the band!

Missy has also written a lovely farewell letter to Lynch and her many fans, published in Claire’s January ‘08 newsletter. It will be available for viewing soon on her web site.

Missy Raines has announced that she will leave her position as bass player with The Claire Lynch Band, her musical home for the past 12 years, to focus full-time on her own group, Missy Raines & The New Hip.

The band features Missy on bass with the assistance of Michael Wichter on resonator guitar, Megan McCormick on guitar, Ethan Ballinger on mandolin and Lee Holland on percussion.

Missy said that she would send us some details shortly about the band’s plans for ‘08 and beyond, and we’ll post an update as soon as we hear back from her.

We wish her well in her new career as a band leader.

This Christmas memory comes from Missy Raines, bassist with Claire Lynch, and leader of her own group, Missy Raines & The New Hip.

It’s late, and Ben and I are making our way to my childhood home for a Christmas visit. As we drive north through the mountains, my mind wanders back to years past and the rich memories I have of this season. Next to summer time and bluegrass festivals, I think the time my mother loved the best was Christmas. By early November, it became her main focus, as soon as we put up the last lawn chair and winterized the camper, that is. She did her ‘spring cleaning’ then, (no time in the spring, there were festivals to attend!), and sometimes a major home improvement project took place, which usually included changing the color of the walls. To this day, the smell of paint makes me think of one thing only, December 25th.

Christmas was a special time because my parents made it special. And for my mother, it was a particularly special time. We had lots of traditions and rituals. Many of them, I learned later were unique to our family and I suspect they came out of her imagination. She had what I would call a ‘less than desirable’ childhood and she used to tell me that it was her goal in life to break that cycle and create a completely different environment with her children. She succeeded in that. She cast a spell of magic around most holidays and infected us all with a joy that has never dimmed.

There’s something to turning things around, to react to the negative with a positive, to making good out of bad. It’s powerful and empowering. I have felt it. I have also missed it, missed the opportunity, seen it go by like a fast train. But each time it’s presented I know I have a choice. If we could think about our actions not as quick moments; first here, then gone, but rather as long lasting ripples that radiate out and lap upon those around us then we would always choose wisely. We would choose to make something good of every situation.

It’s at this time of year that this seems so relevant to me. This is a time when like no other, our actions are under the microscope. This is the time of year when we’re supposed to see the good, no matter how hard it may be to find. We sing about it, we pray about it, we decorate about it, with the words, PEACE and JOY and LOVE all around us. For a few short weeks a year, it’s as if the world is a photograph where (pardon this) the negative is reversed. The images are the same as before but we see them differently. We react with love, with kindness, and with tolerance. We turn the other cheek, sit on our tempers, count our blessings and turn things around.

This is the beauty of the season and though it’s cliché, wouldn’t it be lovely if it were like this all year?

My mother taught me many important things, but perhaps the most important thing was something I learned through example. I am the product of a ‘cycle broken.’ My siblings and I are the beginning of the end. We have a solid foundation of love and trust and happy memories to sustain us through our adult lives. It could have so easily been different for us but for a choice she made to change a negative into a positive.

My parents are gone but our family grows with grandchildren and great grandchildren, and I see the ripples flowing, and they are strong, healthy and long lasting. Thanks Mom and Dad.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Our UK correspondent, Richard F. Thompson, shares this review.

Claire Lynch has recorded five CDs for the Rounder label previously. The latest, Crowd Favorites (Rounder 0600), consists of several songs in a ‘best of’ collection that in typical fashion these days includes a few new recordings - in this instance, four out of a total of 14 tracks.

Ms. Lynch is a very talented singer with a distinctive voice that is so well suited to the bluegrass, jazz, folk and swing numbers found throughout this album. The evocative and pensive The Day That Lester Died captures an historic incident that is so momentous; the song cleverly relates what the writer/singer was doing at the time. A JFK moment! Other highlights are the swinging Fallin’ In Love and the up-tempo If Wishes Were Horses a great bluegrass reading of a Gretchen Peters song.

Six of the songs were written by Claire Lynch, albeit often with others, the jazzy Jealousy and at the other extreme, Friends For A Lifetime, a loving expression of hope for a long-lasting mother-child relationship, are just two examples of those top quality songs.

At eight minutes long, the original arrangement for Wabash Cannonball, is just as much a showcase for Jim Hurst’s exceptional guitar playing and for Missy Raines’ bass soloing as it is for Ms. Lynch’s vocals. Contrastingly, there’s a noticeably fuller sound to Silver And Gold and Sweethearts Darlin’ Of Mine, both from the same CD originally.

Three of the new recordings are re-done versions of songs from Lynch’s time as a member of Front Porch String Band. Being based in Alabama for much of her life it is natural that Ms. Lynch should write and sing about Hills Of Alabam. Another piece of the Deep South is heralded in Kennesaw Line, the moving story of a personal account of events from the Confederate point of view during a Civil War battle in north Georgia.

Mainstays in supporting Lynch are Missy Raines (bass), Jim Hurst (guitar and vocals), Jason Thomas (fiddle ) - all members of Lynch’s current band - former husband Larry Lynch (mandolin and bazouki) and Rob Ickes (Dobro®). There’s some stellar moments from several other sidemen, most notable is the Cajun fiddling of the late Randy Howard.

Crowd Favorites is a good showcasing of Claire Lynch’s varied vocal talents.

Missy Raines wrote in this morning to offer some additional thanks she was unable to give during the award show last night due to time constraints. I’ve copied her comments below.

Dear folks,

I am so honored to have received the 2007 Bass Player of the Year award last night. I just wanted to say thank you! I am overwhelmed.

I wanted very much to take the opportunity to say something that I didn’t get to say last night, and that is, I want to thank Claire Lynch and the Claire Lynch Band for letting me play with them. I want to thank Claire for hiring me almost 10 years ago and giving me the fertile ground and nurturing support to grow as a musician. Claire Lynch, Jim Hurst and Jason Thomas, are 3 of the best musicians in this business, and playing with them is a dream come true. Being on the road with them is so great, we have a lot of fun and they are the consummate professionals. I cherish them and I’ve learned so much from them.

I’ve been on stage a zillion times through the years, and I always get a little nervous, but being on stage for just those few sweet seconds these (unbelieveable) 7 times to accept this great honor have given new meaning to an “out of body” experience. Or should I say, “out of shoes” experience…

Thank You very much.

Sincerely,
Missy Raines

Award-winning bassist Missy Raines is on tour this week in California with her band, The New Hip. This brief run to the west coast began yesterday (6/3) in Berkeley, and continues through the week with stops in Felton, San Deigo, Alta Dena and Culver City.

Their appearances are sporadic, due to Missy’s commitments as a member of The Claire Lynch Band, so fans of adventurous acoustic music are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity when it arises. The music mixes elements of bluegrass with jazz and pop influences, combining acoustic and electric instruments and percussion with vocal harmony. Audio samples can be found online.

Missy now had the record for the annual awards given by the International Bluegrass Music Association, having taken the trophy for Bass Player of the Year for the sixth time in 2006. She has been honored with this distinction for her stellar live and recorded work through the years, both with Claire and in duo with Jim Hurst.

Joining Missy on stage as The New Hip will be Michael Wichter (dobro, lap steel), Megan McCormick (acoustic and electric guitars), Ethan Ballinger (mandolin and guitar) and David Heyer (percussion).

Find complete details for the CA tour on Missy’s web site.

Blue Plate Special has a special 90 minute edition of the program on tap for Friday (3/30) on WDVX.

It’s a triple bill featuring live (in studio) performances from The Jerry Douglas Band, Kenny & Amanda Smith and Missy Raines and the New Hip. Each will get a 30 minute spot, and it’s not clear in which order they will appear.

WDVX broadcasts at 89.9 FM from Knoxville, TN and the station’s feed is streamed live online, so you can hear the show from anywhere. Listen in on Friday, eastern US time, from noon to 1:30 p.m.

We told you a while back that Missy Raines was putting together a new band to play a few dates when she’s not on the road with Claire Lynch.

The band’s first performance is coming up the end of this month at the Down Home Pickin’ Parlor in Johnson City, TN. The band will be performing both Friday and Saturday, March 30 and 31, 2007. The shows start at 9PM and tickets are $14.

The band, The New Hip, consists of:

• Megan McCormick: guitar(s) and vocals
• Michael Witcher: dobro, lap steel and vocals
• Ethan Ballinger: mandolin and guitar
• David Heyer: percussion

More info about The New Hip can be found on Missy’s website.

In addition to this first outing by the band, Missy is running a contest to name the bands tour vehicle. The vehicle is a white Dodge Grand Caravan. Fans can submit names for the van between now and midnight CST, March 28, 2007.

Entries will be judged by bandmembers of the new hip for originality, aptness, humor, how well the name rolls off their tongues and mostly by which name they like best. In the event of a tie, Missy will choose the winning name.

The winner will be announced on Missy’s website and at the Down Home show the end of this month. Prizes include the first membership to the new band fan club, an autographed show poster from the Down Home Wold Tour, acknowledgement from the stage at the band’s first show.

Submit your entry here.

In the midst of all the announcements of new bands and changing personnel that have been made this year, there is one that we have yet to mention. After 8 years, Jim Hurst and Missy Raines have decided to call an end to their performing together as a duo. Both will continue to tour and record as members of The Claire Lynch Band, but Jim and Missy both felt that the time commitments with Claire, and their other side projects, simply left them with too little time for too many projects.

Missy has a new band with whom she will perform as time allows. She’s calling it Missy Raines & The New Hip, a play on words relating to her recent surgery - and the youth of her bandmates. They are working now on a debut CD project and some audio is available on their MySpace page, along with their limited tour schedule.

Jim will be dedicating some more time to teaching at workshops and clinics, and doing some duo shows with Steve Smith. Jim’s schedule is listed on his web site.

The November/December issue of Bluegrass Music Profiles is in the mail, with Rhonda Vincent on the cover. Publishers Kevin and Lori Kerfoot tell us that this is their first Women In Bluegrass edition - an “all girls issue” - something they plan to make into an annual project at BMP.

In addition to the cover feature - an interview with Rhonda - there are interviews with Claire Lynch, Dale Ann Bradley, Alecia Nugent, Alison Brown, Missy Raines, Martha Adcock, Sandy Cherryholmes, Dixie Hall and Lorraine Jordan.

Here’s how the Kerfoots describe this issue:

Rhonda discusses her new Christmas album as well as how she looks at the controversy created by her All American Bluegrass Girl project and how she decided on which photo to finally use for the cover.

Claire opens up about the reason for her absence from touring and recording and why her new CD is titled New Day.

You’ll also learn Sandy Cherryholmes’ favorite food, why Martha Adcock is in the studio and where Missy Raines got her 1937 Kay bass.

The issue also has a photograph of Josh Graves at his last performance, the details of his funeral, and Jerry Douglas and Phil Leadbetter’s thoughts on the Dobro world losing its King.

You can read portions of the Rhonda Vincent interview, and find subscription details on the BMP web site.

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Our guest on this episode of The GrassCast is Claire Lynch. In the interview John and Claire discuss her history in bluegrass music, talk about her band members, and discuss her newest CD, New Day. The discussion leads to previewing three of the tracks off the CD, one of which was written by Claire. The conversation turns to songwriting and what makes a good song in her opinion.

Those of you who enjoy Claire’s music should find this interview intersting. If you’ve never heard Claire before, this is a good chance to preview her music and see what you think.

Direct Download: ep50_claire_lynch.mp3 (It’s a big one - 18MB)

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Additional links:

clairelynch.com
missyraines.com
jimhurst.com

The awards for artists who, on recorded and/or in-person performance during the specified time period, have shown an extraordinary mastery of their instruments. The awards go to the artists.

The Bass Player Of The Year for 2006 is:

Review past recipients of this award.

This post is a contribution from Casey Henry. Casey is the daughter of banjo player and bluegrass entrepreneur, Murphy Henry, and an accomplished banjo player in her own right, as well as an experienced instructor. Currently Casey and her brother Chris are fronting a band called The Two-Stringers. She first posted this on The B, where we encourage any IBMA attendees to share their impressions of this week’s events in Nashville.

You never know what you’re going to walk away with when you come to IBMA. You can plan and make your agenda, but you can never tell what band is going to blindside you with its brilliance or who you’ll unexpectedly make a connection with. I heard some really good music last night and I heard some awesome music last night, and I’m going to tell you who was playing it so you can go see it, too.

The band that blindsided me, though I’m not sure why she did - I was fully aware of her brilliance before seeing this new band - was the Missy Raines Band. I’d been seeing square pins around the exhibit hall that read “song + groove: MRB” but I didn’t know what they meant.

Now I do. Missy played a showcase in The Murphy Method room and I was only able to catch the last song, but Holy Mother of God she was amazing. I’d heard her play the tune, one she wrote, with Jim Hurst as a duo, but it was a completely different animal in this setting. It’s a five-piece band including Megan McCormick on guitar and Mike Witcher on Dobro, Matt Flinner on mandolin, and a percussionist who normally plays with Alison Brown. They had some kinda groove, some kinda funk, and I heard talk that Missy was contemplating re-naming the group Missy Raines and the New Hip, a name I love on many levels. (For those of you who don’t know Missy had hip replacement surgery last year.) If you have a chance to see Missy play, DO IT!

Another group I was pleasantly surprised by was Anne and Pete Sibley. (more…)

New Day is the title of the upcoming CD from Claire Lynch - her fifth for Rounder Records - and her new band, the appropriately named Claire Lynch Band. The band includes Jim Hurst on guitar, David Harvey on mandolin, and Missy Raines on bass. Guest appearances on the CD were made by Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Charlie Cushman (banjo), Alison Brown (banjo), and Rob Ickes (dobro). It was recorded at the new Rec Room Studio by celebrated engineer (and studio owner) Ben Surratt, who also has the distinction of being married to the aforementioned Ms. Raines.

New Day is expected to be released on March 28, and advance orders can be placed on Claire’s web site. Radio and press promos are being sent out now, and copies for sale are anticipated shortly. Claire has a CD release celebration scheduled for April 15 at the Station Inn in Nashville, and you can get details about this, and all her other shows, on her web site.

No audio yet online, but you can see the track listing on the Rounder site. We’ll be sure to update when we find some audio samples.

The popular and acclaimed NashCamp has announced their Music Camps for 2006, with three, week-long events during the summer, and a weekend banjo retreat in the fall.

First up is two weeks of bluegrass instruction, aptly named Bluegrass Weeks. Each of the two, one-week sessions feature well-known bluegrass performers as instructors, with a mix of small group instruction and band labs as the focus. Elective workshops are also offered in less technical, but equally crucial elements of learning and performing in the bluegrass genre.

The faculty for Bluegrass Weeks includes Ron Stewart, Missy Raines, Roland White, Fletcher Bright, David Harvey, Jim Hurst, Tim Scheerhorn and Greg Cahill.

Next comes Songwriting Week (July 30-August 4), with such heralded instructors as Carl Jackson, Tim Stafford and Claire Lynch among a faculty of ten successful country and bluegrass songwriters. Students will rotate through the various instructors for instruction and critique on the various aspects of the craft. Guest speakers will include reps from music publishing companies and songwriter rights organizations.

Lastly, they offer the Fall Banjo Retreat (October 20-22), an intensive 3 day weekend event with instructors Sonny Osborne, Ron Block, Alan Munde and Bill Evans.

All NashCamp workshops are open to players at any skill level. More details (costs, complete faculty lists, registration info, lodging and directions) can be found on the NashCamp site.