In addition to preparing for IBMA, WAMU’s Bluegrass Country host Katy Daley has several big interviews on tap this week during her morning show.

This morning (9/23) at 9:00 a.m. (EDT), Katy will speak with Valerie Smith about her 3rd annual Dare to Be Different Showcase, held in Bell Buckle, TN just prior to the IBMA events in Nashville. It’s a full day of bluegrass entertainment on Sunday (9/27) to benefit the Foundation for Bluegrass Music’s Bluegrass In The Schools program, which funds scholarships for schools that would like to, but can’t afford to bring a bluegrass band in to teach their students about the music.

The show will feature performances from several groups, including the newly-formed Jerry Butler & the Blu-J’s, plus a set from Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike.

Katy will have Missy Raines with her on Thursday morning (9/24) at 9:00 a.m.. Missy has yet another nomination for Bass Player of the Year from IBMA, and will discuss that with Katy, as well as her new band, The New Hip.

On Friday (9/25), Adam Steffey is on at 9:00 to talk about his new CD, One More For the Road, which dropped this week on Sugar Hill. Adam also has a number of IBMA nominations this year, for Mandolin Player of the Year and with the Dan Tyminski Band.

I’m sure that Katy will spin a few tracks from the CD, and hopefully will drag a yarn or two from Adam about the recording of this stellar project. Guests include Alison Krauss, Ron Block, Ron Stewart, Bryan Sutton, Randy Kohrs, Chris Stapleton and producer/bassist Barry Bales.

Bluegrass Country’s 24/7 bluegrass music feed can be heard worldwide on www.bluegrasscountry.org and in the Washington area on HD Radio WAMU-88.5 Channel Two, and on 105FiveFM.

Mike Witcher, current reso man with Missy Raines & The New Hip, has published a second instructional book for resonator guitar.

Resonator Guitar: 20 Bluegrass Jam Favorites contains precisely what the title suggests. Mike has created intermediate level arrangements for 20 oft-called tunes, and presents them in tablature and on an accompanying audio CD.

The book is spiral bound to lay flat on a music stand and runs to 28 pages, including a forward from Jerry Douglas. Songs include Angelina Baker, Big Mon, Clinch Mountain Backstep, Lonesome Road Blues, Methodist Preacher, Red Wing, Soldiers Joy and many more.

It can be ordered from Mike’s web site, where you can also see the complete list of tunes.

Witcher also offers live online lessons via webcam. Full details can be found on his site – a high speed connection is highly recommended.

Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article on Alison Brown and her company, Compass Records, that also includes brief interviews with three Compass artists who have recent releases – Dale Ann Bradley, Missy Raines, and Brown herself.

The article – The Sisterhood of Bluegrass by Barry Mazor – discusses how the bluegrass/acoustic world has warmed of late to female-headed bands, and how these three all find themselves on Compass at this point in their careers.

“It’s a kind of sisterhood, really,” Ms. Brown notes, and she should know. She’s not only a widely admired banjo virtuoso, and in 1991 the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association’s banjo player of the year award, after a stint playing with Alison Krauss. She’s also a former investment banker who co-founded and heads Compass Records along with her husband and bandmate, Gary West. While the three 40-something bandleaders on Compass are different musically, Ms. Brown stresses their common history.

“We’re all about the same age,” she said in an interview at Compass’s Music Row offices, “and all three of us have seen change and what women can do in the field. When I was playing festivals growing up, people always felt compelled to say ‘you’re really good — for a girl,’ and it wasn’t even meant as an insult. But you don’t hear that so much any more; women are leading the charge with the most interesting bluegrass.”

You can read the full piece online, complete with audio tracks from the Brown, Bradley and Raines CDs.

Missy Raines‘ fine band, The New Hip, keeps getting younger, and Missy just keeps getting… better!

She has announced that Dominick Leslie, mandolinist l’enfant terrible currently studying at the Berklee College of Music, will be joining her on the road this summer.

They will be heading out next week for a tour of Colorado and California with young Dom in tow.

• June 4th: Swallow Hill, Denver CO -  With the Boston Boys
• June 6-7: Pagosa Springs Folk and Bluegrass Festival – Pagosa Springs, CO
• June 9th: Don Quixote’s Music Hall – Felton CA
• June 11th: Freight and Salvage – Berkeley CA
• June 12th: Sutter Creek Theatre – Sutter Creek CA
• June 13th: The Youth Annex – Sebastopol, CA
• June 14th: The Palms Playhouse -  Winters CA

In addition to Missy on bass and vocals and Dominick guesting on mandolin, The New Hip consists of Mike Witcher on resonator guitar, Ethan Ballinger on guitar and Robert Crawford on drums.