Mountain Roads Recordings of Bristol, TN, has announced the signing of the Elkville String Band from North Wilkesboro, NC.

The band consists of Herb Key, Jeff Michael, Drake Walsh and Bill Williams, and was formed in 2001 to perform the music for the play Tom Dooley, A Wilkes County Legend, which is an annual event, held in July, and put on by the Wilkes Playmakers. The group, which claims to have over a hundred years experience between them, has a unique old-time sound.

Elkville String Band focuses on keeping the old songs and ballads of the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia alive. Some of their crowd favorites date back to the early 1800s.

As well as playing guitar and doing most of the singing for Elkville String Band, Herb Key picks and works with Wayne Henderson of Rugby, VA. Key is a fine luthier in his own right and an excellent instrument repair specialist. Jeff Michael is a master of all stringed instruments and a fine old time singer who will remind you of Lester Flatt and Bill Monroe. He has played on the Grand Ole Opry with Charlie Louvin, Bill Monroe and is a full time member of Big Country Bluegrass. Drake Walsh plays fiddle and mandolin and is the son of Dock Walsh, who picked with the original Carolina Tar Heels and Gid Tanner. Bill Williams, acoustic bass and harmony vocals, has picked with several groups and was a founding member of Steve Kilby’s Sunday Night Band, later known as Kingsberry Run.

Bill Williams has this to say about how the signing came about ……..

“We met Karl and Gail Cooler through our association with Jeff Michael, who is also a member of Big Country Bluegrass. Jeff took some of our material to Karl so he could listen to it and Karl liked what he heard. He asked us if we would be interested in recording for Mountain Roads Recording and that is how it all came about. We are very pleased to be associated with the Coolers and are very glad to have the opportunity to record some of the music from the North Carolina and Virginia area.

Some of this music dates back to the 1800’s and we have always been interested in preserving a lot of this music. Now, Karl and Gail Cooler have given us the means to do this. We are also very exited about recording for the same label as Big Country Bluegrass. We have known all the members of this fantastic Bluegrass band for many years. Big Country Bluegrass was the first band signed by the Coolers and now we are the second. We are very proud to be associated with Mountain Roads Recordings and are looking forward to our first release late this year.”

Mountain Roads Recordings was formed by Karl and Gail Cooler to focus on unique sounds that originate in the mountains and the Elkville String Band fits perfectly with this vision. The members assembled are some of the finest musicians performing old time music and we are excited to be associated with this group.

The group’s first release with Mountain Roads Recordings is scheduled for late 2008.

Audio clips can be found at the band’s MySpace page.

Recently we reported news of the link up between Mountain Roads Recordings and Big Country Bluegrass. Although bands changing labels is nothing new, some may have wondered about the Big Country Bluegrass arrangement with Hay Holler Records.

Well, when talking to Gail Cooler, she added weight to the open ’secret’ that Kerry Hay was retiring by saying that his decision led directly to the formation of Mountain Roads Recording and their agreement with Big Country Bluegrass.

So, I spoke to Kerry and this is what he had to say, insisting that he wasn’t retiring …….

“I, and Hay Holler, are in fact ‘winding down.’ I have no firm plans to do any more recording, but if the right band came along, and would be interested in recording with Hay Holler, I would do it. I realize this is a very unlikely scenario, as any band within their senses would want to associate with an aggressive label. As I said in the previous email message, I will keep Hay Holler, Inc. an ongoing, viable operation, for the purpose of maintaining inventory for our artists who continue to tour.”

Hay Holler Records was formed in 1989, with their first recordings released in 1990, following a collaboration with banjoist Butch Robins [Blue Grass Boys and bass player with New Grass Revival]. The label is noted for releasing what Hay describes as “real bluegrass, hard-core traditional mountain-style bluegrass that sounds as lonesome as a Whippoorwill.”

A representative listing of artists that have recordings released by Hay Holler includes Herschel Sizemore, 5 For The Gospel, Big Country Bluegrass, The Bluegrass Brothers, Cedar Hill, The Gibson Brothers, The Gillis Brothers, The Goins Brothers, Sand Mountain and Wayne Henderson.

For more about Kerry Hay and Hay Holler Records listen to his GrassCast interview from December 2005.

The recently established Mountain Roads Recordings of Bristol, Tennessee, was formed by Karl and Gail Cooler to focus on unique sounds that originate in the mountains that we all love so well. They want to promote already established bluegrass and old time bands as well as to discover and present to the music community unknown, but nonetheless talented musicians.Currently Karl works for the City of Bristol, and Gail is a school librarian.

Mountain Road Recordings has signed its first recording artist, Big Country Bluegrass, a Southwest Virginia traditional bluegrass band currently entering its twenty-first year in the business. The band has begun recording sessions at Eastwood Studios in Cana, Virginia, and hopes to have its first project with Mountain Roads ready for release in early summer.

Big Country Bluegrass delivers an authentic, hard-driving style of bluegrass that has become known to many as ‘Galax’ or ‘Mount Airy’ style bluegrass and that makes them crowd favorites wherever they perform from festivals to the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.

The link up first came when the couple were living in South Carolina where they met Big Country Bluegrass. Subsequently Karl took on the driving responsibilities for Big Country Bluegrass. This he did over the period of 18 months or so, taking the band to festivals from Maine to Florida. Later Karl also became the webmaster of the Big Country Bluegrass website.

This past Christmas Tommy and Teresa Sells were visiting the Coolers at their home - now in Bristol, Tennessee - and the subject of the next Big Country Bluegrass album arose. Tommy told Karl that he didn’t have the time to be a record producer. Consequently the Coolers decided to form Mountain Roads Recordings and take their support of Big Country Bluegrass, bluegrass and old time music to the next level.

Gail Cooler provides a little background on how she and Karl decided on the charming name for the label …..

“We love traveling down beautiful mountain roads and going to bluegrass and old time festivals; that’s how we decided on the name of our label.”

Tommy Sells, in turn, commented …..

“We’re excited about the move and look forward to working with them.”

Big Country Bluegrass are Tommy Sells (mandolin), Teresa Sells (guitar and vocals), Jeff Michael (fiddle, lead guitar and vocals) Johnny Williams (rhythm guitar and vocals), Lynwood Lunsford (banjo and vocals) and Alan Mastin (acoustic bass fiddle).