Recently we have commented at length about the forthcoming Ralph Stanley autobiography. We though that you might be interested in some other bluegrass-related reading matter due for publication in the near future.

A book about Tony Rice is scheduled to be released soon, before the end of the year, hopefully. The title is Still Inside: The Tony Rice Story and the publisher is Word of Mouth Press. The authors in this instance are Tim Stafford, of Blue Highway, and Caroline Wright, one time Editor of the now-defunct Bluegrass Now.

Dick Spottswood’s, book Banjo On the Mountain: Wade Mainer’s First Hundred Years, is scheduled for publication next spring by the University Press of Mississippi. Spottswood is is an author, historian, musicologist, discographer and radio personality, who has devoted his life to documenting American music of the early twentieth century.

Pretty Good For A Girl: Women in Bluegrass is the working title for Murphy Henry’s book to be published by University of Illinois Press. The publication date is unknown at the moment.  Ms. Henry is a proprietor of the Murphy Method learning aids and a regular contributor to Bluegrass Unlimited.

We’ll be sure to note each of these books as they are published.

UPDATE 8/18: The publication date for the Tony Rice biography is still on the tentative side. Tim tells us that the book is complete, but that we should steer clear of suggesting a date until all of the legal niceties have been wrapped up as well.

Edward Morris has a piece up on the CMT Country Music Blog about Rhonda Vincent and her… shall we say, d?©colletage.

The tongue-in-cheek article is titled Deep In The Bosom Of Bluegrass, and discusses the writer’s favorable impression of Ms. Vincent’s choice in clothing – and the reaction that the cover of her 2003 CD, One Step Ahead, generated within the bluegrass community.

As one who is pure of heart, I barely took notice of Vincent’s stylistic swashbuckling until it came up at the 2003 International Country Music Conference. There, on a panel called "Country Music and Gender," banjo player and magazine columnist Murphy Henry grouched about Vincent’s recent epidermal revelations and then flatly declared, "You don’t show cleavage in bluegrass!"

Read the full piece at CMT.com.

This contribution comes from Casey Henry, a banjo player and writer living in Nashville, TN. She grew up in a bluegrass family with her parents (Red and Murphy Henry) performing as a band and running a bluegrass business (The Murphy Method), and her brother Chris playing mandolin.

Christmas Eve for my family has always been about playing music. There is a close-knit bluegrass community in Winchester, Virginia, where we moved in 1986. Every year since then we’ve attended two parties on the 24th, and the day wouldn’t seem right without them.

Dalton Brill is a local barber, banjo player, and, as one newspaper article put it, if the bluegrass scene was the Mafia, he’d be the Godfather. His barber shop brims over with food, music, and eggnog as everyone he knows drops in, musicians and non-musicians alike.

There are people there I only see once a year, people who used to come every Wednesday to watch us play downstairs in the basement of that shop. And every year there are people we miss, who have moved on from this life to whatever lies ahead. We always pick a tune and have a drink for them.

After Dalton’s we move the party to David McLaughlin’s house where his wife Gay arranges a beautiful spread of seasonal goodies, on which we stuff ourselves before migrating to the other room to play some more music. David sometimes plays, sometimes doesn’t. Usually he’ll play guitar or bass. Sometimes he’ll flatpick the banjo or play snare. One year Tom Gray came, and that was great fun.

When Bob Amos (of Front Range) lived in town he’d always stop by before going to the Christmas Eve service. We cherish the chance to all be together at the holidays, (Except for the year his kids gave us the stomach flu. I really wish he’d cancelled that year.) and we miss Lynn Morris and Marshall Wilborn, who are always in Texas with their families.

As we drive back to our house full of Christmas cheer, through the luminary-lined streets of David’s neighborhood, we think of Santa making his rounds and hope that he won’t forget to stop at our house.

Here’s news of the latest release from banjo instructor Murphy Henry. Her company, The Murphy Method, has just released to DVD a slow-jam video featuring Murphy and daughter Casey. The DVD is titled Slow Jam with Murphy and Casey.

The concept behind the project is that beginners often get frustrated trying to participate in jam sessions due to song tempos that are beyond their skill level. Into the gap step Murphy (banjo) and Casey (guitar) with a video that features 17 songs played at slow speeds. You can practice along by simply playing the chord changes along with the band, which features fiddle and mandolin in addition to Murphy and Casey, or you can practice your lead playing by taking a solo in the space left for that purpose.

Songs include Cripple Creek, Boil Them Cabbage Down, Banjo in the Hollow, Worried Man, Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Old Joe Clark, and many more.

Slow Jam with Murphy and Casey is almost two hours in length and sells for $29.95 plus $3 shipping.