Or you may find sidemen touring together while their primary musical employers are taking some time off for the holidays. There are two such mini-tours for the end of 2009 that should be of interest to bluegrass and acoustic music fans.

First up, The Nedski-Mojo Show, which began this past weekend, and continues through next week. It features banjo picker Ned Luberecki, who performs with both Chris Jones and Larry Cordle, and guitarist Stephen Mougin, who works with Sam Bush. Both are superb musicians and singers, and Ned could easily hold forth for half the show as a stand up comedian.

They have a string of concerts and workshops along the east coast leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday and you can be sure to catch a highly entertaining and musically challenging program if they stop near you. A full list of dates can be found on Facebook.

Then in December, mandolinists Adam Steffey and Kym Warner will tour together briefly in Virginia and Maryland, billed as Mandolin Sessions.

Steffey may be the most prominent bluegrass mando man in the biz these days. He has been named Mandolin Player of the Year six times by the IBMA, and his current CD and DVD releases are hits with the public. Most folks first came to know his music when he was a member of Alison Krauss & Union Station, and he has toured since with Mountain Heart and now, Dan Tyminski.

Warner is a founding member of The Greencards, a fascinating, genre-bending outfit of acoustic musicians who formed in the US, though none were native born. Kym hails from Australia, but lives now in Nashville.

You can find information about the Mandolin Sessions dates at Mandolin Cafe.

This morning (11/13), Buddy Woodward of Dixie Bee-Liners will be with Carol Beaugard on WFDU. They will talk about the new Bee-Liners CD, Susanville, and The American Revival Tour they are currently working along with Sierra Hull and Uncle Earl.

WFDU broadcasts at 89.1 FM in NYC, and online via live streaming at www.wfdu.fm. The show, Lonesome Pine RFD, airs from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon (EST), and Buddy’s interview will air at 11:00. If you miss it live, look in the audio archives where it will reside for the next two weeks.

Carol also mentioned a show she did yesterday with Ned Luberecki, who broadcasts for Bluegrass Junction, the all-bluegrass channel for Sirius-XM. It can also be accessed in the archives.

“We spoke of his early work with the Paul Adkins Band. He updated us on Paul – who apparently worked for a while as a golf pro and then designing kitchens. Ned emailed him very recently and learned that Paul is back to playing music with a few gigs around the Maryland area and we both commented how wonderful it would be to see Paul back in performance.

Ned spoke at length about his work as a broadcaster on Sirius and credited his bandleader, Chris Jones for first recommending him to Sirius launching a new career so ‘he could support his banjo habit.’  We also played a couple of tracks that Ned co-wrote on the new album for Chris Jones and the Nightdrivers’ Cloud of Dust.

We also discussed his work producing the IBMA Awards show with Cindy Baucom at the Ryman Auditorium, as well as what an honor it was to broadcast the Awards Show this past year, in the same booth where Eddie Stubbs and other broadcast legends have stood.”

At noon, April Verch and her band will perform live on Blue Plate Special, broadcast on WDVX from Knoxville. We reviewed her terrfic new CD, Steal The Blue, earlier this year.

You can catch the show over the air at 102.9 in and around Knoxville, or online at WDVX.com.

Later this evening, you can hear Ricky Skaggs, The Whites and Mike Snider on The Grand Ole Opry. Of course, The Opry is carried live on WSM from Nashville, which is also simulcast live online. The show airs from 8:00-10:00 p.m. on Friday nights.

Then after Saturday’s (11/14) Opry (where The Whites and Jesse McReynolds will perform), bluegrass legend Curly Seckler will make a rare live appearance on The Ernest Tubb Midnite Jamboree from The Texas Troubadour Theater in Nashville, also broadcast on WSM.

Jesse McReynolds will host the Tubb show, and Curly is expected to sing a couple of songs with The Virginia Boys, and probably at least one with Jesse.

It is always a treat to hear Curly sing, who did as much as anyone to define bluegrass tenor singing during his tenure with both Flatt & Scruggs and Lester Flatt & The Nashville Grass.

For Monday’s “Teaching Bluegrass: An Alternative Revenue Stream” moderators Ned Luberecki and Megan Lynch were joined by panelists Terry Baucom, Stephen Mougin, and myself. Many players rely on teaching to get them through the slim winter months when the gigs are few and far between. We covered many different avenues of instruction including private lessons, group lessons, workshops, camps, DVDs and books, and internet lessons. The last is a recent development and not many people are offering this option yet. Strangely (to us anyway) Mike Compton has been on the leading edge of this technology and has been doing internet lessons for quite a while. Anyone interested in pursuing that avenue, either as a teacher or as a student, should consult his FAQ page.

Tuesday’s “Writing for the Internet: Blogging and Building an Audience” was hosted by our own John Lawless. Panelists included Ashby Frank, sometime contributor to this publication who blogs on his own website; Ted Lehmann of Ted Lehmann’s Bluegrass, Books and Brainstorms blog, and Craig Shelburne who contributes to and edits the blog over at CMT.com. Despite what it looks like in the picture, the discussion was lively and extended. The crux of the discussion was that blogging should be entertaining to the audience, who you hope will come back to your site on a regular basis. Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites are good tools to use to drive people to your site where, hopefully, they’ll buy your CD, or look at your schedule and come out to a show. It’s all about staying connected to people and letting them get to know you through your writing.

They talked a little bit about the technical side of blogging—using programs  such as WordPress, or Blogger—but mostly about the power of changing content to get people to visit your site every day or every week. The Bluegrass Blog is the best at this. I don’t know about you but even when I’m not writing for the Blog I read it every day and it is my main source of bluegrass news.

Cindy was especially complimentary of Steve Martin, who will be lending his considerable star power to the event. She said that he has been very generous with his time, and while he offered to do anything in the show that she thought would be helpful, he had made a particular point of ensuring that he would not be getting stage time that should be going to “someone more deserving,” as he put it more than once.

One change this year is that our good buddy Ned Luberecki will be serving as backstage announcer, a job that Eddie Stubbs has handled for many a year. Eddie was unable to slip away from his WSM Thursday night duties this year, and Ned jumped at the chance to fill in.

Cindy also mentioned how proud she was to get some of the acts that haven’t performed on the show in some time back for 2009. Both Lonesome River Band and IIIrd Tyme Out return this year.

The show will open with a performance from Dale Ann Bradley, and will also include songs from Sierra Hull & Highway 111 and a very special “band duet” appearance from Junior Sisk & Rambler’s Choice and Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass.

The show begins at 7:30 p.m. on October 1. Sirius-XM subscribers can listen to the show live on Bluegrass Junction, and of course, The Bluegrass Blog will offer live blog coverage here in real time.

Both are at the Ris??r Bluegrass Workshop and Festival in Ris??r, Norway, performing at the fest and teaching vocals, guitar and banjo at the workshop. Chris tells us that this weekend’s broadcast is the second of three European tours planned for this summer that will give Bluegrass Junction a distinctly international flavor – “stressing the ‘I’ in IBMA,” as he put it.

Dagfinn Pederson, who will be interviewed on Thursday’s show, started the Ris??r Bluegrass Festival in 2002, which he says follows in the tradition of the first bluegrass festival in Fincastle, VA, in that it takes place on a horse farm.

Catch the shows on Thursday and Friday (7/16-17) from 3:00-9:00 p.m. (EDT) during Chris’ regular show slot, and over the weekend in both Chris and Ned’s scheduled show times. Chris will also broadcast from Norway during his Monday afternoon/evening show.

Bluegrass Junction can be found at XM-14 and Sirius 65.

If you do Facebook, you can see a load of photos of Ned and Chris in Norway on Ned’s page.

Rounding out the band are Mark Stoffel, mandolin and vocals, and Aaron Till, fiddle and vocals. Though the emphasis is on the band, there will be guest appearances by Darrin Vincent, Jamie Daley, Sally Jones, Jeremy Garrett, Mike Witcher and Megan Lynch.

The material will be mostly originals by Chris and/or Jon and Ned.  It will be the second CD for Chris’ own GSM records, with a projected release date in late July or early August. A downloadable single release is planned in early July.

In addition to winning IBMA Song of the Year in 2007 for Fork In The Road, Chris was also named the ‘07 IBMA Broadcaster of the Year for his work on Sirius-XM. Since The Night Drivers now contain a second Sirius-XM host (Ned Luberecki) and a bluegrass radio producer (Jon Weisberger), they decided to write and record a song for the new CD specifically for bluegrass jocks everywhere, entitled Bluegrass DJs 1:34.

They can say no more at this time.

Starting this weekend, Ned will bring the banjo along for his Sunday afternoon shift on Bluegrass Junction, where he will offer beginning banjo lessons during the 3:00-4:00 p.m. hour (EDT). Closet banjo pickers are invited to drag out the old five string and take advantage of this free instruction via satellite radio.

"The lessons will start with the absolute beginner in mind and hopefully have the beginning student playing a couple of songs by the end of the month."

Luberecki performs on banjo with Chris Jones and the Night Drivers, Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time and is a frequent second banjoist with Tony Trischka’s Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular Band. He teaches private lessons at the East Nashville School of Music, and is a featured instructor at large banjo camps and workshops all over the world.

Look for Ned’s Sirius XM banjo lessons each Sunday afternoon in May, from 3:00-4:00 p.m. If you have an itch to learn but don’t have a banjo of your own, borrow one from a friend, or pick one up in time to get started.

Bluegrass Junction can be found on XM 14 and Sirius 65.

He’s at the Winfield festival, preparing to head home, and he and his Sirius cohort, Chris Jones, plan to shake things up a bit with today’s lineup.

“At 12 Noon today (Monday) Chris Jones and I will begin what we expect to be a 12 hour straight broadcast from the van on our way home from Winfield, KS to Nashville, TN. We’ve only done the moving broadcast a couple of times before, but never for this long. I am filling in for Joey Black’s afternoon shift this week (he’s on vacation) while Wade Jessen is filling in for me on the morning show.

Listeners can tune in and hear our progress along the way. If anyone is unfamiliar with what it’s like to travel 12 hours with a bluegrass band‚Ķ this could give some valuable insight! Or it just might be goofy and fun.”

You can follow Ned and Chris’ excellent adventure on Sirius channel 65.

Instead of songs with patriotic themes, they will instead feature the music of the many celebrated artists who started their careers as a member of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, only to later declare their independence and start their own bluegrass music ventures.

The Sirius Bluegrass "Bill Of Rights" was written by Bill Monroe, but when Flatt & Scruggs, Jimmy Martin and Del McCoury claimed their independence from Bill’s Bluegrass Boys, a new chapter of bluegrass history was written! This 4th of July weekend, we’ll pull out your favorite songs from the artists who claimed independence and emancipated to lead their own bands.

Things will kick off on Sirius 65 Friday morning (7/4) at 6:00 a.m. (EDT) and run through Sunday (7/6).

NAMM (National Association of Music Merchandisers) holds two large trade shows each year, where manufacturers and distributors of products aimed at the music industry display their wares.

Tim visited the show and found himself in a banjo jam at the Nechville booth.

“Banjo’s are blasting in Nashville this weekend for the NAMM Show… Here at the Nechville Banjo booth are Ned Luberecki, myself and Rick Sampson… We gathered a pretty nice crowd for this impromptu jam… I think Nechville sold some banjos after this…”

   

You can find some more coverage of Summer NAMM in The Tennessean, Nashville’s hometown paper.

Both are experienced radio professionals – Ned with Sirius Bluegrass and Cindy with her syndicated show, Knee Deep In Bluegrass. Ned is also a touring musician, performing on banjo and serving as an instructor at banjo camps worldwide, and Cindy has worked in live event planning and production.

This annual awards show is the culminating event at the IBMA’s Business Conference, where performers and industry professionals are feted for their work by their peers in the business.

More details and ticket information can be found on the IBMA web site.

Sirius Bluegrass is also all over the ‘Dusters today, setting up to record their CD release party set at the Station Inn this evening (6/6). The band will do two sets, the first for industry folks (invitation only) and a set public set, both emceed by Sirius’ Ned Luberecki and recorded for a later broadcast by Battle Ridge Studio.

Ned tells us that the show will be broadcast on Friday, June 20, and almost surely again over the ensuing weekend. He suggests that you keep an eye on the Sirius Bluegrass site where broadcast times will be posted as the show date approaches.

Speaking of Sirius…

Jamie Dailey and Darren Vincent will guest host this evening (6/6) while Ned is at the Station Inn. Look for them from 5:00-7:00 p.m. (EDT) during which time they will spin their favorite bluegrass music and share their thoughts about all things bluegrass.

Find it all on Sirius channel 65.

Here is the final ‘Dusters inside look at their lengthy tour of Germany.

On-air hosts Chris Jones, Ned Luberecki and Joey Black have compiled the best bluegrass instrumental music from their massive collection to feature all weekend – the perfect background for your pregame get-togethers?

Or as Ned might put it… listen to the Pick Off while awaiting the kick off.

Sirius Bluegrass can be found on Channel 65 on your Sirius Satellite receiver, or subscribers can listen online. They have a free, 3 day trial for their internet radio service should you want to get a taste of the Sirius experience.

Later this morning, they will present a live, in-studio performance of the music from Tony Trischka’s award-winning recording, Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular. The CD features Tony in duet with some of the most prominent pickers ever to set three picks to five strings: Earl Scruggs, B?©la Fleck, Bill Emerson, Alison Brown and several others.

Tony has called on a number of fine banjoists to accompany him for touring in support of the CD, including Sirius Bluegrass co-host Ned Luberecki, and it is Nedski himself who plays second banjo with Trischka for this program.

The show will air at 11:00 a.m. (EST) on Sirius Bluegrass (Channel 65), rebroadcast on 12/28 at 5:00 p.m., 12/29 at 8:00 p.m. and on 12/30 at 4:00 p.m.

Each Friday at 3:00 p.m. they will announce and spin the top 17 songs as determined by listener requests. Host Chris Jones tells us that there isn’t any special significance to the number 17 – it just worked out well to fit that many songs into a one hour program.

The #1 song from last week – the first week of the countdown – was Alison’s Band by The Charlie Sizemore Band. You can add your own requests by calling the Sirius Request Line (877-33-SIRIUS), or by email.

Count Down Yonder is rebroadcast on Saturdays at 9:00 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. (all times EST).

Ned had been out with Tony Trischka this past week, supplying the second banjo for a string of dates in support of Tony’s Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular CD, and told us that they had a surprise guest for Thursday’s show at The Cutting Room in New York City, in the person of Steve Martin.

“Tony told me earlier in the day that he had emailed Steve about the gig, not even knowing if Steve was in New York. We didn’t actually know that he was going to be there until just before show time. We had just a few minutes to rehearse before they opened the doors to the club, so we went over the triple banjo version of ‘The Crow’ with Steve playing the melody, Tony on the second and me on the third part. Then Tony asked if Steve would like to play anything else on the show.

Steve started playing a tune and asked if we wanted to figure it out. The song was ‘Pitkin County Turnaround’ which Steve had recorded on his ‘Steve Martin Brothers’ album. After Steve played through it once, I took a solo. Steve seemed surprised that I knew it. Afterward he asked me how I learned it so fast. I told him that I learned it from his record… 25 or 30 years ago!

For the record, I got my first banjo, and two Steve Martin records for Christmas the same year. If you were to look at those albums, you’d probably see the grooves worn clean on the parts where he played the banjo.

All joking aside, Steve was my original inspiration for starting to play the banjo. The first song I learned from a record (without tab) was his version of ‘8 More Miles To Louisville’ (which was part of his ‘You can’t play a sad song on the banjo’ bit). And believe it or not, I learned ‘Sally Goodin’ from the flip side of the 45 of ‘King Tut’ even before learning it from the Earl Scruggs book.”

Take that all you people who insist that Steve Martin had no impact as a banjo player!

Ned also passed along this photo from a show he did with Tony back in October where they were joined by Bela Fleck for another Triple Banjo Bluegrass Extravaganza.

He also mentioned that there are a number of video clips from the recent Trischka dates up on YouTube.

That’s exactly what the folks at Sirius Satellite radio’s bluegrass channel (65) think. They will feature wall-to-wall Monroe music from Saturday (6/16) at 9:00 a.m. until Sunday (6/17) at 9:00 p.m. Both his own recordings, and other artists’ interpretations of the music of Bill Monroe will be included, along with background and commentary from the channels hosts, Chris Jones and Ned Luberecki.

As they say on their site:

No Bill, No Bluegrass. Know Bill, Know Bluegrass!

The event is hosted by Bull and Tammy Harman, who are excited to repeat the event again this year, and for the chance to expand into banjo as well as guitar. Bull tells us that the banjo class is a bit smaller than the guitar, as one might expect for the first year, so banjo students can expect a great deal of personal attention from the instructors.

Find more details on the St. Louis Flatpick web site.