Starting tomorrow (7/16), Bluegrass Junction goes European. Sirius-XM hosts Chris Jones and Ned Luberecki will be spending the next few days broadcasting from Norway.

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.

Chris Jones and his band The Night Drivers have been in the Rec Room studio in Nashville (Ben Surratt engineering) wrapping up their first band project in 8 years. It will be the first full bluegrass studio release since Ned Luberecki (banjo) and Jon Weisberger (bass) joined the band over 6 years ago.

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.

Ned Luberecki, noted banjo picker and Sirius XM bluegrass radio host, will be combining these two professional callings during his Sunday shows this month.

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.

We got a note from Ned Luberecki of Sirius Bluegrass this morning.

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.