If you follow Nothin’ Fancy’s newsletter, you will have noted the sad story they told in the March ‘09 issue. It was a tale of vehicular woe, in which a wheel from their long-suffering van came rolling off and passed them on the highway.

Mandolinist Mike Andes relayed the events that transpired on February 22…

Within 20 minutes of our trip, Mitchell says, “There are flames coming out of the back wheel.” Mitchell was driving so he pulls off the road and Gary puts the fire out with ice from our cooler. We stand around for a while and decide to try and limp the van up the road to an exit ramp. Everything is going quite well; we stop a couple of times and check the wheel, its OK. We keep going.

Tony is riding shotgun, he is glued to the mirror watching the passenger side rear wheel when he says “there’s sparks coming out of the trailer wheel.” Mitchell stops immediately; we check the wheel and agree to keep going as far as we can. Finally we get off the interstate and pull into a service mart. We are trying to come up with a game plan. We check the wheels, they’re not overly hot, and so we decide to go further.

While leaving the parking lot, Tony says, “The trailer wheel is really wobbling.” OK, so we drop the trailer and put everything we need into Chris’s vehicle. Chris is following the injured Nothin’ Fancy van.

Now back on the road, I really thought we might make it since we weren’t pulling the trailer; I was wrong. 15 minutes into the journey, I had just fallen asleep along side the bass and all kinds of luggage, KA BOOM the van is listing starboard. My first question was, “Did Chris run over our wheel?” Tony answered, “no, our wheel passed us.”

Here we sit.

Everyone will be glad to know that the boys made it on time for their next show – thanks to a taxi service – and are now driving their own tour bus, recently acquired from David Parmley. They even sent along a few photos of their new ride.

Nothin’ Fancy guitar player Gary Farris has moved into the exciting world of food service – not an unfamiliar side career for bluegrass musicians.

But Gary won’t be mopping floors or chopping onions. He and partner Jerry Ingram have teamed up as owners of a Quiznos restaurant in Waynesboro, VA.

The new establishment had its Grand Opening in February, and Nothin’ Fancy was on hand to provide the appropriate bluegrass entertainment.

Gary is psyched about his new venture, and hopes that all his bluegrass buddies will stop for a bite when traveling through central Virginia. The restaurant is located at 400 Tiffany Drive in Waynesboro.

Among the forthcoming releases from Pinecastle Records is a collection of a dozen Gospel songs from Nothin’ Fancy.

The Virginia band has seven previous albums, three of which have been released on the Pinecastle label. Lord Bless This House (PRC 1162) is their first Gospel set.

Nothin’ Fancy – Mike Andes (mandolin and lead vocals), Tony Shorter (bass, and baritone vocals), Gary Farris (lead and tenor vocals), Chris Sexton (fiddle, viola and lead vocals) and Mitchell Davis (banjo and bass vocals) – are supplemented by studio guests, guitarist Cody Kilby, co-producers Rhonda and Darrin Vincent, and Steven Sheen (finger style lead guitar).

There are three original songs; Lord Bless This House, God’s Heavenly Shore, from Mike Andes, and Let Me Catch A Fish from the ubiquitous Halls, assisted by Troy Engle, an instrumental; Bells Of Saint Mary, and a variety of ‘oldies’; Gone Home (from Bill Carlisle); the Easter Brothers’s Heart That Will Never Break Again – on which Rhonda Vincent adds her usual impeccable vocals; Soul Of Man Never Dies (Wayne Raney); House Of Gold (Hank Williams) – both arranged for four voices; an up-tempo version of Peace In The Valley (Thomas Dorsey) and the PD song Lord I Hear Your Call included.

As previously noted, the band has three lead vocalists, ranging from Farris’s intensity to Andes’s more mellow tones, with Sexton somewhere between. With those contrasts allied to the varied instrumental arrangements, Lord Bless This House is full of fervor.

The CD is scheduled for release on January 27th.

We posted about ten days ago with release dates for four new projects due from Pinecastle Records in 2009.

Not long after that, we heard from a reader who wondered why a title we had just indicated wouldn’t be released until next year was showing up as available now online elsewhere. We checked with Pinecastle, and Ethan Burkhardt told us that they decided to do a limited early release of the four upcoming titles.

“Because of how our release schedule lined up, we couldn’t get these albums ‘officially’ released by Christmas.  We are however going to have them available to The Music Shed and County Sales for the Christmas season.”

You can find audio samples, more details and online ordering for these Pinecastle projects online.

• Second Season – Kristin Scott Benson (1/13/09)
• Lord Bless This House – Nothin’ Fancy (1/27/09)
• The Hangman – Ernie Thacker & Route 23 (2/10/09)
• Three Silver Dollars – David Parmley & Continental Divide (2/10/09)