Jimmy Ross tells us that the Scheerhorn guitar showcase CD he tipped us to last year is nearly ready to go.

It will include 16 tracks which feature top resonator guitarists performing on instruments built by Tim Scheerhorn. A June release is anticipated on Randy Kohrs’ Left Of Center label.

Jimmy also provided a full track listing:

• Wheel Hoss - Rob Ickes
• 2 in 24 - Sally Van Meter-Randy Kohrs
• Walkin’ to Rockford - Bruce Bouton
• Is This America - Mike Witcher
• Fishtail - Andy Hall
• Drivin’ The Nails - Lou Wamp
• River Of Tears - Shannon Hayes
• She’s Crazy About Me - Justin Moses
• Hot Toddy’s Snake Oil - Todd Livingston
• Autumn Sunset - Tim Scheerhorn
• Cattle In The Cane - Lee Hiers
• Carters Blues - Jack Ferguson
• Primo Dueto for Reso and Viola - Billy Cardine
• Dust My Broom - Randy Kohrs
• Turnaround - Jimmy Ross
• What A Friend - Tim Scheerhorn

We’ll have more info when the CD is released.

Award winning dobro player and band leader, Randy Kohrs, has just added a couple new faces to the line up of his band, The Lites.

UPDATE: We just heard from Ashley Brown, Randy’s fiddle player, that the band name has been dropped and the group will henceforth be known only as The Randy Kohrs Band.

Joining the band on guitar is Clay Jones. Clay is a long standing member of the bluegrass flatpicking elite. He’s played and recorded with a number of well known groups and artists. Most recently Clay was a member of bluegrass powerhouse group, Mountain Heart. Clay is well known for his driving rhythm and forceful lead playing. The interaction between Jones’ flatpicking and Kohrs dobro should be exciting to hear.

The other new member of the band is Elio Giordano on bass. Elio is a local Nashville player, and brings more than just the low notes to the group. He plays many different styles rather than just the standard bluegrass bass line, and he sings lead as well.

Kohrs is trying the band out without a mandolin player at this time. The group sports a snare drum player, so rhythmically there is no hole. And with the addition of Jones on guitar, they certainly won’t be lacking for lead players.

We received a note recently from Shayne Bartley informing us that he and Ray Craft were in the process of reforming Unlimited Tradition. The band was a popular fixture on the festival circuit in the mid-to-late 1990s and officially disbanded in 2000.

During their tenure, the band has included such members as Scottie Sparks, Randy Kohrs, Steve Huber, Harold Nixon, John Lewis and Jason Hale in addition to Craft and Bartley. They released two CDs, Lost In Time (self-produced) and She’s Gone on Doobie Shea.

After the band broke up, Craft went on to perform with the short-lived Rock County, and Bartley did time with 1946 and Karl Shiflett - and spent the summer of 2003 on tour with country super stars Brooks and Dunn.

Shayne says that Bobby Hicks will be joining them on selected dates this summer, and that more details about the new band membership will be announced shortly. He also mentioned that they are in discussions with a number of labels now, and hope to have a new recording later this year.

There is no Unlimited Tradition web site at this time, but anyone interested in talking with them can find Shayne on MySpace, or reach him by phone (859-321-9874) or email.

UPDATE 3:30 p.m. Shayne just contacted us to say that they do now have a MySpace page for Unlimited Tradition. It shows that Shayne will be playing banjo, Ray will be on guitar and Nick Chandler on mandolin. You will also find their shows for this summer to date.

After winning a Grammy this year for The Bluegrass Diaries, Jim Lauderdale has once again tapped the multi-talented Randy Kohrs to produce his next bluegrass effort.

Lauderdale is currently touring in support of his newest CD Honey Songs (a more-or-less country record), but he’s not going to let that slow down production on a new bluegrass CD. Every free moment in Nashville is being spent in Kohrs’ Slack Key Studio working on the new CD.

Randy shared a few thoughts at the outset of this recording effort.

We were both thrilled with the way “The Bluegrass Diaries” came out sonically, and my studio has been upgraded even more since then. Thanks to companies such as Stage Ninja, Great River Electronics, Violet Microphones, new Lauten Audio Microphones, and Forssell Electronics, along with the top-of-the-line equipment I already had, we’re confident this next project will sound even better. Jim’s songs and vocals, combined with the talents of the other musicians, insure that the CD will be great no matter what, but recording them in a way that will do them justice is always the biggest goal.

As much as we enjoyed the last CD, we’ll wait anxiously for this one. We’ll be sure to bring you more updates as they become available.

We just received an update from Randy Kohrs about the Scheerhorn Guitars CD we had posted about back in December.

The CD is being recorded in Randy’s Slack Key Studio to showcase Tim Scheerhorn’s celebrated instruments, featuring many of the pro players who use Scheerhorn resophonic guitars.

Mike Witcher, Jimmy Ross, Andy Hall, Tim Scheerhorn, Bruce Bouton, Justin Moses, Lou Wamp have finished their recordings. The Scheerhorn Banjo is featured on Jimmy Ross’ cut (played by Scott Vestal) with the Scheerhorn acoustic guitar featured on Tim’s cut, played by his band mate Kevin Gaugier. We also have a Sally Van Meter/Randy Kohrs duet (we recorded a number of years ago in a loft in Telluride).

I went electric on you all and used the Scheerhorn Lap on an old blues cover. Richard Smith is slated to come in and use the Scheerhorn acoustic guitar for a solo track and Billy Cardine is scheduled to do the same with a classical tune for Reso. We have let each player produce their own track and it is coming out very personably. Every player is using the same stereo mic and preamp combination of a pair of Peluso P-28’s and vintage Telefunken V-72 mic pres with the exception of the Sally Van Meter cut which was cut on a single Earthworks QTC-1 in 1999 atTelluride, and the Scheerhorn Lap which is electrified through an old Fender Deluxe, a Royer 121 Ribbon into a Universal Audio LA-610.

Several more players are slated to come in soon and I will try to keep you updated. I am really enjoying making this CD and look forward to having it out this summer. With so many fantastic players in the world, there is even talk of a volume 2 already.

We’ll be sure to share any news we get about this project.

Dobro-meister and celebrated vocalist Randy Kohrs will be a featured guest on this Friday’s (2/22) edition of The Rachel Ray Show. No, he isn’t there to perform his latest single or even to plug an upcoming appearance with his band, The Lites. Randy is visiting this popular syndicated daytime talk show to talk about his kitchen.

Rachel Ray has become one of TV’s most recognizable personalities based on her several acclaimed food and cooking programs, which led to her success as a talk host as well. An ongoing segment on the show is their Coolest Kitchens in America series, and Randy’s got the attention of Kristen Cunningham, host of HGTV’s Design On A Dime show, who visited Randy’s home in Nashville for The Rachel Ray Show.

Brance had posted once before about Randy being recognized for the unique design of his Slack-Key Studio, patterned after a vintage diner, complete with a booth using replicas of his ‘64 Chevy Impala seats. It was this distinctive look that attracted Cunningham’s gaze, and she visited the studio earlier this month to shoot a segment for the show.

As the shoot was scheduled over the SPBGMA convention weekend, Randy’s band was in town, and were invited to pick a few while the cameras were rolling. The segment went so well that Randy was invited to New York to appear on the show in person and talk a bit more about his kitchen and diner theme. The show taping was set for last week, and events very nearly conspired to prevent him appearing.

Ashley Brown, fiddler and vocalist with The Lites and chief publicist for Randy’s Left Of Center Records, accompanied him for the trip and said that bad weather almost put the kibosh on their plans.

“We were scheduled to fly out the night before, that flight got canceled. We were moved to a flight at 7:15 am the next morning, which was delayed. Taping was supposed to start at noon and we didn’t get into LaGuardia until 11:45am. They actually delayed the taping for him, which was very cool of them to do.”

I suppose some things are meant to be…

The show is syndicated widely throughout the US, but times vary from one market to another. You can find times for a station in your area on the show’s web site. To celebrate his appearance, Randy will be offering a free track download of his next single, She Ain’t Comin’ Back, from his MySpace page for a short time following the show.

Ashley also sent along a number of photos taken during the video shoot and Randy’s visit to the show in New York.

       

Resonator guitarist and vocalist Randy Kohrs has named several new members of his touring band, The Lites.

Joining Randy and existing members Ashley Brown on fiddle, Andrew Crawford on guitar and Chris Williamson on bass are Mike Sumner on banjo, Jesse Daniel on mandolin and Chris Wood on drums.

Jesse is a school teacher in Alabama where he also runs a small recording studio when he isn’t winning mandolin competitions. Mike has made quite a name for himself in banjo contests as well, reigning as the 2007 National Banjo Champion, a title he picked up in Winfield, KS last year. Randy is delighted to have these two hot young pickers on board, along with percussionist Chris Wood who will bring a restrained, low-key approach to reinforcing the band’s already tight rhythm section.

They are working now on a new recording project, and Randy tells us that he will soon begin work on a second video from his Old Photograph CD, this time for She Ain’t Comin’ Back. His first, for Who’s Goin’ With Me can be viewed below.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/thegrasscast/kohrs.flv

The 2008 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album goes to Jim Lauderdale for The Bluegrass Diaries.

Jim introduced his producer, Randy Kohrs, as he was accepting the award, and recognized all the pickers on the album by name. He also referenced each of the other nominees (Seldom Scene, Cherryholmes, JD Crowe & The New South and Tony Trischka), and paid his respects for their contributions.

Congrats, Jim.

Randy Kohrs has been named the recipient of the Country/Bluegrass songwriting prize for 2008 from the International Acoustic Music Association in the 4th Annual IAMA Awards.

The award is for the song Rockwell’s Gold from his current CD, Old Photograph on Rural Rhythm. You can hear an audio sample on Randy’s web site.

A compilation CD with all of the winning songs will be distributed to radio stations worldwide. Stations/hosts interested in receiving a copy can contact IAMA online.

UPDATE 2/7: We should also mention that banjoist Jake Schepps was a runner up in the Instrumental category in this year’s IAMA awards for his song Todo Buenos Aires, from his Ten Thousand Leaves CD.

Randy Kohrs was at the NAMM Show in Anaheim over last weekend to unveil his latest triumph - a signature, metal-body resonator guitar from Amistar Guitars.

The guitar’s body is made of brass, with a dark finish which allows the intricate etching show through. It is fitted with Amistar’s tri-cone system made by hand of an aluminum/magnesium alloy with a stamped radiating spiral pattern. The square neck is mahogany with a sunburst finish.

Each Randy Kohrs model also has Amistar’s Duotone pickup system installed. This features a mini humbucking pickup located at the neck and a T-bridge piezo pickup with an element attached to each of the cones. The player can blend the output of the two pickups for fine tone control in live settings.

Amistar is based in the Czech Republic (Prague), where the guitars are made. Randy first met them at the 2003 Dobrofest in the Slovak Republic and is delighted to be working with them as an endorser.

“It’s a classy instrument with the exact modern blues sound that I’m incorporating into to my progressive sound that hopefully distinguishes me from my contemporaries. Everybody wants their own style and sound and this instrument has really helped me get my own.”

Randy has been using the new guitar in sessions at his Slack Key Studio in Nashville, and is looking forward to taking it with him on the road.

Amistar Guitars are distributed in the United States by Vagabond Instruments, and by a number of dealers in Europe.

Oregon based multi-instrumentalist, Joe Ross has recently announced the release of a third album in as many years.

Following Festival Time Again (released in 2006) and Spirit of St. Louis (2007) albums, both featuring all-original songs, is a new CD entitled, Bluegrass Alphabet - officially released Saturday, January 12, 2008 on the Zephyr Records label. The 12-track album features original bluegrass and Americana songs written by Ross during the past three decades, as well as a novel arrangement of My Bonnie with autoharp, whistle, Japanese koto, among other instruments.

The title cut, which tells the complete story of bluegrass music from A to Z, was inspired by a sailors’ alphabet song that Ross plays on concertina in his solo shows.

As well as singing lead on most of the tracks, Ross plays guitar, mandolin, upright bass, and keyboard on the project. Most vocal harmonies are handled by Nashville-based musician Randy Kohrs, while noted local Roseburg, OR vocalist Jamie Kruse makes a cameo appearance on the song, The Loneliest Season. Other well-known artists working with Ross on Bluegrass Alphabet include Bryan Bowers (autoharp), Tim Crouch and Adam Haynes (fiddle), Mitsuki Dazai (koto), Ben Greene and Scott Vestal (banjo), Jason Heald and Jerry McNeely (bass), James King (guitar), Kevin Prater (mandolin and guitar), Ronnie Stewart (banjo and fiddle) and Radim Zenkl (pennywhistle).

Wayne Bledsoe, editor of Bluegrass Now magazine, speaks highly of Joe’s abilities ……..

“A man of both deep feeling and deep thinking, Joe Ross has few peers as a singer and a songster. He epitomizes the ideal contained in the 19th century French philosopher/historian, Jean Jacques Rousseau’s observation that ‘…deep thinking is obtainable only by a person of deep feeling.’ The lyrics penned by the Oregon ’songster’, Joe Ross, attest to his astute ability to evoke in his listeners an emotional response to the joys, mysteries, and sorrows of life.”

While Stephanie P. Ledgin, author of Homegrown Music: Discovering Bluegrass, observes,

“Joe’s words come alive. A novel kind of guy, Joe Ross is a songwriter for all seasons who has cultivated his craft, demonstrating his formula for creating bluegrass songs. A multi-year award winner in the Portland (Oregon) Music Association Songwriting Contest, he cleverly sums up many of the elements of bluegrass in the title cut. Carrying through on that theme, ‘Bluegrass Alphabet’ - the song and the entire recording - is a CD that expresses, many times over, the love, knowledge and passion Joe holds for bluegrass music. He takes us on a tour of emotions and places, exhibiting a multitude of influences that go into his song writing.”

Bluegrass Alphabet (Zephyr 0431) will be distributed worldwide via Super-D/Phantom One-Stop, and is available from popular onloine resellers. Sound clips can be found on CD Baby.

Beginning January 26, Ross will be on an extended tour to promote the new album.

The January 2008 issue of International Musician features a story about the multi-talented Randy Kohrs.

International Musician is the official trade magazine published by the American Federation of Musicians. The magazine is only available to union members. If you’re a member, take the time to read the article.

If some people are born to multitask, then Randy Kohrs of Local 257 (Nashville, TN) is one of those people.

From that opening line, the article continues and relates Kohrs’ background, musicianship, producing credits, and more. Multitasking just barely covers it. I knew he was a great player, and producer/engineer. I knew he had recently won an award for design at his studio. I didn’t know Randy did automotive restoration. And I certainly didn’t know he has built 6 dobros in the last 5 years! Where does he find the time?

It’s always nice to see one of our own highlighted in the larger industry.

It’s not just Randy Kohrs who is shocking the pundits with the power of grassroots bluegrass fans in effecting online balloting.

The Chapmans also find themselves as the sole bluegrass artists in a head-to-head competition with a bevy of pop and rock acts at BestOfBands.com. Thanks to the support of their fans, they have made it through to the final round of five in the Best of Bands, Make My Video competition where the winner receives a professional performance video shoot valued at $20,000.

The video will be shot in Las Vegas, with a venue chosen based on the genre of the winning band. All airfare, accommodations and ground transportation are covered, and the three most actively voting fans of the winning band will also win an all-expense paid trip to Vegas to attend the shoot.

Voting in this final round starts on December 1, and a quick, free registration is required to participate in the balloting, which runs through the end of December. Repeat votes are allowed, but only once in each 24 hour period.

Jeremy Chapman said that they were inspired and excited to see how the support of bluegrass fans has kept Randy Kohrs’ video in the top five at CMT Pure Top 20 Countdown, and hopes to get a similar level of support at BestOfBands.com.

“We need to get as many people as possible to create a profile before December 1st so we can have a head start in the competition. We’re up against a few heavy metal bands, and would just be embarrassed if they could claim to have better, more devoted fans.

Remember when creating your profile to upload a picture - even if it’s of a tree or Jimmy Martin - so that they know that you’re not a computer. Otherwise all your diligent voting won’t count.”

If you want to show the world that bluegrass fans are as rabidly passionate as metal bands - at least metaphorically - perhaps you will want to show your support for The Chapmans in this competition. Starting 12/1, there will be a Make My Video button near the top of their BOB profile page, and you need only click it once to register your daily vote.

Keeping up with Randy Kohrs video and single for Who’s Goin’ With Me…

His video is still in the running at the CMT Pure Top 20 Countdown, rated #4 this week against some steep mainstream country competition. The rankings are based wholly on online votes, and the balloting ends each week on Wednesday.

If you have a moment and would like to see Randy’ video stay in the pack, you can cast a ballot.

Who’s Goin’ With Me has recently been sent to several hundred country reporting stations as a single, and at least two of them have already put the song in rotation. Both KSON in San Deigo, CA and WGTY in York, PA are playing the song, and Randy hopes that bluegrass fans in those markets will call or email the stations and voice some support for the song.

“To avoid any stereotypes and stigmas, we marketed it as “Progressive Acoustic Country” as so many stations hear the word bluegrass and steer clear. But, we know better…”

The 9513 is the country/roots blog very similar to The Bluegrass Blog. It’s a blog that covers new, album releases, and other items of interest to country music fans. Sometimes bluegrass and country get a little friendly and stray into one another’s worlds. Such is the case with their latest giveaway.

The 9513 is celebrating its one year anniversary by giving away a limited number of iTunes album downloads. Here’s how it works. Visit their site and read this post. Leave a comment telling them how much you like their blog and which album on the list you would be interested in. They will randomly select 40 winners from among the commenters.

Two of the albums on the list are bluegrass. One is Old Photograph by Randy Kohrs, the other is More Behind The Picture Than The Wall by Doyle Lawson. So, if you are a bluegrass fan and don’t yet have one of these recordings, here’s a chance to win a digital copy for free.

The new video from Randy Kohrs, Who’s Goin’ With Me, has once again been voted into the top 3 by viewers on CMT.com. It debuted two weeks ago at #3, made it all the way to #1 last week, and has settled back in at #3 again in the CMT Pure 12-Pack Countdown poll that was posted on November 9.

Voting for this week closes on Wednesday (11/14), so head on over to CMT.com and let them know how much you enjoy Randy’s video.

Well… boy, howdy! The Randy Kohrs video for Who’s Goin’ With Me that made it to #3 two weeks ago in the Pure 12-Pack Countdown on CMT’s new digital music channel, CMT Pure, ended up #1 last week in the web site voting.

It’s in the running again this week, and today (11/7) is the last day to register a vote.

Here’s the video, which can also be seen on the Pure 12-pack site.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/thegrasscast/kohrs.flv

You can vote for Randy’s video in this week’s countdown at the Pure 12-pack Countdown page. You can vote as many times as you want, if you are so inclined.

Last week we posted about the new Randy Kohrs video being included in the Pure 12-Pack Countdown on CMT’s new digital music channel, CMT Pure. Randy was pitted against top country entertainers for viewer votes, and he came in number 3 overall in the poll. Only Dwight Yoakam and Blake Shelton’s videos received more votes than Randy’s.

When we made mention of the online vote and suggested that support from the bluegrass community might put them in the running, Randy’s video for Who’s Goin’ With Me wasn’t even in the top 12. What a fine thing to see a bluegrass artist do so well based on grassroots appeal.
Randy asked us to thank everyone who voted for them at CMT.com, and mention that they are once again in the countdown this week, with voting closed on Wednesday (10/31), and the winners announced on Friday (11/2).

Here’s the video, which features Randy and his crack band (The Lites), along with a bevy of bluegrass notables in either feature or cameo roles. Recognize anyone?

http://media.libsyn.com/media/thegrasscast/kohrs.flv

You can vote for Randy’s video in this week’s countdown at the Pure 12-pack Countdown page.

Would you like to see more bluegrass and acoustic videos played on CMT? Here’s a chance to vote for Randy Kohrs and his new video for Who’s Goin’ With Me, a track from his current Rural Rhythm release, Old Photograph.

Randy’s video is in the running for CMT’s Pure 12-Pack Countdown on their new 24/7 digital music channel, CMT Pure. Viewer votes determine which videos get aired on CMT Pure, so why not bop on over to the Pure 12-Pack voting site and put your mark down for Randy Kohrs?

His video is not in the top 12 at this point, but a nice bluegrass surge could move him right on up.

You can watch the video for Who’s Goin’ With Me, at the voting site, or here on The Bluegrass Blog. It is also scheduled to air tonight on CMT Pure at 10:04 p.m. (eastern).

Not long ago we told you about all the excitement on the set when Randy Kohrs was shooting his newest music video. I had a chance to watch the video the other day at IBMA and got a copy on disc. Randy has graciously given us permission to post the video here for our readers to watch.

The video is currently in the process of heading toward rotation on both CMT and GAC.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/thegrasscast/kohrs.flv

The video was filmed by a very talented film maker by the name of Jarboe, which is just cool to say.

I had a chance to visit with Jarboe one night earlier this week and he expressed his appreciation for the dedication and effort put forth by the band on this shoot. He said Randy and Ashley were the hardest working musicians he had ever worked with. High praise from a man who has filmed somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 music videos!