When BlueRidge split in early 2007, Alan Bibey and Jason Davis became part of the newly formed Grasstowne, and Alan Johnson joined Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Junior Sisk, their soulful lead singer, reassembled his old group, and they have been in the studio over the winter completing a new album.

Just today, it has been announced that Junior Sisk & Ramblers’ Choice have signed with Rebel Records. The Ferrum, VA based band consists of Sisk on guitar & lead vocals, Tim Massey on bass, Darrell Wilkerson on banjo, Chris Harris on mandolin, and Billy Hawks on fiddle.

Both band and label are excited by the pairing. Says Sisk…

“I’ve always wanted to record for Rebel. Now I feel like I’ve found a home.”

The straight-ahead, traditional bluegrass favored by the band is a perfect fit for Rebel who specializes in just that. Mark Freeman of Rebel says…

“Junior is a strong singer with a solid band and we’re looking forward to working with them.”

The upcoming album, produced by Ronnie Bowman and tentatively titled Blue Side Of The Blue Ridge, is scheduled for a mid-summer release.

In the latest edition of the County Sales Newsletter, #290, David Freeman, the founder of the longstanding and illustrious retail outlet “for bluegrass, old-time and authentic rural music”, is in a nostalgic mood, telling his readers how it used to be when County Sales, then based in New York City, was started in 1965. Those were the days of vinyl folks! Warm, analogue music! And there wasn’t very much of it about!

Here’s what David Freeman has to say in his Newsletter ………….

“As we enter our 43rd year of selling Bluegrass and Old-Time music, we thought it was a good time to reflect back on some of the changes that have occurred since we put out our first few Newsletters back in 1965 and 1966. At that time—when it only took a 6 cent stamp to mail our Newsletter, and just 15 cents postage to mail 2 LPs anywhere in the USA!—there were hardly enough new releases (vinyl LPs) to fill up even two or three pages of space every couple of months. We can’t recall the existence of any significant books about the music at the time, and there were no such things as DVDs or VHS tapes. We scrambled to find news about Fiddlers’ Conventions and even word of future LP releases—there were probably not more than 25 or 30 Bluegrass LPs on the market then, and the revival of interest in “Old-Time” music was in its infancy.

In contrast, there is a wealth of great items available today: more good records than we can keep up with, a bunch of amazing DVDs, and in the last two issues alone, 3 or 4 excellent books (in short, more items in one month than we had to offer in the first 2 or 3 years of COUNTY SALES’ existence combined!). What has accounted for the rise in popularity of this wonderful rural American art form that we love? A music that was once mostly associated with sleazy bars and honky tonks, and dismissed by many as inferior, low-life “hillbilly” trash has finally gained a significant measure of respect, and is now a healthy, family type pursuit. The early Bluegrass Festivals, “Dueling Banjos”, “Bonnie & Clyde” and “O Brother Where Art Thou” all have helped greatly in gaining exposure for Bluegrass, but we owe special thanks to the early pioneers who brought respect to the music through their writing & promoting: people like the late Ralph Rinzler, Bill Vernon, and Charles Wolfe, and those still involved today like Bill Malone, Neil Rosenberg, Lance Leroy and Mike Seeger. And a special thanks to all those festival promoters who have insisted on keeping their events clean and family oriented, after a flurry of ill-conceived, rock-based “peace, love, & Bluegrass” fiascos in the early 1970s almost brought an early end to what is now a very healthy phenomenon.”

I thought that this was a subject that warranted further discussion ……….

You mentioned vinyl (LPs) …. what about 45rpm discs? Were you selling many of those in the early days?

In the early days we did sell a few 45s, and some EPs that some Bluegrass artists had out before they could afford to do a full LP or find some label willing to do that for them. I do recall selling quite a few of some EPs that were put out on the Jalyn, Jewel and Rem labels (Esco Hankins & Jackie had some really nice sides on Jewel), and there was Jimmy Murphy and Molly O’Day (as well as others) on Rem. We also sold quite a few Blue Jay (J.E. Mainer, Joe & Janette Carter) and MKB label items, as I had got to know the owners of these labels pretty well (Mr. Butner of MKB in North Carolina, and EP. Williams of Blue Jay in Salisbury, NC. And there were also some nice fiddle EPs out of Missouri & Texas by artist like Lonnie Robertson, Pete McMahan etc.

What were popular items (LPs) ? (Singles/45s) ? in the early days?

Some of the first really big sellers we had were the “budget” LPs that started coming out on the Camden and Harmony labels (Carter Family, Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Molly O’Day, etc). As I recall, we bought these for $ 1.,25 and sold them for $ 1.75 each—they were great value & great music. Some of the early full price records that we sold really well in our first couple of years were the Decca “Knee Deep In Bluegrass” and Instrumentals LPs, along with the Decca Uncle Dave Macon and Carter Family LPs. (Full price LPs we sold for $ 3.75 each)

(more…)

Rebel Records has recently announced news of the forthcoming release on March 25 of a various Artists collection entitled Best Loved Bluegrass: 20 All-Time Favorites (REB-8004).

The 20 song anthology embraces some of the classic songs in bluegrass music from some of the great acts in the business (track listing below).

So many of the songs here are inextricably linked with the Rebel catalogue; Bringing Mary Home, Fox On The Run and Atlanta Is Burning being three notable examples. These are signature songs as is Love Of The Mountains. There are the tour de force pieces like Rice’s Nine Pound Hammer and JD Crowe’s Train 45 also.

Most of the material is direct from the Rebel vaults, whereas some came to them indirectly, such as - and I speculate here - the Lilly Brothers track, which was originally recorded for Event Records in 1956 or 1957 and later appeared on a County LP. It was subsequently reissued on a Rebel CD (1688). Others in this category are Little Rosewood Casket - Don Reno & Red Smiley (from a Wango LP), Footprints In The Snow - Mac Wiseman (Vetco material, perhaps), Poor Ellen Smith - Ted Lundy & the Southern Mountain Boys (County), Pig In A Pen - Stanley Brothers (Wango) and Lonesome Road Blues - Larry Richardson & Happy Smith (County).

There’s lots of fine traditional material here, which is typical of this series, and which, apparently, has been doing very well for Rebel. Judging by the titles and the artists listed, the potential for this set to match its predecessors is great.

For those who have a long-time interest in bluegrass music the songs and the respective bands speak for themselves; for newcomers this album is a good place to start investigating the Rebel catalogue.

Thanks must be made to Gary Reid for sharing his thoughts on some aspects of this collection.

Complete track list… (more…)

Rebel Records has announced that their first new release for 2008 will be a duo project from Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein.

Bluegrass fans remember Gaudreau from his years with The Country Gentlemen, The Tony Rice Unit and his current gig with John Starling & Carolina Star. Klein will be familiar as a former member of both Seldom Scene and Chesapeake.

According to Mark Freeman of Rebel:

“It’s a very simple, straightforward traditional album, a polar opposite to their Chesapeake days. There are no additional musicians or instruments, just Moondi and Jimmy on guitar and mandolin respectively performing a number of bluegrass and folk standards with some very nice instrumentals as well.”

The two have played a number of shows in the DC-area, and will be booking shows for 2008 as their busy schedules with other commitments allow.

Look for their new CD on Rebel in February 2008.

Rebel Records has reissued two more classic out-of-print recordings as download-only releases.

First up is a Lonesome River Band album from 1988, one which many recent fans of the band may learn about for the first time. Saturday Night, Sunday Morning came out on LP several years before the band took the bluegrass world by storm with Carrying The Tradition, but featured the drive and agreesive style that later (and current) editions of the band perfected.

This release featured founding members Tim Austin on guitar and Jerry McMillan on bass, along with Brian Fessler on banjo and Adam Steffey on mandolin. As you might guess from the title, this project features a mix of secular and spiritual material, with Adam’s instrumental take on Daybreak In Dixie.

You can sample the tracks or purchase the music in iTunes.

Makin’ Tracks by The McPreake Brothers was first released in 1983 on County Records - the last of the three McPeake projects for Rebel/County. By this time, the three brothers (Dewey, Larry and Mike) had established themselves as one of the premiere bluegrass vocal groups of their day.

Living in Southwest Virginia as I do, there were many opportunities to see them perform live, but they never toured far from their homes near Wytheville, VA, and their fine harmony was kept a secret from many bluegrass fans around the world - other than from these fine recordings.

Check out this valuable reissue on iTunes.

Here’s another post from our all-the-more regular correspondent, Richard Thompson. He writes from England, where he is also a longstanding contributor to British Bluegrass News, a quarterly print publication where he also briefly served as editor.

The latest CD from bluegrass stalwart Paul Williams and his band, Where No One Stands Alone (Rebel REB 1822) will be released on May 22.

An very accomplished mandolin player, Paul Williams’ first job in bluegrass music was with the legendary Lonesome Pine Fiddlers in the 1950s. From there, he then went on to become one of Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys, staying with the group until the early 1960s. He wrote prolifically during those years and produced many bluegrass classics including Don’t Cry To Me, Prayer Bells Of Heaven and I Like To Hear Them Preach It.

In August of 1963 Williams retired from the bluegrass music circuit, to work for the US Postal Service. However, he continued to write songs and play in churches and radio broadcasts for the next thirty years or so.

In 1995 Paul Williams formed The Victory Trio and the group played in churches around his home town of Morristown, Tennessee. While the group was an immediate regional success, it took four years to achieve wider recognition. The big break came with their second self-produced recording, Old Ways & Old Paths, which was re-released on Rebel Records and subsequently was nominated for a Grammy award in 2000 in the Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album category.

Paul Williams and The Victory Trio have continued to release great bluegrass gospel albums through the years and their efforts have earned them several nominations for awards. For three consecutive years the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music (SPBGMA) and the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) nominated the band for Bluegrass Group of the Year, Bluegrass Gospel-Traditional Group of the Year and Bluegrass Vocal Group of the Year, respectively. In February this year the group were presented with the SPBGMA Bluegrass Gospel-Traditional Group of the Year award.

This new collection features 14 all new recordings done at Lasting Sounds Studio, Blountville, Tennessee, in October of last year. Of those, three are original songs penned by Williams; Beautiful Heaven, When We’re Living On The Other Side and I’m Getting Anxious. There are a further two songs where Williams shares co-writing credit; A Long Time Ago (with Susie Keys) and Can You Hear The Angels Sing? (with Joyce Williams).

Among the remainder is I Pressed Through The Crowd (penned by Joe Isaacs) and an Albert E Brumley song, I Know My Lord Is Going To Lead Me Out.

Thank You Jesus is the sole a cappella cut.

Williams has had a complete overhaul of supporting personnel since his last release, with Kelly McCord (guitar) and Rodney Worley (fiddle and guitar) both assisting Williams on vocals, and Kevin Bowen (banjo) and Matt Wallace (bass) rounding out the quintet.

All in all, the collection is more of the good traditional bluegrass gospel that one expects from Paul Williams and The Victory Trio.

To learn more about Paul Williams listen to GrassCast #53 and #54.

The three CD reissues from Rebel that we previewed last month are officially released today.

These include a first-time-on-CD reissue of JD Crowe’s classic Bluegrass Holiday, and compilations of new-to-CD Gospel cuts from Ralph Stanley, Mountain Preacher’s Child, and a budget-priced Seldom Scene compilation project, Different Roads.

More details about all three can be found in our earlier post.

You can listen to audio samples from Bluegrass Holiday, Mountain Preacher’s Child and Different Roads in the iTunes Music Store.

The long awaited new release from Kenny & Amanda Smith on Rebel Records is due to hit the street on January 30, and radio promos are being shipped this week. Titled Tell Someone, it is the first all-Gospel project from this husband and wife team from southwest Virginia, featuring their band with a guest appearance by Rhonda Vincent.

We first mentioned this project back in August when Kenny and Amanda started making it available at their shows, which unfortunately created some confusion as Rebel was not officially releasing the CD until 2007. Mark Freeman with Rebel tells us that they wanted to take some extra time preparing for this project’s street date to give it the sort of pre-release attention they felt it deserved.

Freeman said that they have brought on a publicist for Tell Someone who specializes in Christian music, and will jointly distribute the CD with Crossroads Music, a label with deep penetration in that market.

The CD is available now from Kenny and Amanda’s web site. Radio hosts who get promo service from Rebel can expect a copy this week, and retailers will have it by the end of January 2007.

Hard core fans of bluegrass supergroup Seldom Scene are inclined to the sort of internecine squabbles that occur among folks fiercely loyal to their favorite sports team. To wit, the familiar arguments about which edition of the team was the best, and whether the boys on the field in the 60s would have beaten those from the 80s.

For Scene fans, the disputes are about whether the original band (Starling, Auldridge, Eldridge, Duffey and Gray) has ever been eclipsed by the many fine lineups that followed, or the first rate band now performing under that name, with Ben Eldridge the sole founding member on stage.

Taking no side in this dispute, I can predict that Seldom Scene originalists will have much to cheer in the February release of Slidin’ Home, from John Starling & Carolina Star. In addition to Starling, the band includes Scene founders Mike Auldridge and Tom Gray, plus Jimmie Gaudreau and Ricky Simpkins.

They were assisted on the new CD by Emmy Lou Harris, who has been a long time duet partner with Starling. She joins him on In My Hour Of Darkness, a song she co-wrote with Gram Parsons. Other tracks include Starling’s take on Lowell George’s classic anthem, Willin’ and Waitin’ For A Train.

Starling says that they dedicated a lot of effort to utilizing modern recording technology in ways that would enhance a live, living room sort of feel.

“For the new project, we felt that modern, high-resolution digital recording and mixing techniques, a good acoustic environment and musician practice prior to, not on, recording day, would once again make the process fun for everybody. And I knew Mike and Tom were the type of world-class musicians who could pull this off.

We were able to really capture the energy and excitement that comes from playing live. We had really high expectations going into this, but I think the new record exceeds everything we wanted to accomplish.”

There are a couple of audio samples from Slidin’ Home on the band’s MySpace page, which also lists some show dates where the band will be appearing next year.

Slidin’ Home is scheduled for a February 20, 2007 release on Rebel Records. Radio service is anticipated shortly after the new year.

Earlier this year, Rebel Records reissued a pair of classic Ralph Stanley recordings as iTunes download exclusives. Now comes word of two others, recently available again from the iTunes Music store.

Down Where The River Bends was first released in 1978, and marked the Clinch Mountain Boys debut of Charlie Sizemore as a lead vocalist and Junior Blankenship on guitar. This pair remained with Stanley for the next ten years, and were also featured on the other new Rebel iTunes reisuue, Memory Of Your Smile, initially released in 1982.

These two Stanley reissues are only available in the iTunes Music Store, where audio samples of each track can be heard, with instant download purchase enabled.

Rebel announced this summer that they would be making many of the out-of-print titles in their catalog available as download-only reissues, and have a pair of albums from the Forbes Family as well as the prior Ralph Stanley projects now up on iTunes. No further download reissues are expected this year, but more will be announced in January 2007.

Rebel Records announced on Friday (2/24) that their entire catalog is now available for digital download from Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Every current, in-print release can be purchased via iTunes, as well as a few out of print titles. Rebel plans to make more out of print titles available on the iTunes Music Store, including some early Ralph Stanley albums, by later this spring.

We’ll be sure to update wth more details as we get them.