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.