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.

We posted earlier this week with a banjo sighting on Fox Television’s smash hit, American Idol. Now comes word from Phil Leadbetter, reso-man with Grasstowne, about the appearance of one of his signature Dobro guitars on the show.

The Leadbetter model Dobro was in the hands of Austin Clark, of The Clark Brothers, who won The Next Great American Band competition earlier this year. He was accompanying Kellie Pickler for her Idol performance on 3/19.

Uncle Phil was delighted with his virtual appearance on American Idol. 

Recording King has introduced a line of new metal body resonator instruments, including two guitars plus a mandolin and ukulele. All feature bell brass bodies and hand-spun cones, and the guitars offer the choice between a tricone and a single resonator design.

The RM991 guitar uses three 6” Continental cones and is available in both round and squareneck configurations, both made from Honduran mahogany. The roundneck model offers either a champagne matte or nickel/silver finish, and the squareneck comes in nickel/silver. Both use a screen coverplate and a T-shaped bridge.

The style-O RM998 is a single cone guitar (9.5” Continental) with a roundhole coverplate. The finish and neck options are the same as the 991.

All of the guitar models carry a retail price of 699.99. At this time, no pricing info on the mandolin or ukulele is listed on the Recording King site.

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.

We picked up a few more details about the new Jerry Douglas signature resonator guitars from Beard Guitars, though there still isn’t any new info on their web site.

There will be two Douglas models - a production model and a limited edition guitar.

The Jerry Douglas signature model will have all solid woods - Honduran ribbon mahogany for the back and sides, sapele (African mahogany) for the top, and mahogany for the neck. The inlay and coverplate will be custom to the Douglas model and will ship for $5250 with arched hardshell case and straplock assembly.

The Limited Edition guitar uses solid pomele sapele - a very highly figured variety - for the back, sides and top. The other components will be the same as the production guitar, other than the installation of a Fishman Aura pickup and the Douglas family crest inlaid on the headstock. Only 50 of these guitars will be made, with a selling price of $7500.

Look for more details soon on the Beard web site.

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.

Andy Hall’s new solo project, Sound Of The Slide Guitar, is released today on Sugar Hill. As the title suggests, this recording focuses on Andy as a resophonic guitarist and is heavy on original tunes he has written of late.

He is joined by his bandmates in The Infamous Stringdusters for most of the tracks with special guests David Grier, Tim Stafford and Rob Ickes making appearances as well. You can read more about the new CD - including some comments from Andy - in our earlier post about this release.

Sound Of The Slide Guitar is available for download in iTunes or on Andy’s MySpace page, and CD copies can be purchased from Andy at ‘Dusters shows.

Beard Guitars has just announced the introduction of their Jerry Douglas signature series model resophonic guitars.

The Douglas models were unveiled today at the Winter NAMM show in CA.

There aren’t many details on the Beard site, but I’m sure we can get more information when they return from NAMM.

Weber Fine Acoustic Instruments is celebrating their 10th Anniversary with a new line of resophonic guitars.

Bruce Weber started his small shop with just himself and three other instrument crafters, and now has a staff of 12 luthiers working in a converted schoolhouse in Logan, MT. They have developed a reputation for building very high quality mandolins and mando-family instruments, plus arch top guitars.

Weber launches his reso line with four models, all available in three configurations. Round neck models will be offered with either the spider cone (typically preferred by bluegrass and country players) or the biscuit cone (favored by bluesers), and square neck models with a spider. All of the new Weber resos will be built using their Carousel soundwell, with an open body design designed to maximize airflow through the chamber. It is built using a pair of wooden rings supported by small posts.

The four models differ in the woods used for the body.

• Vigilante - all mahogany
• Renegade - mahogany with spruce top
• Outlaw - flame maple back and sides with spruce top
• Bandit - all flame maple

More photos and details can be found on the Weber web site.

Andy Hall, busy resophonic guitarist with The Infamous Stringdusters, recently found time to cut a solo project of his own between recording and touring with his band mates.

Sound Of The Slide Guitar features 11 tracks, 8 of which are original pieces Hall wrote for this project. The Dusters serve as the core band, but four tracks are cut as duets, performed with David Grier and Tim Stafford on guitar, Jesse Cobb on mandolin, and Rob Ickes on dobro.

Andy said that he had wanted to complete this recording quickly, reflecting his writing and playing over a certain period of time. Unlike his first solo project, Redwing - which took almost two years to finish - this one was recorded in four months at Hall’s home studio.

Dusters fans will recognize Deep Elem Blues, which Andy sings with the band on their live shows, and Norman Blake fans will enjoy hearing the reso-version of Green Light On The Southern and Bony Crossing The Alps which closes the CD.

“I chose the title, ‘The Sound Of the Slide Guitar,’ because I heard so many people use that phrase. Like ‘I love the…..’ or ‘ ……….is a haunting sound.’ I had heard it used so much, I thought it would be an appropriate title. Seems to be pretty accurate in describing the record!

I used my mahogany Meredith guitar on a lot of the tracks and my my Koa Harper in D tuning for C-Bops. For a few of the softer tunes, I used my Hawaiian. There’s some bluesy stuff too, like Deep Elem, where I used an old style 2 square neck tri-cone.

I wanted to get some different sounds on there, as per the album title.”

Sound Of The Slide Guitar will be released on January 22 from Sugar Hill, but is available for download purchase now on Andy’s MySpace page, where you can hear audio for several tunes. It will appear in iTunes on the 22nd, and will be available for CD purchase from Andy’s site at that time as well.

UPDATE 1:55 p.m. - Andy will be a guest on Cindy Baucom’s Knee Deep In Bluegrass show this week, talking with Cindy about the new CD.

We just got a note from Jimmy Ross, resophonic guitarist with Frances Mooney & Fontanna Sunset about a new recording project sure to perk up the ears of sliders everywhere.

There is a CD in the works designed to showcase the fine resophonic guitars made by Tim Scheerhorn, and featuring many of the pro players who use his guitars.

“I’m working with Tim and Randy Kohrs at Randy’s studio. The proposed players are Tim Scheerhorn, Randy Kohrs, Rob Ickes, Andy Hall, Lou Wamp, Justin Moses, Sally Van Meter, Billy Cardine, Mike Witcher, Bruce Boughton, Jimmy Stewart and myself.

Also on the recording will be a lap steel, 5-string banjo and a dreadnought guitar all built by Tim. There are about six tunes being worked on now and the rest after the hoildays. It should be released in early spring.”

Congratulations to resonator guitarist Jerry Douglas, who picked up his third Musician of the Year award from the Country Music Association last night in Nashville.

2007 marked Jerry’s 10th nomination for this CMA award, which was known as the Instrumentalist of the Year until 1988.

Wechter Guitars has posted two new videos on YouTube, both of which show reso-master Rob Ickes test driving a new 6535R Wechter/Scheerhorn resonator guitar - the Rob Ickes signature model. The video was shot in a hotel room at last month’s IBMA convention in Nashville, and has Rob playing a new guitar, while discussing it with Abe Wechter and Tim Scheerhorn, who jointly designed and build these instruments.

The Ickes model is based on Rob’s custom Scheerhorn with the bodies and necks made in China, and then assembled with Scheerhorn components at the Wechter shop in Michigan. While the heralded Scheerhorn guitars sell for several thousand dollars and require waiting periods of two to three years, the Wechter/Scheerhorn hybrids can be had for less than $1000 and shipped right away.

Here is the first of the two YouTube clips, the other found on the Wechter site.

Prodigal Son is the new release from Tim Graves & Cherokee. The CD takes its name from the fifth track on the disc, a tune penned by Daryl Mosley (who also wrote the liner notes).

If you are a fan of strait up bluegrass, this CD should sit well in your ears. From the opening notes of Used To Be to the last lick in Ruby Ann, this CD is bluegrass through and through.

Tim Graves is not only an accomplished dobro player, but also a talented singer, and he proves it on this CD. Tim is joined by his band which includes Bennie Boling on bass and bass vocals, Daniel Grindstaff on banjo and baritone vocals, and Joe Miller on guitar and tenor vocals. Steve Thomas contributes fiddle and mandolin parts to the recording in addition to the band.

Their are several traditional numbers like Used To Be, Sunny Side Of The Mountian, and Will You Be Loving Another Man. These are well done and enjoyable, paying tribute to the traditional bluegrass sound. A Jerry Reed number that’s done bluegrass style contributes some variety to the mix. The real gems here though are the original tunes.

One that particularly caught my ear was the gospel tune Hell, Fire and Brimstone. Written by Bennie Boling, this gospel song tells the story of a man who is a “disciple of the King James, but a prisoner to Jim Beam.” It’s just one of several gospel songs that grace this recording.

The Tom T. Hall contribution is a tune called I’m Not Living Life, It’s Living Me. This may be one of the better Tom T. Hall tracks I’ve heard on recent bluegrass CDs.

On all the tracks Tim’s smooth lead vocal is front and center leading the listener on a musical journey you’ll be glad you took.

The CD is available now directly from the band’s website. No audio clips are available at this time, but Tim tells me they’ll be up soon.

Resonance is a new bimonthly newsletter for resophonic (dobro) guitar players. The July-August issue was Volume 1 #1. Issue #2 will be mailing out soon and we wanted to tell you about it.

Issue #1 featured Andy Hall, of The Infamous Stringdusters, as the cover story. The story is a lengthy, multi-page article/interview that covers Andy’s history with music and the dobro in particular. The issue also includes tab to one of Andy’s tunes, Last Chance Getaway.

One full page in the magazine is dedicated to instruction in the art of rolls. Another column, entitled In Theory, discusses the use of the Nashville Numbering System. Tablature is presented, both in an easy arrangement and a more advanced one, for the song Cherokee Shuffle.

All of that is in the first issue. Issue #2, which is soon to come out, will feature Tim Graves on the cover, new topics and songs, and more.

The layout is clean and simple with a minimum of clutter. The tabs look nice and easy to read. This should be a valuable resource for dobro players who are interested in learning new tunes, and reading about their heros.

Mike Evers, the editor/publisher of Resonance says the magazine is long overdue.

The professionals I have talked with believe such a newsletter is long overdue. I know I wish there had been one around when I started learning 21 years ago.

Resonance will be featuring interviews with players and luthiers, CD and product reviews, dobro news, theory & technique, and plenty of tablature for both beginners and intermediate/advanced players.

Subscriptions can be ordered online for the print version, at just $15 per year, and the web version, for only $12 per year. Single web issues can also be purchased if you’d like to look one over before subscribing.

Mike tells me he will allow new subscribers to backdate the beginning of their subscription to include the premier issue until the end of September. After that, it will be available only as a back issue.

The Donkeys, from Ivan Rosenberg and Billy Cardine, may not be the only dobro CD to open with a banjo duet, but it’s the first one I’ve found to do so.

OK… so it’s not really a dobro CD, but both Rosenberg and Cardine are known primarily for their work as resophonic guitarists, and my expectations suggested that slide work would be the focus. In truth, what the pair really dedicate this new collaboration project to is melodies, and new ways of incorporating reso guitars into interpreting them.

The pairing is both stylistically and geographically interesting, as Rosenberg is a California-based musician whose compositions have been used in a number of television and movie soundtracks, and Cardine lives in North Carolina and performs with The Biscuit Burners, an eclectic string band who describe themselves as playing “fiery mountain music.”

The music, most of which is written by the dobro duo themselves, is performed primarily with members of the resophonic family of guitars, with several tunes featuring twin dobros. Both Cardine and Rosenberg are fine banjoists as well, and they add a few tastes of the old five throughout, with Billy playing 3 finger style, and Ivan clawhammer.

Two tracks are vocal features, with Mary Lucey and Sharon Whitworth doing the honors. The Donkeys even offers a few using the dobro and banjo stating and reworking the melody together, a pairing that has always appealed very strongly to me. Dan Bletz also guests on guitar, and Darrell Muller on bass.

The interesting title of this CD comes from the fact that three of the tunes, The Creptid Donkey, The Donkeys Of Harmison Crevice and Farewell Little Donkey, pay musical homage to the beloved Equus asinus. You can find a few audio samples on either Ivan’s or Billy’s MySpace pages, and orders can be placed online.

On a final pair of Rosenberg/Cardine related notes…

Look for The Bisciut Burners on The History Channel this Friday, August 24. They will be featured on Our Generation, which airs at 6:30 p.m. (ET) with music from their Bonaroo set this past June, as well as discussion with the band.

Rosenberg will be touring in Canada this fall as a part of the New Voices In Slide Guitar show with Doug Cox and Steve Dawson.

The current (8/20) edition of The New Yorker magazine includes, as a part of its weekly Talk Of The Town section at the front of the book, a piece on dobro megastar Jerry Douglas.

Daniel Menaker accompanied Douglas on a shopping trip to Matt Umanov Guitars on Bleecker Street in Manhattan when Jerry was in New York City on August 2 for an Alison Krauss show.

The article primarily celebrates the concept of attention to detail, and demonstrates just how rich is Douglas’ grasp of the many fine points of stringed instruments and how they are played.

Read the full piece on The New Yorker site.

Hat tip: Danny Shameer

Wechter Guitars has posted several YouTube videos with Abe Wechter showing how he uses computer assisted design software in creating the Scheerhorn-licensed resonator guitars he produces. Anyone interested in how this software has been embraced by the instrument building world will surely enjoying seeing this brief demonstration.

There are eight videos in all, spanning the process from computer design through woodworking and assembly, shot by photojournalist Mark Bugnaski and edited by Andy Ellis, former Guitar Player senior editor.

One of the videos can be viewed below, and all eight can be seen on the Wechter web site.

We heard recently from Brad Harper, who maintains ResoNation.org, a web site dedicated to the needs and interests of resophonic guitarists.

Brad has been running the site since 2004, primarily as a bulletin board forum, and now has nearly 3,000 registered users. He has updated the site layout to allow for more interactive user options and new features, and has revised the structure and format of the site to make this possible.

The membership continues to rise steadily with the growth of the Resophonic guitar market, and the intent of the new format is to provide the user base easier access to a broader range of content.

Look for regular reso-news features, guest editorials, product reviews, tablature, and both audio and video instruction to appear on the site soon. Brad will also have an online store where users can purchase site-related gear.

Visit ResoNation at www.reso-nation.org. Only registered users can view the site content and take part in forum discussions, but registration is quick and free.

Bluegrass singer/songwriter/guitarist Gary Ferguson and resonator guitarist David Miner are set to tour in Ireland from July 13-29, 2007. The tour will include concerts as well as workshops on Dobro and songwriting.

You can find dates, info and links to their Irish tour dates on Gary and David’s MySpace page, where promoters and venues can contact them about available dates during their visit.