Have a Jerry, Jerry Christmas?

That suggestion was surely knocked down early on when choosing a title for the new Jerry Douglas Christmas album, recently released by E1 Music (formerly Koch Records). The actual title is Jerry Christmas, and the CD contains a dozen Christmas favorites, both traditional and modern, recorded with his touring band.

This is his first holiday album, featuring Luke Bulla on fiddle, Guthrie Trapp on mandolin and guitar, Todd Parks on bass and Doug Belote on drums. Jerry plays a variety of resonator and slide guitars, and Maura O’Connell guests on vocals.

Songs include:

Several audio samples can be found on Jerry’s web site, with snippets of all 12 tracks in iTunes.

Douglas will do a limited tour in December performing the material from Jerry Christmas with his band (Bulla, Trapp, Parks, Belote), and his good friends (and singers) O’Connell and John Oates (of Hall & Oates fame). You can see the tour details online.

UPDATE 10/28, 11:45 a.m. – download issues now resolved. Please try again if you had a problem.

Just in time for Halloween!

Randy Kohrs is offering readers of The Bluegrass Blog a free download of a scary ghost story from his upcoming CD. The song is The Ghost Of Jack McLine, written by Andrew Crawford with assistance from Kohrs.

It comes from Quicksand, Randy’s next CD on Rural Rhythm Records, due for release on January 12, 2010. It had originally been slated for release in mid-October, but has since been pushed back.

Randy explains why this track is being offered now, both here on The Bluegrass Blog, and to radio via Airplay Direct…

“Since we didn’t get to put the record out when we originally said we would, I wanted to at least do something around that date.  This song just seemed perfect for the Halloween season, so we rushed to get it out. I know we’ve only got a few days left before the 31st, but I’m hoping people will still be able to enjoy and appreciate it for the holiday.”

The Ghost Of Jack McLine features Tim Crouch on fiddle, Aaron Ramsey on mandolin and bass, Mike Sumner on banjo, Andrew Crawford on guitar, Chris Wood on percussion, and Kohrs on resonator guitar and vocals.

The Ghost Of Jack McLine:  Listen Now   

The Ghost of Jack McCline
The_Ghost_Of_Jack_McCline.mp3

Languages:	English
Platforms:	Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Linux, Mac OS X
Date:	October 27, 2009

4.7 MiB
191 Downloads
Details…

Colorado Case Company is going pink in October in observation of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. They will donate a portion of the sales price this month if you order in pink.

During the month of October only, you can order any Colorado Case Company branded soft case, case cover or rigid case in pink.

We will then donate 25% of the base case price to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. This money will be used to help find a cure for breast cancer through increased research and awareness.

In addition to this gorgeous pink color, we will be embroidering a pink ribbon on each case at no extra charge.

This offer is only valid through the end of October 2009. Full details online.

Speaking of Rob Ickes…

He was the subject of a nearly six minute segment on yesterday’s (9/20) All Things Considered, broadcast on the majority of NPR stations all over the US. The piece was produced, voiced and written by our friend Craig Havighurst, IBMA Board member and proprietor of String Theory Media in Nashville.

It is focused on Road Song, the debut CD released on Rob’s ResoRevolution label, a set of piano/dobro duets with Michael Alvey. Havighurst interviews them both about how they met, and came to record together.

You can hear the audio from Craig’s piece on the All Things Considered web site.