A variation of this piece has been published in British Bluegrass News.

Light In The Window – A series of rambles about CDs by bluegrassmercury

It has been a long time since the last Country Gazette album release, but fans of their style of bluegrass music will be delighted to know that the band has been re-activated as Alan Munde Gazette and that there is a new CD available. Made To Last (Munde’s Child Records 003) features the aforementioned Alan Munde (banjo) with Elliott Rogers (guitar and vocals), Steve Smith (mandolin and vocals), Bill Honker (bass and vocals) and Nate Lee (fiddle). Not surprisingly, Munde is very prominent not just on his two melodious, original banjo pieces Traditional Family Breakdown and The Run of ‘89, but on Bill Monroe’s Brown County Breakdown (played in the key of D rather than E) and indeed throughout.

Smith and Lee add to the buoyancy with sparkling instrumental interludes on these tunes and elsewhere. Smith, Rogers and Honker share the lead vocal duties pretty evenly, with the first named having the sharpest edge to his singing. It is Bill Honker who wrote and sings lead on the title track, which is about life in a mining town long after the economic boom has passed. Above The Waterline, a Cajun flavored song about post Hurricane Katrina expectations, comes from same pen. Rogers brought four songs to the sessions, including the ballad, Haul Away, performed largely as a Rogers-Smith duet; Little Teardrops, about a troubled son who ignores parental guidance; and Wave Goodbye, a good addition to the hobo song cannon. Smith’s vocal show-case is the old standard John Hardy. There is a lot to enjoy on this self-produced collection.

Balsam Range, so called because of a mountain ridge close to where they are based, is another of the very good new bands hailing from western North Carolina. Last Train To Kitty Hawk (Mountain Home 12062) is their second album in quick succession. Individually, they are Buddy Melton (fiddle), Darren Nicholson (mandolin), Marc Pruett (banjo), Caleb Smith (guitar) and Tim Surrett (acoustic bass and xenophobic guitar). Each is a top-notch musician who combine well on both fast-paced songs and slower numbers. All but Pruett contribute vocally and each shares the lead role.

There is a good balance between secular material and sacred. In the former category is Melton’s plaintive Julie’s Train, Chris Stapleton’s beautiful Somewhere In Between, the title track, about change and progress, and Smith’s Jack Diamond, a story about the old west. Alongside these new songs are modern treatments of Ralph Stanley’s I’m Lonesome Without You and Charlie Monroe’s most apt Down In Caroline. In the latter category are Place No Wreath, Spring Will Bring Flowers, Don’t Take Me Tonight As I Am, with Jeff Collin’s piano in the mix, and Dottie Rambo’s The Holy Hills, with a high baritone part sung by Karen Peck Gooch to Surrett‚Äòs lead and Melton‚Äòs tenor vocals. There is a single instrumental to close an album that has some well conceived arrangements.

Jon Weisberger’s independently released If This Road Could Talk collection consists of a dozen songs, each of which Weisberger has written either alone or with a partner. Three of them were co-written with Mark Simos, while Alan Bartram, Jennifer Strickland, Justin Carbone, Jeremy Garrett and Tim Stafford helped with one each.

Most of the songs were penned in the past five years and they reflect the various facets of bluegrass music during that period of time. Two, My Turn To Laugh and Stepping Stone, are both traditional in character, albeit that the latter reminds one of Johnny and Jack with its rumba beat. Some, like When She’s By My Side, At The Bottom Again, Aim High and the title track, are among the majority in being contemporary bluegrass. A couple, including Nothing Against Memphis and Lonely Town, are acoustic country while The Very Next Hello has the broadest appeal.

There is nothing unusual in all that is there? Well, apart from the song writing, Weisberger does nothing more than play upright bass. Now that is unusual. In all other respects this is a set of demo recordings; a very good one it must be said. The vocal duties are shared by some well-known individuals such as Alan Bartram, Jennifer Strickland, David Peterson, Justin Carbone, Jeremy Garrett, Stephen Mougin and Tim Stafford or lesser names such as Darren McGuire, Patty Mitchell, Jan Harvey, Robert Gateley, , Chris Davis, Jenni Lynn Gardner and Megan McCormick. The musicians that Weisberger has asked to help him; Chris Jones, Tim Strong, Aaron Till, Mike Witcher, Ron Block, Jesse Brock, Andy Falco and Ned Luberecki. This is a fine album with plenty of variety and many songs worthy of recording.

Among the recent releases from Rounder Records was Bobby Osborne’s third album for the label, entitled Bluegrass & Beyond (Rounder 0603). For this 12-track album, Osborne, with his band The Rocky Top X-Press, mixes straight ahead bluegrass, some soulful Gospel and a couple of traditional country songs.

The sound of Glen Duncan’s fiery fiddling kicks off the opening track, Let’s Sing Our Song, and, along with Osborne’s mandolin playing and Dana Cupp’s driving banjo, he stands out as providing some of the brighter instrumental moments on the CD. The vocal harmonies on Let’s Sing Our Song are pleasing also. Osborne is vocally assured, sufficiently so to sing tenor as well as lead on many tracks, despite his 76 years. What Would You Give In Exchange perhaps fits into all three categories. The arrangement begins with a typical brother-duet coupling of Osborne with guest Marty Stuart before the band kicks in and Country great Connie Smith replaces her husband as one of the vocalists.

Contemporary bluegrass is represented by A Wise Man’s Mind Will Change and You Can. Definitely traditional Country is After the Fire Is Gone, which has two more guests, Rhonda Vincent and brother Darrin. Certainly in the ‚Äòbeyond’ category is Jerry Reed’s Let’s Sing Our Song, a song from the Eagles’ repertoire Girl from Yesterday and Eddie Rabbit’s Driving My Life Away. The album ends with Chris Stuart’s Civil War ballad Shenandoah Wind, and then the Gospel number Way Up On The Mountain. Rounding out the set is a Bobby Osborne instrumental Hyden.

The Rocky Top X-Press are Bobby Osborne, Jr. (guitar and bass), Derrell Mosley (bass), Cupp, Glen Duncan (fiddle, guitar and banzooki) and Matt DeSpain (Dobro ¬Æ). Marty Stuart guests on guitar on “What Would You Give In Exchange”.

Johnny Williams is a little known name, but he is nonetheless a fine singer in the traditional style and an award-winning songwriter. As perhaps suggested by the title, Last Days Of Galax (Mountain Roads Records 1004), Williams is from south-west Virginia. He penned eight of the 15 songs on this album and shares co-writer credits on a further three, with John Thompson on a Gospel song Going To A Mansion; and with Tom T and Dixie Hall on Papa Loved Ringing That Bell and What Are You Trying To Say?, a song that makes one wonder why it was never written long, long ago, so commonplace is the confusion over meaning that troubles both genders.

Williams has excellent diction and an edge to his light tenor voice that is not lost on I Can’t Help It If I’m Still In Love You, but he is perhaps better when tackling his own songs, such as Your Love Holds The Key, a conventional duet with his wife Jeanette singing lead in part, the positive love song A Change In Me, the light-hearted Country Living’s Changing Every Day and Let That Someone Be You, performed solo with just a single guitar accompaniment. Sins Of War is an original song about the Civil War the mood of which is enhanced by the clawhammer banjo, while the sentimental title song bears some resemblance to the song Streets Of Bakersfield, though the instrumental ending is a strong reminder of the essence of a week at the Galax Fiddlers Convention.

Jeanette Williams (bass and vocals), Amber Collins (vocals), Debbie Yates (clawhammer banjo), Kathleen O’Connell (fiddle), Tony Mabe (banjo), Chase Johner (mandolin), Billy Hawks (fiddle) and Kenneth Berrier (steel guitar) are the studio musicians on this fine album.

Kristin Scott Benson was proclaimed IBMA banjo player of the year for 2008; a well deserved acknowledgment of her musicianship and progression up the ladder to the top strata of bluegrass musicians. After seven years as part of Larry Stephenson’s Band, Ms. Benson is now the first female Grascal.

Second Season (Pinecastle 6514) features four tunes composed by Ms. Benson; Don’t Tread On Me and Freedom Park are both full-on stomping numbers, Trying Times is a moody borderline-jazz piece, in contrast is the slower-paced Far Enough Away. The old warhorse Bugle Call Rag, Bill Emerson’s previously unrecorded No Steering, No Brakes and a couple of traditional pieces arranged by Ms. Benson, Sandy River Belle and Greencastle Hornpipe also allow her to demonstrate her stellar lead banjo picking.

There are four vocal tracks; the O’Kanes’ Imagine That (with Mickey Harris singing lead and Sally Jones adding the harmony part); No Southern Comfort (Josh Williams – lead, Harris and Ms Benson – harmony); The Gospel Way (Larry Stephenson – lead and harmony, and Williams – harmony); and Something ‘Bout You (Larry Cordle – lead and Harris harmony). On each she demonstrates her exemplary back-up playing ability.

In addition to the vocalists mentioned Ms. Benson is helped out by her husband Wayne (mandolin), Cody Kilby and David Grier (guitar), Mickey Harris or Andy Todd (bass), and Shad Cobb or Jim van Cleve (fiddle). “Second Season” is an excellent statement by one of the very best banjo players of today.

A variation of this piece has been published in British Bluegrass News. A fourth installment will be along in a week or so.

Light In The Window – A series of rambles about CDs by bluegrassmercury

Earl Scruggs has often trod the boards at the Ryman Auditorium. Firstly as a member of the Blue Grass Boys, later with his partner Lester Flatt and then with sons, Randy and Gary, leading the Earl Scruggs Review. More recently, on 21 June 2007 to be precise, Scruggs gathered together his two sons and a group of friends to play once more for a Ryman audience. The show was recorded and 18 tracks have been released as Earl Scruggs with Family & Friends The Ultimate Collection: Live At The Ryman on the Rounder label (0618).

The set comprised a selection of songs and tunes from most phases of Scruggs’ career as an ace banjo player. Kicking off with a boisterous rendition of Salty Dog Blues, Scruggs follows with the high-lonesome Borrowed Love, recently penned by Earl, Randy and Dwight Yoakam; two Scruggs originals, Earl’s Breakdown and Foggy Mountain Breakdown; the infectious Soldier’s Joy, Doin’ My Time and The Ballad Of Jed Clampett along with another from the popular folk catalog, Dylan’s You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere; the Carter Family’s You Are My Flower, dedicated to the then recently departed Louise Scruggs, and showcasing Scruggs‚Äò lead guitar picking; and concludes with Lonesome Ruben.

Earl is ably supported by Randy (acoustic guitar and lead vocals) and Gary (bass and lead vocals). In the friends category is Rob Ickes (Dobro ®), John Jorgenson (mandolin, electric guitar, clarinet and vocals), Jon Randall (acoustic guitar and lead vocals), Hoot Hester (fiddle and vocals) and John Gardner (drums). The result is generally more Earl Scruggs Review than early Flatt & Scruggs, but it is an enjoyable fast-paced show. Great stuff from an 83 year old!

One of the hottest bands on the circuit at the moment is Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper. Their latest CD  Leavin’ Town (Rounder 0596) starts in a blaze of driving banjo that signals a menu of full-on hard-core bluegrass. Serving the dishes are Cleveland himself (fiddle, lead and rhythm guitar), Jesse Brock (mandolin and rhythm guitar), Todd Rakestraw (guitar), Marshall Wilborn (bass) and John Mark Batchelor (banjo), with co-producer (with Cleveland) is Jeff White (guitar) guesting.

Cleveland himself has won the IBMA best fiddle player title six times out of the last eight years and the band has won the instrumental award for the last two years. So, there can’t be any doubts about that aspect of this band’s work. A listen to the full-band romp Northern White Clouds but more particularly to the blistering fiddle-mandolin duet performance of another Monroe tune Jerusalem Ridge. It is a stunning exploration of the melodic and harmonic possibilities. Vocally, I can’t think of such a well-matched or a tighter trio than Rakestraw, Brock and Cleveland. The opening song, Sold Down The River sets the standard and there isn’t a weak track to follow.

Other highlights include In My Mind To Ramble, I’m Feeling For You (with Marshall Wilborn singing lead), Troubles Round My Door, Leavin’ Town, Todd Rakestraw’s I’m Riding This Train, When You Were Mine and Farewell For A Little While. The tempo is slowed down briefly only for My Blue Eyed Darling and Dottie Rambo‚Äòs Come Spring; both also add to the luster of the album. As Tom Adams says at the conclusion of his notes, “Real bluegrass. Real country. Real music.”

David Grier Live At The Linda (Dreadnought Recordings 0701) was recorded in September 2006 at WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio in Albany, New York (released in 2007), but I have only recently acquired a copy. Grier is the son of Lamar Grier, banjo player with the Blue Grass Boys, and he got a lot of help on his way from about six years of age to his well-established position in the upper echelons of the guitar kingdom.

This set includes a rendition of a tune Red Haired Boy that he learned when he was young and other traditional pieces like The Old Spinning Wheel, Redwing and Bonaparte’s Retreat. Alongside is a Monroe medley, two pop songs Yesterday and Killing Me Softly and several compositions by Grier himself, such as Have You Ever Been To England, High Atop Princess Cove, As It Rolls To The Sea, Road To Hope and The End Of Good Day.

All are captured superbly, such that one would be forgiven for thinking that the set was recorded in a standard studio environment. The audience is singularly attentive and receptive to Grieg’s phenomenal picking in a performance that lasts just over an hour. I recommend Live At The Linda to all lovers of exceptional instrumental music and particularly to the guitar players among us.

The Crowe Brothers have seemingly been silent for a few years – too many, to my way of thinking. The brothers, Josh and Wayne, return with their debut release for Rural Rhythm Records. The album, Brothers-N-Harmony (RHY1041), showcases a dozen outstanding songs with some of the best sibling harmony singing that you can hear today. The Crowe brothers remind one that it has been a much neglected art form in recent years.

There are so many gems here that it is difficult to know which has the greatest luster. Savor Are You Teasing Me, Don Reno’s Better Luck Next Time, the Wilburn Brothers’ Which One Is To Blame and Go Away With Me, the Blue Sky Boys’ Why Not Confess, the joyous Gospel numbers I Know I’m Saved and Take Me By The Hand (Josh Crowe) both with their intricate harmonies, Holdin’ On When You’ve Let Go (written by Eric Gibson with a bit of polishing from Dixie Hall), Dan Seals’ God Must Be A Cowboy, Million For A Broken Heart (another Josh Crowe song) and Cody Shuler’s Cindy Mae. Josh (rhythm and lead guitar) and Wayne Crowe (upright bass) are supported by some excellent fiddle work from Steve Thomas, Steve Sutton and Don Wayne Reno (both banjo), some superb mandolin playing by Darren Nicholson, Randy Kohrs (Dobro ¬Æ and lap steel), Ronnie McCoury (mandolin on Country Boy Rock & Roll) and some honky-tonk piano from the one and only Buck White.

This album is definitely for those who enjoy brother singing in harmony, and if you don’t mind a bit of a country edge here and there so much the better.

The 2006 Sago mine disaster had a profound effect on Kathy Mattea, so much so that she recorded a full album of songs about the coal mining industry. Mattea has long been an act that has sympathies with stripped-down country music, including songs such as Walk The Way Wind Blues and Untold Stories, penned by Tim O’Brien, in her repertoire.

Mattea reacted to that incident by recording Coal (Captain Potato Records), a 11-song tribute to those hard-working fellow natives of her home state of West Virginia. Some of Mattea’s relatives are among those miners, so there is a personal aspect to her work and it comes through in her rendition of songs such as Merle Travis’ Dark As A Dungeon, Jean Ritchie’s The L&N Don’t Stop Here Any More, Hazel Dickens’ Black Lung (sung a cappella), Coal Tattoo, Green Rolling Hills (with Tim and Mollie O‚ÄòBrien providing harmony vocals), You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive, Blue Diamond Mines (with Marty Stuart and Patty Loveless – background vocals) and Red-winged Blackbird.

The backing musician includes names that are no strangers to bluegrass aficionados, beginning with producer Marty Stuart, Bryon House (bass) and Stuart Duncan (fiddle, mandolin and banjo); all are household names in the bluegrass world. Lesser known are Bill Cooley, who has been with Mattea for 20 years, handling the guitar duties, while John Catchings (cello), Randy Leago (keyboards and accordion) and guest steel player Fred Newell round out the album’s sound.

We have been privileged to publish much of Richard’s writing here on The Bluegrass Blog this past few years, and congratulate both he and the British Bluegrass Music Association, who publishes BBN, for his being elevated to the editor’s desk.

Richard was a former editor in the mid 1990s, and has been serving recently as Features Editor of the quarterly magazine.

Thompson says that his plan is brandish the editor’s pencil more so than the author’s…

“I am hoping to actually reduce the amount that I write for the magazine, aiming to gather together a pool of quality writers to contribute stories on an occasional basis.”

Interested writers can reach Richard by email.

Thunderbridge Bluegrass Boys use only a single mic at their personal appearances, meaning that they are a dynamic and visually appealing band.

The band consists of Brian Schofield (banjo, guitar and vocals), Jules Bushell (bass fiddle and vocals), Martin Schofield (Dobro®, guitar and vocals) and Nick Girone-Maddocks (mandolin, guitar and lead vocals). Girone-Maddocks is front and centre in so much of what the band do, singing lead as mentioned already, writing the original songs that Thunderbridge Bluegrass Boys perform in this show [recorded December 1, 2007 at their regular haunt, the Wellington Arts Centre] and doing most of the inter-song chat.

This performance pitches a good mix of original songs with a variety of material from other sources, including songs from Steve Earle – Copperhead Road – and Townes van Zandt – White Freight Liner Blues. It seems that they have a penchant for travelling songs, including two others in their set, the original New Train Song and Paul Kraft’s (sic) Midnight Flyer.

The video begins with a trip around some Somerset lanes to the venue and shows preparations for the show, accompanied by an enjoyable version of Rocky Top. Once the performance gets started there is an immediate engagement of the audience, which is persuaded to sing along in a couple of instances. Girone-Maddocks is an excellent writer and four out of the first five songs are penned by him, a sign to me of their quality and the level of confidence that they have in them, such that they grab and hold the audience. Before I Die, I Get So Down, Feels Like Home and Carolina Calling do just that.

The arrangement of the gospel song Sweet By & By includes some audience participation and the sacred Is There Room on the Cross For Me? begins with a few bars from the mandolin alone, save for that it is performed a cappella until about half way through when the other instruments are introduced into the mix.

The vocals are strong and expressive throughout.

The video recording is professionally and expertly done with good angles, including a few shots from below the mic, and focus on the relevant musician at all times. The use of overlays and fading in some instances provides some variety to what’s on view.

As well as the performance itself, there are clips of the band members chatting and some from their past, and bonus videos. These are cleverly produced with various performances of (I am a Man of) Constant Sorrow spliced together expertly and Too Many Ghosts is a very subtle visual and audio delight.

Four On The Floor puts the spotlight – literally a single light for the concert performance – on all the various talents of the band members and nobody is seen to be wanting.

The DVD can be purchased through the band’s website – which features several video samples – and at personal appearances.

He has introduced new features to BBN, including Favourites and The Story Behind The Song, and plans to introduce a column called Light In The Window, in which there will be a brief review of CDs that cross his desk.

Thompson, who will serve as Press Relations officer for the BBMA, is a founding member of the BBMA and has been a member of the IBMA for over 20 years. He sometimes writes under the name bluegrassmercury.

He has also been a valuable contributor to The Bluegrass Blog this past two years, and has been known to refer to himself as “the other Richard Thompson,” i.e., not his fellow Brit with the same name who wrote Del McCoury’s mega-hit, 1952 Vincent Black Lightning.

Richard welcomes correspondence at the following address:

The band from south-east England has made regular appearances at festivals around the country for over two decades, playing traditional and contemporary songs and fast-paced, virtuoso instrumentals with a rootsy, edgy energy.

Their new self-titled CD contains 17 tracks and includes favourites from their live set such as Washington County, I’m Working On A Building and He Will Set Your Fields on Fire. Other songs that are included are Hemlocks And Primroses, Just Because, Muddy Water, Pig In A Pen, Good Imitation Of The Blues, Somewhere On The Road Tonight, One More Dollar (Gillian Welch and David Rawlings) and the Kenny Baker fiddle tune Denver Belle.

The band is fronted by Dave Plane (guitar and vocals), who has been playing bluegrass music since the 1960s, with Roger Blackbourn (playing banjo and providing vocals), Joe Hymas (mandolin and vocals), Richard Partridge (fiddle and vocals) and Dick Embery (double bass). Many commentators consider that this line-up is its strongest yet.

Fiddler Richard Partridge has provided a bit about the band’s recent history that has culminated in the release of their CD ‚Ķ‚Ķ‚Ķ‚Ķ‚Ķ.

“Monroe’s Revenge’s current line-up has been playing together for the last three or four years. I joined on fiddle about five years ago (it’s hard to remember exactly) and Joe Hymas joined us on mandolin a year or two later. Having gigged fairly regularly to increasingly receptive audiences (last year we were the ‘headlining British band’ at Didmarton, having the penultimate slot on the Saturday night, after Mollie O’Brien and before the American headliner, Blue Highway) we eventually felt that we were ready to record an album.

The choice of material was pretty much a ‘no-brainer;’ we knew which were the strongest songs in our current repertory. Some of them, such as Roust-a-bout, are ones that our singer/guitarist Dave Plane sang for years in his duo with the late Andy Townend. Others we have brought in more recently.

It took a couple of years of experimenting to work out how we wanted to record it. We decided against the modern way of recording rhythm tracks first and overdubbing everything else. Everything on the CD is recorded live with no overdubs. We feel that the live energy more than makes up for any roughness in the playing and achieves what we hope we have become known for; raw, hard-driving bluegrass.”

The CD can be bought at their shows or through their brand new website where you can also hear sample tracks.

Other musical samples can be enjoyed by visiting their MySpace page.

In November the legendary folk/bluegrass singer, songwriter and activist Hazel Dickens was honored as one of the inaugural inductees into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame at a ceremony at The Cultural Center in Charleston, West Virginia.

Belatedly, I submit this tribute and report of the evening’s activities ‚Ķ‚Ķ‚Ķ.

Considered one of the most influential and powerful artists, male or female, in the world of Americana music, Ms. Dickens was presented with her award by her longtime admirer, Alison Krauss.

Born in the coal-mining region of West Virginia (Mercer County), Ms. Dickens moved to the Baltimore area while in her late teens. There she found friendship and musical compatibility with local area musicians like Mike Seeger and Alice Gerrard. Dickens, Gerrard and Seeger along with Tracy Schwarz and Lamar Grier recorded an album released an LP under the name of the Strange Creek Singers. Later, Hazel and Alice worked together as a duo. They recorded four ground-breaking albums before they went their separate ways in 1976.

Subsequently, Ms. Dickens has released several solo albums that have presented what has been described as “her uniquely personal amalgam of old-time string band sounds, bluegrass, protest songs, and classic country.”

Her music is renowned for the way in which she has spoken up for the impoverished, like the coalminers of her own and nearby states. Songs such as Working Girl Blues, Black Lung, and Don’t Put Her Down, You Helped Put Her There speak typically of her feelings for the cause of those who have suffered or are suffering hardship in their lives, like many of the Dickens’ family members themselves.

Her music was featured in the Oscar-winning documentary Harlan County, U.S.A., which depicted the tensions surrounding a coal miners’ strike in rural Kentucky. Her poignant songs, such as Mama’s Hand, Few Old Memories, West Virginia, My Home and You’ll Get No More Of Me, have been widely recorded by other artists.

In 1993 Ms. Dickens was presented with the International Bluegrass Music Association [IBMA] Award of Merit. Three years later she won the IBMA Song Of The Year award after Lynn Morris recorded a superb version of Mama’s Hand.

In 2001 Hazel Dickens was awarded a Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest official honor bestowed on traditional musicians by the U.S. Government.

Tim O’Brien, one of the musicians who entertained guests during the evening, provides a little general information about the evening and pays his own tribute to Hazel Dickens ‚Ķ‚Ķ.

It was a heart warming event in Charleston last Friday. As a member of the board of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame, I felt our hard work of the last two years paid off big time when the inductees and their friends and family gathered together to celebrate the music if my home state. Many of the best and brightest leave the state and make a name for themselves where there’s more opportunity, but without exception the inductees underlined the fact that they could never do what they do without the influence and environment of West Virginia. The tribute CD to Blind Alfred Reed, Always Lift Him Up, was launched Friday as well. On that project, various musicians with West Virginia roots contributed a track each in the name of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. It serves as a reminder of the diversity of talent from West Virginia, and helps those in and out of the state to re-connect in a kind of musical reunion. Most of the musicians involved learned more about Alfred Reed and the CD will promote Reed’s music and the music of the state.

Hazel Dickens is someone that I have often looked to as a prime example of a true artist. She left the state but kept it’s feeling inside her as she went about developing her music. She remains true to her roots while simultaneously creating her own musical and lyrical voice in the process. She speaks for the downtrodden, the underdog, and we’re better for it. I love singing her song, “Won’t You Come And Sing For Me.” Hazel is an invaluable link between the old mountain culture and the more mundane modern world. She makes the best of both elements in order to give something invaluable back to us. What more can you ask for. I keep going back to those early Hazel and Alice records to hear the real thing, and I get more and more into Hazel’s original songs as the years go by.

Alison Krauss doesn’t do many things like she did last Friday. She’s very private and not given to public appearances outside her solo career. Her presentation of Hazel’s award was incredibly heartfelt. She outlined her experiences of Hazel and her music, how the person and the songs inspired and continue to inspire her. Then when Hazel came up to accept her award, she had prepared a beautiful speech on what the state meant to her and how she would never forget what formed her music and her life’s direction.

Little Jimmy Dickens had told me a few months ago that he had heard so much about Hazel, and was really excited to meet her. When Hazel heard about this, she said that of course they’d met years ago, she had a picture to prove it, and that in fact they were related. It made me feel like the Hall of Fame project was worthwhile, seeing Jimmy and Hazel talking together. The same with Bill Withers and Jimmy – Withers related how he listened to Little Jimmy on the radio growing up in Slab Fork.

Charleston-based musician/singer and the editor of Goldenseal, the official West Virginia cultural magazine, John Lilly provides this assessment of Hazel and her music ……

Hazel Dickens’ music comes at you like molten steel: deeply passionate, at times painful, and forever riveting. Like any great artist, Hazel delves into her most private emotions and personal experiences to reveal the universal. This is especially true here in West Virginia, where making a living, maintaining a home and family, and standing up for what you believe often come with a difficult price. It was essential that Hazel be among the first people inducted into the new West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. She speaks for all of us.

Hazel was, as usual, most gracious in her response to the receipt of this latest honor …….

I shall regard and hold this honor in the high esteem which I have always held and protected and carried forth the music and culture into which I was born. These rugged mountains and cold dusty mining towns and lonesome hollers have shaped my life and music for all time. Thank you West Virginia for your rich heritage you gave me in the past and thank you for what you have given me today. I have received many honors and awards in my time but this one will hold the number one place in my heart. It gives me great comfort and pride in knowing that after all these years me and my music now have a home.

In all ten renowned West Virginia musicians were inducted into the Hall Of Fame. In addition to Hazel Dickins, there were classical composer George Crumb; stalwart of the Grand Ole Opry, country singer, Little Jimmy Dickens; songwriter Billy Edd Wheeler; hit singer/songwriter Bill Withers; Jazz saxophonist Leon “Chu” Berry; rock’n'roll pianist Johnnie Johnson; fiddler Clark Kessinger; early country singer Mollie O’Day and old-time singer and songwriter Blind Alfred Reed.

When cross-pick guitar expert and Clinch Mountain Boy James Alan Shelton was selecting the songs and tunes for this, his ninth solo CD, Walking Down The Line, he was in a nostalgic mood, reflecting on particular moments in his musical life.

The opening track, Soldier’s Joy, pays tribute to the late Clarence White, tragically killed in an automobile accident, and sets a driving tempo with plenty of hot licks from fellow Clinch Mountain Boy Dewey Brown (fiddle) and Adam Steffey (mandolin) as well as Shelton himself. Audey Ratcliff (rhythm guitar) and Barry Bales (bass) provide a solid rhythm section here and throughout.

Shelton had worked up a finger-picked rendition of My Grandfather’s Clock some years ago, but it isn’t until now that he has gone ahead and recorded the tune. Young straight-ahead banjo picker, Daniel Grindstaff provides the essential harmonic chimes here. Also played finger style is Old Toy Trains; it’s one tune that I am going to have to listen to again and again. It’s a lovely sedate melody, written by country singer Roger Miller.

I love Tony Ellis’s original tunes and Shelton’s version of Stephen twins lead guitar and his own banjo playing beautifully. Both of these last two performances are captivating. Salt Creek, or Stoney Creek as it is known in Stanley Brothers’ circles, features Stanley-style banjo from Steve Sparkman, a long-standing Clinch Mountain Boy with Shelton. These four tunes alone admirably demonstrate the varied shadings in style that can be found on this CD.

Nashville Blues comes from the version on the original Will The Circle Be Unbroken LP, a set that is a musical landmark in so many people’s lives. Shelton recalls Randy Scruggs’ guitar break while Grindstaff echoes Earl’s break, at the same time being innovative with an overdubbed second banjo part to one of the breaks. Another slower-paced tune is Fair And Tender Ladies; it is much enhanced by some triple fiddle parts from Brown.

This CD presents the first occasion in which Shelton himself sings on record. Shelton’s deep voice makes these versions of Motherless Children and Hard Times – not done a cappella style – different from the normal treatment that is associated with each song. Both benefit from the harmony of the pure-voiced Judy Marshall. However, it is very difficult to disassociate Shelton’s reading of Walking Down The Line from Charlie Waller’s performance of the song.

Many of the tunes are tried and well tested and one could be critical of the fact that they have been chosen yet again, but I think that that misses the point. They all mean a lot to Shelton and I have not heard arrangements quite like these. The first track grabbed my interest and what followed kept that interest and developed an intrigue about what nuance was coming next. For example, Shelton adapted the great old fiddle tune Methodist Preacher to guitar, tuning the A string down to G to give a drone effect. Neat!

An oddity here, although not in a derogatory sense, is a laid-back instrumental version of the Simon & Garfunkel mega-hit Sound Of Silence. Once again, Shelton and Steffey excel on their chosen ‘axes’, while the bowed bass is an inspired feature of this closing piece.

I had to play the CD again straight away to make sure that I hadn’t missed anything. After several plays I am still enjoying hearing new aspects to Walking Down The Line and enjoying the opportunity to listen to some of Shelton’s chosen highlights from his own catalogue of favourite tunes and songs.

Thank You Lord is Hickory Hill’s first all-Gospel recording. It actually dates back to 2000 when the band comprised John Early (guitar and vocals), Don Eaves (banjo and vocals), the late Jimmy Godwin (guitar, fiddle and vocals), Ronny Singley (mandolin and vocals) and Bob Stegall (bass and vocals).

At that time they were just coming of age as one of Texas’s most popular acoustic groups. Their abilities had been recognised within their home state and across the USA, with SPBGMA nominations for providing an entertaining show while performing in a ‘contemporary’ style. Also, the band had showcased at the IBMA 1996 World Of Bluegrass event in Owensboro, Kentucky.

This CD is not your standard selection from Gospel music’s tried and trusted catalogue, although that assertion might be called into question with the presence of Connie Gately’s Shouting On The Hills Of Glory and a medley based on Larry Sparks’ Thank You Lord that the group heard done by The Whites at a Kerrville bluegrass festival.

In the short time that he was a member of Hickory Hill, Godwin was a prolific songwriter who had a marked influence on the band’s repertoire. For this set he contributed no less than five songs, demonstrating a deep affinity with the scriptures and an ability to compose good original songs to fit the need.

One such song is The Rock, co-written with Early and inspired by Psalms 61 and 62, done as a quartet with a call and response feature. Two others are the songs of salvation – one for a Hobo who was both Lost And Found – one of four duets, and The Salvation Of John Harlow, the recitation, with organ backing, that brings this set to a conclusion.

The two other Godwin songs illustrate a love of the little country church house. Red Roses are a feature of one such place of worship, while Old Time Feeling, the first Gospel song that Godwin wrote, notes the one place where Jesus Christ has an abiding presence.

John Early penned Sharecropper’s Prayer, which highlights the old-time upbringing where mother was the teacher of the value of what there is around us, in this case a long-held interest in land where the family abides here on earth, knowing that they will still be together in heaven.

Two other songs worthy of note are Sinner Man Where You Gonna Run, written by James Huey, another duet, this one worked up with twin guitars dominant, and Robert Amos’s One Beautiful Day, a trio with Early’s lead vocals possessing all the poignancy of one who has been personally affected by its uplifting lyrics.

Instrumentally, many tracks feature twin guitar arrangements, typically on the original songs. Generally, there was no banjo, or it was low down in the mix, on all but the up-tempo numbers such as Shouting On The Hills Of Glory. Don Eaves gets to demonstrate his banjo chops on the sole instrumental, The Bells Of St Mary’s. Ronny Singley takes a few neat and tidy mandolin breaks and provides tasteful back-up as a counterpoint to the lead guitar.

Thank You Lord (HH-600) is a bold demonstration of faith, made all the more meaningful by the fact that the messages have been conveyed in their own words for the most part.

Everybody is familiar with Mickey Harris and his ‘day job’ as the excellent bass player with Rhonda Vincent & the Rage. Not so many will be aware that he a recording artist in his own right. This all gospel set Kneel And Pray [MJH Records 0003], actually released last year, is Harris’ third released in his own name.

Harris sets off at a fast lick with the title track and then shows that he is equally comfortable singing at a more relaxed tempo on Gates Of Glory. On the former his boss sings tenor to Harris’ lead and baritone while on the latter Alecia Nugent provides the high baritone part in another lovely trio number.

Peace Of God is an excellent original song performed as a duet with Jamie Dailey providing the tenor part. This number and the following track, a solo version of Walter Bailes’ Oh Mum epitomises everything that is good about this album; sincere, precise vocals and exquisite instrumental support.

For a while I was wondering who Harris sounded like vocally, then I happened across the Marty Robbins song Master’s Call and I got the answer. Harris has all the range that Robbins possessed and, come to think of it, he can match Charlie Sizemore for empathy and intensity also. There’s a hint of Raul Malo as well. Clearly, Harris feels everything that he sings.

There are so many highlights on this CD that it is difficult to list them without forgetting an exceptional track or making the review a simple track listing. Suffice to say, there’s some exceptional gospel performances, ranging from a traditional quartets – A Beautiful Life and When I Wake Up – to an old and a new song from the pen of Tom T Hall, and classics from two extremes, the repertoires of Don Williams, Lord I Hope This Day Is Good, and Roy Acuff, The Great Speckled Bird.

This superb 13 track set concludes with an excellent a cappella version of Just A Little Talk With Jesus, with Harris doubling up on bass vocals as well as lead, supported by Louise Tomberlain and Sophie Tipton Haislip, Mickey’s grandmother and aunt respectively.

Harris is supported by a core band of himself, playing bass, Wayne Benson (mandolin), Hunter Berry (fiddle), Kenny Ingram (banjo) and Josh Williams (guitar, mandolin and resonator guitar), providing straight-ahead bluegrass backing or a stripped down combination of guitar, mandolin and bass.

Much thought has been put into the selection of the songs featured and the recording, engineering and production – at Top Dog Studios – is top notch also. The music is as sharp as the suit Mickey is pictured wearing on the front cover. More seriously, here his music bears all the hallmarks of one who, with his family, has grown up singing and continues to sing the Lord’s praises.

Kneel And Pray is a must-buy for lovers of traditional bluegrass gospel music. Don’t miss out; grab a copy at the record table or order your copy by contacting Mickey Harris direct.

The first will examine Kneel And Pray from Mickey Harris, Rhonda Vincent’s bass man in The Rage, and will be posted on Sunday, December 30.

These columns will run as often as Richard’s time and the supply of new releases allow. Artists, labels or publicists who regularly service The Bluegrass Blog can send along new Gospel CDs just as you have always done in the past, and they will be forwarded to Richard.

If you have a project you would like to be considered for inclusion in Sunday Morning Revelation, you can send it to:

Forty years before the ‘O Brother/Down From The Mountain’ tour, an earlier group of like-minded musicians took some Appalachian music on the road. Thankfully, some of the music performed by the small band of minstrels that toured Europe under the title of the American Folk & Country Festival was recorded for posterity.

I believe that there have been taped copies of these shows in circulation, but now Bear Family Records has announced the release of a 2-CD set of recordings from those dates in March 1966. The collection, entitled American Folk & Country Music Festival [Bear Family BCD 16849 BK] comprises 41 tracks, packaged in an LP-size box, along with a 76-page hardcover book that features the usual treasure trove of photos and memorabilia.

Here’s what the Bear Family website has to say about their recent release ‚Ķ‚Ķ.

It was 1966, and the success of the American Folk & Blues festivals in Europe led to the Festival of American Country Music. But this wasn’t slick Nashville music, it was old time, Cajun, bluegrass, and folk music with deep roots in the mountains and swamps of America’s rural South. The artists included The Stanley Brothers (just a few months before Carter Stanley’s death), Roscoe Holcomb, The New Lost City Ramblers, Cyp Landreneau’s Cajun Band, and Cousin Emmy. Together, they offer a fascinating glimpse of early American music played with heart and soul. All the artists were still in peak form and gave European audiences their first taste of this side of American traditional music. It was a historic tour, and decades ahead of its time. In 2000-2002, the performers whose music was heard in ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’ staged a tour called ‘Down From The Mountain.’ The idea was the same as the Festival of American Country Music in 1966, except that the music heard in the Festival of American Country Music was truly down from the mountain (just one artist was on both tours: Ralph Stanley).

The collection is highlighted by detailed reminiscences by Mike Seeger, Tracy Schwarz, and John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers, all of whom could appreciate the music both as fans and performers.

One member, John Cohen shares this interesting observation ……

“For bluegrass listeners, the set shows how Carter Stanley sounded and looked at the end of his life, and also makes the firm connection between Roscoe Holcomb and Ralph Stanley. For me, Roscoe’s devotion to the Old Baptist unaccompanied singing reawakened something in Ralph, which emerged so many years later in ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’. Musically and stylistically it’s all there… predicting what eventually happened. Some of Roscoe’s performances are him at his best.”

The book also includes original photos from John Cohen, Klaus-R?ºdiger M?ºller, Lillies Ohlsson, Reinhard Pietsch, and Reinald Schumann.

A full, detailed track listing can be found on the Bear Family web site.

Cedar Hill is renowned for its adherence to the ultra-traditional style of bluegrass and nothing much has changed with the group’s switch from Hay Holler Records to the recently-formed Blue Circle Records label .

The latest release, Poverty Row (Blue Circle BCR-011), serves as a showcase for fiddler Lisa Ray’s crystal clear and emotive lead singing, more Rhonda Vincent than Alison Krauss in character. Ms Ray is featured in that role on no less than eight of the 12 tracks and two of those are instrumentals. Her voice is keening on the driving opening track, plaintive on the title song, another classic from the pens of Miss Dixie and Tom T Hall and melodious on another great Hall-written number, Big Blue Roses that bears all the hallmarks of a top-notch country song of the 1950s, both in its writing and its performance. Ferrell Stowe’s resophonic guitar playing is a significant factor in creating that sound. Apparently, folks have been asking for awhile now to hear more of Lisa’s vocals and nobody can be disappointed by those three opening tracks.

There’s two instrumentals, the quaintly titled Whiskers In The Sink, by Lisa Ray, which has the hallmarks of those swinging fiddle numbers that Kenny Baker led back in the days of his tenure as a Blue Grass Boy, and Soldier’s Joy, with clawhammer banjo from guest Bobby Minner, who with Ronnie Bowman wrote the closing number, Blood Stained Bible, which relates a story about an Army Chaplain involved in the Normandy troop landing.

Rob Collins shows that he has a fine voice on two numbers, the country standard, Love Gone Cold and Call Me Gone, one of two songs that the songwriter Frank Ray calls, “light hearted songs.”

Broken Angels is a heartfelt duet with Ms. Ray and Vince Gill, about the unfortunate hardships that some children have to face and deal with. The vocal blend is spot on.

A rendition of the Jimmy Martin classic 20/20 Vision and the fourth song from Frank Ray round out the set. Neither of them is out of place. In fact, everything about the music on this CD is very much in place.

Band leader Frank Ray says this about Poverty Row…..

“The CD was lots of fun to record. We recorded as we usually always do, with our full group making up the bulk of the recording and adding a few of our friends on several tunes.”

Cedar Hill is made up of Frank Ray (mandolin and harmony vocals), Lisa Ray (fiddle), Rob Collins (upright bass and lead vocals), Joe Wieneman (guitar and harmony vocals) and Kenny Cantrell (banjo). Their guests on this CD are the afore-mentioned Ferrell Stowe, Bobby Minner, (guitar, banjo and mandolin),Vince Gill (vocals and mandolin) and Molly Cherryholmes (harmony fiddle).

The CD is available from the Cedar Hill website.

Benjamin Horace “Benny” Williams: March 28, 1931 – October 11, 2007.

Benny Williams died earlier this month in St Thomas Hospital, Nashville, Tennessee, from natural causes. He was 76 years old.

One of bluegrass music’s unsung ‘Mr Versatiles,’ Williams was born on Dayton Mountain, Bledsoe County on the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee. For nearly fifty years, he was noted as one of country music’s most accomplished musicians, singers and songwriters. During his career, he worked with such luminaries as Marty Robbins, Grandpa Jones, Jimmy Martin, Kitty Wells and Johnny Wright, Stonewall Jackson and others (see below). He was adept on autoharp, mandolin, guitar, banjo and, most notably, fiddle.

While still a teenager, Williams got his first job as a bluegrass sideman when he went to work with Mac Wiseman on the Old Dominion Barn Dance in Richmond, Virginia. Then, as a 25-year old, Williams was a member of the Tennessee Cut-Ups when Reno and Smiley were fully re-united after a brief break in the mid-1950s. Subsequently, he had a brief stint with the Stanley Brothers firstly, then with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.

In 1961 Williams joined the Blue Grass Boy, playing guitar. Later he showed his versatility by switching to play the fiddle and he stayed with that instrument for most of the remainder of his time with Bill Monroe, which ended late in 1967.

He leaves a legacy in the form of contributions to many recordings made during the classic country and bluegrass music era.

In August 1956, during a 12-song recording session in Cincinnati, Williams played some cross-picked mandolin breaks – learned independently from Jesse McReynolds – on Never Get To Hold You In My Arms Anymore and mandolin or fiddle on other songs. These recordings are available on the 4-CD box set, Reno & Smiley and the Tennessee Cut-Ups 1951-1959 [King KBSCD 7001].

While with Bill Monroe, Williams participated in five sessions, two from November and December 1961 and three sessions from April and May 1962. In the first two sessions from 1961 he sang lead vocal on the chorus to Cotton Fields while playing either fiddle or guitar on all six cuts done during that year. Williams played fiddle on the nine cuts from the 1962 sessions.

These recordings can be found in their entirety on the Bear Family 4-CD box set, Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, 1959-1969 or a selection thereof as part of smaller samplings on Music Of Bill Monroe 1936-1994 CD [MCA 11048] and the instrumental collection American Traveler [County 119]

In one of the last sessions for Dot Records, circa February 1961, Williams played banjo on two cuts for Mac Wiseman. Later, playing mandolin, he participated in four sessions, during which 16 cuts were made, most of which appear on the Capital album Bluegrass Favorites, now available on CD [Music Mill 70036]. All recordings can be found on the Bear Family 6-CD box set ‘Tis Sweet To Be Remembered [BCD 15976].

At about that same time, Williams played on four sessions playing guitar on some tracks and vocal chorus on others for 14 Porter Wagoner cuts. These recordings are included in Bear Family box set The RCA Sessions: The Thin Man From West Plains [4 CDs][BCD 15499], while some are on Wagoner’s album in RCA Country Legends series [65102].

He can also be heard playing guitar on the more recent recordings for Darkness On The Delta the Kenny Baker/Bobby Hicks collaboration for County [2733].

Williams co-wrote I’d Like To Be Sixteen Again, I Buried My Future and Just Plain Yellow, the latter two with Jimmy Martin, who recorded them both at a March 1973 recording session. He also helped to write Past Is All The Future I See, a song that Stonewall Jackson recorded.

As well as being an innovative picker of the mandolin, Williams invented an eight-string guitar on which he played banjo-like rolls, drop-thumb guitar as well as in the Travis-style and after the style of Mother Maybelle Carter. Vocally he was gifted in being able to sing all four parts and do impersonations of well-known artists.

Doug Hutchens was surprised to learn of the passing of a fellow Blue Grass Boy, but he was able to gather his thoughts and share a few reminiscences.

“Benny was one of the three real utility Blue Grass Boys (Joe Stuart and Charlie Cline being the other two) that could and do about anything include work on the bus. The first time I saw him was in the late 60’s just before Kenny Baker returned to the band, Benny was playing fiddle with his right hand bandaged where he had got it caught in the fan on the bus the day before. His main instrument was fiddle but could play banjo, bass and guitar as well. He recorded with Bill on both the guitar and the fiddle through the years.

One of my fondest memories of Benny’s stories was when Bill worked Carnegie Hall the first time; he called Benny and Buddy Spicher and wanted them to play twin fiddles. Benny was working for Porter Wagoner and Buddy worked for Johnny & Jack. The two of them called in sick to the regular bands in order to fly to New York and work Carnegie Hall.

Benny was a quiet and unassuming man and preferred to be the sideman and made many a country entertainer’s song sound right.”

Tony Ellis, who played banjo with the Blue Grass Boys during a period in the early 1960s that coincided with Williams’ tenure with Bill Monroe, has this to say of his times with Williams.

“Benny Williams was one of the special folks at the Opry. He was always in a great way and full of enthusiasm and never so busy he couldn’t say hello. He had a big heart and was loved by everyone at the Opry.

My personal experience with Benny was when I worked for Monroe as Benny played fiddle with us often. He also played guitar and recorded with Bill on fiddle and guitar – Danny Boy was one song I remember his guitar work from. He could imitate almost any male country star and sometimes would do an opener of imitations for about 15 minutes when we were on the road.

Traveling could be a bit hard in those days and his good nature and sense of humor made the long trips much easier for us all. Benny, Buddy Spicher, Frank Buchanan and I lived at Mom Upchurch’s home where she provided room and board for musicians. We had some great jam sessions and visits from other musicians like Rudy Lyle and Dale Potter.

Those were special times for us all and remain fond memories – especially thanks to Benny Williams.”

Red Henry has been playing mandolin since the 1960s and he soon developed into what a Bluegrass Unlimited reviewer described as “one of the most prolific interpreters of Monroe-style mandolin picking”. This mastery is displayed not only in the playing of Bill Monroe’s many great instrumental pieces, but in the creation of original tunes that possess the characteristic intensity of Monroe’s music.

About six years ago Red’s Bluegrass Mandolin And Other Trouble (Arrandem AR-120) was praised for the stellar mandolin style and the inclusion on the CD of eight of his original tunes that sound like they’re 40 years old and the thoughtful rendition of some old favourites like Sleepy-Eyed John, Rawhide and Bluegrass Breakdown.

For Red’s latest CD, Helton Creek (Arrandem AR-200), the mix is much the same; three original tunes, two of which are each a descendant of one Monroe classic or other – Shawnee Land and the title track; some older numbers, both rare and no-so-rarely heard – Toy Heart, Chubby Anthony’s Stay Out Of Your Way, High On A Mountain, Remember You Love In My Dreams, a Stanley Brothers’ classic, The Flood Of ‘57 and Frank Wakefield’s Alone And Forsaken. Additionally, Red has, with the help of his guests, re-introduced some old fiddle tunes, Yellow Barber, Birdie and Bitter Creek, the story Clermont’s Visit To Georgia (not a word of which is true), the 16th century Divers And Lazarus and Murphy Henry’s unlisted cut Miss Nora’s Blues.

Red tells us a bit about the background to his writing and recording the title track ……..

“Helton Creek is a real place. It’s a small trout-fishing stream in the North Carolina mountains, where mandolin players (mostly members of the Co-Mando email group) gather once or twice each year for a weekend of music. So Helton Creek is significant in the mandolin music scene, and one day a couple of years ago, I thought I’d write a tune about it.

The tune nearly wrote itself; my fingers played it without much forethought. I played it for friends and family as well as on stage, and it turned out so well that I decided to use it for the lead-off number on my new CD.

One day in Nashville when we were recording, we planned to record the tune right after lunch break. Back in the studio, we ran through the number once just as a warm-up, with the recorder rolling, before making a serious attempt to record it. We hadn’t played the tune more than a few times previously, but everybody was playing great, and my daughter Casey (normally a banjo player) really held us together with her solid bass playing, making us sound ‘together’ in spite of the fact that we had hardly played the tune before.

Then I said something about trying a real take, and Casey said, ‘Are you sure you could play it any better?’ I hadn’t really thought about it, but I remembered how good it had felt and decided that we’d better listen to it. We did, and I certainly didn’t think I could improve on it. John Hedgecoth came up with a distinctive banjo part that expertly captured the melody and spirit, and my son Christopher, who has quite a bluegrass sense, expressed the tune with an intense guitar break. So we kept that warm-up ‘take,’ and it’s what you hear on the CD’s title track!”

Henry plays mandolin, mandola and mandocello on different numbers for tonal variety and a change of mood.

He is supported by a core band comprising Red himself, daughter and son, Casey (bass and banjo) and Chris (guitar and mandolin), and uncle John Hedgecoth (banjo and fiddle). Murphy Henry, Mark and Sally Wingate, “Tuck” Tucker, Mike Johnson and Neal Thompson provide additional creative input occasionally.

Joe Ross concludes in his five-star review, ……..

“‘Helton Creek’ is another fine project that manages to capture Red’s soulfulness, creativity and intensity. His interpretation of bluegrass has archetypal understanding and authenticity. It also displays considerable unpretentious individualism and steadfast devotion to the music.”

The CD can be purchased from The Murphy Method web site, or from CD Baby, where audio samples from all 14 tracks can be found.

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs will be among this year’s five new inductees into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Foundation, Inc. announced on Monday. Flatt and Scruggs first met as part of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in 1945. During his time with Monroe, Lester Flatt assisted with the growth of his leader’s song writing and is credited as co-writing Will You Be Loving Another Man and When You Are Lonely. Flatt sang lead on and thus helped to popularize many of the songs that they did. Of course, Scruggs’s banjo playing at this time was wholly ear-catching and new to the vast majority of those who saw and heard the innovative Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys.

In 1948 they left Monroe and started their own act, forming the Foggy Mountain Boys and the duo, recognizing that original material would help to create an individual identity and repertoire, began to write their own songs. Their catalogue is vast and a partial list alone features many songs readily recognizable as ’standards’ ‚Ķ.. God Loves His Children, I’m Going To Make Heaven My Home, We’ll Meet Again Sweetheart, My Cabin In Caroline, Down The Road, So Happy I’ll Be, Don’t Get Above Your Raising, Your Life Is Like A Flower [with assistance from Bea Lilly] and Blue Ridge Cabin Home, [credited to Louise Certain (Scruggs) and Gladys Stacey (Flatt)].

Additionally, Lester Flatt penned many that are credited in his name – or his wife’s name, Gladys Stacey (Flatt) – alone. These include Why Don’t You Tell Me So, I’ll Never Shed Another Tear, Is It Too Late Now?, My Little Girl In Tennessee, I’ll Never Love Another, I’m Head Over Heals In Love, The Old Home Town, I’ll Stay Around, Get In Line Brothers, Brother, I’m Getting Ready To Go, Be Ready For Tomorrow May Never Come and You Can Feel It In Your Soul.

Earl Scruggs wrote and arranged a considerable number of instrumental pieces, including Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Earl’s Breakdown, Flint Hill Special, Dear Old Dixie, Foggy Mountain Chimes and Randy Lynn Rag, along with Shucking The Corn and all the traditional tunes that are featured on one of the band’s most successful albums, the all-instrumental Foggy Mountain Banjo.

In 1955 they began their famous syndicated Martha White TV show and shortly afterwards they joined the Grand Ole Opry cast. Flatt and Scruggs expanded their audience even further in 1962 when they became associated with the The Beverly Hillbillies TV show from which came the song The Ballad Of Jed Clampett, their biggest hit.

The aforementioned instrumental Foggy Mountain Breakdown was used in the film Bonnie & Clyde. Also, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys were among the first bluegrass groups to perform at Carnegie Hall.

Flatt and Scruggs are the fourth artist duo to be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, joining the Delmore Brothers, the Louvin Brothers and the Everly Brothers.

The duo, along with singer-songwriter Hank Williams Jr., country tunesmiths Bob DiPiero and Mac McAnally and gospel singer Dottie Rambo, will be officially welcomed at the 38th Annual Hall of Fame Dinner and Induction Ceremony at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel on October 14.

The Nashville Songwriters Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit foundation, dedicated to honoring and preserving the song writing legacy of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Nashville Songwriters Foundation’s principal purposes are to educate, archive, and celebrate song writing that is uniquely associated with the Nashville Music Community.

The story of the formation of the Country Gentlemen is well told. An automobile crash involving Buzz Busby and his Bayou Boys left only Bill Emerson fit to play a personal appearance that had been scheduled for July 4.

Emerson called a couple of friends and they formed a quartet to fulfil the date at the Admiral Grill in Baileys Crossroads, Virginia. The band’s original members were Charlie Waller on guitar and lead vocals, John Duffey on mandolin and tenor vocals, Bill Emerson on banjo and baritone vocals, and Larry Lahey on bass. Thus, it is claimed, modern bluegrass was born.

The Country Gentlemen are universally acclaimed as one of the most important progressive bluegrass bands. They brilliantly created a unique blend of folk and bluegrass that did much to make bluegrass music very popular in the Washington DC area.

After a few early personnel changes, the line-up of co-founders Charlie Waller (guitar) and John Duffey (mandolin) with Eddie Adcock (banjo) and Tom Gray (bass) that played from 1960 through to 1964 came together. This combination has often been referred to retrospectively as ‘The Classic’ Country Gentlemen. This quartet was very popular during the early 1960s; one of the highlights of the period being their appearance at Carnegie Hall in September 1961.

In November 1965 their song Bringing Mary Home climbed to #43 on Billboard magazine’s country music charts; their best placed release. Ed Ferris had by this time replaced Tom Gray on bass.

Another highly rated combination was that which comprised Waller, Emerson, Doyle Lawson (mandolin) and Bill Yates (bass); a quartet that was together briefly in the early 1970s.

Just as Bill Monroe had a renowned training school for traditional bluegrass musicians, the Country Gentlemen have numerous young musicians on its membership roster. These musicians can rightly be referred to as a Who’s Who of the contemporary bluegrass world. In addition to those already mentioned are:

Honorary Country Gentlemen – those who played on recording sessions for the Country Gentlemen – include Wayne Yates, Mike Auldridge, Ronnie Bucke (Freeland) and Spider Gilliam.

Charlie Waller remained the sole original member until his death in August, 2004. Since then Charlie’s son Randy has taken over the leadership of the band and has continued to keep the name of the group prominent among the nation’s finest contemporary bluegrass bands.

The Country Gentlemen made their recording debut in October 1957, cutting Going to the Races and Heavenward Bound for the local Dixie label. That single never made much impact beyond the Washington DC city limits, but the Country Gentlemen’s December 1957 recording of It’s The Blues and Backwoods Blues for Starday led to their name becoming known further afield. The band made a number of singles for Starday over the next few years, including Rolling Stone, a cover of Tom Dooley (with new lyrics by Kuykendall), High Lonesome, The Devil’s Own, Hey Little Girl, The Hills of Home, New Freedom Bell, (Poor) Ellen Smith, Red Rocking Chair, I’ll Never Marry, Copper Kettle and Sunrise.

It has been estimated that at one time the Country Gentlemen released on average one album a year. It is certainly a long list ……

Since then Randy Waller & the Country Gentlemen has released Keeper of the Flame (Lendel, 2006), supported by Mark Delaney on banjo, David Kirk on mandolin and Gary Creed on bass.

Through the years the Country Gentlemen has recorded many songs that have become perennial favourites, including bluegrass versions of songs from a diversity of idioms, Little Bessie, The Long Black Veil, Two Little Boys, Bringing Mary Home, The Legend Of The Rebel Soldier, Bob Dylan’s Girl Of The North Country, Matterhorn and Fox On The Run. Other very popular recordings include This Morning At Nine, Calling My Children Home, Come And Sit By The River, Electricity, When They Ring Them Golden Bells, God’s Colouring Book and Casey’s Last Ride.

The Country Gentlemen have won many awards during their long existence. In 1972 they dominated the Muleskinner News awards, collectively and individually, and in 1973 the group won the best band award for the second year in a row.

They have won many SPBGMA awards, both individually and as a group, including their induction to the SPBGMA Preservation Hall of Greats. In 2003 Charlie Waller was given the very special Diamond award for winning male vocalist of the year 10 times.

The iconic ‘Classic’ Country Gentlemen were IBMM Hall Of Honor inductees in 1996 and in February 2006 they were inducted into the Washington (DC) Area Music Association’s Hall of Fame.

The Country Gentlemen Reunion Band (Eddie Adcock, Jimmy Gaudreau, Randy Waller and Tom Gray) is making some live appearances in 2007 under that name. The biggest of the events planned to mark the 50th anniversary will be held July 13 & 14 at Watermelon Park, Berryville Virginia. Also, the quartet has recorded a new CD, although other details remain unresolved at the moment.

A couple of Country Gentlemen have graciously provided comment to mark the occasion.

Tom Gray, one of the early pioneers, provides a story that has an international flavour …….

“In the summer of 1963, The Country Gentlemen played a two week engagement at the Moon Cusser Coffee House in Oak Bluffs Massachusetts, on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. It was a folk music venue which would have two acts play every night for a week at a time. One of our weeks there, we shared the bill with the Scottish folk singer, Jean Redpath. The MoonCusser had a big old house where they would house their entertainers. During the week we spent there with Jean Redpath, we would sit around at night after our shows and talk music and share songs. She developed a friendship with Eddie Adcock. Eddie was into body and muscle building and talked about how much weight he could lift. Now Jean was a strong woman herself. So, one night when Eddie talked about lifting weights, she decided to show what she could do. She picked up Eddie over her shoulder and carried him around the house, finally dropping him in the bath tub. John Duffey had followed them into the bathroom, laughing at Eddie’s predicament. So she turned to John, said “What are you laughing at?”. She then picked up John, threw him in the tub, and turned the water on.”

Jimmy Bowen, a much more recent member of this great band, shares his thoughts about what it means to him to have worked with his hero Charlie Waller.

“I dreamed of being a Country Gentlemen ever since the age of 8. I got my first guitar when I was 6 and started to learn to play. My father was an avid Flatt/Scruggs, Monroe and Reno/Smiley fan. I grew up listening to those pioneers. But, there was just something about groups like Country Gentlemen, JD Crowe, Tony Rice, Seldom Scene and Bluegrass Cardinals. Growing up listening to the albums (back then), it was magic just to hear Charlie Waller open his mouth. God, what a voice. I started to learn how to sing tenor at the age of about 12 or 13. My dad always told me that maybe if I practiced enough I might get good enough to become a member and sing tenor with the great Charlie Waller. In a comical way, I would say, “Oh dad, he will be dead and gone before I can reach the age to perform or even try out with Charlie Waller”. But I kept practicing and learning the material. When I was in the later years of high school, I went to Statesville NC to see Charlie perform at an auction barn. That was when Rick Allred and Kent Dowell were members. I waited around and hung around the bus until Charlie got sick of looking at me and me hanging around, he asked me, “Boy, what do you do”, and I said, “I sing tenor sir, could I sing just one song with you?” We sang “Lord I’m Ready” off the ‘Calling My Children Home’ album. The crowd went nuts. Man that was a thrill to finally sing with Charlie Waller.

I went on to college after that weekend and achieved a degree in Accounting from the Citadel (Military College of South Carolina). After moving to Nashville upon graduation in 1985, I called Charlie about a job. He said that he and Bill Yates were parting ways and he needed a bass player. He remember how I sang with him in Statesville a few years back and really wanted me to come on board as a member. I met the band in Kentucky one weekend to do some show with Melvin Goins. Man, I have never had such fun in my life. I started with Charlie in the later part of 1987. Charlie, me, Kevin Church, and Norman Wright were members at that time. To perform with those guys was such an honour. It was just an honour to a member of the Country Gentlemen. Charlie was my Bill Monroe. Through the years that I stayed a member, Charlie and I became closer and closer, We were really like father and son instead of employer to employee. Randy and I look a lot alike and so I think a reminded him of Randy. Randy wasn’t around a lot in those days, but Randy and I stayed in touch and became like brothers. I told him I would always take care of his Daddy while I was there, and I did.

During those years I had the honour of recording two CDs with Charlie, (1) New Horizon – which gave him Waltz of the Angels – which went No. 1 for us and (2) Souvenirs.

Due to illness that occurred with Charlie in the later part of 1994 – November to be exact – during the Myrtle Beach festival – I had to leave the band. God, what a sad time for both of us. Charlie and I both cried that day. Like I said he was like a father and me a son. But due to his illness, dates were being cancelled and I had to work due to wife and kids. Charlie and I continued to do some shows together up until his death when other band members could not make the show for what ever reason.

The only way that I can sum up my experience with Charlie, because there are so many stories during the old days, is this: Bill Monroe may have been the Father of Bluegrass, Jimmy Martin may have been the King of Bluegrass, BUT Charlie Waller was the MASTER! I miss him so and the bluegrass community has lost the greatest voice that ever was and will be in the bluegrass industry. Charlie Waller was a symbol o f respect, humbleness, caring and especially class. I will always remember and love the man that gave me my break in the music industry, Charlie Waller.

This tribute is dedicated to those Country Gentlemen who have now passed on …….

With grateful thanks for the assistance of Tom Gray.

Further to our recent discussions regarding the Country Gentlemen Folkways CD, Going Back To The Blue Ridge Mountains, I approached Walt Saunders, currently most notable for his Notes & Queries column for Bluegrass Unlimited magazine. He reminded me of the souvenir book compiled to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Country Gentlemen, 1957-1982.

In this book there is a very good Country Gentlemen discography put together by Les McIntyre, an historian and commentator also associated with Bluegrass Unlimited as a contributing writer.

McIntyre lists the musicians on the LP as Charlie Waller, John Duffey, Eddie Adcock and Ed Ferris. He adds this remark,

“Actually this album first came out in Japan in 1967 under the title The Country Gentlemen In Concert (London SLH 86). It was the fourth album in the Folkways catalogue of Country Gentlemen recordings. The songs are all from a live performance in Syracuse, New York, shortly before Bringing Mary Home was recorded.”

Saunders agrees with my assessment that the recordings are from the latter half of 1964 or sometime in early 1965.

With grateful thanks to Walt Saunders for his assistance.

Although the actual signing took place a few months ago, Rounder Records has recently announced the signing of revered bluegrass singer, band leader and attorney Charlie Sizemore.

At the same time, Rounder has announced the August 14th release of Sizemore’s first album for the label, Good News (ROU 0591). The 14-track CD is the first new studio album from Sizemore in five years. As of today (6/19), there are no audio samples on the Rounder site, but one track from the new CD, I’ve Fallen And I Can’t Get Up, can be previewed on Charlie’s MySpace page.

A powerful songwriter whose songs have been recorded by Ralph Stanley, Jimmy Martin, Doyle Lawson and Dry Branch Fire Squad to name a few, Charlie Sizemore contributes four new original songs to Good News. Among them the tongue-in-cheek Alison’s Band, reflecting Sizemore’s dry sense of humour that fans have to come to love. Other highlights include songs by Dixie and Tom T. Hall, Harley Allen, and veteran songwriter Hank Cochran. While Sizemore considers the record a bit “rough around the edges,” this is only in the sense that the record was recorded pretty much straight-ahead and live in the studio. With Good News Sizemore and co-producer Buddy Cannon shared the common goal of wanting to make a record that feels like and sounds like the records Charlie heard and liked while he was growing up.

Sizemore’s vocals are as restrainedly powerful and as unique as ever, and he considers co-producer Buddy Cannon to be his equal as the moving force behind the record and its making. Though it was done “live and quick,” Silver Bugle is a song the idea for which, Sizemore has carried around with him for the last fifteen years. It’s an evocation of a Civil War era event from his native part of Kentucky. Throughout the album, Sizemore’s singing is soulful and heartfelt, bringing a new level of emotion and insight to songs new and old. Much of the source of his powerful, yet subtle, emotional style comes from the world in which he grew up, Sizemore being one of the few contemporary bluegrass singers to have learned at the feet of the original generation of mountain singers and performers, from rural eastern Kentucky in an area where the Stanley Brothers were like gods, more popular and better-known than any other of the music’s founders.

After playing with his father, other local notables and Melvin Goins, Charlie Sizemore was hired at age of just 17 to take over from the departing Keith Whitley in Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys. He stayed with Stanley for over nine years, before leaving to start his own band and to attend college and later law school. He graduated with honours, and now maintains a successful law practice in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, in addition to his musical endeavours. Ralph Stanley said recently:

“Charlie Sizemore gave me nine and a half years of honest and dependable service as lead singer in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was one of my top lead singers that I have had through the years. Charlie knows music and knows how to make it right. I would highly recommend this CD.”

Sizemore provides this brief story about what led up to him signing for Rounder, as well as offering some comforting encouragement for ambitious young bands.

“Buddy Cannon, who has known Ken Irwin for probably two decades, sent him a copy of our rough mixes. I wasn’t particularly hopeful – if you’re sending an unsolicited recording to Ken you’d better hit the bulls eye or at least come really close. In the end, Rounder thought I deserved a chance and that’s all I can ask for. And I’m all the more appreciative because I think my best work is in front of me. The bard said there are no second acts in American life. I’ve set about to prove him wrong. We’ll see.”

The Charlie Sizemore Band is Charlie Sizemore (lead vocals, guitar), Danny Barnes (mandolin, vocals), Matt DeSpain (Dobro), John Pennell (bass) and Wayne Fields (banjo). The band is currently on tour and will perform at the 2007 I.B.M.A. World of Bluegrass Conference in October.

Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder are to play some dates in the UK at the end of July through to early August. This tour will be immediately preceded with a show in the Republic of Ireland.

The anchor date for this forthcoming tour is Skaggs’s appearance at the BBC Radio 2-sponsored Cambridge Folk Festival, in the Cherry Hinton Hall Grounds, Cambridge, on July 29.

The other dates are as follows …

While in Europe the twelve-times Grammy Award winner and eight-times IBMA Instrumental Group Of The Year Award winners will play a date in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, on July 27 at Music In The Park in Stromovka Park, Prague.

The venues vary from a 17th century Irish castle, 45 miles from Dublin, to a new 2,350 capacity purpose-built music venue in Greenwich, London, and the grounds of a late Tudor style hall, to a civic hall named after the 10th century founder of a Black Country city.

Ricky Skaggs is a familiar visitor to the UK, as he reminds interviewer Alan Cackett in the July edition of Maverick magazine:

“We came over with Reba McIntire about eight years ago, and that was fun. We have ploughed some pretty deep ground in the UK in the mid-1980s.” Those early tours opened up a new market and have really paid off for him. Skaggs adds, “I love playing in the UK, so much of the music originated in the Celtic regions. I feel like it is part of returning home with some of its music and we have tried to get over there as often as we can.”

“It is going to be a tight ten days of work, but it is going to be a really good tour. It should be fun to play for our friends and neighbours!”

The all-star line-up of Kentucky Thunder includes Andy Leftwich (fiddle), Cody Kilby (lead guitar), Mark Fain (bass), Darrin Vincent (baritone vocals, rhythm guitar), Paul Brewster (tenor vocals, rhythm guitar) and Jim Mills (banjo).

Skaggs’s latest albums are the eponymous collaboration with Bruce Hornsby (Sony/Legacy) and Instrumentals (Skaggs Family).