Clay Hess has been making waves as a guitarist since he first hit the scene in a big way with Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder in the 1990s. He has since had a memorable stint with Mountain Heart, and is currently touring with Sierra Hull.

Rick Hayes Instruments, makers of dreadnaught guitars and F-5 mandolins, is proud to announce today that Clay will be endorsing their mahogany guitar. It is a solid wood guitar, made with Honduran mahogany back, sides and neck, and high grade spruce for the top. The fingerboard and bridge are of West African ebony, and the guitar sells for $2999.

As you might expect, Clay speaks very highly of the guitar.

“The Rick Hayes guitar I have been playing for the past year is one of the top five guitars I’ve ever played. I recorded most of my new recording with a 1938 D18, which is my favorite guitar. I recorded the rest with the Hayes guitar. I’ll let y’all try to tell which is which because I can’t.”

More details can be found on Rick’s web site.

Another bluegrass baby!

Eli Green Hayes was born August 20, 2009 at 2:22 p.m, the first grandson of Rick Hayes, former long-time mandolinist with The Gibson Brothers and chief luthier with Rick Hayes Instruments in Cincinnati, OH.

His proud parents are Rick’s son Garrett Hayes and his wife Allison. Young Eli weighed in at 7 lbs., 3 oz., standing 19.75”.

Lyn Hayes, Rick’s wife and partner in their various bluegrass business ventures -  who looks like nobody’s grandma – sent along this picture of the four generations of Hayes boys.

Congratulations to you all!

Hayes Mandolins, built by hand by luthier Rick Hayes, has used the launch of their first guitar model as the occasion to change company name to Rick Hayes Instruments.

Rick has teamed up with fellow luthier Dann Ross to augment his F-style mandolins with a handcrafted, steel string guitar. It is made with a AAA red spruce top and Honduran mahogany back and sides. The bridge and fingerboard are ebony without fretboard position markers, and Rick’s signature is inlaid at the 14th fret.

Until last fall, Rick toured as the mandolinist with The Gibson Brothers, a position he relinquished in October ‘08 to concentrate on his instrument building and recording studio businesses. Hayes has also worked as a graphic artist, and feels that his performing/recording experience, together with the eye of an artist, allows him to build instruments that please both the eye and the ear.

The Hayes guitar sells for $2999 with a hard shell case. They are available directly from Rick’s shop, or through MyFavoriteGuitars.com.

Finalists in the IIIrd Tyme Out Father’s Day photo contest will be posted tomorrow (6/16). Our readers will be invited to choose the winner, which will be announced for Father’s Day on Sunday (6/21). The theme of the contest is Me and Dad, taken from the song by that name on Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, the new 3TO CD from Rural Rhythm Records.

But it’s a shame we didn’t have a video contest as well – at least for the sake of this precious video created by Rick Hayes. Until recently, Rick was the mandolinist with The Gibson Brothers, a position he gave up to focus his efforts on his other pursuits which include mandolin building, audio recording and video production.

Lyn Hayes, Rick’s partner in life and in their business, Hayes Productions, shared the story of the video which celebrates Rick’s dad.

“While reading over the IIIrd Time Out photo contest entry, I was thinking you guys might be interested in a Father-Son music video that we shot and produced a little while ago. It’s of Rick and his dad, Green Hayes (interesting name, remarkable man), doing Jacob’s Ladder (Rock of Ages). Green had originally recorded it when he was about 82.

Then we shot the video a year or so later, and decided to add the song as a bonus track to Rick’s solo CD, Fly By Night. I’m glad we did. We’ve received a lot of wonderful comments on it. Green turned 86 last September and is going strong. Rick and he go to jams all the time and even played a show together last Sunday.”

What a wonderful tribute to Dad – and a great take on this timeless song.

Lyn offered a few more details about Green, which makes for an inspirational story as we head into Father’s Day… (more…)