Instruction was provided by a team of resophonicians including Ickes, Curtis Burch, Cindy Cashdollar, Dave Giegerich, Jimmy Heffernan, Orville Johnson, Randy Kohrs, Megan Lovell, Sally Van Meter, Lou Wamp, and Michael Witcher. Noted builders Paul Beard and Tim Scheerhorn were also on hand.

Rob explained what went down…

“ResoSummit 2009 brought together more than 100 resonator guitar enthusiasts in Nashville last week — participants, faculty, and luthiers — for three days full of workshops and four nights of performances and after-hours jams. It was definitely ‘Total Dobro Overload’ by design, with the goal of sending participants home with enough materials, ideas and especially inspiration to make the next year a highly creative and productive time in their musical lives. We had participants this year from all over the United States as well as Germany, Israel, Ireland, and the U.K., and at every level from beginner to very advanced. Every year, this event sells out quickly, because as one past participant said, it truly is ‘like fantasy baseball for reso-players.’

This was our third year, and we’ve tentatively scheduled the fourth ResoSummit for the last weekend in October in 2010.”

ResoSummit photographer Lee Hiers sent along a number of photos to showcase the spirit of the weekend

Loveless returned to her traditional roots for her Mountain Soul album, released in 2001. That CD featured the talents of Earl Scruggs, Travis Tritt, Ricky Skaggs, Jon Randall, Stuart Duncan, Ron Ickes, and Jeff White on a set of bluegrass-flavored music. It was a critically-acclaimed success, fairly well-supported by Epic Records, and Patty took a string band out with her to tour.

Just last month, she released a follow-up, Mountain Soul II, another rousing set of bluegrass and traditional country music. Many of the songs are new, and the sound is acoustic, sincere and mighty powerful. Like Volume I, this one is produced by Patty’s husband, Emory Gordy Jr., and includes contributions from Rob Ickes, Jon Randall plus Vince Gill, Carl Jackson, Bryan Sutton, Mike Auldridge and Emmylou Harris.

Here’s a video of Patty in the studio, tracking Working On A Building with Del and Ronnie McCoury, and talking about how she came to include this song.

Audio for several complete tracks can be heard on Patty’s web site.

His songs have been cut by Skaggs, Montgomery Gentry and Sonya Isaacs, and Love Is A Journey, his debut solo project, was released on Skaggs Family Records in 2005.

He is also a gifted songwriter, an impressive multi-instrumentalist and a persuasive vocalist, yet large-scale success in the business has so far eluded his grasp.

Keith’s latest CD, The Way Of A Wanderer, is just out and if there is any justice in the music world (I know…), 2010 should be a breakout year for Sewell. It’s a fabulous project that showcases his varied abilities, tied together thematically, and recorded/mixed to take full advantage of the blended bluegrass and progressive country genres where he has plied his trade.

The new album includes 11 new songs, all written by Sewell, 4 as co-writes with Niall Toner. Keith produced, provided the vocals and played the bulk of the instruments (guitar, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, bass and minimalist keyboards). Rob Ickes guests on resonator guitar and Luke Bulla provides fiddle on 2 tracks.

Sewell grew up in a Texas bluegrass family, and learned to play as a boy, trailing his grandfather Kenny Sewell to festivals all over the US where he performed with The Shady Grove Ramblers. Young Keith showed an interest in all of the bluegrass instruments, becoming proficient on banjo, madnolin, fiddle and guitar while still in school. At age 19, he went to work for Ricky Skaggs in his country band, which brought him to the attention of the Nashville acoustic scene as well.

The Way Of A Wanderer struck me as being more relaxed and coherent than his first CD, an observation that caught Keith off guard.

“I haven’t really thought about this record as having a bit more relaxed feel but that’s an interesting observation. I do think the songs are more personal and retrospective this time. I will say that I rarely set out to write a song with a title or a ‘hook’ in mind. For me, It’s always a riff or a melody that sets the mood for what I wanna say. ( Then I have to figure out what I wanna say- a chore sometimes).

I also didn’t intend to play most of the instruments starting out. I was really laying things down in a ‘pre-production’ mindset, but the further I got into the project, I couldn’t hear the parts being replaced. I think I understood the songs and where they where going, so the parts I played really became signatures to the outcome.  My wife was encouraging me also. She was like, ‘why wouldn’t you just play the instruments that you can play?

I feel like my Grandfather would have wanted me to play fiddle on a few tunes anyway.”

Perhaps most notable about this album is how Sewell uses the familiar, acoustic bluegrass instruments the way a pop or modern country producer might employ electric guitars and keyboards to provide a bed for the songs. You hear the guitar, mandolin, fiddle and banjo in the mix, but they aren’t always in their traditional roles in the rhythm section. The songs are all catchy, and this sonic approach gives the whole record a fresh sound.

Though I found every song delightful, a number of the tracks really jumped out at me. Imogene, especially, grabbed my ear – it is becoming my new favorite song. It’s a kicky, driving grasser, and when Keith told me he had written it about his grandmother, I had to have a more detailed explanation.

Listen to the sample before reading his comments…

Imogene – Listen Now    

“I realize that some things aren’t meant to be taken literally in songwriting, and sometimes it’s like uncovering a treasure when you do discover what a writer was really trying to say, but that song is pretty much coming right out of my mouth verbatim!

To be more specific, my grandmother Imogene and I were very close. She was a very strong Christian lady. Unlike my other grandparents who died very slowly in nursing situations, Imogene died suddenly when I was 13 and it was very shocking and difficult. I know this might sound ‘out there’ but I always felt like, and still feel like she is very near.  Almost like a Guardian Angel of sorts.

The song was born out of those times in my life where I wasn’t necessarily making her proud.’  ‘You know better than that son,’ she might say!

My adolescence wasn’t anything abnormal but I thought it was a good premise from which to write how I felt about her. It took a while before I could sing that without choking up, not very common for an uptempo bluegrass song!”

Another track that grabbed my attention was Abigail, a quirky number that demonstrates how much some of his previous employers’ music has rubbed off on him.

Abigail – Listen Now    

“I had been foolin’ around with this 5/4 melody for a while. I will say that the time I spent touring in Jerry Douglas’ band and certainly Sam Bush’s band surely has inspired me to be a little LESS Orthodox in my writing.”

Josie’s Reel is a tribute to Keith’s other grandmother, which combines old time and bluegrass inluences in a very appealing way.

Josie’s Reel – Listen Now    

“Niall Toner and I wrote this tune in 04′ and my friends Special Consensus cut it on their Trail Of Aching Hearts record. I’ve always loved this tune, imagining what it must have been like to see my grandmother Josie in her teens. I wrote the reel first and then the lyrics came.”

Lastly, Muscadine Wine is a song that I thought must surely be autobiographical, but Keith said “no.”

Muscadine Wine – Listen Now    

“This one is not really a true story – just an example of how a riff can materialize into a tune. I love Doc Watson and George Shuffler’s crosspicking style, and I suppose of was thinking of them when I came up with teh opening signature lick.”

Do yourself a favor and check out Keith Sewell and The Way Of A Wanderer. It’s great music.

I’m a fan.

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.

He and pianist Michael Alvey made the trip to perform at the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eliat, a gorgeous resort town in southern Israel – at the northern tip of the Red Sea. Ickes and Alvey collaborated on Rob’s latest CD, Road Song, a set of duets on a mix of jazz standards and new compositions.

Rob shared the story of how a resonator guitarist from Nashville got the call to perform with jazz legends like John Scofield and Paquito D’Rivera halfway around the world.

“There was a guy, Ori, at ResoSummit last year who is Israeli, and he somehow got one of the first mixed cuts from Road Song to Avishai Cohen, the director of the festival. He loved the track, and invited us to perform based solely on that one cut.

It was a really wild trip. I left on Sunday (8/23), we played that Tuesday and Wednesday, and got back on Thursday – plus I had Blue Highway shows the Saturday before and the Friday after!”

Even with that sort of nerve-wracking schedule, Rob said that the trip was worth every drop of sweat. He tells us that Eliat Harbor was beautiful, and that the hotel  where they stayed was magnificent.

“Everything was great… the sound was perfect. I was seeing all these heavy jazz cats and started thinking, ‘What are we doing here?’ but people really dug what we were doing. There was a jam stage just outside the hotel where people were playing every night until 6:00 a.m. I didn’t bother getting much sleep.

After our first show Tuesday night, I had a workshop Wednesday morning and I figured that no one would be there. But lo and behold, there were 50-60 people there! They were fascinated by the dobro, and wanted to learn all about it. Several young people came up to me afterwards and wanted to find out how they could learn. That had me flashing back to when I was first inspired to play -  those kids had that same look in their eye.

One guy asked if he could just put a pencil under his strings to raise the action to get started, and I laughed and said, “That’s just what I did!’

Our second show was sold out, with more than 1,000 in the venue. Before our second set, the festival director came up to me and said that he really had taken a chance booking us, based just on a recording, and that made me feel so good that they heard something they liked that well. Plus he said that he wanted to have us back.

It wasn’t all work, though. Rob said that he had a chance to hook up with his old college roommate who lives in Israel now, and even got to swim with the fishes, metaphorically speaking of course.

“Our chaperon for that week runs a dolphin park, so we got to hang out with the dolphins and relax at a salt water spa. It was like the Dead Sea – so salty that you float effortlessly in the water. If you laid your head back into the water, you could hear the music they had piped into the pool.

It was a very cool trip.”

You can hear audio samples from Road Song on the site for Rob’s record company, ResoRevolution.

Road Song is a collaboration with jazz pianist Michael Alvey on a set of piano/dobro duets, with Robinella providing vocals on three tracks. Rob says that the music is largely improvised, recorded live in the studio for the most part. Even the vocal parts were cut live without overdubs.

The sound is open and airy, with interplay between the two featured instruments (and the singer) being the focus. Several tracks are new compositions, with a number of familiar jazz standards getting the reso/piano treatment as well. Two Duke Ellington pieces (Caravan and Take The A Train) are included, plus a brilliant vocal performance of The Nearness Of You, recalling some of the marvelous recordings Ella Fitzgerald did for Pablo Records in the 1970s.

This is the debut release on Rob’s own label, ResoRevolution, and though it isn’t officially out until July 21, pre-release copies are available now from Rob’s web site.

We’ll have much more to say about this CD as the release date nears. Great stuff!

No… not that list (the one with all the Nashville glitterati in their sparkly clothes). They appear on the list of musicians who support all the big stars and make their records sound so good, which the ACM describes as the “Off Camera Nominations.”

Aubrey Haynie is nominated for Top Fiddle Player Of The Year, Bryan Sutton for Top Guitarist Of The Year, and Randy Kohrs and Rob Ickes for Top Specialty Instrument(s) Player Of The Year.

The awards will be presented on April 5 in Las Vegas, broadcast live on CBS at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT).

Congrats to all of our guys for their nominations, and best of luck in Vegas!

The annual weekend of instruction and immersion in resophonic guitar is scheduled for November 5-8, held at the Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville, with some events at The Station Inn.

Though they have already accepted advance registrations to fill the number of students they can accept, a waiting list has been set up for those who might still hope to attend. ResoSummit has been able to offer registration to people on the wait list each year, so get on there now if you’d like to make it in ‘09.

The faculty includes Rob Ickes, Michael Witcher, Andy Hall, Sally Van Meter, Dave Giegerich and Jimmy Heffernan. It is hoped that both Mike Auldridge and Cindy Cashdollar will also be teaching in November.

Sign up for the waiting list on the ResoSummit 2009 web site.

Instead of presenting bands that perform together normally, artists as varied as Ronnie Bowman, Mike Bub, Missy Raines, Terry Baucom, Rob McCoury, Alan Bibey, Mike Compton, Phil Leadbetter, Rob Ickes, Kenny Smith, Tim Stafford, Jason Carter, Steve Gulley, Kim Fox, Dale Ann Bradley, Amanda Smith and Josh Williams were assembled into different groups throughout each show.

Tour organizer Larry Gorley shared a number of photos from shows in Bristol, VA and Kurtztown, PA. They offer a nice flavor of the way these many pickers and singers were staged in various groupings for these concerts, as well as the giant throng on stage for the finales.

Gorley says that the tour has gone well…

“It has been one of the most fun things that I’ve ever been involved in. The crowds have been extremely appreciative of what we’ve done and all the musicians have enjoyed their response and the chance to play with their own. Some great stories have been shared and hopefully new ones will be told after these dates.

We have one more date to do in Stillwater, OK and the tour has been going well. We’ve had 21 musicans on it so far and will likely finish with 25 musicians by tour’s end. Interest has been shown for maybe more of these shows, and hopefully that will happen.

We want to thank all the venues for having us and to all that have come out to see the show, it is much appreciated.”

Perhaps we’ll see an even bigger all-star tour in ‘10.

            

This type of show has not been a common thing in the bluegrass world, but the folks at Pick One Jams are giving it a go during the month of January, 2009. They have five shows scheduled in the eastern and central US with a bevy of bluegrass stars in tow.

Artists appearing on these shows include Ronnie Bowman, Mike Bub, Missy Raines, Terry Baucom, Rob McCoury, Alan Bibey, Mike Compton, Phil Leadbetter, Rob Ickes, Kenny Smith, Tim Stafford, Jason Carter, Steve Gulley, Kim Fox, Dale Ann Bradley, Amanda Smith and Josh Williams.

Each concert will showcase these top artists in a jam-like setting with the performers rotating on and off the stage as the various pickers and singers are featured. The lineup may vary slightly from one show to the next, but each one is chock full of top bluegrass stars.

Shows on the schedule include:

• 1/08/09 – Raleigh, NC
• 1/09/09 – Bristol, VA
• 1/15/09 – Kutztown, PA
• 1/17/09 – Athens, GA
• 1/24/09 – Stillwater, OK

Ticket and lineup details for the several shows can be found on the Pick One web site.

The brainchild of Jimmy Ross, the CD came about after a discussion between Ross, and Tim Scheerhorn at and IBMA tradeshow. Tim suggested they bring Kohrs onboard to engineer and produce. The resulting project includes nearly 50 musicians, a supporting a cast of bluegrass’ best, and 15 all-star resonator guitarists who all play Scheerhorn instruments.

Each track features a different resonator player, with only Kohrs and Tim Scheerhorn himself making more than one appearance. 17 tracks are presented in total, ranging from bluegrass numbers such as Wheel Hoss (performed by Rob Ickes) to Hot Toddy’s Snake Oil (a dual track tune, the first track consisting of some funny banter in the studio).

If you like good acoustic music, especially of the resonator sort, this CD should be on your Christmas wish list. From beginning to end the recording quality and acoustic tones of the instruments met the expectations I’ve come to have of a Randy Kohrs produced project. The purpose of the project is to showcase the Scheerhorn instruments, and it hits that mark with precision.

Some of the tracks have a more distinct “bluegrass” sound to them, namely Rob Ickes’ Wheel Hoss, Andy Hall’s Fishtail, Jack Ferguson’s Carter’s Blues, and Jimmy Ross’ Turnaround. Other tracks take different directions.

One of the standouts to my ear was Primo Duetto for Reso and Viola by Billy Cardine. This classically styled piece had incredible tone and depth with only two instruments in the mix. The textures of the tones were quite emotive and the performance was spectacular. Interestingly, this track was followed by a Kohrs’ version of Robert Johnson’s Dusty My Broom. Kohrs performs on a Scheerhorn Koa Lap Steel on this electric blues number. The contrast between the two tracks is pleasant and reveals the breadth of music genres which converge on this CD.

Another tune that caught my ear was the dark and grooving Drivin’ The Nails by Louis Wamp.

To tell the truth, I enjoyed every track on the disc. The variety of musical styles only serves to highlight the impressiveness of the Scheerhorn family, both instruments and players.

Resonator guitars are the focus of the CD to be sure, but they aren’t the only Scheerhorn creations to be featured on the recording. Already mentioned is the Scheerhorn Lap Steel, but several tracks include acoustic guitars built by Sheerhorn, and one track includes a performance by Scott Vestal on a Scheerhorn Banjo.

Scheerhorn enthusiasts will want this CD for sure, but even if you’re not a Scheerhorn devotee, or even a resonator guitar devotee, if you love great music I would encourage you give this CD a listen. You just might find you’ve become and enthusiast by the end of the last track.

Audio samples and ordering information are available on the Hornography MySpace page.

Hornography serves as a tribute to resophonic guitar luthier, Tim Scheerhorn. Kohrs is joined on the CD by an all star line up of Scheerhorn players.

The CD was recorded at Kohrs’ award winning studio, Slack Key Studio. Each track was produced by the featured musician, each of whom brought their own band to project. Spanning multiple genres, including classical, blues, jazz, and bluegrass, the CD is primarly instrumental (Kohrs contributes the only two vocal cuts) and revolves around instruments build the luthier whose name the project adopts.

Track 1 on the CD is Rob Ickes performing the Monroe classic, Wheel Hoss. Musicians on this cut include: Dave Pomeroy, Ron Block, Andy Leftwich, Adam Steffey, and Aaron McDaris.

Randy tells us the CD will be released before Christmas, and that he will have 200 advance copies available at the upcoming ResoSummit in mid-November.

Players featured on the CD are:

• Randy Kohrs
• Rob Ickes
• Andy Hall
• Justin Moses
• Todd Livingston
• Bruce Bouton
• Billy Cardine
• Scott Vestal ‚Äì playing the only Scheerhorn banjo
• Mike Witcher
• Shannon Hayes ‚Äì playing a rare Scheerhorn acoustic dreadnought guitar
• Lee Hiers
• Jimmy Ross
• Lou Wamp
• Sally Van Meter
• Jack Ferguson
• Tim Scheerhorn himself

Sierra has a dozen or more Opry appearances under her belt, but those were all ones where she sat in or appeared alongside some other artist or Opry member. Now, with her debut Rounder CD, Secrets, doing well and her performance schedule staying full, her Opry spot tonight is all about Sierra.

“I’ve played the Opry usually a couple times a year since I’ve been about 10, but it’s always been with other people. It’s been about a year since I played last, and that was with Alison Krauss, Dan Tyminski, Ron Block, and Dennis Crouch. It’s always a big honor to get to play there for sure!

I’ve played one other time under my own name along with my brother when I was about 14 or so, but I kinda feel like this is really the first time. It will be the first time doing my own songs since having a record come out, so it’s very exciting!”

She will be performing with members of her road band, with a couple of special guests – Cory Walker on banjo, Jacob Eller on bass, Shane Blackwell on guitar, Cody Hull on guitar, Rob Ickes on resonator guitar and Sierra on mandolin and lead vocals.

“My brother and I hardly get to play together anymore, so I’m thrilled he can be part of this. We’re also so happy to have Rob come out and play with us. He’s amazing and a joy to get to pick with too!”

The Friday Opry can be heard from 9:00-11:00 p.m. (EDT) over the air at WSM 650 AM, broadcasting from Nashville, on XM channel 11 (XM Nashville), or via live streaming at wsmonline.com.

Sierra’s set is scheduled in the 10:30-11:00 segment.

Ivey is a highly-regarded and successful writer and producer who has won most every award available to him in the music business. His work has covered almost every imaginable genre and any medium where recorded music might be used.

This new project has Ivey in multiple roles. In addition to producing, engineering and mixing, he also provides lead and backing vocals, and plays guitar, mandolin, dobro and various percussion. Rounding out the rhythm section are Charlie Chadwick on bass, Richard Bailey on banjo, Andy Leftwich on mandolin, Rob Ickes on resonator guitar, and Shad Cobb on fiddle.

The 30 songs included on Bluegrass Worship were taken from among the most popular worship songs as ranked by the Contemporary Christian Licensing International Chart, along with several favorite hymns and 8 originals that Ivey wrote for this album.

All are arranged in what they describe as a fusion of bluegrass and newgrass. A full track listing and audio samples can be found on the Bluegrass Worship MySpace page, along with links to where the CDs can be purchased online.

Contemporary Dobro Artistry is a CD/DVD set from Mel Bay Publications that offers both CD audio and DVD video of Rob in a variety of live (in-studio) performance settings.

The DVD features Rob playing in duet with Andy Leftwich on mandolin and then with pianist Michael Alvey, followed by two solo pieces with Rob and his guitar. There is also an interview with Rob and a photo gallery in this DVD that runs just over an hour.

The bonus audio CD has the music from all 17 cuts on the DVD, which include songs and tunes that Rob has recorded (Old Rugged Cross, Monrobro, I’m Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes), some traditional favorites (Angeline The Baker, Wayfaring Stranger, Blackberry Blossom) and a number of jazz standards (Lullaby Of Birdland, Stars Fell On Alabama).

The CD/DVD set sells for $29.95 and can be ordered online, or purchased wherever Mel Bay titles are sold.

Resonator guitarist Rob Ickes was profiled in those pages in February of 2007, and both he and Tim Stafford are interviewed in the June 2008 issue.

The focus of the article is on the pair’s musicianship, as you might imagine, particularly with reference to the band’s new CD, Through The Window Of A Train. Rob and Tim answer questions about the instruments they used in the studio, how the recording was structured and even how they came up with specific solos.

Were any songs particularly difficult to get recorded?

Ickes: This record fell into place really easily. There’s a tricky melody on The North Cove, and that’s one that I definitely worked on it some before we went into teh studio. Tim plays some great lead guitar breaks on that one.

Stafford: This was the easiest record we’ve made. V-Bottom Boat took as long to record as it takes to listen to it. That’s live with one mic – first take.

As of this morning (6/2) the content at GuitarPlayer.com had not yet been updated online, but you can see a PDF of the article on the Blue Highway site. [link will open as an Adobe Acrobat file]

The Opry broadcast is available over the air in the Nashville market on WSM AM 650, and simulcast worldwide via online streaming at wsmonline.com. It can also be heard live on XM channel 11 (XM Nashville).

The band has continued to offer some sneak peeks from their next CD on YouTube. Throughout the video clips posted so far, they have refered to the project as Cherryholmes III, but that may just be the working title for this next Skaggs Family project.

In this clip, we see guest artist Rob Ickes preparing to track his part on the uptempo bluegrass song, Traveler.

And this latest clip is of Cia Cherryholmes recording vocals for the song, This Is My Son.

You can see all of the video clips on the Skaggs Family YouTube channel.

Cherryholmes also has a UK tour scheduled for this summer, doing shows in both Wales and England prior to their big show at the Cambridge Folk Festival at the end of July. You can see a list of their UK dates at ukbluegrass.com.

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.

Rob Ickes is prominently featured on dobro.

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.