The package show was a staple of the early rock and roll, and rhythm and blues scenes. These were touring shows where a number of popular artists would appear on the same bill – often sponsored by a record label – each performing just a few numbers, typically their current singles.

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 folks at Rural Rhythm Records invited us up to their suite yesterday afternoon (9/29) for a meet-and-greet and scaled-back acoustic set with Melonie Cannon.

The first thing on the agenda was a brief preview of the music video she recently filmed with Willie Nelson. It’s for a song of his, Back To Earth, featured on her new CD, And The Wheels Turn.

The preview was put together like a movie trailer and though it showed only a few scenes from the finished product, it was clear that the final product will be a pro effort. Shot on Willie’s ranch near Austin, TX, the video takes advantage of sweeping vistas and lush color – plus the powerful imagery of one of country music’s most recognizable icons.

The finished video will be released when Back To Earth comes out as a single early in 2009. We’ll have a copy of the trailer here on The Bluegrass Blog sometime early next week, once we recover from IBMA week craziness.

After watching the preview a time or two, Melonie grabbed her guitarist, Booie Beach, and Ronnie and Garnett Bowman to sing a number of songs from the new CD – Cactus In A Coffee Can, Set ‘Em Up Joe (written by her dad, Buddy Cannon) and I’ve Seen Enough Of What’s Behind Me, written by Ronnie Bowman and Tammy Rogers.

The CD has been getting a good bit of attention from bluegrass radio, and both Kyle Cantrell of XM’s Bluegrass Junction, and Terry Herd of Into The Blue were in attendance at this reception.

Our own intrepid correspondent, Richard Thompson [bluegrassmercury], is with us in Nashville, having traveled from the UK to attend the IBMA convention this week. This is his first trip to IBMA in 20 years, and we thought that his impressions and considerations would be of interest both to others who are likewise in attendance, and our many readers who would love be there.

bluegrassmercury – Travelogue #3
by Richard F Thompson

For bluegrass fans, one of the delights of Nashville is the Station Inn, located in a rather ordinary single-storey building on 12th Avenue South, within easy walking distance not far from upper Broadway.

The interior consists of a low-ceilinged room lit mainly by neon signs, although a small raised stage area is well lit. There’s a small bar at the rear and rest rooms adjacent. Souvenirs are on display for sale to the right of the bar. Food and alcohol is available as well as soft drinks. It’s a no smoking venue, which is, as far as I am concerned, a definite plus point.

On this past Saturday evening (9/27), the Station Inn showcased the talents of Ronnie Bowman, a former member of Lost & Found and the Lonesome River Band and described by USA Today as “one of bluegrass’s most tender voices.” He was accompanied by his wife, Garnet (harmony vocals), Jimmy Stewart, formerly of Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, playing Dobro ¬Æ, Donica Christensen (banjo), Daryl Schumacher (mandolin) and Greg Martin (bass).

Bowman has written many excellent songs even before going solo and those songs provided the backbone of the evening’s entertainment.

Kicking off with Drifting With The Tide, Bowman moved quickly onto a song that he has recently recorded, Truck Driver’s Queen, The Matterhorn, Allen Mills’ Love Of The Mountains, another song that he has cut recently, Here I Am, Old Country Town, from the Lonesome River Band’s award-winning Rebel CD, Closer To Heaven and finished a near-35 minute set with Will I Be That Lucky Man?

Ms. Bowman maintained the excellent standard of singing with a song that she has been singing since the time that JD Crowe and the New South did it, Tennessee Blues.

The second set opened with Cold Virginia Night, Sweet Marie and It’s Gettin’ Better All The Time, before Rob McCoury stepped up to the stage for a brief guest spot, working the mic like the top professional that he is, as Bowman went back in time with great versions of Little Cabin Home On The Hill and then Will You Be Lonesome, Too?, from his first solo album.

Providing an interlude between two slow songs Jimmy Stewart chipped in with a rousing showcasing of the Jimmy Martin favourite Freeborn Man.

It was pretty loose, but all very enjoyable nonetheless and met with the approval of a demanding audience.

The band returned to continued loud applause to do a two song encore. (more…)

Melonie Cannon’s new CD, And The Wheels Turn – her first with Rural Rhythm Records – isn’t due until October 7, but there is a good bit of buzz building up already. A single, I Call It Gone, has been circulated to bluegrass radio and word of a duet video with Willie Nelson has just slipped out.

I had a chance recently to discuss all this with Melonie, and her excitement about the new project was evident throughout our conversation.

“We just wanted to make a record as good or better as the last one. I found a place for my voice that feels like home in acoustic music, and I don’t want to change it. This is the most natural and organic I’ve ever felt about my singing in my life.”

She had one previous self-titled release on Skaggs Family Records in 2004, and my impression of her was based solely on the glamour photos that had been associated with that project. I had expected an urbane, sophisticated woman-of-the-world, but when we first spoke, the voice I heard was as country as they come.

“Lord no… I’m the furthest thing from that glamour image! Shoot, I’m the biggest redneck there is.”

Melonie comes by her music chops naturally. Her dad is Nashville songwriting and producing legend, Buddy Cannon, whose credits include work with Shania Twain, Vern Gosdin and Mel Tillis. She grew up around country music and top country singers, but discovered bluegrass on her own as a girl.

“I was raised in the country world, and that was the music I heard. My dad worked for Mel Tillis when we were young, and I grew up with his kids – Pam Tillis was our baby sitter.

Still, my family had connections to bluegrass from way back. Daddy played in bluegrass bands in Lexington before he started playing country. My great uncle Dalton Tate gave my dad his first guitar, and he was a bluegrasser. He and his friends – all in their 80s – still get together every week to pick and sing.

I went to school with Deanie Richardson [New Coon Creek Girls/Patty Loveless] since first grade, and later married her brother. She started teaching me songs from the bluegrass and folk world when we were teenagers. (more…)