Again, the frustration of not being able to catch all the showcase performers…

Downloading the Gold Heart photos last night, I missed Darin and Brooke Aldridge and Spring Creek, both of whom I had hoped to see. Darin and Brooke just announced last week that their next CD will be released on the Mountain Home label, probably early in 2010. There are more details and a YouTube clip of one of the new songs on the Mountain Home web site.

I had run into Taylor Sims of Spring Creek earlier in the day, when he stopped to speak with Alan Munde, who had been his teacher when Taylor and the other members of the band were enrolled in the bluegrass program at South Plain College in Texas. The pride was obvious on Alan’s face, meeting up with a former student at IBMA who was moving up in the bluegrass business.

I did make it back to the showcase stage in time to see The Josh Williams Band. Wow!

Josh has always been a confident performer, not to mention a fine singer and guitar player. He shone as a member of Special Consensus and Rhonda Vincent’s band, and has three solo projects under his name. All this before he has reached the age of 30. He debuted his own band at IBMA last year, and the difference over the past year is starkly dramatic.

His band consists of musicians from Williams’ home state of Kentucky, who are also long time friends close to his age. Jason McKendree was on banjo, Randy Barnes on bass and Scott Napier on mandolin.

I can’t think of the last time I heard a four piece band this strong – rhythmically solid and sonically powerful – since maybe the early editions of Lonesome River Band in the 1990s. Their sound is crisp, precise and in-your-face. With Josh’s easy charm and million dollar smile, it makes for a very engaging performance. The guys obviously have fun on stage, and Josh is perfectly comfortable with the attention on him.

He seemed sincerely appreciative for the chance to appear on an official showcase, and thanked the crowd repeatedly for the opportunity. The Josh Williams Band, whose debut CD won’t be released until next year on Pinecastle, was nominated as Emerging Artist of the Year for Thursday’s IBMA Awards, something that again elicited a grateful mention from the stage.

The only song from the show that I recall Josh specifically mentioning as being on the new album was his brilliant version of The Last Song, a classic from the Jimmy Martin repertoire. This song requires a skilled and confident vocalist, and Josh absolutely owned it. Another standout was the Mark Mathewson song Mordecai, from Josh’s 2004 CD, Lonesome Highway.

A big part of achieving success at IBMA is being ready to take full advantage of your shot at such a big stage. Josh showed last night that he and his young band are ready, willing and able.

We heard yesterday from Scott Napier, one of the busiest guys in bluegrass music. He’s currently playing mandolin with both Marty Raybon & Full Circle and Lost and Found.

He tells us that the next CD from Lost and Found is nearly finished, with only final mixing and mastering remaining.

Scott is a long-time student and great admirer of the mandolin legacy of Dempsey Young, the band’s original and only mandolinist until his passing in December of 2006. Dempsey had a unique and memorable style, and his playing was as definitive of the Lost and Found sound as Allen Mills’ distinctive voice.

Scott described the experience of finishing the new project as bittersweet.

“Recording with the Lost and Found was a huge honor for me. I was extremely happy, but also a little sad. Dempsey’s on exactly half of the tracks and I’m on the other half, so it was like having him in the studio with us. His Hutto mandolin would fill up the room during playbacks.

I also play a Hutto mandolin, and I used the same RE-20 microphone that he has recorded with since the mid 80’s, the same engineer and studio (Otis Lynn Dillon, River Track Studios), and a very supportive band to work with (Allen Mills, Ronald Smith, and Scottie Sparks).

Dempsey used to tell me ‘Play it your own way. That’s the only way people will remember you.’ “

This new CD will be on Rebel, with a late summer/early fall release anticipated at this point.

Scott also shared a story about the late Art Stamper (the renowned old time fiddler), a memory prompted by seeing one of Art’s favorite fiddles being offered on eBay.

“Art was a musical treasure who loved to play. He played that fiddle at our wedding in ‘04 not long before he passed away. He wasn’t too keen on playing The Wedding March, so I told him to play what he wanted.

He played Sweet Hearts Forever as my wife Melinda walked down the aisle. I kept asking him the name of the tune because I didn’t want to forget it.

So the first stop on our honeymoon was at an antique shop to get a souvenir for our log house, and as we walked in, Sweet Hearts Forever was playing through the store.

Gotta be a good sign… and I did learn that melody.”

And now they are four..

The Lost and Found have officially brought mandolinist Scott Napier on board as a full time member. Scott had been filling in with the band as his schedule allowed since the tragic and untimely death of original mandolinist Dempsey Young in December of 2006.

Napier had toured recently with Marty Rabon, and before that with Dale Ann Bradley. He is an extremely gifted young musician, and may be among the few able to occupy the void left behind when Dempsey passed away.

The band had been working on a new CD, but recording was halted when they lost Dempsey. With a full complement, they’ll soon be back in the studio working to finish the new project with the current band: Allen Mills (bass and vocals), Scotty Sparks (guitar and vocals), Ronald Smith (banjo and vocals), Scott Napier (mandolin).

Speaking of Lost and Found… I had a rare chance about two weeks ago to see the band perform with original banjo picker Gene Parker. I was at a festival with Acoustic Endeavors, sharing the bill with Lost and Found and several other groups. Shortly after the L&F bus pulled in, a buzz went through the campground that Gene was on the bus.

It turned out that their fill-in mandolinist for the day had canceled at the last minute, so regular banjo picker Ronald Smith took that spot and Gene played banjo. It was quite a treat to hear him on all the old songs he had recorded with the band “in the day.

He hasn’t lost a thing – his playing was brilliant.