Casey Henry has agreed to send us occasional updates from The American Revival Tour, where she is performing with Dixie Bee-Liners. Also on the tour are Sierra Hull & Highway 111 and headliners Uncle Earl.

Here is Casey’s report.

Do you remember the song that Madeline Kahn sings in Blazing Saddles: I’m Tired? It has the bit about “coming and going and going and coming and,” well, I’ll stop right there. But if I had to pick a theme song for the last few days of this tour, that would be it. It seems like FOREVER since I wrote my last post about the tour, but it was only a week and a half ago!

Since then we’ve been to Baton Rouge, Houston, Fayetteville, AR, Springfield, MO, Bowling Green, KY, and Knoxville, TN. We’ve had two computer crashes (Sierra Hull’s and KC Groves), one lost wallet (Sierra’s), one minor van repair (when Cory Walker’s computer blew one of their van’s fuses), and one case of laryngitis (Kristin Andressean), but no major disasters.

There have been some great moments as well, like when Uncle Earl pulled together and rearranged all their songs when Kristin couldn’t sing (the show must go on…). Uncle Earl also wrote and recorded a theme song for the daily tour blog (which is over on the Murphy Method Blog). They even sang it on stage one night!

At a coffeeshop called Coffee and Chocolate in downtown Knoxville we discovered that they had Kopi Luwak, a kind of coffee beans harvested from the forest floor in Sumatra after having been eaten and excreted by cat-like creatures called Luwaks. They roast the beans just like regular coffee, but they are highly prized for their unique flavor. We’ve been talking about this kind of coffee for years and we could not pass up the opportunity to try it. A two ounce package cost us $60 and we split it eight ways. The coffee (which they brewed in a french press) was very good. It had a very earthy flavor. But… It was so not worth paying $480 a pound.

Oftentimes on tour the best moments occur serendipitously. In Bowling Green Jeremy Darrow and I were walking around near the theater and we ran across a micro-distillery called Corsair. Their door was open, so we went in, met one of the owners, and he gave us an impromptu tasting and a little history of their business. A great find.

In Knoxville I ran across Morelock Music, which which was right around the corner from The Square Room, where we played. Matt Morelock has put together a charming store that combines instruments, LPs, consignment vintage clothing, and music lessons. This huge banjo, which reached from floor to ceiling, made me feel right at home.

In Arkansas we drove right by Janet Davis Music. Unfortunately it was on a Sunday, and they were closed, but one of the guys who worked there had come to the show the night before and offered to let us in if we wanted to stop by anyway. We didn’t have time, but I’ve always wanted to see her store.

Adam Steffey and his wife Tina came to the show in Knoxville. I’m glad I didn’t know that until after our set or else I would have been more nervous.

We have three more shows to go on our tour. When it’s over it will be one of those sad/glad moments: sad for such a great time to come to an end, but very glad to be going home!

The second week of the American Revival Tour (The Dixie Bee-Liners, Sierra Hull and Highway 111, and Uncle Earl) started in the cute, cute little town of Newberry, SC. Since we had driven down from Virginia on Tuesday, we had all Wednesday morning before the show to do whatever we wanted. Hiking was what we Bee-Liners wanted to do, so we Googled a hiking spot and took off for Lynch’s Woods at the crack of dawn. (It’s funny how nine o’clock can feel like the crack of dawn…) After a refreshing couple of hours stomping through the woods in the crisp fall air we all felt refreshed and renewed.

The hotel in Newberry is directly across the street from the Opera House, and I cannot express how awesome it is to be able to walk from one to the other. We carried our instruments across the street, soundchecked, then came back to our rooms to change, so we didn’t have to haul all our suitcases into the dressing rooms. The Opera House is really old, has been beautifully renovated, and is the only theater I’ve ever seen that has individual chairs for the side seating. Someone commented, “It looks like a president could be shot here,” somewhat morbidly referring to its resemblance to Ford’s Theater. The crowd was disappointingly small, but it was a Wednesday night, after all.

I’m getting the feeling that this tour is a well-kept secret. Those who know about it and come just love it, but not that many people know! I talked to a local banjo-player friend of mine after we played the Orange Peel in Asheville and she said she only heard about the show two or three days before, when it’s been booked for months!

While on tour there are always unexpected things that need to be taken care of, errands that need to be run, fires that need to be put out (metaphorically speaking!). Sierra experienced a computer crash leaving her out of touch for a few days, and seriously hampering her doing her school work while on the road. She and her manager Claire Armbruster took off early one morning so that they could stop by a Mac store before load-in time. Her computer required a new hard drive, which the warranty covered, but it’s back up and running.

Monday night’s show got moved from the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta to the much smaller Red Light Café. When we heard we were a bit disappointed to be in such a small venue. But as it turned out, I think it was a good move. The Red Light was full of people, but the same number of folks spread out in theater seating would have looked like fewer and wouldn’t have created the same sense of energy. There were certainly disadvantages, like no dressing rooms and no backstage area, but the advantages outweighed them. And it was fun trying to squeeze all sixteen people on the small stage for the finale.

We’re just over the half-way point for the tour and, so far, we’re still going strong. We were all sad to say goodbye to Ron Block, whose last show was in Atlanta. Sierra’s regular banjo player Cory Walker will be taking over from here on out (except that Ron will be back for the Knoxville gig on Nov. 18th). You can read daily tour blogs over on the Murphy Method blog.

In case you want to catch the show, here are the remaining dates:

• Wednesday, Nov. 11th – Baton Rouge, LA – Manship Theater
• Thursday, Nov. 12th – The Woodlands, TX – Dosey Doe Coffee House
• Saturday, Nov. 14th – Fayetteville, AR – Baum Walker Hall Walton Arts Center
• Sunday, Nov. 15th – Springfield, MO – JK Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts @ MSU
• Tuesday, Nov. 17th – Bowling Green, KY – Capitol Arts Center @ WKU
• Wednesday, Nov. 18th – Knoxville, TN – The Square Room
• Friday, Nov. 20th – Glen Ellyn, IL – McAninch Arts Center, Mainstage
• Saturday, Nov. 21st – Hamilton, OH – Parrish Auditorium @ Miami University
• Sunday, Nov. 22nd – Pittsburgh, PA – Byham Theater

Casey Henry has agreed to send us occasional updates from The American Revival Tour, where she is performing with Dixie Bee-Liners. Also on the tour are Sierra Hull & Highway 111 and headliners Uncle Earl.

Here is Casey’s report.

The arrival of November saw The Dixie Bee-Liners, Uncle Earl, and Sierra Hull and Highway 111 burning up the roads of the southeast in the first week of our much anticipated tour – American Revival: Celebrating the New Stars of American Roots Music.

When three bands of young-ish people get to travel together for four weeks, hi jinx will ensue. We have a long-running tour game involving sausage, but I’ll leave that for another time. Our most fun show, by far, was Halloween at the American Theater in Hampton, VA. Buddy Woodward, Bee-Liner mandolin player, is great at zombie makeup and we took full advantage of his talents. He also helped out Sierra’s band, giving fiddler Christian Ward a slash across the face, bassist Jacob Eller a bullet hole in the head, and transforming guitarist Clay Hess into a very convincing wolf-man. Ron Block went as Ron Howard—no makeup needed! Uncle Earl was four bad witches and one good witch.

Punch Brothers Chris “Critter” Eldridge and Noam Pikelny came for the night’s show. Critter dressed as a Christmas party guest, complete with battery-powered lights. Noam borrowed a spare witch hat and grey wig from Uncle Earl. They joined the Earl girls on stage to sing Happy Birthday to their fiddler, Stephanie “Pumpkin” Coleman, who turned 24.

Our post-show Halloween celebration took place at a little martini bar down the street—Six—where we had tapas and cocktails and played with the motorized witch hat KC Groves had found at the grocery store. It played Ding, Dong, The Witch Is Dead, and wagged its bell-adorned, pointed tip merrily back and forth.

Monday night we played at the Birchmere in Alexandria, a legendary bluegrass venue. For most of the Bee-Liners it was the first time we’d played there and we were honored to get to take the stage where the Seldom Scene ruled for so long. I actually had my fifteenth birthday party at the Birchmere. My parents took me and a group of my friends to see the Johnson Mountain Boys play. My friend Nancy Peterson, who came to the show last night, was at that party. She said it was like coming full circle, getting to see me play on that same stage.

Today is a travel day—more than 500 miles down to South Carolina. The Bee-Liners are stopping by WAMU this morning to play a little in-studio music and then hitting the road.

For more pictures and anecdotes, see Sierra Hull’s blog. I feel this must be the most-blogged-about bluegrass tour ever!

Billed as The American Revival Tour - Celebrating The New Stars Of American Roots Music, this road show will include 19 shows in 25 days, each with performances from Dixie Bee-Liners, Sierra Hull & Highway 111, and Uncle Earl.

The tour starts in Raleigh, NC on October 29 and wanders through NC, VA, SC and GA until the second week on November, when they head down to Louisiana and Texas. After a swing through the middle of the country, the road show concludes in Pittsburgh on November 22.

All three bands are female fronted – at minimum. Uncle Earl is comprised of five talented women, Dixie Bee-Liners is half-and-half, and Sierra Hull manages a quartet of fellas in her band.

We asked Tobias Tumarkin, who is producing this tour for Columbia Artists Management, whether they had planned to make this a spotlight for the ladies from the start.

“We didn’t plan for it to work out that way, but when it looked like that was the way it was headed, we liked it, and even considered making a reference to that in the title before deciding to go with American Revival.

What we wanted was to find groups that were up and coming and whom we felt would do a great job in appealing to theatre crowds who are often different than fans that you would usually find at Bluegrass Festivals. We wanted to expand the audiences of the band and introduce great new bands to audiences that might not already know these groups.

In coming up with the specific bands we worked closely with Michael Jaworek of the Birchmere. Michael has a vast knowledge of bands from all over the country and acted as an advisor and helped us reach out to make contact with the bands we wanted to work with.”

Uncle Earl will be headlining the show, and KC Groves, who plays guitar, mandolin and bass with the group, is raring to go.

“We’ve so excited be a part of this series and hope that we can, by playing to some new audiences, spread the joy that we know bluegrass and old time music can bring.”

Brandi Hart of Dixie Bee-Liners explained how they came to be a part of this tour…

“We were selected for the American Revival tour after a representative from Columbia Artists Management saw our official showcase at World of Bluegrass 2008.  Of course, we were thrilled to be chosen, and we immediately began working with Pinecastle Records to fast-track the release of Susanville. We are always thinking 2-3 albums ahead, and we’d been writing Susanville for about five years. However, when the CD release was accelerated to coincide with American Revival, we jumped into high gear.

We’ve also been saving back a special bonus track for the American Revival tour. For the time being, this track will only be available to American Revival concertgoers who participate in our ‘Textual Activity’ promotion. Fans should bring their cell phones to shows (in silent mode, please!) and be prepared to get textual with The Dixie Bee-Liners this fall. More information is coming soon at www.dixiebeeliners.com!”

Susanville will be released on November 3, and audio samples from all 19 tracks can be heard online. It’s a concept album about life on the road, with a very creative packaging theme.

You can find all the details about The American Revival Tour online as well.

We are very fortunate this year to have Dean Hoffmeyer shooting for us during World Of Bluegrass. He is a Pulitzer-nominated photographer with The Richmond Times Dispatch, and his work speaks for itself. Dean’s work also graces a number of recent bluegrass CD covers, including the recent Grasstowne and Jason Davis projects.

Dean will be providing photos over the next few days, including Thursday night’s Awards Show. He will posting them as soon as he shoots, so we’ll have galleries going up during the show, while Brance and I are posting the winners in real time here on The Bluegrass Blog.

They have a show tonight near the Tennessee/Kentucky border, and will be stopping off at The Square Room in Knoxville at noon for a live broadcast on WDVX’s Blue Plate Special. You can listen over the air at 102.9, or via live streaming from WDVX.com.

Sierra also shared a few words about her move to Boston and studying at Berklee.

“So far, Boston has been treating me great! I just had my first week of classes at Berklee and really enjoyed them. I’m starting to know my way around pretty well now and have met so many really talented musicians already. It’s really neat to be in an environment that is totally merged in music, and I really feel like I’m going to learn a lot there. The faculty and staff have been so good to me, and I really feel supported here in regards to keeping a busy tour schedule, which makes me very happy!

I’ve been up there for almost two weeks now, and this is my second weekend out gigging since being there. Last weekend we were in North Carolina and New Jersey. One thing I quickly realized is that I shouldn’t be afraid of being exposed to so many different types of music. Part of me sometimes worries that being around so many things can really have an effect on what you think you love or what your dreams truly are. It was a cool experience for me to leave Berklee after being there for a week surrounded by so many diverse styles of music and go to a bluegrass festival. Upon pulling unto the festival grounds and hearing a band on stage in the background it was like I became so excited and just full of contentment. It was nice to get that special feeling of… this is what I love and who I am, and I’m happy to be that.

We are in Tennessee this weekend, which is wonderful. That’s the fun thing about being able to still tour some… I’m lucky enough to be home more often. We will be playing in Knoxville early on Friday for WDVX’s Blue Plate Special. Then we’ll be at the Wings Over Big South Fork air show in Oneida, TN later that night, and then Saturday brings us to my hometown – Byrdstown, TN – for the Sierra Hull Festival that they put on every year. It’ll be great to go home and see all my friends and family!! It’s been a busy summer, so I’m looking forward to that.”

Del Rey and Will Hoge will also appear on today’s Blue Plate Special.

The article, which ran on July 31, discussed a number of topics, including her upcoming move to the area to attend college.

Between filling the air in sets at Boarding House Park and JFK Plaza with the prettiest shade of bluegrass, the petite up-and-comer let out a pretty, little secret.

“I’m going to Berklee on a full scholarship.”

Not even John Mayer or Aimee Mann could drop this bomb a month after graduating from high school. It seems the mandolin player from Byrdstown, Tenn., is living up to her Alison Krauss comparison, maybe even on her way to surpassing Bill Monroe’s protege, who took Hull on stage at the Grand Ole Opry six years ago.

“Of course I’m flattered by the compliment, but I am my own person,” she says moments before taking the stage at Boarding House Park Friday night.

Pierce also speaks with Clay Hess, who plays guitar with Hull’s band, and Christian Ward who is on fiddle. You can read the full piece online.

The article also includes an online video with both bits of the interview, and clips of Sierra and Highway 111 on stage at Lowell, also created by Kathleen Pierce.

Sierra Hull, the 18 year old fret wizard from central Tennessee will also soon be packing her grip for the long, long trip to New England, where she will study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Like most high school seniors, Sierra spent a lot of time this past year pondering college, but unlike most of her contemporaries, she was also considering the trade-offs between furthering her education and pursuing an already burgeoning career as a performer and recording artist. Her debut CD, Secrets, was released in 2008, she fronts her own band (Highway 111), and maintains a very active touring schedule all over the US and Canada.

Recently, Sierra shared some of the thoughts that passed through her mind during the decision-making process.

“Berklee was really the only school that made me think very much about actually going on to study music at a college level. Prior to thinking about Berklee, I really didn’t imagine going to college due to the fact that I really want to tour a lot and do what I love – be on the road, make records, play with a band, etc.

They first contacted me when I was a sophomore in high school and at that point I’d never even heard of Berklee. They wanted to let me know that if I was considering studying music after high school that they’d love to have me come to school there. I didn’t think all that much about it then, until people starting saying… ‘Berklee! Wow… that’s a great school!’ So when my senior year of high school rolled around, I really started thinking that it was probably a good idea to at least have options, and that I should pursue the idea a little more and see what all Berklee had to offer. Alison Krauss really encouraged me to at least go check it out.

So… in February, I spent 3 days in Boston touring the college, meeting instructors and students, and discussing my situation. I was amazed to see how supportive Berklee really was of musicians that already have careers going and my current situation. After all – isn’t that the whole idea? For a music school to uplift and support musicians who choose music as a career? I guess it just took a while for me to realize just how supportive they were going to be. I immediately realized upon my visit in February that I was going to be very supported whether I decided to come to school at Berklee, or whether I decided to just go ahead and play music full time.

That really helped the pressure level along the way, and made me respect the staff and faculty very much.”

Berklee was indeed very interested in Sierra. At IBMA 2008, Berklee President Roger Brown was lobbying her hard – not unlike a coach recruiting a standout ball player they hoped to sign. Wherever she was, Brown or Berklee professor David Hollender was sure to go.

I’m sure that the attention was flattering, but moving to New England proved to be the biggest hurdle for her to leap.

“With all of these things pending with Berklee, I still hated the fact that Boston is such a long way from home. That in itself made the decision harder than you’d probably know. Having traveled a lot in the last few years, I’ve not been one to get homesick very much, but I imagine moving that far from home will bring a great deal of that along the way. With that in mind, I started thinking – ‘you know, if Berklee was in Nashville, there would be no question! I’d just go to school there.’ It was then that I started looking into Belmont University.

Claire Armbruster set me up with a visit there and we went to check it out. Belmont is such a beautiful and highly respected school and one that I would have enjoyed going to as well. Being in Nashville would have been so ideal also. However, it is not a fully focused music school and the music scholarships available there are much lower than Berklee, so that also influenced my decision.”

Sierra told us that she hasn’t yet decided where she will focus her studies at Berklee.

“There are so many options, that I almost feel like it’ll be hard for me to know until I get up there and actually experience it on some kind of level. Of course it would make sense for me to study mandolin, but I’d also really love to take some vocal classes and really learn to improve my singing as well.

I don’t know how to read music either, so I’d love to learn how to read as much as possible.”

She is also the recipient of Berklee’s Presidential Award scholarship, offered to only 3 or 4 incoming students each year. It is a “full ride” scholarship, never before offered to a bluegrass musician.

“I never imagined that they would give me of all people this scholarship, but I’m really grateful that they did. In fact, it’s probably the deciding factor in why I have decided to go to school. As you would imagine, Berklee is a really, really expensive school. With this scholarship, I am able to go to school completely free. It covers all of the tuition, the registration fees, housing and food as well as a free laptop.”

Having discussed this question with her at some length last year, I was curious what led her to to choose school and gigging over focusing full time on performing.

“There were a lot of factors that made me finally decided to give Berklee a try. I certainly put a lot of prayer and tears into the decision and still feel a little nervous about it all, but I do believe that God will lead me in the right direction. After all, He’s really the only one that knows what’s best for me in the long run.

Anyone that knows me, knows how much I love playing music, and how much I have longed to get out of high school and play music full time. There’s no way for me to try to put playing festival and gigs on the back burner completely to go to school, and I would never do that because that is where my heart truly is.

I was able to maintain a pretty busy tour schedule being in high school through working hard and having teachers that really understood my situation. I really feel like Berklee is going to be a similar environment. They all know where I am coming from and understand my situation and desire to continue touring and playing with the band.”

We also asked Sierra what she values in a music education, even as her professional career is taking off.

“The things you can learn with music are completely endless. I don’t believe that anyone could ever learn everything there is to know. So, in my opinion, just going to school doesn’t mean that you will learn everything you need to know in order to have a good career. I believe everything I have learned about music so far to be from personal experiences throughout the past 9 years. I’d still feel positive about just deciding to put school on the back burner and touring full time.

However, I really feel like God is giving me such a great opportunity to hopefully have the best of both worlds. Going to a school like Berklee will certainly just broaden my musical visions and open a lot of doors that I might not get to experience otherwise.

I’m not a believer that college is for everyone. For myself, I am totally someone who would enjoy going to college. I’ve always been one to study hard in school and do my best to make good grades. But if someone doesn’t have the drive it takes to actually go to college and soak in as much as they can, I think it can be a waste of time and money.

I’d definitely encourage it to those who have a hunger for learning and want to musically be all that they can be.”

We wondered whether Sierra had any Boston networking in place, and what her parents thought about he move so far from home.,

“I don’t know a whole lot of people in Boston to be honest. I kind of feel like I am just totally about to take on this journey with only God by my side!

However, I know that isn’t the case. I do have plenty of people that I know will be supportive and helpful as I go along. All the folks at Berklee have already made me feel like part of the gang and are just wonderful people. Rounder Records is just around the corner as well, so I’m lucky to have some friends up there too!

As far as my folks go – I know they really love me and will hate to see me go, but they are really happy for me. They totally left this decision up to me and have supported me in deciding to go which means a lot to me.

I’m lucky to have the parents I do.”

The Bluegrass Blog congratulates Sierra Hull on her scholarship, and Berklee on landing her as a student. I suspect that the simple fact of her attendance will get more young bluegrass musicians looking at Berklee next year.

Next week we’ll have stories about two prominent young grassers who are making that transition.

Sierra Hull and Sarah Jarosz, string prodigies both of them, are headed to school in Boston this fall. They each had a major independent label debut while still in high school, and both have a bright future in bluegrass/acoustic music. We’ll have interviews with both of these talented young ladies, where they explain why they chose to attend college, and how they settled on the schools they picked.

Here’s a clip of Sarah and Sierra from Grey Fox earlier this summer, laying down a solid version of Bill Monroe’s Old Dangerfield.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The article has a Boston angle, as you might expect, but it does quote Sierra Hull about this phenomenon.

Tennessee bluegrass prodigy Sierra Hull, 17, who performs at the Lowell Folk Festival, is a sparkling mandolinist and singer. Like Jacobs-Strain, she discovered the music at festivals and started to play when she was 8. She loved jamming with adults, and local bands often invited her on stage, “even when all I could do was chop along.”

“It was such a fun way to meet new people, learn new things, and get encouragement from people you really admire,” she says. “Bluegrass is like a big family that way, a very sweet environment to grow up in.”

She says the availability of folk music on the Internet is also drawing new young fans: “Lots of kids my age just like being different and don’t listen to commercial music. You know, it’s like, ‘Everybody likes that, so I’m not gonna.’ “

Read the full article online.

The author of the BoingBoing post refers to their performance as “speed metal bluegrass.” To my ear it doesn’t resemble anything but bluegrass. Much bluegrass is that fast, or faster, and the comparison to “speed metal” is completely unnecessary. The boys, who were 15 years old at the time, do a respectable job, but while their performance is good, it is not as mind boggeling as the BoingBoing crowd seems to think.

May I submit our very own Sierra Hull jamming on another Bill Monroe tune, Roanoke.

Did I mention that Sierra’s main instrument is mandolin, not guitar?

While I appreciate a popular site like BoingBoing.com calling attention to young people playing bluegrass music, I wish they would do so by directing people toward those young artists, like Sierra, who serve as the stewards of the genre’s future.

In addition to Clay on guitar and Sierra on mandolin, the band includes Jacob Eller on bass and Cory Walker on banjo. Both Sierra and Clay will take on lead vocal chores.

Clay finds himself as the “old guy” in the group, with Sierra and Cory still in their teens, and Jacob only 26 years old.

You can check their 2009 tour schedule online.

She was joined in the studio by Cory Walker (banjo, resonator guitar), Ron Block (guitar, banjo) and Beth Lawrence on bass, with Sierra handling the mandolin and lead vocal chores. They pick through a number of songs from her debut CD, Secrets, and chat with Dave about Sierra and her music.

As we have mentioned time and again, Sierra is already firmly established as one of bluegrass music’s finest mandolinists at 17 years old. She is just now emerging as a singer, songwriter and bandleader, and folks who have not had the chance to catch her live can get an idea of her ability and professionalism via live radio.

Audio for past editions of Bluegrass Breakdown are generally available online for two weeks after each program airs, so be sure to give this one a listen before it’s gone.

One we especially missed seeing was Sierra Hull, teen aged mandolin sensation and budding vocalist whose debut CD, Secrets, was released earlier this year. She was across town that evening, attending a red carpet event of her own.

As if her senior year of high school wasn’t busy enough, Sierra has the opening of a major independent film on her plate as well. She had a small speaking role in Billy: The Early Years, a biopic on the life of ?ºber evangelist Billy Graham. She also is featured as a singer in the film, and on the soundtrack as well.

“I did have the chance to go walk the red carpet at the movie premier and meet with the press. It was a lot of fun, and my first time doing anything like that. I had my first chance to see the movie the night before, and it was really a wild experience. Although I’m totally a small part of the film, it’s definitely still a cool and somewhat frightening thing to sit in a theater and see your face on the screen, and hear your voice singing with everyone in seats around you taking it all in!

I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to be a part of such a meaningful movie. Billy Graham is a well respected man who stood for God even through the lowest times. It’s an honor for me to be linked to a movie like this, even in the smallest way, and I hope people will enjoy seeing it.”

Sierra had to high tail it back to The Ryman after taking her red carpet turn, as she was scheduled to present an IBMA award with Ron Block. She sent along a few photos from the Billy premier.

Sierra had another honor come her way recently – the Best Bluegrass Band of 2008 in the French Country Music Awards.

“I read a congratulations mention about the nomination in the IBMA newsletter that comes out every couple months and was kinda like.. ‘really? Are they sure?’ So I decided to do the almighty Google, and sure enough, there was my name along with Dailey & Vincent, Donna Hughes, Becky Schlegel and Rhonda Vincent. So I was kinda like.. wow.. how nice! I then read online about the awards and that they would be announced on my birthday.

Sure enough, on September 27th I received notification through email that I had won, which was really cool to find out on your birthday!”

I snapped a couple photos, but I wasn’t able to get to close to the stage. The crowd was packed into that room. The Dan Tyminski Band, Sierra Hull, Mountain Heart with Tony Rice…I guess I can understand why the crowd!

Unfortunately, I didn’t make it in the room until the Tyminski band was finished, so I don’t have any pictures of them. But here’s a picture of Sierra with her band, and couple of Mountain Heart, one by themselves, and a couple after Tony Rice joined them on stage.

I caught a bit of the Songwriter Showcase hosted by Ron Block and Sierra Hull during the afternoon. The duo performed one of Sierra’s own compositions for the assemblage, before introducing Cia Cherryholmes to oversee hosting duties. Due to a pressing business appointment I was unable to stay longer to check out the young songwriters who were taking the stage as John and I left. So many great songs, so little time…

I made it to only one “official” showcase Tuesday evening, and that was to hear Junior Sisk & Rambler’s Choice. Junior has been one of my favorite singers for years. I love the material he writes, and the soul that comes through in his vocals. I just had to hear him at least once while I was here. This was my first time hearing the new band live. They sounded great with Junior leading the way.

Later than evening as I meandered the halls, I attempted to find a way into the room for a bit of a listen to Dailey & Vincent. It seems I wasn’t the first to have that idea! The crowd was spilling over about 10 feet into the hall. I managed to make it almost to door frame before reaching such a density of listeners that I could proceed no further and just snapped off a photo over the top of the crowd.

I later listened as G2 visited with fans in the hall before proceeding to present their brand of Swedish influenced bluegrass. It was a great set, featuring original material that sounds as if it originated in the Appalachian Mountains rather than Northern Europe. Absolutely amazing that a group of young guys that far from the home of the music have grown into a bluegrass band deserving of being heard at any festival here in the heart of bluegrass country.

I was excited for an opportunity to hear my friend Frank Solivan perform with his band Dirty Kitchen. I’ve been hearing about this band for some time. I’ve heard most of the principles at various times in the past, but never as a unit. Frank recently announced his departure from the Navy Band to pursue his own musical endeavors, judging by what I heard Tuesday night, his future is bright.

I also managed to put an ear to the sets of Gold Heart, Liberty Pike, and David Peterson before retiring for the night. IBMA, there’s nowhere else like it!

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.

Sierra is also featured in a singing role, performing the hymn Just As I Am, reported to be one of Graham’s favorites, in the scene where he experiences his conversion to Christian faith.

The film opens in theaters on October 10, and the gala premier is scheduled in Nashville on October 2 during the Nashville Film Festival.

Owing to a frustrating schedule conflict, Sierra is afraid that she may have to miss her red carpet turn, though she will already be dressed for the occasion.

“The Billy premier is in Nashville, but the same night as the IBMA Awards! What a bummer! I would like to maybe attend what little of the premier I could before the awards, but I can’t just miss the awards. It’s a special one for me, and I think I’m supposed to present an award. I hate having to miss it though!”

Sierra is nominated for the IBMA’s Mandolin Player of the Year award, the first female nominee in this category, and this while she is beginning her senior year of high school!

She has just completed the first leg, performing with a group of young bluegrass all-starts, and is now touring with her band, Highway 111, in support of her debut release, Secrets.

Sierra sent along a few photos from the trip so far…

I thought I’d share them here for those that are interested.

The sessions have gone well and we’re excited about the results.