It’s not likely that anyone would challenge the talent of Keith Sewell. As a picker and singer, he’s worked with Ricky Skaggs, James Taylor, Sam Bush, Marty Stuart, Jerry Douglas and The Dixie Chicks.

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.” (more…)

The convention center was hopping last night for the late-night showcases, as it always is. It’s impossible to see all the bands play, or even to see everyone that you want to, so I generally settle for a representative sampling. My sampling last night was limited to after my own showcase (playing banjo with The Dixie Bee-Liners), but I did manage to catch some other acts.

I didn’t get to hear him play, but I walked by Casey Driessen, who was sitting on the floor in the hallway, preparing for his solo showcase. I complimented him on the cylindrical bushes in front of his house, which he tweeted about recently. They were a three-year pruning project. He’s not only a perfectionist when it comes to his playing…

I got to see the newest lineup of Special Consensus with their new guitar player, Ryan Roberts. As usual they killed, playing to a full room for the New England Bluegrass Coalition. IBMA President Greg Cahill always fields a top-notch lineup. I’m always amazed that he can manage the duties of President and still do late-night showcases. He must have almost as much energy as Little Roy Lewis.

Playing just after us in the Pickin’ in the Pavilion room was Asheville-based quartet Silver Dagger. Their banjo player is Grace Van’t Hof (what can I say, I always remember the banjo player!) and they were laying down a solid set. The duet with Grace and bass player Ashleigh Caudill was especially nice. You can catch them at showcases tonight as well.

My favorite act of the night, though, was Heather Berry and Tony Mabe. Playing on the Home Grown Music Stage I almost missed them because they appeared much later than they were listed on the schedule. Heather has one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard and both she and her husband Tony have so much musical talent, expressed in a pre-bluegrass duet style, that it’s just ridiculous. I caught their very last song and it should be a good indication of the fervor of their fans that we clapped until they played an encore, even though it was nearly 2 a.m.

One sight that stuck with me was Eddie Stubbs standing in the hallway, surrounded by the Quebe Sisters. I know he is a big fan of their band–a western-swing trio with Andrews-Sisters-style harmonies. If Eddie is a big fan of something, you know it’s worth paying attention to. They play an official showcase tonight and I predict that the buzz surrounding them will be close to deafening.

This just in from Greg Cahill, founder and fearless leader of Special Consensus…

Justin Carbone is leaving the band at the end of September! His final performance as a Special C member will be at the Denton, NC festival on September 25.

Justin Carbone has performed with The Special C as guitar player extraordinaire, lead and harmony vocalist and songwriter for nearly six years. He has recently made some life changing decisions; in the last month, Justin became engaged, relocated from Nashville to Sellersville, PA and resigned his position with the band. We will miss his presence greatly and wish him the best with his new endeavors that will include his work with partner Troy Engel in their Unplugged Demos company. We encourage any songwriters who need excellent demos of their work to contact Justin and Troy at info@unpluggeddemos.com.

We now welcome the multi-talented Canadian Ryan Roberts to the band. Ryan is an award winning singer/songwriter/guitar player well known to Canadian audiences and we are fortunate that he has agreed to relocate to Nashville to join The Special Consensus. Ryan and Justin have co-authored and recorded songs together and Ryan has performed with his wife Roxeen and the Janet McGarry band for several years in addition to writing and performing music for countless commercial jingles, recording projects by numerous bands, and film scores.

We invite everyone who plans to attend the IBMA World of Bluegrass Music gathering later this month to welcome Ryan to the band at one of our several after hour showcases and our Friday Fan Fest performance.

Here’s a live festival video of Ryan on guitar and vocal.

The conclusion to Ashby Frank’s tale of road woe is told on his web site.

When we left off, Special C was broken down on the side of the road in Kansas, with barely enough time to make it to their next show in Wyoming.

Ashby picks up from there…

“After Justin and I spent a night surfing the net and waiting on the phone for rental car and flight rates, Justin finally devised on a plan to get us out of WaKeeney.

We had to rent a one way vehicle from Hays (30 miles away) in the morning, drive to Denver, rent another van (because there were no vans or one-way rentals available in Hays), then try to make it to Buffalo (7 hours away) by our new 8 o’clock set time. I had no idea that one way car rentals were so expensive!

The repair shop owner in WaKeeney happened to know a guy that would be driving to Hays early in the morning, and could drop Justin off at Hertz. What a nice town!

So it is all planned. But wait‚Ķ Once Justin got to the rental place, he was told that they were out of cars for the day even though we had a reservation.”

Sounds like a Seinfeld episode. Read the conclusion of the story at ashbyfrank.com.

But Special Consensus wasn’t the only bluegrass band suffering a major breakdown over the weekend. NewFound Road’s trusty ride went down Saturday on the way home from the Raccoon Creek Bluegrass Festival in Dallas, GA.

It had taken them from Knoxville to Dallas just fine on Saturday morning, but left them high and dry just a few miles up the road in Cartersville. The rest of the band made it to nearby Atlanta and home from there, but Tim Shelton is stuck in Georgia waiting for a tow this morning.

To make his weekend complete, he is also enjoying the fact that his cell phone has gone missing.

Sometimes it doesn’t pay to get out of bed. Make sure to give Tim a big hug next time you see him.