Cindy Baucom sent along a number of photos from this past weekend’s debut North Carolina Banjo Clinic in Burnsville, NC.

She was in attendance with her husband, Terry Baucom, and sent us this report.

“Terry was an instructor, along with Tom Adams, Mike Scott, Jim Rollins and Bill Emerson. Josh Goforth worked with the old time players on clawhammer and Tom McKinney was on hand for banjo set-up. There were over 50 participants this year.

A Faculty Concert was held on Friday evening, where I was honored to join the instructors as bass player and tenor singer, as Tom Adams played guitar and sang lead and Terry baritone. That was a lot of fun and was followed by a big jam session with the students. On Saturday night, Bill Emerson & The Sweet Dixie Band performed.”

The event must have gone well, as event producer Rod Johnston has already made plans to do it again in November, 2010.

Here’s another in our series of 2009 Red Carpet videos. These were filmed immediately prior to the IBMA Award Show.

This one features Katy Daley interviewing Terry & Cindy Baucom.

Terry Baucom has announced that he will be leaving Dale Ann Bradley’s band to focus on a number of other performing opportunities for 2010.

He will continue to play banjo on the Mountain Heart with Tony Rice shows, and will also be on banjo for shows with Mashville Brigade when they tour starting next year.

Bauc told us that he really enjoyed working with Dale Ann, whom he considers to be a great friend.

“It was a nice variation for me working up her material, and it was a great creative time, but I really wanted to get back to playing more hard driving stuff. That’s more my style.”

Baucom mentioned that he hoped to be able to be available for more banjo clinics and workshops, such as the North Carolina Banjo Clinic where he will be teaching in November.

Mashville Brigade started as a Tuesday night gig at Nashville’s Station Inn with a rotating group of Music City sidemen. Jim Van Cleve is on fiddle, Darrell Webb on guitar, Ashby Frank on mandolin, Aaron McDaris on banjo and Randall Barnes on bass. Each works with a national touring band, and the Tuesday shows became a fun way to pick together on bluegrass chestnuts they all knew and loved.

After the release of a Rural Rhythm CD, Bluegrass Smash Hits Volume 1, and the resulting radio play, the guys have decided to take the show on the road, and will be available for limited live appearances during the 2010 season. Given his busy schedule with Rhonda Vincent, McDaris was unable to commit to any Mashville shows, and as no one can mash down on traditional bluegrass like Terry Baucom, he was an obvious choice.

Booking for the Mashville Brigade shows is being handled by Ashby Frank, who can be reached by phone (615-290-5533) or email for further details.

The Mountain Heart with Tony Rice shows are managed by Mountain Heart and Keith Case & Associates.

The upcoming Mountain Roads Recordings CD, Born Into Bluegrass – The Songs of Cullen Galyean, will be premiered tonight (8/29) on WBRF FM 98.1 in Galax, VA.

The album celebrates the contributions of Galyean, a legendary performer from western North Carolina who had worked with The Stanley Brothers, Hylo Brown and Charlie Monroe. All of the songs are ones Galyean has written, performed by such stellar Virginia/North Carolina artists as Junior Sisk, Terry Baucom, Johnny Williams, Jimmy Haley and Rick Allred.

Cullen was discovered in 1965 at the storied Fincastle bluegrass festival, where he won the banjo competition with a spirited rendition of Midnight Ramble. That ‘65 live audio is included as on the tracks on the new CD. He had been recorded before in 1984, with Bobby Harrison on the Folkways album, Old Time Bluegrass from the Virginia-North Carolina Border.

Judith Burnette of WBRF tells us that Cullen’s son Mickey Galyean will be with her in the studio during the 8:00 p.m. hour while they highlight the music from Born Into Bluegrass. Mickey performs with his own bluegrass band, Rich In Tradition.

“I’m hoping Cullen will be well enough to join us in celebration, as well. He has been in the nursing home for the last several weeks for rehab. He had a serious bladder infection and was hospitalized a couple of times because of that.  He wasn’t very mobile before this illness, and was even less so after the hospital stays.  Mickey told me he has been able to walk from the bed to the bathroom, and from a wheelchair to his bed so that is an improvement.”

Cullen was able to be in the studio for some of the recording of this project. He plays his banjo and sings baritone on Bluegrass Time, he sings baritone on Days of Grey and Black, Judy Lou and Blue Ridge Mountains.”

WBRF broadcasts at 98.1 FM from Galax, and can be heard over a wide area in Virginia, North Carolina Tennessee and West Virginia. They also simulcast online at www.blueridgecountry98.com.

Born Into Bluegrass – The Songs of Cullen Galyean is scheduled for release on October 1.