The song will be included on their upcoming CD, Grown Up – A Revisionist History. In keeping with the Chapmans’ personality, the video is a fun, lighthearted piece – as befits the theme of the next album.

Jeremy Chapman describes it thusly…

“It’s our 20th anniversary CD featuring a new take on some of the early songs we played when we were kids.  We thought it would be fun to see what we could make of those old songs with the skills we’ve picked up over the years. It’s also the only way we ever would have picked Bubble Gum Baby to record, which I’m glad we did, because I think it turned out really cool, and fun.

Once we completed recording, we recruited the skills of Sid McGregor to direct a music video, and I think he and his crew came up with the perfect video for the song.”

Here’s a taste from their video tease.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Bubble Gum Baby is track 5 from their newest CD Grown up (A Revisionist History). From the look of the photos, it looks as though the video will share some elements with the CD cover design.

The photo gallery on the band’s facebook page includes 17 photos. Some give you an idea of what the video should look like, others give you a behind the scenes look at the technical aspects of making the video, and still others show you what’s really happening at these video shoots! Take, for instance, this photo.

If you would like to see the rest of the photos from the video shoot, just visit The Chapman’s on Facebook.

We’ll be sure to bring you news of the video once it’s released.

Fiddler Tyler Beckett from Owen Sound, Canada will perform with The Chpamans for the first time July 11th in St. Louis, New Brunswick, Canada after which he will be relocating to the Ozarks to join the band full time.

Mandolin man Jeremy Chapman tells us that it was a natural fit from the first time they met Beckett…

“We met Tyler when we were in Huntsville, ONT in Oct of 2008 playing at the Canadian Bluegrass Awards show. He was playing with a couple of bands Hard Ryde, and Traditionally Wound Bluegrass and we really liked his playing. We ended up jamming with him late into the night and told him if he ever wanted to move down to the states and play full time to give us a call.

Not long after he decided Springfield, MO was a good place for him, mostly because of the Bass Pro Shops headquarters, and the deer and turkey hunting. He came down for a few days of rehearsals in April, and we all agreed it would be a great fit with The Chapmans.

We’re all excited about the new sound that a fiddle in the band is adding, and it’s forcing us to rethink the way we play the same old songs with a new instrument being thrown into the mix. Plus he’s a great musician, which is always fun to be around.”

You can follow their 2009 summer schedule on The Chapmans’ web site and on MySpace.

John, Vickie and all of The Chapmans soon saw their joy turn to grave concern as when it became clear that Kylie had suffered complications that required an emergency C-section and a flight to a hospital where she could receive specialized treatment.

Fortunately, she came through just fine and is growing strong and healthy at home with her family.

A video has been posted on The Chapman’s web site, Chap-TV, which chronicles the family’s ordeal, and the final very happy ending. Mixing still and video footage, it offers a personal glimpse of the nearly two weeks between Kylie’s birth and her homecoming. Fans and friends of the band will find solace and comfort in this poignant presentation, as will anyone who can identify with this sort of family health crisis.

While visiting Chap-TV, check out a video on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, the hilarious Chapmans Pretzel Challenge.

It stars former bass player Jamey Booher (now with Grasstowne) and is not to be missed.

To see the videos, just visit chapmansonline.com, click the Chap-TV link, and scroll horizontally to find the various clips.

They have a new single release, which is being offered as a free digital download online. The track is a remake of Redwood Hill, the Gordon Lightfoot song made into a bluegrass classic by the Country Gentlemen in 1972.

They don’t yet have a new CD on the horizon, but Jeremy Chapman tells us that they wanted to remind everyone that they were still kicking with a new song.

“The main reason for the single was that we have been hearing a lot from fans and DJ’s wanting to know if we had anything new since Simple Man in the works. With the time we took off in the early part of the year to allow John to be home for the birth of his first baby, we decided to get into the studio to cut a few tracks while we were building a new team on the business end, as far as agent, management, and record label. One of the tunes we cut was Redwood Hill, which is one that we had grown up listening to the Country Gentlemen do. We thought we would keep pretty close to their arrangement to kind of pay homage to them.

Then as well as mailing it to a number of bluegrass radio stations, we wanted to make it available to all our fans through our new website for free. Just to hold them over until we have a full project finished.”

Listen to the new track on the band’s reverbnation site, where you can also download it for free.

BluegrassRadio.org is a free, listen-supported Internet radio service that runs a 24/7 bluegrass feed, available for both iTunes and Windows Media. Visit their site to choose a feed and listen in anytime.

Silver Dollar City has hosted a bluegrass festival since 1975. Back then it was called the Mountain Folks Music Festival. Over the years the festival has changed names and dates more than once. Four years ago it became Silver Dollar City’s Bluegrass & BBQ Festival. The festival is a long running one, starting on May 10 and continuing through June 1, 2008. During these 23 days, the park will be running a total of nine stages throughout each day, with over 60 bluegrass bands performing. Each performance is scheduled at 30 minutes and during the course of the festival there will be in excess of 1000 sets.

I had the chance to speak with D.A. Callaway, the festival coordinator, and he shared some interesting details about the event. With that many stages running for this length of time, the technical staff will be working hard. Callaway tells me they have 25 full time technical staff to run sound and lighting during the festival. The park hours are 9:30 AM to 7 PM each day. The shows begin in the morning and continue throughout the day.

Silver Dollar City is a large theme park that attracts a lot of tourists, but Callaway assures me that of the 10,000 attendees the park will average each day of the festival, 40-50% of them are there for the music. These are fans that might not be at the park if it wasn’t for the festival. Those are great numbers to contemplate on both sides of that equation. 4-5K people per day in attendance specifically to hear bluegrass music is a great turn out. But 5-6K people each day who aren’t there for the music, will surely hear it as they enjoy the other offerings of the park. Perhaps a few new bluegrass fans will be born next month in Branson!

With 60+ bands performing I was curious how artists are selected for inclusion in the festival.

About half of the artists performing are nationally touring acts. The other half are either regional bands, or bands local to the Branson area. Some of these bands right here in Branson are very good and deserve to be heard.

I’ve been to a lot of festivals over the years, and I’ve worn out a lot of lawn chairs. I have to say this festival is a real smorgasbord of bluegrass. We try to keep a healthy variety of both geographic and stylistic representation in the bands we choose. We’ve got bluegrass stars like Rhonda Vincent, The Grascals, Cherryholmes, and Bradley Walker, to name few. We’ve got newer bands in a very traditional vein, like Dailey & Vincent. We’ve got newcomers that a lot of fans haven’t heard before, but we like them and think they are worth hearing. And we’ve got the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band coming in on May 30. I know a lot of people will think “They’re not bluegrass!” but they introduced a whole generation, my generation, to bluegrass music by introducing us to Earl Scruggs and Doc Watson and others.

And we have several bands that have played here at Silver Dollar City for years and are returning again this year. The Chapmans are joining us again, and Rarely Herd will be here. Your uncle Rod’s band, The Blue & Gray Pickers, continue to entertain audiences, proving you don’t have to tour nationally to be good entertainers.

And it’s a real honor to have the US Navy Band, Country Current, perform at the festival this year.

We’ve got something for every type of bluegrass music fan. We feel like our pass holders are family and we want to present the best bands we can for them to enjoy.

The festival website has a complete list of scheduled performers.

In addition to the regular performances, Callaway was excited about two competitions they are holding again this year.

2008 will mark the 2nd Annual National Single Mic Championship on May 17-18. This is a fun competition open to both amateur and professional bands. Designed to represent the performance style of early bluegrass legends, the bands will perform over a single mic and be judged both on musical ability and entertainment value. Registration has already close and they have a full complement of 12 bands registered for the event.

The other competition is the Youth In Bluegrass Band Competition, held May 24-25. The competition is open to amateur entertainers 21 years of age or younger. Registration was limited to 15 bands and scheduled to end tonight at midnight, but D.A. tells me they reached the 15 band limit several weeks ago.

While you’re at the park for the festival, be sure to take in some of the other attractions, including the House of BBQ, as well as all the rides and crafts that are always present in the park.

Tickets can be purchased by calling 1-800-831-4FUN, or online at SilverDollarCity.com.

Artists to be recorded include Grasstowne, Lou Reid and Carolina, The Chapmans, and more.

The Grasstowne performance will be broadcast on Sunday April 20, 2008 @ 1 PM EDT. Next Saturday, April 26, 2008, BluegrassRadio.org will broadcast the entire main stage performance from all the bands. That will take place starting at 7 PM EDT.

If you don’t have plans Sunday, or next Saturday evening, be sure to attend the Riverbend Bluegrass Festival online at BluegrassRadio.org.

The photo gallery was pretty slow to load, and I’m on high-speed, but it was worth it to see papa Chapman in that ten-gallon hat!

The tour schedule feature is pretty cool, but I had to use Firefox to view it. It never would load in Safari. So be aware that your milage may vary depending on your preferred browser. It not only provides dates and locations, but also an animated tour map with a red line tracing their tour route. It’s vaguely reminiscent of the Indian Jones map, but without the plane.

The real unique feature though is Chap TV. If you click on the TV, the popup will load the Chap TV. Chap TV is…well, I’ll let them explain it.

It was an idea that was conceived on one of those really late overnight drives on tour, when Jason decided to pull out his new camcorder and start filming all the excitement. Being dark and all, he put the camera on night mode, and then the light bulb went off in the collective heads of The Chapmans‚Ķ if millions of people wanted to watch the home video’s of Paris Hilton, maybe they wanted to see some of The Chapmans too. So we started filming every exciting moment out on the road, back stage, riding in the ChapMobile‚Ñ¢, in the studio, broke down on the side of the highway. Then we got to thinking how difficult it was gonna be to get all our fans into our living room to watch the footage, and after a failed attempt to get permits to build a 10,000 sq. ft. addition to our house, we decided to build it in cyberspace. Enter Chap-TV.

I’m not sure but that the boys may have overestimated the size and interest of the audience just a bit, but it’s still fun stuff. You’ll also see an occasional appearance by other bluegrassers the Chapmans come into contact with. The single bass jam featuring Jason Chapman along with Justin Carbone and Alan Bartram, was inspiring.

Watch this introductory video. That last question really has me thinking. Check it out at Chap-TV.com.

In addition to completely overhauling the website, the guys have also been working diligently on a new CD. Jeremy commented on the mutual feelings they all share about this project.

It’s exciting to see just how much the band and sound have grown since the release of our last album, Simple Man. It’s motivating to know our fans, radio, media, and the promoters are anxious for new material from the Chapmans. We look forward to releasing what we feel is the finest music we’ve produced yet in our career.

This is a hard working bunch of guys and we sure appreciate their musical and comedic contributions to bluegrass.

We now hear that Kylie was released from the hospital on Tuesday (4/2) and is safely at home with mom and dad. Wonderful news for all The Chapmans.

She had to be delivered by emergency Caesarian this past Saturday, and then moved from Springfield, MO to Kansas City for advanced pediatric care. John is with the baby in KC, along with his brothers, Jason and Jeremy, while Vickie recovers from surgery in Springfield.

John shares the details…

“On March 22nd at 10:43am, Vickie and I got to lay eyes on our new little girl, Kylie Grace Chapman. She is every bit as beautiful as either of us could have ever imagined.

When we got to the hospital, it was determined that there was something causing the baby distress, and she was going to have to be delivered by C-section. She had wrapped her cord into a true knot and gotten it around her neck.

Unfortunately all this stress caused a condition called Meconium Aspiration. After delivery she had to be taken by helicopter to Kansas City to a hospital with special machines and treatments not available in Springfield. Since being here she has continued to respond well to treatments.

She in not out of the woods by any means, but we are very hopeful. She is still in critical condition and we are watching her minute by minute. Hopefully soon Vickie will be well enough to join me here and be able to spend time with me and our new baby girl.

We want to thank all the people who have given their support and thoughts. Thank you all so much.”

Anyone who would like to reach them can send cards, well wishes or donations to help with medical expenses to:

The Chapmans also find themselves as the sole bluegrass artists in a head-to-head competition with a bevy of pop and rock acts at BestOfBands.com. Thanks to the support of their fans, they have made it through to the final round of five in the Best of Bands, Make My Video competition where the winner receives a professional performance video shoot valued at $20,000.

The video will be shot in Las Vegas, with a venue chosen based on the genre of the winning band. All airfare, accommodations and ground transportation are covered, and the three most actively voting fans of the winning band will also win an all-expense paid trip to Vegas to attend the shoot.

Voting in this final round starts on December 1, and a quick, free registration is required to participate in the balloting, which runs through the end of December. Repeat votes are allowed, but only once in each 24 hour period.

Jeremy Chapman said that they were inspired and excited to see how the support of bluegrass fans has kept Randy Kohrs’ video in the top five at CMT Pure Top 20 Countdown, and hopes to get a similar level of support at BestOfBands.com.

“We need to get as many people as possible to create a profile before December 1st so we can have a head start in the competition. We’re up against a few heavy metal bands, and would just be embarrassed if they could claim to have better, more devoted fans.

Remember when creating your profile to upload a picture – even if it’s of a tree or Jimmy Martin – so that they know that you’re not a computer. Otherwise all your diligent voting won’t count.”

If you want to show the world that bluegrass fans are as rabidly passionate as metal bands – at least metaphorically – perhaps you will want to show your support for The Chapmans in this competition. Starting 12/1, there will be a Make My Video button near the top of their BOB profile page, and you need only click it once to register your daily vote.

It runs just over minutes and is entitled The Family Business. In the video, the boys talk about how they came to become a family band, with the interview segment inter cut with clips and photos of the early days when John, Jeremy and Jason were barely big enough to hold a guitar. The documentary-style presentation carries us through the band’s emergence as a serious bluegrass act, culminating with them being named as the Emerging Artist of the Year in 2002 by the IBMA.

Jeremy says that the project just dropped into their laps.

“Around May of ‚Äò07 we were approached by a couple of Film Students from Missouri State University who had seen us perform not long before, and were interested in doing a documentary on the band for a film project. So we set up a small concert at a local music shop and then had a pretty informal interview afterwards. It was definitely a lot of fun to go through all the old photo albums and home videos to get them some background on the band. I forgot we were once that little.

In the end though I think we were all impressed with how interesting they made us look.”

He asks that fans and friends keep up with them via the band’s MySpace page.