Long-time students of bluegrass instruments will recall with fondness the name Oak Publications, a division of Music Sales that released some fine instructional manuals for banjo, guitar, mandolin, fiddle and bass starting in the 1970s. While the brand has remained active since, some of those early titles have been unavailable for years - though AcuTab reissued their classic (and massive) - Masters of the 5 String Banjo book.

Oak has reprinted a number those early books, and two of particular interest to the bluegrass community are among them. Both Bill Keith and the late Vassar Clements had transcription books as a part of Oak’s Bluegrass Masters series - which also featured books on Kenny Baker, Jesse McReynolds and Clarence White - both reissued earlier this year.

Clements’ fiddle book was written by Matt Glaser, current chair of the string department at Berklee College of Music, and the Keith banjo book was written by Tony Trischka with Bill’s assistance. The Vassar transcriptions are in standard notation and the Keith in tablature. Both feature information on the recordings from which the transcriptions were taken.

Look for Oak titles wherever bluegrass instructional materials are sold.

HT: PlayBetterBluegrass.com

WAMU, and it’s online sister station BluegrassCountry.org, are celebrating the summer of 2007 as their 40th year broadcasting bluegrass music. It was in 1967 that Dick Spottswood and Gary Henderson, who were among the founders of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine that same year, launched a program by that name on July 2, carried on WAMU 88.5 FM, broadcast from the campus of the American University in Washington, DC.

To help mark the anniversary, the folks at WAMU have searched through their archives and are running some special programs over the next few weeks.

The first, Katy Daley’s 1975 interview with Vassar Clements, starts tonight (8/28) at 10:48 p.m. The show is called Fiddle Players Young and Old, and will run repeatedly on BluegrassCountry.org over the next few weeks. The discussion with Vassar was recorded at DC’s legendary Cellar Door during his debut tour as a band leader, and was also the first interview Katy recorded for WAMU as a cub bluegrass radio host.

It runs again on Sunday (8/29) at 1:04 a.m., and also includes an interview with 12 year fiddler Roland Clark, who spoke with Michelle Mercer of NPR. Find future air times by checking the BluegrassCountry.org schedule online.

You can read more of the history of bluegrass programming on WAMU and BluegrassCountry.org on their web site.

The Del McCoury Band has posted four new video clips on their MySpace page. They are taken from the second All Star Bluegrass Celebration concert at The Grand Ole Opry in April 2003, aired on PBS, and available on DVD for PBS pledge drive donors when the program was broadcast.

The clips show Del and the band performing with Vince Gill and the late Vassar Clements. Songs include My Walkin’ Shoes Don’t Fit Me Anymore (with Vince), Orange Blossom Special and Lonesome Fiddle Blues (with Vassar) and My Love Will Not Change.

Find them all by clicking on the My Videos link on Del’s MySpace page.

Farley Daniel wrote in and reminded us about the Vassar Clements Holiday Band DVD release party on October 14th at the Melting Point in Athens, GA.

A couple of guests have been included in the lineup for the evening’s performance. Fiddle player David Blackmon, with Blueground Undergrass, will be joining the band as will muscian, author and radio show host (Grateful Dead Hour), David Gans.

An opening act is also on the line up for the evening.

‘Buzz’ Clifford, a wonderful jazz/pop pianist who was a member with the band, ‘Spiral Starecase’ and worked for a time with James Brown. Buzz’s father had been an arranger for Irving Berlin and a banjo player in his big band before moving south from NYC.

This DVD release party is intended to be a celebration to Vassar, and it will also support the continuing efforts to help with public school music programming and Nuci’s Space in Athens.

For more info please see the original post.

Alan Dalton wrote in recently to let us know about a DVD release of the last recorded performance of fiddle legend, Vassar Clements.

The recording took place in Athens, Georgia on December 18, 2004. The performance featured Clement’s Holiday Band; Mark Van Allen, Bobby Lee Rodgers, Ted Pecchio, Tyler Greenwell, Count M’Butu, David Blackmon, Carroll Clements, Alan Dalton and Joe Craven. Violinist and vocalist from Nashville, Ms. Andrea Zonn, made a special appearance and performed with the Holiday Band for a couple of tunes and an amazing ‘three-fiddle jam’ with Clements and Blackmon.

Before Clements passed in August 2005, he had expressed his wish to preserve this live performance on DVD.

Says Farley Daniel, producer and longtime friend of Clements’:

The December show recording was to add songs for a compilation CD we had been putting together to benefit Nuci’s Space. Everything fell into place after Vassar agreed to do it. At the last minute, I asked a friend to film it. Little did we realize then, the significance this show would have in the long run. Vassar was really pleased to help Nuci’s Space. After his tour of the facility with Linda Phillips, the founder, he told me, “This is wonderful what they’re doing here. They should have these all over the place!”

The film isn’t one of those high rolling, top notch tapes…we hadn’t planned on it. And it doesn’t matter. It was V-MAN’s last recording, last filmed performance, and this is what he wanted to do. Several times he said, “I love that little town [Athens]. Let’s get me back there.”

When asked about the nickname ‘V-MAN’, Daniel says,

That started off as an ‘inside joke’ with Vassar years ago. Something to do with super heroes. He became one to many. He certainly was one to me. His absence is sometimes very profound and his impact in music is may still be immeasurable.

A DVD release/tribute concert is scheduled for Saturday, October 14, 2006 at The Melting Point in Athens, Ga. The band performing at the concert is comprised of Joe Craven , The Codetalkers; Bobby Lee Rodgers, Ted Pecchio, Tyler Greenwell, pedal steel player Mark Van Allen, Ralph Roddenbery Acoustic Funk Trio & jazz pianist Buzz Clifford.

Commenting on the tribute concert Daniel adds,

It’s been a little trickier, getting these folks together again for the DVD release, but they have gone out of their way to arrange their schedules. We may have a few more guests to come sit in. We just have to wait and see how it unfolds.

When the audience at Randy Wood’s Concert Hall awaited the start of the Vassar Clements and Tony Rice concert back in December of 2004, they had every expectation of seeing a fabulous performance. Some may have known that the show was being recorded, and some others that it would be shot for a concert DVD release. Not many may have considered that, while all of those things were true, it would also come to pass that those would be among the very last live recordings that Vassar would make prior to his passing in August of ‘05.

Also performing with Tony and Vassar that night were Scott Vestal on banjo, Tony Williamson on mandolin, and Warren Amberson on bass and lead vocals. Vassar’s cousin Carol Clements also was featured as a vocalist on the program.

While the DVD release may be some months yet, the audio CD is now available. Entitled, Vassar Clements, Tony Rice and the Low Country All-Star Band, this new live disc was released by a company Randy Wood formed for this purpose, which he calls Flatt Mountain Records.

The 12 live tracks include a number of Vassar’s signature tunes, like Lonesome Fiddle Blues, Kissimee Kid and Billy In The Lowground plus Rice staples Salt Creek, Wayfaring Stranger and Toy Heart (with Carol singing lead). Scott Vestal’s impressive take on Earl Scrugg’s Groundspeed starts the CD, which also features the band’s version of some popular bluegrass classics like Dark Hollow, I Wonder Where You Are Tonight (both sung by Warren), and Bill Monroe’s Wheel Hoss, which closes the set.

This is one that fans of either Vassar Clements or Tony Rice will want to add to their collection, which will also surely be a welcome addition to any bluegrass lover’s library. The CD can be ordered online, but no audio samples are up at this point. We’ll keep an eye out and post back should they become available.

Randy hopes to service bluegrass radio as his time allows, but will surely send out CDs to radio hosts upon request.