Wildfire has just announced the addition of fiddle player, Brandon Godman. Brandon will be joining the current line up of the band which includes Chris Davis, Daniel Grindstaff, Robert Hale, and Curt Chapman.

Hailing from Falmouth, KY, Brandon has been playing fiddle since he was just a youngster of 10 years old. While he’s still fairly young, he has a great deal of experience as a bluegrass fiddler. He played with a number of local/regional bands growing up, he’s recently traveled with touring acts Melvin Goins & Windy Mountain and the Wildwood Valley Boys. Most recently he’s been a member of The Karl Shiflett & Big Country Show.

Brandon is currently enrolled at Morehead State University as a Jazz Violin Major with a minor in traditional music. You can hear a few samples of his playing on Brandon’s MySpace page.

In the course of a post last month about Wildfire’s new lineup, we mentioned that their web site had been down while a newly redesigned site was being set up.

That site is up today at www.wildfireband.com. You can get bio on the new members (Daniel Grindstaff and Chris Davis), and keep up with the band’s schedule and news updates.

If you’ve tried to find Wildfire online recently, you will have surely noticed that their web site is down. One might be forgiven for suspecting that they had thrown in the towel after seeing first Phil Leadbetter, and then Darrell Webb, Andy Ruff and Barry Crabtree depart to pursue other opportunities.

But remaining original members Robert Hale and Curt Chapman assure us that this isn’t the case - they are reformed and still pickin’ it solid on the road!

The new look features Daniel Grindstaff on banjo, and Chris Davis on mandolin, with Curt on bass and Robert on guitar. Matt Leadbetter (Phil’s son) has been filling in as possible on dobro, when his schedule as a member of Lonesome River Band allows, and Curt tells us that a decision on a new dobro player for Wildfire will be announced shortly.

Curt also says that the newly redesigned web site will be up soon, and that in the meantime, he can be reached by email for any Wildfire business.

Wildfire has announced that they have brought Andy Ruff into the group playing resonator guitar and singing both lead and harmony vocals. Andy has spent the past few years as a member of Karl Shifflet & The Big Country Show, and Honi Deaton & Dream. He had played with The Sunny Siders, his family’s gospel group, through his teen years and is well remembered throughout Kentucky and Indiana from his many festival appearances.

The band is delighted to welcome this exciting young talent, a seasoned pro at only 23 years old.

“Wildfire is excited to have Andy on board. He brings a fresh and young energy to the unique style the band has created in their six years together.”

The remainder of the band is still intact from its inception, with Darrell Webb on mandolin, Barry Crabtree on banjo, Robert Hale on guitar, and Curt Chapman on bass. They hope to get into the studio soon with this configuration and get to work on a new project.

You can check their schedule online on the Wildfire web site, or their MySpace page.

Scheduled for January 5-6, 2007 in Lebanon, KY, the Heart of Kentucky Winterfest ‘07 is almost upon us. The festival will feature performances, workshops, and a battle of the bands.

The Battle of the Bluegrass Bands will be held on Jan 5th with a $1000 prize up for grabs to the first place band. Two finalists will selected on the 5th who will then perform for the first place prize immediately following the concert on Jan 6th.

Workshops for banjo, fiddle, dobro, mandolin, vocals, and guitar will be held Saturday morning and afternoon, Jan 6th. There will also be a guitar building workshop taught by Johnny Rushing, the guitar maker at Dollywood.

The concert will be held Jan 6th at the Centre Square Convention Center at 7PM. Artists scheduled to perform include banjo player Gary “Biscuit” Davis, fiddler Kevin Moore, and Phil Leadbetter & Wildfire. Ticket prices are $10 in advance, $12 at the door.

For more information and applications for Battle entry, workshops or tickets, visit VisitLebanonKY.com, call 270.692.0021 or e-mail visitlebanonky@alltel.net

Hampton Inn of Lebanon is the official hotel for the Heart of Kentucky Winterfest ’07. Call 270.699.4000 and ask for the Winterfest rate or call 270.629.0021 and ask about the Winterfest package deal.

In the wake of Alan Bibey leaving BlueRidge to help form Grasstowne with Phil Leadbetter and Steve Gulley, the remaining members of the group have elected to disband after fulfilling some dates in early 2007. Alan tells us that they have some shows in January, and a couple in early February. After those, BlueRidge will cease to exist.

Wildfire, however, has a statement on their web site saying that they will be carrying on as a band, with announcements forthcoming about a new band member and new representation.

Mountain Heart is also expected to have an announcement soon about a new hire.

Alan said that for a limited time, all the BlueRidge recordings will remain available from the band’s online store, which will itself be shut down at the end of January.

Phil Leadbetter has announced his resignation from Wildfire, the band he helped create in 2001. Since the band’s inception, Phil along with Curt Chapman, Robert Hale, Barry Crabtree and Darrell Webb have recorded 3 CDs for the Pinecastle record label. Phil has expressed his deep appreciation for his fellow band mates, but says he feels it’s important for him to move in a new direction.

I feel it is important in my career to begin a new page. I am ready to pursue a new path, and have no desire to hold any of the guys in Wildfire back or jeopardize their band. Therefore, I decided it was time to move on.

Phil is leaving the band on good terms and Wildfire will be honoring all commitments for show dates currently on the books. The band also has plans to move forward. I spoke with Curt Chapman and got this comment from him.

We will continue on with the same people, minus Phil. We are looking at some players now. Phil left on very good terms, he just wanted to go in a little different direction & we all understand. Unfortunately, change is a part of the business. We were very lucky to have kept the same 5 people for 6 yrs. Hopefully we won’t make another change for 6 more. Wildfire will be going into the studio this winter & get another CD out. Everything remains the same . We are looking forward to seeing our fans next year on the road!

Phil has also teased us all with the promise of an announcement on December 1st as to what his future plans are. Sounds interesting…look for the news here on Friday!

Wildfire guitarist/vocalist Robert Hale is working on a solo project, according to the Wildfire web site. They don’t say much about the material or the guest artists, except to say that many of Robert’s long time musical friends and collaborators will be involved.

Prior to joining Wildfire in 1990, Hale had been a member of JD Crowe & The New South, and was a founding member of the group Live Wire, which also included Scott Vestal on banjo and Wayne Benson on mandolin.

The CD will be released on Pinecastle Records, possibly by the spring of 2007. We’ll post with more details about this CD as we find them.

Surely a highlight of IBMA week for me so far was the showcase performance last night from Chris Thile & How To Grow A Band. (more photos here)

Regular readers of The Bluegrass Blog will have noted that I have expressed great enthusiasm for the new Thile CD, How To Grow A Woman From The Ground, and for Thile’s and banjo player Noam Pikelny’s musicianship demonstrated therein.

The showcase featured the same group of players who recorded the new project: Chris Eldridge on guitar, Noam Pikelny on banjo, Gabe Witcher on fiddle, Greg Garrison on bass, and Thile on mandolin and lead vocals. Their short set was wholly drawn from the CD as well, and the material came across as even more polished and authoritatively performed than on the recording. That shouldn’t be - and wasn’t - a surpise, since they spent only a few days preparing to record, and have been out on a mini-tour in support of the CD of late.

They opened with the bluesy, a capella If The Sea Was Whiskey, and then right into the instrumental tour de force, Watch ‘at Breakdown.

I watched the show with Barry Crabtree, banjo player with Wildfire, and we marveled together at the sheer joy of seeing these talented musicians on stage. We both were already familiar with the material from the CD, and had in common a tremendous admiration for the players.

He and I shared a humorous exchange that captured well the degree to which Thile and his crew stand above their peers. (more…)

Episode #41 features an interview with banjo player Barry Crabtree of the band Wildfire. John sat down with Barry recently at the Roanoke Fiddle Fest. They talk about Wildfire, Barry’s history in the music including his time with Larry Sparks, learning to play with a band, and more.

This GrassCast is 18 minutes in length, with a download size of 21 MB (for the MP3 file).

Below is an mp3 file which you can hear now, or download to your computer. The GrassCast is also available in the iTunes music store as an enhanced podcast containing photos and hyperlinks relative to the subject matter being discussed in the interview.

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Direct Download: ep41_barry_crabtree.mp3
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