Monthly Archives: October 2020

Becky Buller needs very little introduction anymore in the bluegrass world. Over the past five years or so, she has been a radio and awards show mainstay, racking up recognition for her fiddling, singing, songwriting, and more. Indeed, at the recent 2020 IBMA Awards, she took home two trophies – Song of the Year for penning Special Consensus’s Chicago Barn Dance, and Collaborative Recording of the Year for her own fiddle extravaganza, The Barber’s Fiddle. Although COVID-related restrictions slightly delayed it, she has a brand new album out from Dark Shadow Recording, Distance and Time, packed with plenty of the story-filled originals and contemporary sounds for which she and her band have become known.

The aforementioned The Barbers Fiddle was an early single from the album, released back in March, and has earned quite a bit of recognition in the months since. Buller and co-writer Lynda Dawson tie together the stories of several fiddling barbers who gave up the dream of life on the road for a steadier income. It’s truly a collaborative piece, with Jason Carter, Kati Penn, Sam Bush, Laurie Lewis, and Shawn Camp all contributing lead vocals, and no fewer than eighteen different well-known fiddlers contributing to the instrumentation. It’s a light, cheerful song with a toe-tapping melody that will surely be caught in your mind for hours after listening.

We Let Each Other Go is a nice country-style heartbreak song that Buller and harmony vocalist Melonie Cannon infuse with plenty of emotion. You can hear a range of feelings in Buller’s vocals – pain, anger, sadness, and a bit of resignation as she realizes that the break may have been the best choice: “Well, I’m sorry you’re broken and sad, but our hearts couldn’t compromise.” You Come Around, which Buller penned with Jeff Hyde, begins with foreboding guitar and fiddle as Buller and duet partner Ronnie Bowman explore the intricacies of unrequited love and complicated relationships. It, too, has a fine acoustic country vibe for which Buller’s vocals are well-suited.

The Ride, co-written by Buller and Eric Gibson offers a nice groove courtesy of Ned Luberecki’s banjo (as well as a cool bass solo from Daniel Hardin), and a message of putting your foot down and choosing yourself. “I’ve been a loser, I’ve been a fool,” Buller realizes, “Freedom is when you decide you’re not just along for the ride.” I Dream in Technicolor takes things way into the funky side of bluegrass with Buller delving into the wild and crazy dreams she has (“space lobsters tried to steal my baby, eight mobsters tap danced through my yard”), with hand claps, echoes, vocal bends, and more. According to the liner notes, Buller had been tossing around the song’s catchy chorus for years, but finally decided to use her “real-life, completely bizarre dream sequences” in the verses.

Several numbers take on religious or spiritual themes, including Salt and Light, which seems to address God and Biblical admonitions for living the best version of life: “You ask us to give, give to each other in love, with humble abandon that seeks no reward.” Harmonies from The Isaacs, percussion from Chris Brown, and Luberecki’s gently rolling banjo give the song a peaceful, almost haunting vibe – sort of a ’90s acoustic pop meets the ’70s feel. On completely the opposite end of the Gospel spectrum is the bluesy, Southern Gospel-influenced Tell the Truth (Shame the Devil), which Buller wrote with frequent collaborator Jon Weisberger. Legendary Gospel group, The Fairfield Four, joins her for some powerful harmony vocals on what is one of the album’s best tracks.

Though Buller is joined by a number of talented guests here, her core band for the album is also her touring band – Luberecki on banjo, Hardin on bass, Dan Boner on guitar, and Nate Lee on mandolin. As is often the case when recording with a band you play with so frequently, the result here is tight, impressive musicianship. Buller runs the gamut from country to Gospel to progressive grass, but, to put it simply, it all sounds good. Buller and her band’s love for what they do shines through, resulting in yet another winner of an album.

For more information on Becky Buller, visit her website. Her new album is available from a number of music retailers.

Fretless banjo master Adam Hurt has released a video this week for one of the tunes on his upcoming album, Back to the Earth.

The theme of the album is Adam’s celebration of the gourd banjo, played in a clawhammer style, and accompanied by some of the leading lights in contemporary old time music. The tunes selected include both classic numbers that have lasted for generations, alongside newer compositions, all selected for the beauty on these special banjos.

In the video, we see Hurt in the studio recording the track for the new project, with Brittany Haas on fiddle, Jordan Tice on guitar, and Paul Kowert on bass, all members of the instrumental string band, Hawktail. They are playing a tune called The Raven’s Rock, written by Cillian Vallely, piper with Celtic folk group, Lúnasa.

Tristan Scroggins shot the video at Sound Emporium in Nashville during tracking for Back to the Earth, with Dave Sinko at the board.

Adam also has a concert/discussion set for tomorrow, October 31. You can spend your Halloween afternoon enjoying an intimate banjo salon with Hurt where he will both play tunes from the upcoming record and his previous board banjo project, Earth Tones, from 2010. He will talk about the various tunes, and the idea of a gourd banjo, which is believed to bear a close relationship to the earliest banjo made in this country by enslaved Africans.

Tickets are only $20, and for $35 you get a ticket for the Gourd Banjo Salon, and an autographed copy of Back to the Earth. Tickets must be purchased in advance today for this online event, but you can watch it anytime if you aren’t free from 2:00-3:00 p.m. tomorrow.

Back to the Earth is scheduled for a November 13 release, with pre-orders for both CDs and downloads enabled online. 

Around this time three years ago we wrote about a song from an artist new to bluegrass, Mara Levine, and her first single in our world, You Reap What You Sow. The song resonated deeply with our readers, with its simple message of doing well wherever you find yourself, and making life better for everyone by tending your own garden as best you can.

Levine has long had success as a folk artist and jewelry designer from her home in New Jersey. Delighted with the reception her music has had in the bluegrass community, she has recently signed with Bell Buckle Records, who produced a music video for You Reap What You Sow.

Mara shared a few words about how she was able to get this video made in the midst of COVID constraints, and how much she enjoyed working with Valerie Smith.

“Valerie is a talented videographer, and we’d been discussing how to shoot some quality footage of me for several months, but because I live with my elderly parents who have pre-existing conditions, as well as my own health challenges, it wasn’t safe for me to travel to Tennessee to shoot footage, and New Jersey quarantine restrictions made it difficult for her to come to NJ. Finally, we hit on the idea of meeting at a farm close to where she travels in Maryland for her business, and I found The Sunflower Garden, a wonderful pick – your own flower farm in Westminster, MD, about 40 miles from where Valerie was staying, that allowed us to videotape.

She made the trip from Nashville specifically to shoot the video at the end of August, and came up with a wonderful concept which created an absolutely beautiful video! I am deeply appreciative of the time, effort, and care she has put into this production, which was made under such difficult circumstances, and I am very grateful to be part of the Bell Buckle Records family, who are helping me to achieve my goal of getting my music out to a much broader audience.”

See if you don’t agree that this song, written by Susan Shann, has a special charm that belies its earthy style and straightforward lyrics. There’s a reason it spent better than four months on our Grassicana Weekly Airplay Chart when the song was first released.

Mara was supported in the studio by Scott Vestal on banjo, Bob Harris on guitar, Andy Leftwich on mandolin, Rob Ickes on reso-guitar, and Mark Schatz on bass. Greg Blake and Mollie O’Brien provided harmony vocals.

You Reap What You Sow, and all of Mara’s music, can be downloaded from her web site. Radio programmers can find it at AirPlay Direct.

Bill Torbert Jr, former member of Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys, passed away on Saturday, October 24, 2020 after contracting COVID-19 in a nursing home at the age of 81.

Born in Washington, DC and raised in DC and Maryland, he started playing mandolin in the mid 1950s. Bill soon joined a band with high school friend Monte Monteith named the North Carolina Mountaineers with Chris Warner on banjo. When Monte was required to switch his day job with DC’s metro bus system to the night shift, Bill joined Jimmy Martin’s band soon afterwards.

Their first recording session took place in September 1963, and included J.D. Crowe (banjo) for four tracks – Widow Maker, I’m Thinking Tonight of my Blue Eyes, Red River Valley, and John Henry.

Their second and third recording sessions in December 1965 and January 1966 included Bill Emerson (banjo) on eight tracks – I Can’t Quit Cigarettes, Lost Highway, The Good Things Outweigh the Bad, The Summer’s Come and Gone, Fraulein, You’re Gonna Change (Or I’ma Gonna Leave), Tennessee Waltz, and Little Maggie. Bill also traveled with Jimmy playing shows and festivals including the very first multi-day bluegrass festival at Fincastle, VA in September 1965.

Bill later went on to record and play with Delmar Delaney, Jack Fincham & the Dixie Grass, and Appalachian Reign with Tom Knowles. He later rejoined his high school friend Monte Monteith in the Skystone Band, which allowed him to continue playing, recording, and performing well into his 70s. He is survived by his wife Beverly C. Torbert, and his son Bill Torbert III.

R.I.P., Bill Torbert.

Earlier this week, the home of Harry Grant, promoter of the Wind Gap Bluegrass Festival in Pennsylvania and a very popular figure in bluegrass, was destroyed by fire.

Fortunately, Harry was not home when the fire began, and retuned to find flames coming from an upstairs window. His life was very possibly spared by making a trip to Wal-Mart in the middle of the night on October 22, or he may have been asleep when the fire started and overcome by smoke.

The nearest fire station was just a short distance away, and trucks arrived quickly, but his historic wood frame house was quickly engulfed by flames. All was lost, and Grant reported being most affected by the loss of a hard drive containing records from years worth of festivals, and his collection of 37 years of Wind Gap t-shirts.

In addition to running the festival, Harry depended on his work as a live audio engineer for financial support, and with the prohibition on musical performances this summer, he had let his homeowners insurance lapse.

So friends in the bluegrass world have leapt to his aid, launching a GoFundMe campaign that has already come close to reaching its initial goal of $10,000, and seems certain to climb even higher. At this point nearly everything Harry owned has been reduced to ashes, and he is staying with friends until a next step is clear.

All monies raised in this campaign will be donated directly to Harry, to help him back on his feet and try to get his life back to normal.

Anyone who has enjoyed attending Wind Gap over the years, or has come to know Harry as a friend through the bluegrass community, is encouraged to give generously if you are able. It will be a difficult feat to come back from this, but Harry is in good spirits, and determined to do so.

You can find the GoFundMe Campaign online, where donations can be made using a major credit card or PayPal.

Best of luck, Harry!

Some good news in the midst of a global pandemic! Bluegrass sweethearts, Allison Hinson, banjoist with The Hinson Girls, and Jacob Greer, guitarist with Sideline, have officially announced their plans to marry. 

Ally is the third Hinson Girl to marry a grasser. Younger sister, Katie, married Buddy Robertson of Flatt Lonesome, and Ally’s twin, Melissa, married Matt Love, former guitarist/banjoist with Darin & Brooke Aldridge.

The musical couple has been dating for almost five years. Ally from Lancaster, SC, and Jacob from Jefferson, NC, met in Raleigh at IBMA in 2013.

Ally shared, “In 2015, we hosted a Christmas jam which Jake’s family attended. I requested Jake sing Two Dozen Roses and I was head-over-heels for him ever since then. We still talk about that song being the reason I fell in love with him!”

“A few weeks after that jam, Jake’s family drove four hours to surprise me at our show in Darlington, SC. I remember leaving that show and telling my family I was going to marry him one day!”

In mid-October while in Huntsville, AL, visiting Katie and Buddy for Ally’s birthday, Jake popped the question. It came as a total surprise.

“Jake has always told me he would never propose on my birthday, so I didn’t suspect a thing. He proposed the day after and caught me completely off guard.”

“Even though we met through music, I love that we’ve found other things we can enjoy together, especially fishing. Music brought us together, but we definitely have other things in common! He really is my other half,” Ally concluded.

Jake added, “I wouldn’t want anyone else to be by my side. I love you so much, Ally!!! I can’t wait for you to be my wife.”

A wedding date has not yet been set.

Recording King has announced the introduction of their new small sized, short scale, metal body resonator guitar.

Called simply the Parlor Metal Body Resonator, this round neck guitar is made to offer a distinctive voice in the Recording King reso family. Even with the smaller body, they are utilizing a full 9.5” cone, the same hand-spun ones that go into their pricier full size models.

The body is made from bell brass, nickel plated, with a 24.25” scale V-shaped mahogany neck attached, and a rosewood fingerboard. Neck width at the nut is 1.75”, and the bridge is a maple/ebony biscuit.

Recording King created this video to show how well the Parlor Metal Body Resonator guitar sounds in an open tuning.

They are offering this new guitar for $699.99 through their worldwide network of dealers.

Here are a few additional photos supplied by the manufacturer.

Pinecastle Records has a new music video this week for Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road, featuring one of the songs from their current project, Bill Monroe’s Ol’ Mandolin.

Like so much of their music, this one looks back to an earlier time with a remake of a country hit from Crystal Gayle called Ready For The Times To Get Better. First released more than 40 years ago, Jordan says that it conveys a message that resonates just as clearly today.

“I’m very excited about the release of the Ready for the Times video. The footage is real life situations that have happened during a really hard time in our present life. Ready for the Times to Get Better is the perfect song for the times. I’m so proud of our producer, Mickey Stroud, for producing and putting together a great video. Also to Melanie Wilson for photos of disaster events, and Donna Newton for photos of where I live, and where IBMA is held in downtown Raleigh, NC which was recently vandalized.”

Stroud picked up that same theme, saying that setting all these images to the track proved cathartic for him.

“Crystal Gayle released the big hit, Ready For The Times in 1976. While inflation was a problem, it was a relatively good year. Microsoft and Apple were formed, Nadia Comaneci scored the first perfect 10 in gymnastics and the first Rocky movie was released.

Contrast that year with the craziness of 2020, and the song becomes even more relevant, taking on a most impactful meaning. Lorraine Jordan realized that and re-released the song with a powerful video that utilizes story-telling images from a group of photographers with Unsplash.com, Donna Newton, and Melanie Wilson. Creating the video was a release of heartfelt emotions.”

With Lorraine on mandolin, Carolina Road is Ben Greene on banjo, Randy Graham and Allen Dyer on guitar, Matt Hooper on fiddle, and Kevin Lamm on bass.

Bill Monroe’s Ol’ Mandolin is widely available wherever you stream or download music online, and on CD directly from the band.

If this week’s column seems at all disjointed, it’s only because The Night Drivers and I are in the studio all this week, and I’m writing this in between takes of our new medley of Next Sunday Darling is My Birthday and One Night in Bangkok.

It got me thinking about the whole recording process, though, and how different that process can be, depending on what kind of budget you usually work with. 

We in the bluegrass music world tend to work with budgets that shock people in other genres of music for their austerity. In Nashville, if I mention our typical recording budget to someone in the country or Christian music business, they either laugh openly, or they say something like, “I don’t mean your photography budget, what do you spend on the recording.” Other times I just get a pitying kind of look, similar to the look I’d get if I just described how my dog “Squiggles” was run over by a furniture truck. It’s the “I’m so glad I’m not you” look.

Even within bluegrass music, there’s a wide range in recording budgets, literally ranging from $100,000 + at the top end to, well, zero at the bottom end.

I have to confess that I kind of like smaller budgets for recording (please don’t tell my record label I said that), partly because I don’t like recording projects to drag on. I’m also not a fan of the “perfect” record, and perfection is sometimes what you end up striving for if you have a lot of money to spend on a lot of studio time. 

Some of my most favorite bluegrass recordings were done very quickly and cheaply, some recorded in a single day. On the other hand, I’ve heard a lot of high-budget, “perfect” bluegrass albums that were very impressive on first listen, but that I never really had a desire to listen to again. There are exceptions, naturally. We’ve all heard recordings that clearly would have benefited from one more take on a song or two (one in which the bass player was playing in the same key as the guitar player, for example).

Many with little or no experience in the studio might wonder how there could be that big a difference in time and money spent from one recording project to another, and further, how that difference would manifest itself in the recording process.

I thought it might be helpful to describe a typical day in the studio during low and high budget recordings:

Low Budget Recording, Day One:

Studio: Their studio of choice costs $25/hour including engineer (the mandolin player’s cousin) and is in the back room of a barn.

10:00- 10:30 a.m.: The band arrives at the studio, after yesterday’s rehearsal, making sure arrangements are set for the day’s recording. 

The engineer gets set up and gets tones set for the various instruments. 

10:30-11:00 a.m.: The band plays its first take of the album’s first song. A goat walks through the session and begins chewing on the banjo player’s shirt. A second take is necessary.

11:00 a.m.-noon: After a couple of minor bass retakes, the first rhythm track and lead parts are done. It’s on to the second song.

12:00 noon: Two more tracks are done. The mandolin player feels he had a few chops out of place. The producer (everyone in the band) decides it’s fine and everyone moves on.

1:00-2:00 p.m.: Pizza is delivered and eaten. Everyone chips in except the mysteriously absent fiddle player.

2:00-5:00 p.m. Five more songs are tracked, with lead vocals recorded live.

The recording day is over. Plans are made to return tomorrow morning to do four more songs and record all harmony vocals. Mixing will be completed by the end of the week.

Totals for session:

Eight songs recorded with lead vocals and some instrument fixes and overdubs

Money spent, excluding pizza: $150

A guest dobro player was also used, but he has agreed to play in trade for two dozen eggs and some goat’s milk.

High Budget Recording, Day One:

10:30 – 11:00: Four of the band members arrive at the studio. The producer was there but has run out for more coffee. The lead singer is outside smoking a cigarette.

The studio is on Music Row in Nashville and costs $125/hour including engineer (the friends and family rate). There are a lot of framed platinum records on the wall, and the engineer does a lot of name-dropping.

11:00 – noon: The engineer works on bass tones. The producer and two of the band members discuss the demise of the Cardinals in the playoffs last fall. The engineer, while running the bass through a different processor, mentions going to a Mets game two years ago with “Tim and Faith” (“We got luxury box seats thanks to the connection with Tug,” he adds).

12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m.: The bass player takes a coffee break, while the mandolin player starts playing into a microphone. The engineer is somewhere else in the building. The guitar player is looking over the chart for the first song.

1:00 – 2:00 p.m.: Sushi is delivered and charged to the recording tab.

2:00 – 3:00 p.m.: Tones are set for most instruments, although the fiddle player has left to run an errand.

3:00 – 4:00 p.m.: Several takes are done on the first rhythm track. The producer expresses second thoughts about the arrangement, and a discussion ensues with the lead singer who wrote the song. An adjustment is made and they do three more takes.

5:00 – 6:30 p.m.: They settle on a take they like and spend the rest of the day on rhythm guitar and bass punches in the fourth line of the third verse.

6:30 – 7:00 p.m.: The rest of the band leaves, while the lead singer puts several takes of a scratch vocal down on the track

Totals for session:

One rhythm track partially completed, without any lead instruments. Plans are made to recut all the rhythm guitar the next day.

Money spent, including sushi: $1,190

If we check in on these two projects one month later, we find that the band recording in the barn already has the shrink-wrapped product in hand and has spent $2,500, including mastering, photos, and the catering for their album release party.

The band working with the large budget is doing fixes of the baritone part on the chorus of one of the five songs they have partially finished. The banjo player has quit and moved to Australia. They’re discussing replacing his parts. They’ve run through $22,000 of their budget so far.

I wonder if anyone’s ever thought of trying to get a $75,000 budget, then recording the whole thing in one day like Jimmy Martin would do anyway, then putting $74,000 down on a house by the lake (with a good room for a recording studio and/or a goat pen).

615 Hideaway Records has announced the signing of banjo legend Bill Emerson to the label, with plans for a new album with Bill and his son Billy in the works for the near future.

A first single has just been released, featuring Bill on banjo and Billy on lead vocals recutting Ophelia, the classic Robbie Robertson song from The Band, initially recorded in 1975. Fans of the original might not hear it as a bluegrass number, but speed it up a bit, and it works remarkably well in this setting.

The Emersons are supported by Tom Adams on guitar, Wayne Lanham on mandolin, Shelby Gold on fiddle, and Teri Chism on bass.

Here’s the track…

Sammy Passamano, label head for 615 Hideaway, says that while they are delighted with this single, recorded at Phoenix Productions in Browntown, VA, they aren’t rushing to get the Emersons back in the studio until virus concerns are reduced.

“Bill Emerson is a living legend and still has that magic touch. We are working around some 2020 blues, and not rushing the music. When we can get Bill in the studio to record, we will.”

Ophelia is available now for download purchase through Amazon. Radio programmers can find it at AirPlay Direct.

The full album which will hopefully be completed next year will be titled simply, Emerson.

Earlier this month, the 2020 South Carolina State Fiddling Championship was held at the Hagood Mills Historic Site in Pickens, SC. Even with COVID-19 restrictions in place, the organizers were delighted with the turnout, both among competitors and audience alike.

Prizes were awarded in five different categories, for both a junior and an adult division. The junior division was for those 16 and under.

This year for the first time, the October 16-17 event was live-streamed online, and video from all of the competitions can be viewed on YouTube.

And the winners of the 24th annual South Carolina State Fiddling Championship were:

Adult Fiddle

Junior Fiddle

Adult Guitar

Junior Guitar

Adult Old Time Banjo

Junior Old Time Banjo

Adult Wildcat

Junior Wildcat

Adult Old Time String Band

Junior Old Time String Band

The adult categories were judged by Michele Turner (Taylors, SC), Steve McGaha (Easley, SC), Carol Rifkin (Asheville, NC), and Dan Wood (Travelers Rest, SC). In the junior categories, judges were Daniel Yother, Peyton O’Kelley and Emily Brazinski, all from Pickens, SC.

Congratulations and well done all!

Mountain Home Music has released a new music video for Thomm Jutz, one from his current album, To Live In Two Worlds, Vol 2.

It’s a song that Jutz wrote with his frequent collaborator, Tammy Rogers of The Steeldrivers, called In This House. In it we hear the voice of a man telling how his mother kept a brave face for her children when he was young, while she suffered abuse at the hands of her husband.

Thomm explains how this one came together. It’s quite a tale.

“Tammy Rogers and I write about once a week, typically on Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m. We’ve been doing so for over two years and have probably 100 plus songs at this point.

Tammy had the original idea for this. It was just a title. We often write like that, just starting with a title or a line instead of a whole story or concept. It’s fun to start with little more than an image that’s inspired by a title.

Stuff we’d heard and read about, that we had observed, and a good amount of fiction make up this song.

I remember a book turned into a TV series called Via Mala when I was a kid in Germany. A whole family conspiring to kill their paternal oppressor. It scared the hell out of me back then. 

On a vacation with my parents we drove through Via Mala, a mountain gorge in Northern Italy. It was easy to see how secluded that area was 100 years ago, which is when the novel took place. The setting was very similar to the isolated hollers of Appalachia. 

Since Appalachia, especially Western North Carolina, is on my mind so much these days, it makes sense that Via Mala found its way from my subconsciousness onto the page, 40 years later, and connected with Tammy’s title, In This House.

It took us about an hour to write this song and I immediately knew that I’d want to record it for one of my own albums. That’s what we did in May of 2019, and it will be the first single of my new record To Live In Two Worlds, Volume 2.”

Watch and listen…

Jutz is supported on this recording by Mike Compton on mandolin, Justin Moses on banjo, Tammy Rogers on fiddle, and Mark Fain on bass.

In This House and To Live In Two Worlds, Vol. 2 are available now wherever you stream or download music online. Radio programmers can get the tracks via AirPlay Direct.

The Farm Hands have been through a lot in 2020, as we all have, and they are back as strong ever with some new members, an updated sound, and even a new web site. But they are still playing the same mix of traditional bluegrass and Gospel music that has kept this bunch on the road for a decade.

Co-founder and reso-guitarist Tim Graves told us today that this has been a tough year, with several band members leaving, including Daryl Mosley, who started the group with Tim about ten years ago. It was Daryl’s plan to start his own group and function as a solo artist, which he has done, but that was all set before the virus struck.

Graves says that it didn’t take long to reconfigure a touring band.

“The other guys quit when the pandemic hit. We had a full year on the books, but they left when we were shut down. We started working again some in June, and are booked pretty regular now through the end of the year.

So we have three new members. Bryan Graves is on bass, my cousin, who played with Uncle Josh for some time before he died. Kelsey Crews is on banjo, David Mansfield is on guitar, and Kimberly Bibb is still with us on fiddle.”

Even while gigs were slow this summer, the new edition of The Farm Hands were plenty busy in the studio. A new record from Pinecastle is expected in January.

And Tim says that he can’t wait for all their fans to see and hear what they have in store.

“Everybody in the band can sing all the parts, so we can split all the vocals among us. Plus they all play multiple instruments, giving us a chance to mix it up, even having twin fiddles on some songs.”

Graves says that 2021 looks good for The Farm Hands, officially shortened from The Farm Hands Quartet since they have gone to five members.

Keep an eye on their web site for a chance to catch them live somewhere near you.

They say that youth is often wasted on the young. That may be true at times, but when the young folks in question show a reverence for the roots and offer a salute to their seniors, you have to give them credit for their appreciation. Cane Mill Road is one such outfit, and while some might question their broad-minded intents and their efforts to glean material that’s beyond the normal bluegrass boundaries, they manage to make it all work. In so doing, they instill a verve and vitality that affirms the fact that agility and ability are both essential additives as far as their ongoing efforts are concerned.

Recorded live in concert, Let’s All Do Some Living lives up to its title by confirming both their creativity and credibility all at the same time. They start their set with a rollicking cover of Townes Van Zandt’s White Freightliner Blues, a song that could have been written precisely for this purpose. That sets up a sound that freely reverberates throughout the entire album, one that emphasizes the instrumental acumen of each of these young musicians — fiddler, singer and mandolin player Liam Purcell, banjo player Tray Wellington, singer and guitarist Casey Lewis, and bassist Eliot Smith — offering each ample opportunity to solo and bring their musical skills solidly to the fore.

That said, Cane Mill Road is more than a band of skilled soloists, and the fact that they’ve not only melded their talents into a cohesive whole, but also expanded their musical possibilities at the same time makes these performances all the more impressive. A medley that combines a pair of disparate standards — Summertime and The Thrill Is Gone — might seem surprising at first, but they pull it off with ease and aplomb. Likewise, a revisit to the Rolling Stone’s oft-covered classic, Wild Horses, might seem somewhat risky given the variety of versions that precede it, but here again they adapt it to their parameters rather than the other way around.

Cane Mill Road may still be working their way towards the realms of greater recognition, but they’ve accomplished quite a bit so far, as evidenced by a list of accolades that include the IBMA’s 2019 Momentum Award for Band of the Year, as well as two other awards and five additional nominations from IBMA that they’ve accumulated over the past two years. Likewise, if Let’s All Do Some Living is any indication, Cane Mill Road has clearly found the right route to stardom.

D’Addario has added a new item to its accessory line which should attract a good bit of interest from bluegrass players. 

If you have spent any time in the company of grassers, you will have heard stories about the wonder of natural tortoise shell as a plectrum material. Prized by both guitarists and mandolinists, and even some banjo players, for its warmth of tone, true organic shell products have become largely unavailable and quite expensive since laws protecting the hawksbill tortoise have been passed around the world, and the supply of antique items made of shell has dwindled.

A number of companies have risen up producing synthetic materials that are said to mimic the feel, response, and tone of natural shell, with many players singing the praises of this or that pick.

Now D’Addario has entered the competition for a shell replacement with a material derived from dairy proteins called casein. It has been utilized for a number of applications, from paint additives to glue production. Based on phosphoproteins found in the milk of most mammalian species, designers with D’Addario wondered whether these organic origins might offer a sound similar to shell when shaped for picks, and so the process was begun.

At roughly the same time, the company had been approached by mando-master Chris Thile about developing a mandolin pick that could meet his demands. That collaboration has resulted in a new line of picks, including the Casein Chris Thile Signature Pick, a rounded triangle shape with beveled edges which Thile says he is honored to have share his name.

“I’ve been frustrated by my pick options as a mandolinist… I went to D’Addario with my conundrum and we went to work on a solution together. The result is the first pick I’ve ever used that combines a balanced, full-spectrum tone with speed and precision, edge-to-edge, pick-to-pick. This pick does it all! I couldn’t be more proud. HALLELUJAH!!!”

Now available from music retailers worldwide, the Chris Thile pick is made to a thickness of 1.4 mm and sells for $24.99. There is also a 2.0 mm teardrop shaped pick made of casein offered for $21.99.

Thile is donating all of his royalties from this project to the D’Addario Foundation, a non-profit that supplies both funding and products to further music education in primary schools all over the world.

Visit your favorite music store to see and try this new pick for yourself.

Ontario’s Chopped Liver, a contemporary bluegrass trio based in Toronto and Hamilton, is preparing to release their second album in November called D.B. Cooper, with a second single available today in advance of the full project.

The band typically focuses on their original material, but for this one they have reached back for a reworking of the Mel Tillis classic, Matterhorn, so indelibly recorded by The Country Gentlemen in the early 1970s. You might wonder how anyone could hope to improve on the Gentlemen’s version, and you could be right, but the three players that make up Chopped Liver simply offer this tribute after their own fashion.

As a northern, urban-based band, their singing immediately takes on a different flavor, but guitarist and lead vocalist Andrew Ivens says that wanted to further mold the song to their distinctive sound.

“The Country Gentlemen are gigantic for all of us. The way they approach storytelling, along with their style of vocal harmony have always been a huge influence on our playing and writing. We’ve played Matterhorn the way they did it on all those records live for a while now, but wanted to change it up and put our own spin on it for the studio. We settled on adding a few chords here and there, and altering the drive with the clawhammer banjo. Since we recorded this album live-off-the-floor, there are a lot of playful and improvised musical interactions between us in the group. That really exemplifies what I love so much about playing with these guys.”

Have a listen and see what you think.

Andrew is supported in Chopped Liver by Victor Vrankulj on banjo and Adam Vrankulj on bass. All three share vocal duties.

The next record is expected on November 24, the anniversary of the 1971 hijacking where a man identified as Dan Cooper took control of a Northwest Orient Airlines flight, demanded and received $200,000 in cash, and leapt from the plane with the money and a parachute, never to be seen again.

Andrew says that the band took the audacious nature of Cooper’s feat as their inspiration for this new project, including a song about his daring escapade 50 years ago.

“The title track D.B. Cooper, tells the story of one of the band’s favorite fugitive folk heroes who eluded the FBI with a suitcase full of money, and jumped from a commercial airplane in the middle of a stormy night above the Pacific Northwest in 1971. To this day, his identity has not been discovered and whether or not he survived the jump has remained a mystery. We tried to tap into that outrageously brazen attitude that this heist would have taken as a ‘jumping off’ point for a lot of the writing on this album.”

D.B. Cooper will be available on November 24 wherever you stream or download music online, and on CD directly from the band’s web site.

Here’s one for everyone who thinks that young people are abandoning traditional bluegrass.

Alan Sibley, noted Mississippi mandolinist, vocalist, and bandleader, has united with Anthony Howell, banjo and mandolin man with Williamson Branch, to record an album of new instrumental music. Its title, Time To Pick, is something every bluegrass lover can identify with, and expresses the sentiment that this pair of pro grassers wanted to convey.

Sibley, still a fairly young man himself, started teaching Howell the ways of the bluegrass as a youngster, and watched him blossom into a first rate musician. Something of a celebrity in the deep south, Alan hosts The Bluegrass Trail program on RFD-TV, along with his band, The Magnolia Ramblers, and special musical guests each Sunday evening.

He tells us that he has known young Mr. Howell since he was knee high.

“Anthony is from Zama, MS, a little town about fifty miles from me. His parents brought him to me for mandolin lessons when he was 11 years old, and it wasn’t long before I started teaching him guitar and banjo as well.”

A debut single from their album, Mark’s Reel, is out today, one Anthony wrote in memory of master luthier Mark Gresham from Bloomingdale, GA who passed away in September of last year. It’s a nice medium tempo number in the fiddle tune form, starting out with Alan on the mandolin. Howell is on banjo and guitar, Melody Williamson on fiddle, and Mark Tribble on bass.

Here’s a taste.

You can find Mark’s Reel now wherever you stream or download music online. Radio programmers can get a copy via AirPlay Direct.

Look for Time To Pick to hit on December 1.

It’s that time of year again…

Time for all you bluegrass songwriters to sharpen your pencils and get ready to submit your latest creations to the DC Bluegrass Union and their 2021 Hazel Dickens Song Contest. This annual event is held in honor of one of bluegrass music’s most compelling writers, who lived most of her life in the greater Washington, DC area.

Entries are only $30 each with a chance to win a $500 first prize. The entire submission process can be completed online, and the competition is open to any bluegrass songwriter that does not earn more than 50% of their annual income from songwriting or music publishing royalties.

The contest will be judged by a panel of three professional writers, who will consider all the submitted songs, and choose three winners. They don’t consider the quality of the performance on your entry audio, just the melody and lyrics of your song.

As we mentioned, the top prize earns $500, with an award of $250 for second place, and $100 for third.

In addition, the winning songs are promoted online by the DCBU, where they can be heard by artists hungry for good new material.

All entries must be received by January 5, 2021 to be considered, with winners announced on February 15.

Complete contest rules and submission information can be found online.

Rounder Records has released a music video for Innocent Man, a track included on their current album for The Steeldrivers, Bad For You.

The video, created by Grant Claire, captures nicely the eerie and somewhat ominous vibe of the track, a co-write by Steeldrivers fiddler Tammy Rogers and John Paul White, formerly of The Civil Wars, who also co-produced the song.

Rogers says that while this is the first time White has worked with them in the studio – he sings harmony on this one – he has been a long time friend of the band.

“I’m so excited to have both the song AND video for Innocent Man out in the world! I remember the day I wrote it with John Paul White…I felt like it was such a strong statement, but still perfectly styled for the SteelDrivers. John Paul has been like ‘the 6th SteelDriver’ for years, with his co-writing some of our most popular songs.”

Lead vocals on this one come from the newest Steeldriver, Kelvin Damrell, who joined up on guitar in 2018.

Have a look/listen…

Along with Rogers and Damrell, The Steeldrivers are Richard Bailey on banjo, Brent Truitt on mandolin, and Mike Fleming on bass.

Innocent Man, and the full Bad For You album, are available now wherever you stream or download music online.

Finally! Banjo players rejoice… a book on the stylings of Seldom Scene banjo player Ben Eldridge is in the works.

Though now retired from the band, Ben was with the Scene from their first jams in his basement in 1971, through their most iconic recordings, which left an indelible mark on bluegrass. Acts I, II, and III, Live at the Cellar Door, and Old Train changed the way we look at the music, and Ben was on board for those and a dozen more albums until he stepped away in 2016.

Countless banjo players labored over those records to learn his stuff – long before slow down software, or even computers, were around to assist in the effort! His impact is difficult to overstate. In 1981, I bought a Stelling Staghorn primarily because he, and Alan Munde, were playing one.

Tentatively titled Ben Eldridge on Banjo, the book is being written by DC-area banjoist and all-around bluegrass promoter, Randy Barrett. He tells us that it will be formatted as a tab book, but with extensive input from Ben, both about the solos and songs included, and about his life and career in bluegrass music.

“I’ve been a Ben Eldridge superfan for more than 40 years. Ben’s elegant and tasteful playing has formed the stylistic bedrock of a generation of banjo players, including me. Somehow, he manages to combine both drive and bounce, and his ballad playing is simply otherworldly. And yet Ben is underrated in the pantheon of banjo greats. It’s my hope that this book will help change that.

This will be a combination of Ben’s musical history and influences, and his philosophy about how banjo fits into bluegrass. And there will be lots of tabs of his iconic breaks and back-up, and more. It’s a real honor to be working with him on the project.”

Randy has already put a lot of work into the book, completing transcriptions of many of the pieces he will feature in the book, and consulting with Eldridge at some length. Both Ben and his son, Chris, will be involved, as the younger Eldridge spent a great deal of his youth traveling with the band, and has some important memories that Barrett wants to work into the narrative.

The author says that his goal is to capture the mindset that led to such memorable banjo playing.

“I’m most interested in getting into Ben’s process in fashioning his solos. In talking about the book with Ben, he says of his time with the Scene, ‘I was just a helper.’ That says volumes about his banjo philosophy.”

Wonderful news for the banjo community. I’ll be first in line for one of these!