Monthly Archives: November 2021

Nate Burie, former mandolinist with Special Consensus, and his wife, Rachel, are celebrating the birth of their first child.

Alistair John Burie made a surprise appearance on November 22 at 3:30 a.m. more than two months early. His birth weight was only 2 lb, 6 oz!

It has been quite an ordeal for Rachel, but Nate says that things are going well, all things considered.

“At 28 weeks, Rachel was hospitalized for high blood pressure and diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. She spent 11 days in the hospital before being discharged yesterday, and is recovering well.”

Little Alistair, however, remains hospitalized in the NICU at St Thomas Midtown Hospital in Nashville. Nate and Rachel can visit him, of course, but are still uncertain when he will be able to come home with them to stay.

“It’s hard to say when he will be able to come home. It depends on how he grows in the coming weeks. Around Christmas at the earliest, or his due-date at the latest (February 3rd)!”

Many congratulations to the Buries, and prayers for their son’s continuing healthy development.

And a big Bluegrass Today welcome to Alistair John Burie!

Celebrating ten years of music in the beautiful mountains of east Tennessee, Lorraine Jordan presents Bluegrass Christmas in the Smokies this week, December 1-4. Due to surgery, Doyle Lawson will not be able to perform on Thursday as originally planned. Larry Sparks will fill his spot on the star-studded schedule.

Lawson shared, “I regret that Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver will not be performing at the Christmas in the Smokies event this year due to surgery to remove a squamous cell carcinoma. It is one of the two most common skin cancers and is rarely life threatening, but it is more aggressive than basal cell so they want me to get it taken care of as soon as possible. December 1 was the earliest that they could do it. It is an out-patient procedure, but I have to remain inactive for at least 48 hours. I tried to get the procedure moved to the first part of January, but they needed to do it within four weeks after the biopsy. Lorraine has a great cast of talent lined up for your enjoyment. The soulful singer, Larry Sparks, will be there presenting his style of bluegrass and Gospel music. If you have never been to Christmas in the Smokies, let me encourage you to go. You won’t be disappointed.”

Jordan reiterated, “Happy to announce the legendary Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers will be appearing at Christmas in the Smokies Bluegrass Festival in Sevierville, TN.”

The four-day music event kicks off on Wednesday, December 1, with host band, Lorraine Jordan and Carolina Road, followed by Seth Mulder and Midnight Run, Zink and Company, and Little Roy & Lizzie.

Sparks will be performing on Thursday, December 2, along with Williamson Branch, the Dean Osborne Band, Larry Efaw and the Bluegrass Mountaineers, and Jordan’s band.

Friday’s line-up features the Jesse Alexander Band, the Crowe Brothers, Danny Paisley, Junior Sisk, the host band, and Gary Brewer and The Kentucky Ramblers who will be celebrating his 40th anniversary in bluegrass. Saturday’s show includes the Wood Family Tradition, Caroline and Company, Deeper Shade of Blue, and Sideline.

The indoor festival takes place in the Sevierville Convention Center located at 202 Gists Creek Road, Sevierville, TN. For tickets, call 919-779-5672.

We will provide coverage from the festival later this week.

615 Hideaway Records has a new single this month for Audie Blaylock and Redline. It’s the title cut from their upcoming album, Different Than Today.

Like much of the band’s original material, this song was written by bassist Reed Jones. It tells a bit of his family history, relating the true story of how his grandparents moved from eastern Kentucky to southwest Ohio where work was plentiful in their youth. A great many families in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan have a similar backstory, one told in aggregate in the recent book, Industrial Strength Bluegrass, by Fred Bartenstein and Curtis W. Ellison.

Jones says that keeping in touch with where you come from, and those who preceded us in the world, helps us keep track of who we are.

“At their best, songs help us make sense of the world. Different Than Today not only honors the legacy of my grandparents and their journey from eastern Kentucky to southwestern Ohio, the act of writing and recording it has helped me find my way forward in the face of this frenzied world, all by maintaining a healthy and meaningful connection to my own history.” 

Blaylock sings the lead and plays guitar, supported by Jones on bass, Evan Ward on banjo, and Mason Wright on fiddle. Guest mandolin is provided by former Redline bandmate Patrick McAvinue.

Have a listen…

Different Than Today, the single, is available now from popular download and streaming sites online. Radio programmers will find the track at AirPlay Direct.

The full album from Audie Blaylock and Redline is expected sometime next year.

Billy Blue Records has a ripping new single for Darin & Brooke Aldridge, featuring the legendary Oak Ridge Boys, that is sure to be a hit on both the bluegrass and Gospel charts.

It’s one written by Jimmy Fortune of The Statler Brothers called He’s Getting Me Ready, which the Brothers recorded on their final project, Amen, in 2002. The original was taken at a brisk tempo, making it a perfect candidate for grassification.

The Aldridges give it a hard driving treatment with harmony vocals from the Oaks. Gospel fans will enjoy the harmony singing and the message, while grassers will pick up on the wicked instrumental solos from Darin Aldridge on mandolin, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Matt Menefee on banjo, and Zeb Snyder on guitar.

Darin explained how he and Brooke became acquainted with the Oak Ridge Boys and got them into the studio for this latest record.

“We first met the Oaks while traveling and doing shows with Jimmy Fortune about four years ago  We got to do many shows together, along with a few Opry performances with them, and became good friends.

Since Jimmy Fortune wrote He’s Getting Me Ready, we thought it would be special to have The Oak Ridge Boys join us on the song because of the connection we all three share together.”

Check out the music video which combines live footage of Darin & Brooke with their band, along with live performance shots of them with the Oaks on stage at the Mill Town Music Hall in Bremen, GA. The Aldridge’s and their band opened a show for The Oak Ridge Boys there, and the guys came out to sing this song with them on stage. The entire sold out concert was recorded on video, so they were able to grab this part for their music video.

He’s Getting Me Ready is included on Darin & Brooke Aldridge’s latest album, This Life We’re Livin’, and can be found on popular download or streaming sites online. CDs and LPs can be ordered directly from the artists.

Paige Capos have been made by the Paige family in Michigan for 33 years, providing quality, cost-effective, American-made capos to the fretted stringed instrument world since 1988.

Now they are preparing to introduce a new model, the Paige Pro, with a number of innovative design elements that they expect will revolutionize the way we look at fine capos going forward.

Bryan Paige and his wife, Lisa, run the company now, which Bryan and his dad started from their own tool and die shop all those years ago. Most consumers think of Paige as a budget capo outfit, as most of the items in their catalog for guitar, banjo, and ukulele are in the $15-$40 range, a price accessible for students, amateurs, and professional players looking for functionality at a decent price.

But Bryan said that it didn’t start out that way.

“I’m a tool and die maker, and me and my dad had a small shop that built parts and fixtures for the automotive industry. Dad played bluegrass guitar like Lester Flatt did, with a thumbpick. We decided to try making a capo in the shop since we were both guitar players. We had noticed people advertising a willingness to pay up to $75 for old McKinney capos in the late ’80s, and decided to try it ourselves. Before long we were making stainless steel capos for friends based on the old design, and designed new tooling to manufacture them in bulk.”

But after satisfying the demand through word of mouth, it became clear that the price they were asking in ’88, a whopping $29.95, was a bit rich for pickers who could buy a Shubb capo for $14.95. So their focus switched to making less expensive models based on Tom McKinney’s original design. Using less costly and lighter weight materials allowed them to compete head-to-head with other capos on the market, and Paige developed a distribution network of music retailers all over the world.

With the company running smoothly making capos for acoustic, electric, classical, and 12 string guitars, plus banjo and ukulele, Bryan has been spending time on his new idea for a high end capo for discriminating professionals and players who demand the very best for their valued instruments. The fact that such players are also willing to pay more for finely machined and manufactured capos these days certainly factored in his decision.

The Page Pro is a stainless steel capo, based loosely on the McKinney model of enclosing the neck and applying pressure from below, but instead of having a steel bar covered in a plastic or rubber-type sleeve, has six individual inserts placed in the u-shaped channel of the capo arm. Two patents are in the works for this model, one already granted for the insert system, and one in process for the unique thumbscrew wheel used to tighten and loosen on the neck.

Bryan explained the Paige Pro thusly…

“Across the bar there are six individual inserts, made from a hard, dense material, like your nut. Each has its own spring movement so that, when you clamp it down, each string can move to where its pressure is ideal. The inserts themselves are made using a high tensile plastic, similar to what you see in the Blue Chip picks.

The screw mechanism uses a left-handed double lead thread, which makes the pressure finely and individually adjustable. The whole bar system was designed for enhanced tone innovation, which we call ETI.”

Paige is offering a lifetime warranty on the steel parts, and the inserts and the suede that covers the inside of the capo surface are available as replacement items. The Paige Pro will sell for $230 once in production, though an initial batch of 150 for acoustic guitar are expected early in 2022. These, which will likely become collectible, are individually serialized and can be pre-ordered now for $200 online.

Another batch of 500 will be delivered in February, followed by banjo and 12 string guitar by next summer. The delay has been in finding a company to make the molds for the steel injection process. Their testing has shown that injected stainless steel retains 98% of the hardness and strength of machined stainless. It’s a process used for a good bit of dental equipment, and now that a firm in California has been found to build these molds, manufacture and assembly can begin in Michigan.

Bryan designed the Pro model himself, and he and Lisa have been involved with prototyping much of this year. They had planned to make the trip from Michigan to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for the Bluegrass Island Bluegrass festival last month display the prototype , but both came down with COVID. They have recovered nicely after participating in a jam session where several of the folks present had been exposed.

Paige is quite pleased with the end result.

“Now you can tune with the capo on. The string moves easily through the capo one it’s in place.

My friend David Carroll, from Hammertowne, tried one out and said that it’s like not having a capo on.”

The Pro also includes the technology introduced by Paige in their Clik models, which allows the player to press a button to bypass the tension created by the wheel in order to quickly move the capo to a new position on the fretboard, or to store it behind the nut.

Lisa shared a number of photos of the prototype, which we include below. Please note that the final product may differ ever so slightly in appearance, and that these photos are of a capo that has been heavily used and tested.

Pre-orders for the first batch of Paige Pros for guitar can be placed now online.

From Finland comes Self Rising Flour, a four-piece group that specializes in original traditional bluegrass written by their banjo player, Kalle Tuovinen.

They released a debut project earlier this year, All Original, filled with solid, old school grass sung in English. In addition to being all new songs, they recorded the entire project live with no overdubs. Does it get much more traditional than that?

Along with Tuovinen on banjo, Self Rising Flour is Johannes Oksanen on mandolin, Benjamin Oksanen on guitar, and Hannu Vanhatalo on bass.

Now they have a Christmas single to share, Santa Gave Me A Banjo, a medium tempo number about a little boy who discovered bluegrass one summer and wrote to Santa asking for a five string. After getting his own banjo and learning to play, he decides that St. Nick must be a bluegrass fan as well.

Have a listen…

Santa Gave Me A Banjo from Self Rising Flour is available now from popular download and streaming sites online. You can also purchase it for download directly from the group on bandcamp.

You can always check out all the Christmas bluegrass music we have covered at Bluegrass Today by following this link.

While there are many fine female vocalists in bluegrass music, few can hold a candle to six-time IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year Dale Ann Bradley. Her southeastern Kentucky upbringing seeps into every note she sings, making her music instantly recognizable as soon as it comes across the radio waves. Her most recent album, Things She Couldn’t Get Over, was released earlier this year on Pinecastle Records, and is filled with the uplifting, poignant, and powerful songs for which Bradley has become known.

One of the best things about the songs Bradley writes and records is their messages – often quiet and understated, but always with plenty to say. Beautiful imagery and figurative language often underscore stories of people struggling in various recognizable ways. The title track, written by Bradley and inspired by a high school classmate who struggled with mental illness, is desperate and heartfelt at the same time. Bradley paints a picture of a woman often held captive by the troubles inside her mind, offering lines like, “With thoughts like speeding cars on 25, sometimes she was deafened from the sound.” It’s a fine reminder that troubles are not always visible on the outside. 

Lynwood, penned by David Morris, Gordon Roberts, and Donate Gardner, is another song that will cut listeners deeply. A heartbreaking depiction of a Vietnam veteran, struggling with a “tortured, private war,” and forsaken by the country he served faithfully, it’s filled with poetic, perfectly written lines. Yellow Creek has a much different vibe musically, but still calls for a moment to pause and think about the impact of history. Previously recorded by John Anderson, it’s told from the perspective of a modern-day resident of Yellow Creek who is haunted by the realization that they would not be living there had it not been for the Trail of Tears and removal of the Cherokee Indians. 

Bradley always features excellent Gospel numbers on her albums, filled with earnestness and passion, and this record is no different. The rousing After While took home the 2021 Gospel Recording of the Year trophy at the IBMA Awards. In addition to the uplifting lyrics, it’s jam-packed with fine picking – mandolin from Ashby Frank, resophonic guitar from Matt Leadbetter, and banjo from Mike Sumner, among others. Closing the album is what is perhaps the most moving track here, In the End. Bradley had originally planned to record it with her close friend, the late Steve Gulley, but Gulley learned of his cancer diagnosis just before the scheduled recording session. You can hear the emotion flooding every word as Bradley sings. “In the end, there’s no rewind, there’s no turning back the time. When you leave this world behind, will they say you were their friend? That’s what matters in the end.”

Perhaps less weighty, but no less enjoyable, are several tracks that have enjoyed radio popularity throughout the past year. L.A. International Airport, despite its peppy melody, is filled with wistfulness and longing, told by a woman leaving a man who no longer loves her. Bradley learned the song from hearing Susan Raye sing it on Hee Haw in the early 1970s, and she’s given it a neat new sound that, while fully bluegrass, is reminiscent of pop and country from that era. Falling Down, from Ashby Frank’s pen, was the album’s first single and is inspiring in a round-about way. It discusses the fear of failure, with hushed, urgent vocals in the verses mimicking the worry felt by the singer. It includes one of the best lines on the album: “You know me, I’m getting by. My feet are steady on the ground, but how am I ever gonna fly, when I’m scared of falling down.”

This is one of those albums you can press play and just let it go, soaking in the lyrics and the insightful messages throughout without ever having to skip a track. Based on the merits of Things She Couldn’t Get Over, Bradley’s recent sixth win for IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year is certainly well-deserved. 

For more information on Dale Ann Bradley, visit her online. Her newest album is available from a number of online retailers.

Jason Moore – photo by Deb Miller/ B Chord Photography

Following the unexpected passing of Jason Moore, veteran bluegrass performer and bassist with Sideline, family and friends have established a pair of funds to assist his family with final expenses.

As some of you may know, with Jason suffering a major heart attack while on the road with the band, the costs associated with returning his body for burial near his home in North Carolina are quite substantial. And just as no one expects a healthy 47 year old man to die suddenly, no family has budgeted for coffin transfer fees.

The first is a memorial T-shirt offering with all proceeds from sales going directly to Jason’s family. The black shirts are available in three styles and eight sizes emblazoned with a pensive photo of Jason with his bass on stage printed on the front.

They can be ordered now from the Bonfire web site, with shipping to begin next week.

Some members of his family have also established a fund with a regional bank convenient to Jason’s widow, Mollie, the Woodforest National Bank. To make a donation by mail, send a check to the following address:

Jason Moore Bluegrass Memorial Fund
C/O Mollie Moore
304 E. Arbor Lane
Eden, NC  27288

To ensure that the check is properly credited, note that it is for the Jason Moore Bluegrass Memorial Fund, and indicate these last four digits of the account number: ******8108.

Donations and T-shirt purchases will provide some welcome assistance at a very difficult time for the Moore family, and you can be sure of their gratitude.

Mountain Fever has related their first single for Theo & Brenna, newly signed to the label. It’s a new Christmas song written  by Theo MacMillan called Work On Christmas.

The band is based around Theo on guitar and his sister Brenna on banjo, recording and performing their original music. Both sing lead and harmony vocals. Mary Meyer joins them on mandolin, with Maddie Denton on fiddle, and Evan Winsor on bass.

Theo says that the song is both about and dedicated to those whose work requires them to work on Christmas day. That includes police, fire, and rescue workers, plus people in service industries like grocery stores and restaurants.

“As we approach the holidays this year, we hope our Christmas release will be a bluegrass blessing to all our listeners. Work On Christmas reminds us to thank those who must work on Christmas day for what the day truly means.”

Have a listen…

Work On Christmas is available now from popular download and streaming sites online. Radio programmers will find the track at AirPlay Direct.

It’s time for our annual review of the best new bluegrass music products introduced in the past year. Well it used to be annual, but then the pandemic hit and we had to put this off for a couple of years. There just wasn’t much in the way of exciting or even semi-exciting new products to talk about during this time. The one exception was the new bluegrass sleep aid that was introduced in the fall of 2020, called “With One Eye Open.” They had discontinued it by March of 2021.

Fortunately, between late summer and now, some pretty impressive new arrivals in the marketplace have helped to make up for the many months of drought. Here are a few of the best, in my opinion:

The Inflatable Ego  This is for musicians of all kinds, but especially for lead singers, fiddle players, and/or band leaders who may actually be a little too humble for the business. One dose of The Inflatable Ego and you’ll be playing and singing louder, referring to yourself in the third person, and making sure you’re front and center at all times. Self-promotion will suddenly just come naturally to you, and you’ll even begin to master some of the subtle techniques that have eluded you, like false humility. 

Though it was originally sold as a bitter-tasting powder, it now comes in your choice of easy-to-swallow gel caps or the new Inflatable Ego gummies. 

One of the features our testers loved about it was that it has a strictly temporary effect, usually just three to four hours. This enables you to strut your stuff at a gig, band rehearsal, or awards show, but you can make sure the effects have worn off before interacting with spouses, significant others, or close friends and family.

The bottle comes with this interesting warning:

“The Inflatable Ego is to be used by emotionally balanced individuals only, and works best with kind, humble, and soft-spoken people. Anyone using the product to compensate for deep insecurity may experience an undesirable outcome, which in some cases can result in abrasive behavior and a desire to trash peers on social media to reinforce his/her own importance. Use only as directed. Consult a physician immediately for an inflated ego lasting more than six hours.”

Fold-a-bassist  The last time I was in Nashville, a friend of mine informed me about this exciting new product while we were discussing the logistics of transporting bass players by air. It can be a challenge, especially with tall bass players: they don’t fit easily in an overhead compartment, and buying an extra seat for them can be very cost-prohibitive. Fold-a-bassist solves this problem completely with their new line of bass players that come with a detachable head and neck that simply fold into the bassist’s back. The legs can also be detached and folded upward. After that, the bass player can easily fit into any large-sized suitcase, or into a custom bassist carrying case, sold separately.

Our research team went through the whole process and found it took only about ten minutes to fold and pack our bass player and another ten to unpack and reassemble. Once put back together, he was able to speak normally, play the bass, and even sing harmony parts.

Chicken Hotrod  This is a brand new app, named for Don Reno’s alter ego comedy name when he and the Tennessee Cut-ups would, well, cut up. The app will generate comedy stage names that are suitable for any role in the band. It’s great to have a comedian bass player with big shoes or a banjo player who dances and wears a funny hat, but coming up with a suitable name for these characters is more challenging than you might think. Since Cedric Rainwater, Joe Binglehead, Waldo Otto, and the app’s namesake Chicken Hotrod have already been used,  it’s great to have an app to help with this decision. The designers used names from country music and bluegrass alter ego characters going all the way back to the 1920s, broke those names down into separate components, then just added some additional “funny words” like “flapgum,” “chawbeard,” and “liver.” The results are some highly usable music comedian names. Here are the first ten the app chose for me. You can specify male or female names. Many will work either way:

Eggs Browntown

Beaver Silicone

Darlene Rippledown

Cousin Sipsy

Mandleberry Bone-up

Cletus Undertow

Nanette Nickelpie

Ankles Broadbeam (this one seems more like a 1930s gangster name to me)

Goose Nezzlecone (also possibly a baseball player?)

Uncle Bow-wow

Hello bluegrass friends, Dan Eubanks of Special Consensus here to tell you about an amazing instrument, the Travel Bass. I’ve been asked by Bluegrass Today to review it for you, so here goes. Gonna be a lot of bass specific stuff here, so you’ve been warned, but first a little background into my decision to seek this instrument out.

First, I am kind of a purist. I’ve had the same upright bass for 30 years now, since my college days, and it has been on every recording I’ve ever done that required upright bass, including the last four Special C records, and many more besides. It is a part of me. I want the sound it makes and I want the feel it has in the hands, the vibration I feel from the wood, the position it puts the body in, the whole experience.

Because of that, I have had a very hard time getting comfortable with the class of instrument known as an EUB, or, electric upright bass. There are many on the market and you see more all the time if you pay attention. They all do several things well. I have owned two others over the years, but they just didn’t “do it” for me. So basically, the upright bass, and the player’s physical and emotional, even spiritual, connection with it, like every other instrument, is a very personal, intimate thing, and for some people, it is just difficult to be yourself on the instrument if those boxes are not checked.

In an effort to retain that feeling and performance, when having to fly to a gig or series of gigs, I have tried different strategies, a few EUBs have been in the mix, but they didn’t cut it for different reasons. We settled on a huge flight case for the last several years, horrible to travel with, expensive and inconvenient to say the least, but the shows were great because of having the right instrument. Then, last summer, the airline cracked the case, right across the bridge. My bass was unharmed, but coupled with the outrageous expense of renting a vehicle big enough to carry it, the oversize charges and shoddy handling, I resolved to find another way and started getting serious. I had already been looking into the Travel Bass, the design and concept really attracted me.

Here is where some of you might be saying, “why don’t you just get a folding bass or neck-off option?” Believe me, I considered it, and there are some great designs and some good friends of mine are hot rodding old basses to convert them to be more travel friendly, so if you must have a full size option, there are plenty.

I did not want another full size bass, and didn’t want to convert mine – personal decision – plus when I saw how small the Travel Bass could get, I was intrigued. So I emailed the company by email and soon I was conversing with the man that builds them in his shop in Italy, Gionny Quercetani. Soon after that, the bass was at my house in Nashville, right after IBMA this past year. By the way, there is an “out of the box” video I did floating around on the space books if you want to see.

Let’s talk about the instrument.

It comes in a compact ABS style case, wheeled, backpack straps, only 36 inches tall, which will fit into many airplane’s overhead compartment, including the common 737 I fly the majority of the time. But if it has to be checked, it will be fine in this case. The instrument is fully disassembled in the case, the fingerboard is in two pieces, which snaps and locks together, and the seam is unnoticeable once together. Strings are attached to the tuners and held in place via two velcro straps during transit. This the key to the compactness, since the neck and fingerboard are in two pieces, they can pack into the small case. Everything about the neck, fingerboard, scale length, strings, bridge, pickup, are the same as a 3/4 upright bass.

The Travel Bass comes strung with Thomastik spirocores, but you can easily change to a preferred brand if you like. A Fishman Full Circle or David Gauge Realist are the pickup choices it ships with. The body is a hollow chamber with several circular holes, so it does produce acoustic sound, just not very loud. Once I got it together and adjusted (it didn’t take much of that since Gionny asked about my action and had cut the bridge and set neck angle accordingly before it shipped), I played it acoustically just to get the feel.

Here’s the true game changer, it comes with wood shoulders, giving it an upper bout, which transfers vibration, and is also adjustable to your preferred slope. It has a very long wooden endpin as well, allowing for a good fit and position. This allows for the feel I was going on about before, and the result is a satisfying playing experience, very comfortable. By the way, I use the Fishman pickup, which requires an adjustable bridge, so action is very customize-able, plus, there is a neck angle adjustment! You can really dial this thing in.

I have now played two live gigs on it, both club/restaurant gigs, and I am a little slow on the assembly, but it gets better each time. Assembly time is only negative I can point to, and that is mostly user oriented. There will be a gig bag available for leaving it assembled once you hit your destination if you wish, or for playing locally, but the trade off of easy travel vs setup and teardown is a no-brainer for me.

The sound is just like any other plugged in acoustic upright bass, and adjustable through an amplifier, preamp, or the front of house, but not on the instrument itself, just like most upright basses. Both bands I played it with, Special C and my regular jazz trio buddies, guitarist/vocalist Ben Graves and drummer Bob Harsen here in Nashville, thought it worked great and felt like a full size instrument to play with on stage.

The last thing I will address is the cost, without giving a specific number, but if you are in the market for real, you can look up the cost of a new full size folding bass with case like you see everywhere in use on the road, and the Travel Bass is right in that range.

To conclude matters, I’m keeping mine, and when we finally get past the challenges of the current state of things, and travel hard again, this instrument will serve my needs very well.

Thanks for reading friends, good luck out there wherever the trail takes you!

Nominations have been announced today for the 64th annual Grammy Awards, and with them the coveted award for Best Bluegrass Album. Winners for most of these awards will be announced in a prime time television broadcast on Monday, January 31, a change from past Grammy ceremonies which had typically been held on Sunday evenings.

The Recording Academy defines the Best Bluegrass Album category as being restricted to projects containing at least 51% playing time of new vocal or instrumental bluegrass recordings released between September 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021.

And the 2022 nominees are:

• Renewal – Billy Strings
• My Bluegrass Heart – Béla Fleck
• A Tribute To Bill Monroe – The Infamous Stringdusters
• Cuttin’ Grass – Vol. 1 (Butcher Shoppe Sessions) – Sturgill Simpson
• Music Is What I See – Rhonda Vincent

Billy Strings is also nominated for Best Americana Roots Performance for Love and Regret, and The Isaacs in the Best Roots Gospel Album category for Songs For The Times.

As in years past, the Best Bluegrass Album award will be given during the Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony at a different venue on Monday afternoon.

Concurrent with the release of a new Gospel album from Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road, I Can Go To Them, Pinecastle Records has also released a second single, Lessons Of The Book.

Jordan has earned the moniker, Lady of Tradition, for focusing squarely and inerrantly on traditional bluegrass music – on stage, on her recordings, at the festivals she promotes, and at her coffeeshop in North Carolina. To call it a trademark or a signature would be to minimize her commitment to the music she loves, which she likes to call True Grass.

But you don’t find Lorraine out front much in the band. She is perfectly happy to highlight the talents of her crack ensemble, in this case, Randy Graham of Bluegrass Cardinals and Quicksilver fame. Randy takes the lead vocal on Lessons Of The Book, a quartet number with full band backing which Jordan wrote about what you can learn from reading the Bible.

She says that an all-Gospel project has been something she has wanted to do for some time, and that I Can Go To Them is dedicated to some very special people.

“There is nothing in this world that is as strong as a mother’s love. Our mothers were our number one supporters in our music profession. They offered their wisdom and advice, and were always our biggest fans. Some of our mothers have gone on to a better place. We know that we can not bring them back, but someday we can go to them. All of our mothers have loved Gospel music which influenced us to put this project together.

The Carolina Road Band would like to dedicate our Gospel CD to our mothers.”

Lorraine is on mandolin with Ben Greene on banjo, Randy Graham and Allen Dry on guitar, Kevin Lamm on bass, and Matt Hooper on fiddle.

Have a listen to the new single…

The single release, Lessons Of The Book, and the full I can Go To Them album, are available now from popular download and streaming sites online. Radio programmers will find all the tracks at AirPlay Direct.

Bluegrass songwriter, Billy Smith, has formed a new band, the Tennessee Plow Cleaners. The Nashville-based ensemble consists of David Talbot on banjo, Shad Cobb on fiddle, Smith on guitar, and his wife, Marilyn, on upright bass. Ironically, none of the four piece band originally hail from the Volunteer State. 

Smith, a North Carolina native, joked, “That’s the qualification. We’re all Tennessee transplants.”

The new group have long-standing relationships in bluegrass music. The Smiths and Talbot are pickin’ pals. They also perform with bluegrass fiddler and music business man, Craig Duncan. Cobb and Smith have likewise recorded together. Their history together affords a bond that guarantees great music.

“Billy and I noted how a four-piece group has that extra space and breadth,” said Canadian-born banjoist Talbot. “There’s more room to play or not play, depending on the moment. We’ve also known one another for years, and have much respect for each other’s musicianship. So our music always feels good and natural to us, and hopefully for the listener, too.”

Smith, son of famed Nashville matriarch/publicist/songwriter/journalist Hazel Smith, and square dance fiddler, Pat Smith, and older brother to Grascals’ bassist, Terry Smith, is credited for penning such tunes as Lonesome River Band’s most requested songs Crazy Heart, Hobo Blues, and more recently, Cumberland River Shore.

Tennessee Plow Cleaners will premiere at the world famous Station Inn in Nashville on November 30.

“Come and see us!” Smith concluded.

Christmastime 2021 is really hitting its stride this week. TV networks other than Hallmark are showing Christmas movies, and the stores are putting up their Christmas displays.

Here at Bluegrass Today, we will be sharing a bunch of new Christmas songs that are being released this month so you can listen while making your own family preparations for the holidays. A few have been shared already, and please remember that you can always find them all by clicking this link.

Today we have a new song on Pinecastle Records from Williamson Branch, which consists of the Williamson family of east Tennessee, now residing in Nashville, plus Anthony Howell on banjo. Pater familias Kevin worked many years as a bluegrass sideman before putting a band together with his wife, Debbie, and their three daughters, Melody, Kadaence, and Caroline. The girls are mostly green up now, and the family harmony and dynamic live show they put on together must be seen to be believed.

Their offering for the 2021 holiday season is Very Merry Christmas, written by David Stewart and Megan Torve, that describes a good, old fashioned Christmas scene at home. Melody kicks it off with twin fiddles, and sings the first verse with Kadence and Caroline taking the others. Anthony’s Don Reno-inspired banjo solo is especially worthy of note.

Melody says that this one will get you quickly into the spirit.

“Very Merry Christmas is the warmest, happiest, new bluegrass Christmas song you’ll hear this year! Filled with sleigh bells, family harmonies and Christmas memories, Very Merry Christmas from Pinecastle Records, is sure to get you in a magical mood. It was written by our friend, David Stewart, who wrote our 7 week number 1 hit, Blue Moon Over Texas. We’re proud of the new track and looking forward to the Thanksgiving Day release of its music video. Y’all go listen!”

Have a listen…

Very Merry Christmas from Williamson Branch is available now from popular download and streaming sites online. Radio programmers can get the track via AirPlay Direct.

D’Addario has announced a new compact headstock tuner, loaded with features. Their Nexxus 360 is also their first ever rechargeable tuner, making concerns about keeping batteries handy obsolete.

The Nexxus 360 also offers a lighted full color display on a circular head that can rotate 360° so that it can be clipped wherever it suits you best. The rechargeable lithium battery is good for 24 hours of use on a single charge, and can be recharged quickly using any USB device with an included cable. Like most such devices these days, it is a chromatic tuner that automatically determines the pitch with its onboard sensor.

It is made from high impact plastic and is small enough to fit in a case pocket, or a shirt pocket for that matter. D’Addario says it is effective on any stringed instrument that can accept a clip on tuner, including bass.

The display can be folded down when not in use, also saving on battery drain. An icon in the display always lets you know how much life is left on a charge.

You can see it in operation in this brief video.

This is likely to be a popular item on Christmas lists, selling for $29.95 at D’Addario dealers worldwide, or directly from their web store online.

Jason Moore with Sideline at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival – photos by Frank Baker

The bluegrass world is running short of positive adjectives following Sunday’s unexpected death of Jason Moore, the 48-year-old bass player for Sideline.

“Great. “Amazing.” “Superb.” They and dozens of similar words were used, many of them multiple times, on social media and in phone calls as the shocking news spread. But in the truest measure of what Jason Moore meant to the bluegrass world, the superlatives were used to describe Jason the man as often as they were ascribed to Jason the musician.

Sideline played Saturday at Meadowgreen Appalachian Music Park in Clay City, Kentucky. After overnighting there, the band got ready to leave Sunday morning for a show in Ohio. Jason climbed the first step of the bus, then fell backwards in the throes of a heart attack. CPR from a bandmate briefly revived him in the parking lot, but he died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

His shocked bandmates, bringing the bus home to North Carolina without their co-founder, have been laying low. But co-founder Steve Dilling made a brief post on Facebook: “Jason, you have been by my side for so many years now, whether it was on stage, on the bus, or watching a ball game. I will always love you and cherish all the good times we had, and the music we made in Sideline. Rest in Peace, my brother!”

Dozens of other bluegrasses offered their own reflections, which largely boiled down to Jake’s impeccable timing and his innate kindness and generosity.

Fiddler Michael Cleveland, who knows a thing or two about timing, and will someday end up in the Bluegrass Hall of Fame, said one 20-minute jam session that included Moore on bass “changed the way I though about music forever.” Cleveland, playing with Rhonda Vincent in London, Kentucky, in 2000, remembered that someone, maybe Audie Blaylock, invited Jason to play. “None of us had ever picked with him before. In the 20 minutes that followed, I got a lesson in groove that I will never forget, and Jason Moore became my favorite bass player.”

Troy Daniel Boone remembers being a bundle of nerves before playing his first gig with Sideline. As the band headed for the stage, the young picker heard Moore growl, “Boone.” That was followed by a fist bump, and a gentle promise: “I got you, son.”

Jake, as friends called him, seemed to have everybody’s back, and seemed to be everybody’s friend. He always had time for an encoraging word.

So it was that Saturday, getting ready to play back-to-back gigs, with a bus ride in between. Jake found the time to pick up the phone and call close friend Kevin Prater, with whom he had shared the stage in the James King Band. 

“He was checking on my dad,” Prater said. Marvin Prater had been hospitalized in serious condition. He was discharged today. “On the one hand, it’s a very happy day. On the other hand,” he said, “it’s a very sad day.”

Their band days ended when Jason left to join Mountain Heart, but their friendship endured. “I not only lost a best friend, I lost a brother,” Prater told me this morning.

Moore lined up the audition that landed Prater in the James King Band. Shortly after, as he was about to enter the studio with the band, Prater stayed with Jason and his parents. They stuck him in a room with a cassette tape of rough mixes, calling him out only for meals. Now and again, Jason would pop in and help Kevin with some tricky passages. “He stood by me and pushed me to the limit to achieve what I needed to do,” Prater said.

In the studio, then and always, “Jason was a living metronome. He had the best timing of anyone I ever played with. He provided a rock-solid foundation. It made you want to play. He made it so easy for everybody. He’d pull you right into the pocket.”

Along with his other skills – bass player, harmony singer, bus driver, bus mechanic – Moore was a patient teacher. I knew this firsthand, and still lean on what I learned from him over the last decade. He helped me at a couple of workshops, where we spent the evening hours talking baseball. We both had large collections of baseball cards, and when I mentioned I was looking to downsize, he expressed an interest in helping me. We soon worked out a trade: baseball cards for bass lessons.

Sunday morning, sorting through packed moving boxes at our new home in the Pennsylvania mountains, I came across three or four cartons of cards. I thought I’d call to see if he wanted them. I didn’t know it at the time, but Jake was already gone.

When I told Prater that story, he said, “We don’t know when, where, or how death will come to call. There’s no promise of tomorrow.”

Then he said something that caused a smile to break through the sadness.

“It’s not goodbye. It’s just so long, for now. I hope him and James are together, working on some new songs.”

Jason is survived by his wife, Mollie, and their children and grandchildren. Funeral arrangements will be announced.

RIP, Jake. 

Given a look at all he’s accomplished, most observers would agree that Billy Strings has become something of a phenomenon in a decidedly short time. Yet, at the same time, it’s not without justification. With five albums to his credit in a career that clocks in at less than a decade, he’s certainly shown the initiative to warrant that recognition. Indeed, it’s paid off with some of the most prestigious awards the industry has to offer, including a Grammy, a Pollstar Award, a nomination for Artist of the Year courtesy of the Americana Music Association, and double nods from the IBMA in 2021, for Guitar Player of the Year and Entertainer of the Year.

The fact that the acclaim has come to an artist who’s yet to reach his 30th birthday adds another mark of distinction.

With his new album, Renewal, Strings broadens his boundaries even further, doing so without sacrificing the dexterity displayed earlier on — both in terms of quality and quantity. Boasting some 16 tracks in all, there’s not a weak link in the entire effort. His rapid-fire picking on Hide and Seek, Know It All, Red Daisy, and Secrets offer ideal examples — but also offer opportunity to show off his abilities on piano, bass, keys, synth, and percussion as well.

Likewise, Strings emotes with a vocal style that’s equally effusive, one that at times has him sounding like a vintage back porch balladeer, especially on songs such as Leaders, Hellbender, and This Old World, all of which are embellished with more traditional trappings in a well-seasoned template.

At least partial credit should be given co-producer, Jonathan Wilson, a respected indie artist in his own right who’s overseen efforts by Conor Oberst, Roger Waters, and Father John Misty, among the various others. His efforts help ensure that Strings not only excels, but with that full flourish.

Ultimately, Renewal lives up to its name, although this isn’t so much the revival its title might indicate, as it is further evidence of a decidedly prolific prowess. Strings is nothing less than a tour-de-force, an artist with a skillset that allows him to transcend at every endeavor.

Suffice it to say, Renewal provides the proof.

Ben and Cassie Wright (11/13/21) – Chelsea Paige Photography

Ben Wright of Henhouse Prowlers and Cassie Brooks of Fox Crossing Stringband were married on November 13 in Beaufort, SC.

The couple met at the Naperville Bluegrass Festival in 2014. Ben was attending with Starr Moss, Prowlers guitarist at the time, and noticed an attractive young woman playing banjo in a jam. He tells us that he wasted no time finding out who she was.

“I nudged him with my elbow saying, ‘Who IS that?!’ Starr casually said something like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s Cassie. I’ve been seeing her at jams for a while.’ I remember so clearly being miffed at him for not telling me sooner that there was such a classy and beautiful banjo player in town.”

Cassie plays banjo and reso-guitar with Fox Crossing Stringband, a very successful all-female bluegrass group in the midwest, while Ben is the banjo player and a vocalist with Henhouse Prowlers, who tour extensively all over the world.

When he isn’t out with the band, Ben manages their non-profit organization, Bluegrass Ambassadors, and works with American Voices, who organizes and administers cultural programs for the US State Department. Cassie is a non-profit director for a scholarship foundation in Chicago.

They chose to be married in Beaufort as Ben’s dad lives there.

Ben and Cassie live now in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of Chicago.

Congratulations and best of luck to the bluegrass newlyweds!

The Del McCoury Band has released a second single from their upcoming Almost Proud album, expected to release in February of 2022.

It’s a song that honors one of Del’s favorite artists, Jerry Lee Lewis, on a new number arranged to be reminiscent of The Killer’s style. Written by McCoury and Josh Shilling, this one also includes Josh on piano along with the regular members of The Del McCoury Band. With Del on guitar and lead vocal, Ronnie McCoury plays mandolin, Rob McCoury is on banjo, with Jason Carter on fiddle and Alan Bartram on bass.

Once Again will be included on this next record, which his label, McCoury Music, describes thusly.

Almost Proud, out on February 18, 2022, is comprised of four songs about love lost, one love song that sounds like many others he’s cut as a tribute to his wife of 57 years, Jean, two cheatin’ songs, 2 drinkin’ songs, one extolling the virtues of hard work, and one about a working-class hero standing up to big coal in the West Virginia of the early nineteen hundreds.

Have a listen to Once Again in this graphic video. McCoury really lets loose here.

Once Again is available now as a single from popular download and streaming sites online. Pre-orders for the full Almost Proud album are enabled online as well.

Mountain Home Music’s new single for Chris Jones & The Night Drivers includes two familiar Christmas favorites, performed in an understated acoustic/bluegrass style.

The two songs are Rise Up Shepherd and Follow, and In The Bleak Midwinter, one each from the American and European traditions.

Featured are Chris Jones on guitar and lead vocal, with Mark Stoffel on mandolin, Marshall Wilborn on bass, and Grace van’t Hof on ukulele. Also on the tracks are Tony Creasman on percussion and April Verch on fiddle.

Musicologists have a hard time dating the entry of Rise Up Shepherd and Follow into the American catalog, but agree that it rose as an African American spiritual from the days of slavery. It doesn’t appear in print until the reconstruction era, but many believe it goes back to the days when its anonymous author lived under the yoke of forced labor.

Chris says he had learned it as a boy.

“This is a song I’ve been listening to and singing along with since I was a kid. I first heard it on a record by Odetta; I was probably five years old at the time. In spite of that long history with the song, I’d never performed it until a couple of Christmases ago. Marshall Wilborn is well-known for his traditional bluegrass bass playing but he doesn’t always get credit for his versatility as a bass player. He shows that versatility in his lead work on this recording.”

In the Bleak Midwinter has a more certain lineage, which Jones also traces to his childhood.

“This is a 19th century poem by Christina Rossetti set to a traditional melody. I learned a harmony part to it while caroling when I was 11 years old. I’ve always loved it and had so much fun recording it.”

Both tracks are available now from popular download and streaming sites online (Rise Up Shepherd and Follow In the Bleak Midwinter). Radio programmers will find both at AirPlay Direct.