Monthly Archives: March 2022

Buster Sledge is an adventurous modern bluegrass trio based in Oslo, Norway, who bring a unique voice to our music from the Oslofjord. Consisting of a Californian and two Norwegians, the three first met in an online bluegrass comment forum and decided to create a band.

Central to the group is Michael Barrett Donovan, an American fiddler, singer, and songwriter who moved to Norway in 2019. There he encountered Mikael Jonassen, the country’s first higher-education certified banjo player, and Jakob Folke Ossum, jazz guitarist turned flatpicking devotee, and their debut album, Spirit, was released the following year.

The band is recently signed to Hello Records and their first project with their new label, Call Home, is expected in May. We are delighted to share the debut single today, a song Donovan wrote and sings called On The Wind, which he tells us comes from a common folk legend.

“There is a folk music archetype, one that inspired this song, which exists in several variants that at least contain a sister who in a fit of jealousy murders her younger sister, the body of said murdered younger sister being used to construct an instrument, and that instrument continuing on with some aspect of the murdered sister (e.g. will only play sad songs, reveals the identity of her murderer, creates a bad vibe at her murderer’s wedding etc.) into its next form.”

The arrangement builds slowly from a solo banjo and vocal, gradually incorporating other instrument and voices, and finally reaching a instrumental crescendo at the end. It’s not your typical bluegrass song, but well worth the time to explore with Buster Sledge.

For the music video, the guys put together a clever concept involving a couch and some clean laundry.

Check it out.

On The Wind is available now from popular download and streaming services online. Look for Call Home to hit on May 27.

The International Bluegrass Music Association is now accepting applications for several of the major components of the 2022 World of Bluegrass convention, to be held in Raleigh, NC from September 27 through October 1. For many of us, attending this year will be the first opportunity to be part of this annual homecoming since 2019, should current pandemic trends continue in the same direction.

Starting today, IBMA will accept applications for the following:

• Bluegrass Ramble Official Showcases
• IBMA Live! Street Stage performers
• IBMA Songwriter Showcase
• IBMA Business Conference proposals

Those interested in submitting for any of these needs to complete an application by March 31 and get it to the IBMA. They can all be filled out online.

They are also accepting submissions for projects eligible for voting during the 2022 IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards. This is the “For Your Consideration” list that the association provides to its voting members for the first round of balloting, and while projects that meet the requirements are eligible whether they are on the list or not, it does offer a big “front of mind” benefit to be mentioned there.

The Bluegras Ramble is the big get for artists and entertainers at World of Bluegrass. Those selected have the opportunity to perform at least twice before the registered attendees, typically once in the main convention center and again at one of the downtown venues that put on showcases. Many now prominent artists made their first big impression during the Ramble. Acts do not need to be IBMA members to submit an application.

The Street stages are for the weekend festival held along Fayetteville Street, which is all free and open to the public. The city closes down the streets and local residents come out to enjoy the music, plus food and beverages from vendor along the street.

For the Songwriter Showcase, writers submit songs to the selection committee, and the writers chosen get to perform and pitch their song in front of dozens of artists, labels, and producers.

IBMA is also accepting proposals for the seminars and presentations held during the day while the conference is in session. If you’ve ever thought, “they should do a seminar on X or Y,” here’s your chance to submit the idea, and even manage the session.

More details can be found on the World of Bluegrass web site.

Mountain Fever Records has a new single for Mississippi’s Breaking Grass, a feel good song called Money Can’t Buy You, written and sung by guitarist Cody Farrar.

The song relates a number of examples of the sort of simple pleasures that stick in your memory – a first kiss, the smell of Granny’s cooking, a county baptism – all put together in a mid-tempo bluegrass style.

Farrar shares the vibe of the song…

“Money Can’t Buy You is all about moments like this; little instances that cost nothing but mean the most. The chorus sings, ‘That’s a feeling that money can’t buy you. No drug will get you that high. That’s a story that the world can’t write you, and it don’t cost a dime.’ We hope you all enjoy it as much as we enjoyed recording it!”

Cody is supported on the track by his regular bandmates, Zach Wooten on mandolin, Britt Sheffield on bass, Jody Elmore on banjo, and Tyler White on fiddle. Harmony vocals come from Wooten and Sheffield.

It really is a fun number that is bound to have you smiling as you listen.

Money Can’t Buy You from Breaking Grass is available now from popular download and streaming services online. Radio programmers will find the track at AirPlay Direct.

The IBMA Foundation is really on a roll this year, bringing new ways to support young bluegrass artists to the fore on what seems like a monthly basis. The Foundation is the charitable and educational arm of the International Bluegrass Music Association, bundling gifts from donors of all types into enduring scholarship programs and grants of many kinds.

Today they announce the latest, in honor of Fletcher Bright, one of the most charismatic figures in bluegrass until his passing in 2017. The Fletcher Bright Memorial Grant for Young Musicians will be made annually to help cover costs for lessons, educational materials, instrument rental or purchase, workshops, and camps for bluegrass students at any level. Amounts given will vary with the requests made. The Foundation will consider financial need but such is not required to receive this grant.

Fletcher also has the reputation as a generous philanthropist in our music. A dedicated bluegrass and old time fiddler since the 1940s, he built a real estate business in residential and commercial development from his home on Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga. The company grew to be quite successful, with offices in both Chattanooga and Atlanta. Before he died, Bright funded a scholarship for those studying roots music at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and invited the recipient each year to Chattanooga to perform at the free Three Sisters Bluegrass Music Festival, itself an example of his generosity.

Initial funding for the Fletcher Bright Memorial Grant for Young Musicians comes from the surviving Bright family, Thomas J. Brown of Dalton, Georgia, and Barbara Martin Stephens of Madison, Tennessee, whose combined gift of $24,000 will endow the grant. Like all programs of the IBMA Foundation, other individuals or associations can add their own contributions to this, or any other grant or scholarship under their management. Awards are derived from income made through investments of these funds, and additional donations are greatly encouraged to allow for growth of these amounts.

Board chair Fred Bartenstein shares the gratitude and excitement of the Foundation with this news.

“We are so pleased about the establishment of a grant to help with educational expenses for young bluegrass musicians, named for Fletcher Bright. His colleagues know that Fletcher loved teaching as much as he loved playing the fiddle. We thank the Bright family, Tom Brown, and Barbara Martin Stephens for their generous donations to found the Fletcher Bright Memorial Grant for Young Musicians, and it is our hope that friends and fans of Fletcher will also support the grant program.”

Applications for awards from the Fletcher Bright Memorial Grant for Young Musicians will be available in April on the IBMA Foundation web site, where you can find information on their many scholarship programs, as well as making donations to these or other efforts.

Big Al Weekly has been a figure in bluegrass music since way back in the prior century. As a performer, but primarily as a broadcaster, Al has won fans and made friends all across the US through his efforts in the music world.

Since the late 1980s Big Al has been fascinated with radio, and has found a way to get on the air wherever he has lived since that time. The Big Al Bluegrass Show ran for 15 years in his home town of Ravenswood, WV on WMOV. Moving to Nebraska, he hosted a show on powerhouse station KRVN in Lexington, with a signal reaching more than a dozen states.

A quick look at the various honors that have come his way offers an idea of the esteem in which he is held. Al has been three times nominated as Broadcaster of the Year by the IBMA, and has been named a Kentucky Colonel and an Admiral Of The Great State of Nebraska. In addition, he is a Lifetime Member of the Branson Gospel Singer Association, and was inducted into the Nebraska Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013.

Now his weekly program, The Big Al & Sandy Radio Show, which airs on WDIC 92.1 in Clintwood, VA, on WMMT in Whitesburg, KY, and on The Bluegrass Jamboree online, is getting a big boost. Starting tomorrow (March 2), it will be broadcast on Country Music News International Radio, giving the show time slots in the UK and Germany, plus an additional airing in the US market.

Big Al says that he is delighted to add a bluegrass voice to the wide variety of music on his new network.

“I am very excited to add Country Music News International Radio to my show for many reasons. Not only does it thrill me to be able to share the music and artists with over a million more listeners, but I am happy to add a strong bluegrass element to the station. These are great people that have worked really hard and built an incredible vehicle for music, and I can’t wait to provide them with the bluegrass to help further our genre across the pond as much as possible.”

Weekly’s broadcast partner is Sandy Shortridge, a bluegrass singer/songwriter from southwest Virginia who performs widely in the region, with Big Al on bass.

WDIC also broadcasts Al’s Gospel bluegrass program, Sunday Mornings, and he hosts Music To Truck By on the Overdrive magazine radio service, where he has brought bluegrass music to truckers all over the country.

Congratulations to Big Al and Sandy on this wonderful news!

Celebrated bluegrass songwriter and artist Pete Goble will be inducted this year into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame. Pete passed away in 2018 at the age of 86.

During his many years in bluegrass he wrote or co-wrote some of the most beloved songs in the canon, including Tennessee 1949, Blue Virginia Blues, Coleen Malone, Windy City, Big Spike Hammer, and many others. His songs, many written with frequent collaborator Leroy Drumm, have been recorded by top artists, Alison Krauss, The Bluegrass Cardinals, The Country Gentlemen, Dailey & Vincent, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Hot Rize, Jimmy Martin, Larry Sparks, Bluegrass Album Band, The Osborne Brothers, The Traditional Grass, Rhonda Vincent, and IIIrd Tyme Out among them.

Pete would surely be honored to receive this honor from his native Kentucky, where he was born in Prestonburg in 1932. He will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on October 28 of this year during a ceremony held at Renfro Valley.

Though he was among the most recorded songwriters in bluegrass, with more than 90 cuts, Goble said before he died that he had written over 700 in total. If you check credits on some of your favorite albums, there is a good chance you will find one of his compositions. Other classics from Pete include Please Search Your Heart, Son of a Sawmill Man, Morristown, Midnight Angel, Circuit Rider, I’d Like To Be A Train, and Julianne.

In addition to the many songs he contributed to the repertoire, Pete was also a singer who recorded projects with Bill Emerson and with Andy Ball.

Previous honors include a Distinguished Achievement Award from the IBMA in 2002, IBMA Song of the Year in 1991 for Colleen Malone (recorded by Hot Rize), SPBGMA Songwriter of the Year award in 1997, and induction into the Southeast Michigan Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Honor with Leroy Drumm in 2017. Pete lived in Michigan in his later years.

Also going into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2022 are guitarist Paul Yandell, Grand Ole Opry background vocalist Norah Lee Allen, Opry steel guitarist Tommy White, country singer and songwriter Marty Brown, and new Opry member Carly Pearce.

Ticket information will be posted soon for those interested in attending the induction ceremony.

Congratulations to Pete and all of this year’s inductees!

The staff for the International Bluegrass Music Association office in Nashville is back to a full complement with the naming of Chicago native Ally Lubera as their new Communication Director. She takes the position held previously by Casey Campbell since late 2019, who left in order to pursue music performance full time.

Ally is likewise a performer, cutting her teeth as a teenager as a blues guitarist and singer, developing as well into a fine songwriter. Living now in Nashville, she plays with her own blues group, Ally Lubera and the Stray Dogs, and with her folk trio, Erabellas. She came to bluegrass while studying at Belmont University, where she played in their Bluegrass Ensemble. While in college, she also served as an intern with IBMA during 2018, and is currently the music director at New Creation Church and a songwriting instructor at Interlochen Center for the Arts.

Her responsibilities in this new position will include managing all IBMA communications, including the association’s web site, social media, publications, programs, and newsletters with an eye towards increasing IBMA’s visibility and brand awareness overall.

IBMA Executive Director, Pat Morris, says that her transition into this new role has been swift and seamless.

“Ally’s experience as a musician, songwriter, and former team member have helped her hit the ground running with IBMA. She brings an extensive knowledge of the history, culture, and community of bluegrass, and I look forward to seeing exciting contributions from her in this vital role. She will be instrumental in helping IMBA communicate with our members and the bluegrass world, and will help us move forward strategically to raise the visibility and reach of bluegrass.”

Ally can be reached at the IBMA office by phone at (615) 256-3222, or by email.

Edgar Loudermilk has announced the newest member of his touring band. Jamey Pittman has come aboard on lead guitar.

A native of north Georgia, Pittman has worked as a professional musician for many years. He is known not only for his years in music, but also for his online instructional efforts. Jamey has been flatpicking since he was a boy, going with his father to bluegrass festivals in shows in the 1970s. He brings a wide range of tastes and experiences to the group, and Edgar welcomes him warmly into the band.

“Jamey’s diverse talent is the perfect fit for our new material, as well as for our existing catalog of music. He hit the ground running and continues to gain traction. We’ve a lot of good things on the immediate horizon for the Edgar Loudermilk Band, and we’re delighted to kick it off with welcoming Jamey.”

He joins Edgar on bass and lead vocals, Zack Autry on mandolin, and Wes Pettinger on banjo.

Loudermilk, of course, has long been known for both his singing and his songwriting in bluegrass music. He is perhaps best known for his many years with Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out prior to establishing his own group and recording as a solid artist.

Look for The Edgar Loudermilk Band with Jamey Pittman on guitar this season when they tour near you. You can see their busy tour schedule online.