Roots Freeway guitar competition winner

Thanks to Roger Ryan for the following item from his 'Country cuts' column, which amplifies the BIB post of 17 December:

The popular country music programme 'Roots Freeway', which is presented every Tuesday night at 9.00 p.m. on RTE Radio 1 by Niall Toner, ran a competition recently with the fantastic prize of a Gibson Les Paul guitar, which was sponsored by the Gibson Company. The questions were very difficult, as the prize had a value of over €2,500.00:

(1) Name the acoustical engineer who signed the instruments he thought were the very best of any batch during his tenure at Gibson? [Lloyd Loar]
(2) Where was the original Gibson factory? [Kalamazoo, Michigan]
(3) Name the guitarist who is most associated with Gibson's range of electric guitars? [Les Paul]
(4) Name the female leader of country music's first successful family band, whose trademark instrument was a large black Gibson acoustic guitar? [Mother Maybelle Carter]

In spite of the difficult questions, the programme received over 270 correct answers. Popular radio DJ Dave Fanning came in to the Roots Freeway studio and picked the winner, who turned out to be Tim Casey from Cork city. On 27 January 2009 the RTE crew travelled to Cork and presented Tim with his Gibson Les Paul during the Roots Freeway programme which was broadcast from the Cork studio. Tim was a worthy winner, and the special guests on the night also included the Cork-based Lee Valley String Band, Sara Corkery, and her friend Aine, who were both celebrating the release of new CDs.

Prairie Dawgs, Tupelo, Little Ass Birds TONIGHT in Dublin

Conor Farrell of the Prairie Dawgs reports:

Sorry about the last minute but if you're in town later...

Tumbleweed Love presents a night of kick-ass country/bluegrass in Peadar Kearney's (downstairs) on Dame St, Dublin 2. It's the Prairie Dawgs' first gig of '09 and we've some new songs to boot. Prairie Dawgs are supported by the wonderful Tupelo & Little Ass Birds.

OBS by a master (1945)

Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, one of the most influential fiddlers of the 'Golden Age of Country Music' and a precursor of bluegrass fiddling technique, can be seen playing 'Orange Blossom Special' in a clip from the 1945 B Western film Lonesome trail on YouTube. More biographical info is appended to the film clip.

This is one of twenty-five videos (including similar musical clips from old Westerns, several of which featured Arthur Smith) which can be found on YouTube at the Old Time Music pages. Visit the Roots of American Fiddle Music site as well, where at least one jig appears on a 1926 recording. Thanks to FOAOTMAD for the lead.

Many happy returns, Dr Stanley

Thanks to Lilly Pavlak, of Switzerland and the Czech Republic, for these photos (taken at Jerusalem Ridge in 2007) of Dr Ralph Stanley, who celebrated his 82nd birthday yesterday - 25 February 2009.

Bluegrass Lessons Online

Thanks to Jon Meek, bluegrass performer and instructor in the USA, for news of the services offered through his website, Bluegrass Lessons Online. Jon says:

The site has lots of free tablature, music, and videos to facilitate learning, and I offer one-on-one instruction in banjo, guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and dobro using video-conferencing software such as Skype and iChat.

The system makes it possible for teaching to be tailored to the individual student. Samples from an interactive mandolin lesson on YouTube can be viewed on the site; the scale of charges is here.

Jon has been involved with several genres of music (including Irish fiddle during a semester in Cork): he studied banjo under Tony Trischka at high school; took his BA in music; started the Bozeman Bluegrass Camp at Bozeman, Montana, in 2006; and is a member of the Bridger Creek Boys four-piece bluegrass band, operating in the Rocky Mountain states of the US.

Special gig series at Westport, Co. Mayo

Westport's own: the MacEvillys (Sarah and Hubie), who will appear with Tim Rogers in the new gig series

Uri Kohen, organiser of the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival (26-8 June 2009), reports:

Electric Cave Productions, in association with Geraghty’s pub (the Octagon, Westport) is proud to announce a series of monthly gigs to promote the 3rd Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival. The gigs will be free to the public, but we hope to raise some very needed funds for the festival.

*The first gig will take place on 13 March: we will host David Hope from Shannon, and he will be joined by one of Mayo's top musicians, Tommy Lyons from Balla. The gig will showcase the unique sound of folk with touches of bluegrass.

*On Saturday 18 April we will welcome the MacEvillys with special guest appearance from Tim Rogers. Together they provide a superb bluegrass concert, and they are sure to bring the house down.

*The next gig will be on Saturday 23 May. For that date we will give the stage to a fantastic singer-songwriter from Derry – Eilidh Patterson. She will come to Westport after a small tour in the USA, and on the back of releasing her first album.

*On Thursday 28 May we will host in Westport for the first time Hat Fitz; he is coming to us after three years in the Castelbar Blues Festival, where he got an army of fans.

*On the last weekend of June we will have Stevie - One Bloke One Mandolin. He will play on Friday 26 June as part of the Folk and Bluegrass Festival.

*When the dust settles after the festival we will host Gary Ferguson (USA), joined by Colin Henry from Belfast. They are touring Ireland for the third year running, and we are very proud to be included in their tour this year.

All these gigs are part of our new movement to bring fresh sounds to Westport and to give the people of Mayo a taste of other voices. Hope to see you turning out in big numbers to support us and help us continue this project!

Carter Brothers endorse Gallagher Guitars

The Carter Brothers, Danny and Tim (known here from many Johnny Keenan Banjo Festivals), are among the first artists to join a new endorsement program for J.W. Gallagher & Son Guitars, based in Wartrace, TN, who have been producing completely handcrafted instruments for nearly seventy years. The Danny Reid Carter signature model will be available from Gallagher in summer 2009. Tim Carter will be playing the G-50 Doc Watson model dreadnaught.

A Gallagher compilation CD, featuring the Carter Brothers and other artists endorsed by Gallagher including Jim Hurst and Steve Kaufman, will be recorded and released this year, with some of the tracking being done in the Carters' own Tree House Studios in Ridgetop, TN, where many of the top names in bluegrass have recorded.

Thanks to Shari Lacy, formerly of IBMA and now of GoodStuff PR, for the news. NB: Gallagher guitars are also stocked by Tom Cussen at Clareen Banjos near Galway.

Woodbine for Stormont concert, 14 Mar. 2009

Woodbine at Omagh 2008

Athy-based band Woodbine will be taking part in a unique concert in Northern Ireland during St Patrick's weekend this year.

Last year at the Foyle Ulster Scots Festival launch in Derry at which Woodbine performed, William Hay MLA, Speaker at Stormont, expressed a desire to bluegrass organiser Frank Galligan that he would be interested in a St Patrick's Day concert which celebrated the rich cultural diversity in music, song, and the bardic tradition in Ulster and the rest of Ireland. The good news is that the concert will be taking place on Saturday 14 March, but will only be open to invited guests: it will be indoors in Stormont.

As well as Woodbine, other guests include the sensational group Kintra, born out of a cross-community project between traditional musicians in Donegal; a brass band in Strabane; and the Ulster-Scots Highland dancing traditoon in Tyrone. Also featuring will be the very funny Declan Forde (photo right), who performs 'poems with chords' and qualifies as a latter-day Bard of Tyrone.

John Fraley

Enda Donnelly of Fair City Grass writes:

John Fraley, musician and mandolin craftsman of Dungannon, VA, USA, died last Monday aged 84 years and was buried today (21/02/2009). John was a wonderful, friendly and kind man, a veteran of the US Navy, and took part in World War 2.

I first spoke to John in 1992 following a conversation I had with Tim Loughlin, a well known professional musician (fiddle and mandolin) who was then with the Lynn Morris Band. Tim had a Fraley F-5; I liked what I heard and asked John to make me one. John was flattered when I asked him and he told me I was the first person outside the USA to have a mandolin made by him.

He had a Gibson Lloyd Loar on loan at the time and made a note of the design features. He put a Adirondack top (red spruce) on my mandolin as Gibson did (it takes them longer to open up, but it was worth the wait). I still have my Fraley F-5; it's been a great workhorse for me all these years. After introducing my mandolin around the Irish bluegrass circuit, John told me he got further orders from Ireland.

During our many conversations he said he went to school and played music with Carter Stanley of the Stanley Brothers. John also made mandolins for Tim Loughlin, Danny Knicely, Eugene Alred (Country Gentlemen), and also for Keith Garrett. Actually you can hear Danny Knicely play on his Fraley F-5 on his MySpace site.

I will certainly miss John, as throughout the years I had many interesting conversations with him and we often exchanged Christmas and St Patrick's Day cards (he told me he had Irish roots). John was a true friend and I am saddened by his passing. May he rest in peace.

Right: Keith Garrett with his Fraley F-5

Raconteurs plus Ricky Skaggs

Thanks to Uri Kohen, organiser of the Westport Folk & Bluegrass Festival, for this link to the MSN video channel. The Raconteurs indie-rock group are shown recording the 'bluegrass version' of their song 'Old enough'. 'Bluegrass' here means that the band use drums, acoustic guitar, fiddle, upright bass, and - a big 'and' - Ricky Skaggs on mandolin and backing vocals, having a whale of a time.

The third annual Westport Festival will take place on 26-28 June 2009; see the Festival MySpace site for details.

Why old time? - out soon

FOAOTMAD report that a new Horse Archer Productions documentary film, Why old time?, is due out in late March or early April. A very nice trailer is available in compressed form on YouTube. An HD non-compressed version, which may take several minutes to download on broadband, is here. The film can also be bought by PayPal here for $25 including postage from the USA.

Celts, bluegrass, and the Czech connection

Peter O. Ruby with All Bells & Whistles at the 2008 European Bluegrass Festival at La Roche-sur-Foron, France

One of the people your editor had the pleasure of meeting at the European Bluegrass Summit in Germany two weeks ago is Peter O. Ruby, leader of the hard-driving Czech bluegrass band All Bells & Whistles.

Peter's website uses joomla! software to present information in several languages, and it deals with many things besides his own band (look, for example, at the video footage of a very young Ricky Skaggs playing on TV with Flatt & Scruggs). One section is devoted to the Celts in central Europe - Peter says:

The Celts, a topic 'hiding' far right as a last top menu item, is dedicated to the topic of the amazing and obscure world of Central European Celtic population, and as the bluegrass has also sprung basically from the Irish music of the early American immigrants, I do not consider this topic to be so remote that it should not stay here.

Check out the Celtic (and largely Gaelic) links section of the website here.

Bluegrass Night at the Stables, Mullingar, 26 Feb.

Carmel Sheerin & the Ravens

Thanks to Martin Cooney of Bending the Strings for the news that The Stables at Mullingar, Co. Westmeath (voted 'Venue of the Year' in the entertainment.ie awards) is presenting a Bluegrass Night on Thursday 26 February.

It should be a hot night for music: the programmme is headed by Carmel Sheerin & the Ravens, who won the #1 European Bluegrass Band 2005 award at the European World of Bluegrass Festival in Voorthuizen, the Netherlands; represented Europe at IBMA's World of Bluegrass 2006; and now have two acclaimed albums to their credit.


Together with the presence of Bending the Strings themselves on the programme, this night is a historic occasion for bluegrass in the midlands. Tickets can be booked online.

Josh Williams does it again

We mentioned in the BIB post of 15 October that among the honours at the 2008 IBMA Awards Show, Josh Williams received the award as Guitar Player of the Year. Many people in Ireland will remember Josh as mandolin player with the Special Consensus (USA) a few years ago, on more than one tour in Ireland.

When the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA) was holding its annual convention in Nashville earlier this month, Josh was already committed to be in Boston with his band at the Joe Val Bluegrass Festival. So his wife Jenny had to be at the SPBGMA Awards Show, to accept Josh's fifth consecutive Guitar Performer of the Year Award from SPBGMA.

Change in Tupelo gig details, 27 Feb.

Aran Sheehan reports, about the new Dublin-based band Tupelo (see the BIB post of 26 Jan.):

Just a quick update regarding our upcoming gig on 27 February (Friday). We have changed the location from the Cobblestone to the gig room, downstairs in Peadar Keane’s on Dame Street which is right opposite Dublin Castle’s main entrance and a couple of doors up from the Olympia.

It is still the Tumbleweed Love Session, and the Prairie Dawgs will be playing too as per usual. Cover charge is a very reasonable €8.00 and we have a license until 2.30 a.m., so it should be a great night.

Quote of the month

Any song that's authentically country - as opposed to bankrupt rock 'n' roll that's trying to reorganise as country - is potential bluegrass material. All it needs is the utilization of bluegrass instrumentation and the intensification that bluegrass always brings to any kind of country song.

The late Bill Vernon, writer, musician, and guardian of critical standards in bluegrass, in his notes to the Rounder album The Johnson Mountain Boys: At the old schoolhouse (reprinted in Thomas Goldsmith, The bluegrass reader (2004), p. 259

Vincent Cross CD reviewed

Vincent Cross reports from New York:

Just keeping you updated on the new album, Home away from home. It is receiving favorable reviews from the US, UK, and Ireland. The most recent was from Americana UK.

Home away from home (see the BIB post of 4 December 2008) is available at CD Baby and iTunes.

European Bluegrass Summit 'short report' out

The European Bluegrass Summit took place last weekend in Germany, despite severe weather in much of Europe. Among those present were three people from the Irish scene: Richard Hurst (organiser of the Omagh festival and also chair of the EBMA); Chris Keenan of the Longford festival; and your editor.

One of the first things to be done after the Summit was the writing of a short interim press release, for publication on the European Bluegrass Blog and the original Bluegrass Blog pending completion of a fuller account of the proceedings. This 'short report' can now be read on the European Bluegrass Blog here, and on the original Bluegrass Blog (with more photos) here.

And for the banjo-player...

In the box of latest headlines from the original Bluegrass Blog which is down on the right-hand side of the BIB, you can find a tag for today's post on Yates banjos, made in North Carolina. The brief Bluegrass Blog post is worth looking at in itself, but go further and follow the link to the Yates MySpace site.

Apart from the sound clips that give you a chance to distinguish between maple and mahogany banjos, there are a couple of videos - one on the stages of making a banjo, and the other headed 'Yates building explosion'. Your editor can recall having, while still at college, the idea of the banjo as a sonic weapon; but his imagination was unequal to what is shown here. While you enjoy the view, don't forget to enjoy the sound coming out of that pot...

On the edge

From the far borders of bluegrass in Ireland, Conor of the Prairie Dawgs reports:

Just wanted to let you know of a great gig in Bewleys on Grafton Street, Dublin, this Friday (13 February): Tumbleweed Love proudly presents Jennifer Evans & the Ripe Intent.

If I was forced to put a label on Jennifer's music I would probably say Alt Folk Jazz - and even at that it doesn't really do her justice. This girl truly has raw talent as a singer & a songwriter & she is playing in Bewleys on Saturday with her band. Also on the same bill are Torc, who are also led by another wonderfully talented singer, Marlo. And opening the evening will be Mossy & the Bright Boys, a fantastic trad duo featuring Mossy from the Prairie Dawgs on bouzouki...

Bewleys has a limited capacity of only 50. It's a wonderful intimate & atmospheric venue. I'm delighted to say I have played there twice with the Prairie Dawgs and interestingly the Dawgs unanimously voted this their favourite venue - 'cos reaching 'unanimous' decisions is no mean feat for nine Dawgs. So this is the perfect venue to see these artists and all for only €8 - sure you wouldnt even get two flippin' pints for that!!

Anyway if you have any questions please let me know - and remember Bewleys has a very limited capacity so you would be advised to come early or let me know if you want me to hold a ticket for you at the door.

New music store opens in Dublin, 14 Feb. 2009

Thanks to Herbie Mitchell for the news that a new music shop, Jimi's Music Store, will open in the Dublin area at noon on Saturday 14 February 2009, and remain open till 6.00 p.m. Herbie adds: 'Weather permitting, there will be a fairground organ in attendance, making loud music.' The normal opening hours thenceforth will be 10 a.m. to 6.00 p.m (Monday-Saturday).

Jimi's Music Store is located at Unit B2, Ballymount Drive, Walkinstown, Dublin 12 - not far from the Walkinstown roundabout and the well known Cherrytree music venue. Both new and vintage instruments will be on offer. Brands in stock will include Gibson, Martin, Takamine, and Tanglewood. Telephone +353-1-456-9586.

Ross Nickerson: videos from live shows in Ireland

Master banjo-picker Ross Nickerson (USA) was in this country last autumn, as a member of the Canadian band Hungry Hill. During the tour, family bereavements obliged Jenny Lester (fiddle) and Mark Thibeault (guitar, dobro) to return to Canada. With the aid of musicians from over here, the tour was successfully completed, and this grouping - core members Bob Hamilton (mandolin), Ross Nickerson (banjo), and Nadine Landry (bass), and Ivor Ottley (fiddle) and Clem O'Brien (guitar), both recruited in Ireland - can now be seen on YouTube.

Several vocal and instrumental numbers were videoed while the band was at Colfer's, in Carrig on Bannow, Co. Wexford, and at the 2008 Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival in Longford. They include 'Katie Cline', 'Wheel hoss', 'Yukon drive', 'She's no angel', 'Highland Rim', 'It's mighty dark to travel', and 'Ain't got no sugar dad'. Clem and Ivor do magnificent jobs, and the whole band is in great form. Ross adds a necessary warning that these videos, made under informal conditions, bear no relation in quality to the many professionally recorded videos on his BanjoTeacher.com website. They're fine bluegrass, nonetheless.

Yet more for guitarists

Cathal Cusack writes:

BBC 4 appear to have a series of programmes on American 'folk' music ['Folk America']. I hope it continues as there have been some really good programmes. One item of particular interest to bluegrass fans is Alison Krauss on Thursday night at 8.30. The programme is repeated on Saturday at the ungodly hour of 1.10 in the morning, although all guitarists would surely give up their sleep in order to watch her duet with Tony Rice.

Special C. home again

The chronicle of Special Consensus's ninth trip to Ireland, kept by the band's mandolinist Ashby Frank, has now been wrapped up today: the last instalment can be found on the original Bluegrass Blog.

Ashby notes that all available copies of the Special C.'s new album Signs had been sold before they reached Kilworth, Co. Cork, for the last two nights of the tour; and that before they left Kilworth, every item of merchandise the band brought with them had been bought. Keep coming back, and we'll keep buying, guys!

Bluegrass music on audio cassettes

We've been asked a few times about the availability of bluegrass music on audio cassettes. Though this format is no longer popular, there are cassettes out there to be found. Thanks to FOAOTMAD for the following news:

Anita Kermode has several hundred good-quality audio cassettes looking for a home, for listening to and/or recycling. Most have only been recorded on once. Among these is a large collection of bluegrass recordings from a San Francisco public radio station that used to have a 3-hour bluegrass show every Saturday. Anyone interested, e-mail her.

FOAOTMAD's annual old-time music festival will be held at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England, in a week's time - 13-15 February.

Fair City Grass reunion

Don Knox (fiddle), Enda Donnelly (mandolin), Jody Smith (guitar), & Mike 'Smithy' Smith (bass), 'at home' in Mother Reilly's

Enda reports:

Fair City Grass are reuniting with Jody Smith, in his usual spot on acoustic guitar, tomorrow night, Wednesday 4 Feb., at 9.45 p.m. at Mother Reilly's bar & restaurant, Uppercross House Hotel, Upper Rathmines Road, Dublin.

News from Tim Rogers

Thanks to Tim Rogers of Vermont, of Dublin's Rough Deal String Band, and now of Westport, Co. Mayo, for two links of interest to BIB readers:

First, a New York Times story from 1 February: 'Jokes and films are fun, but he loves his banjo', by Dave Itzkoff, on the banjo in the life of Steve Martin, actor, comedian, and recording artist.

Second, from the same issue of the New York Times: 'Across generations, traces of a poor maid's murder' by Dan Barry, on the origins of the song 'Poor Ellen Smith' - the murder of Ellen Smith by Peter DeGraff, 115 years ago.

A new old-time session in central Dublin

News from Bill Whelan, doyen of old-time music in Ireland and one of the best clawhammer banjo players anywhere, is always welcome, and especially this time. Bill's four-piece 2RN String Band is taking up a new residency every Wednesday evening in central Dublin: at J. McNeill's in Capel Street, Dublin 1 (see map here). The first session will be tomorrow night, 4 February.

A few years ago, McNeill's was one of the best shops in Dublin for acoustic string instruments and traditional music (your editor bought his Washburn B-21 5-string there in 1993). Now a bar, it still has banjos in the front window, and Bill tells us there are plans to have a music shop again on the premises - upstairs from the bar. While we're looking forward to that, there should be plenty of good music on Wednesdays from the 2RN String Band.*

*For younger and overseas readers: 2RN was the original call-sign of the Irish Free State national radio station when it opened on 1 January 1926.

Bluegrass and old-time music in novels

There is already a small, but good and growing, body of novels about people whose lives are involved with bluegrass music. Peter McGinn's novel Dobro dreamer, published in 2008, is a murder mystery, with an original structural twist, set in a bluegrass festival run by a family band. Full details appeared on the original Bluegrass Blog in December.

Now Scroll and curl, a mystery novel set in the world of old-time music, has been written by John Pedersen, leader of the Roadoilers old-time band from Marin county, CA, and owner of Amazing Grace Music in San Anselmo. It's about an old-time band on tour, who become involved in a mysterious plot after one of them finds a cheap fiddle at a yard sale.

Scroll and curl will be published early in February. John Pedersen will be doing a book signing on 3 February at 7.00 p.m. at Books Inc. (formerly A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books) in the Opera Plaza complex in San Francisco. It can also be bought through Amazing Grace or Amazon.

Jacques Danielle's on YouTube

Thanks to Aran Sheehan for YouTube footage of an acoustic blues jam with guitar, fiddle, upright bass, and mandolin in the back garden of his brother Jacques in Brittany last June. Aran adds: 'Some mandolin content for you mandolin pickers out there...'

Aran also sends another YouTube link to highlights from the Jacques Danielle's String Band's set on stage at the La Roche Bluegrass Festival in the French Alps last year. The band are in high gear and high spirits, and Aran draws attention to their use of the traditional single-microphone setup.

PA system for sale

Tony Curran is offering his Peavey XR600F PA system for sale; the photo above shows the powered console with 32-bit effects mixer. The system also comes with:

*Two bass bins and top stack speakers with connecting poles and extra long speaker-connection cables
*Box120 Stage monitor
*Three microphone stands
*Two Shure SM58 microphones
*One Shure SM57 microphone
*One Shure FM58 radio microphone
*One Audio Technica studio microphone
*All (individually coloured) connection leads for microphones and instruments in two aluminium flight cases.

Price: £1,200 (or Euro equivalent)

Contact Tony by 'phone - (028) 9443 3273 if dialling from the UK; 048 9443 3273 if dialling from the Republic of Ireland - or e-mail.