And more (update)

Boston's Mile Twelve (who have toured Ireland several times, thanks to John Nyhan) won the New Artist of the Year award at this year's IBMA World of Bluegrass. Three weeks ago (11 Oct.) they published a video on their YouTube channel of the classic 'Will you be loving another man' - an impressive example of how tight a band can be while geographically separated, with mandolinist David Benedict presumably the most socially distanced, up in Ulster.

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Kentucky's McLain Family Band have toured scores of countries in over fifty years, with the family's most recent visit to Ireland coming in 2018 (again, thanks to John Nyhan). The many friends and fans they have made will be glad to know that this month the West Virginia University Press is publishing Paul O. Henry's book about the band, Bluegrass ambassadors, in its 'Sounding Appalachia' series, at $29.99 in hard copy and $26.99 as an e-book. The 288 pages include in-depth analysis and a complete discography.

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A 'virtual' jam video of a bluegrass classic, this time from Russ Carson's '81crowe' YouTube channel: 'I'm on my way back to the old home'. On the left of the screen you can see two artists who have played a lot in Ireland: Jesse Brock on mandolin and Rick Faris on tenor vocals.

Jesse, who is now a member of Fast Track, is bringing out his own composition 'Streamliner' (see image below) as a single on the Sound Biscuit label, to be released on 12 Nov. with pre-ordering from 5 Nov. This is part of Jesse's project for an album with top-flight guest musicians: Greg Blake, Jason Carter, Rob Ickes, and Russ Carson are just a few of them. Full details are on the Jesse Brock website.

Update 5 Nov.: 'Streamliner', with Greg Blake singing lead, is now released to radio. More detail is on the Wilson Pickins Agency press release.