New releases from Ragged Union (USA) (update)

Thanks to Geoff Union, founder and leader of Ragged Union, for the news that the band's latest album, Round feet, chrome smile, is scheduled for release on 30 Sept., with a single, 'Somebody call the doctor', due out on 3 Aug. and a video premiere on Glide Magazine the day before.

Ragged Union describe their music as 'original bluegrass with modern songwriting and arrangements', and plenty of it can be heard on their website and Facebook. They have toured throughout the USA, in China, and in England (which resulted in Live in Leeds, in addition to their two previous studio albums). The band presently consists of Geoff (guitar, vocals, songwriting), Elio Schiavo (mandolin, vocals), and Rebekah Durham (fiddle, vocals). Geoff writes that despite their tours in England, 'we unfortunately were unable to make it to the better island.'

Update 7 Sept.: Ragged Union are releasing today their single 'Lazy ol' daddy', which can be heard on Bluegrass Today and on YouTube.

© Richard Hawkins

Appalachia in the news and on screen

At the time of writing this post, the southern Appalachian mountain area - especially eastern Kentucky, eastern West Virginia, and south-western Virginia - is being devastated by flooding that is taking lives and destroying homes. All who feel for the music and the general culture of Appalachia should feel also for its people who are enduring these latest trials, burdens, and dangers.

Coincidentally, the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, TN, screened yesterday the 2019 film Hillbilly, produced and directed by Sally Rubin and Ashley York. An investigative documentary, it examines how the stigmas attached to the negative 'hillbilly' stereotypes developed, and how these are linked to the exploitation of the region. A brief trailer is on YouTube, and predominantly favourable reviews are given on the Rotten Tomatoes website.

© Richard Hawkins

Marisa Anderson (USA) in Ireland, 15-17 Sept. 2022

Moving on Music announces that guitarist Marisa Anderson, from the vibrant musical scene of Portland, OR, is scheduled to play at the Black Box in Belfast at 8.00 p.m. on Thurs. 15 Sept. Tickets (£14/£10) can be booked here. Her website tour schedule shows that she is also on the bill at the Clonakilty International Guitar Festival (9-18 Sept.) in west Co. Cork, performing on 16 and 17 Sept. Classically trained, she performs (often on electric guitar) and composes from a deep knowledge of blues, gospel, and country finger-picking and slide-guitar styles.

© Richard Hawkins

Banjo Month on the Bluegrass Situation

The Bluegrass Situation (BGS) online magazine has declared Banjo Month, marking it by giving away a Recording King RK-R20 Songster resonator 5-string, and running a series of articles by distinguished players with their own perspectives on banjo history and their own favourites among recorded banjo music. In 'Kristin Scott Benson shares her essential '80s bluegrass banjo tracks', Kristin Scott Benson gives a nineteen-track playlist of some of the music that she took in while learning to play. Note: these are not banjo instrumentals, but songs on which some notable banjo playing can be heard.

In the brief but weighty interview 'BGS 5+5: Lonesome River Band's Sammy Shelor', Maggie Rainwater asks Sammy Shelor some fundamental questions (e.g. 'What artist has influenced you the most?'; answer, 'Tony Rice'), and adds a playlist of five songs plus a Lonesome River Band video.

In "Caamp's "Lavender days" gets its glow from Evan Westfall's flatpicking banjo', Lynne Margolis interviews the co-founder and banjoist of the folk-pop-rock band Caamp, who transferred to banjo the flatpicking he knew from guitar. Four videos of the band are included.

In 'Wes Corbett's banjo needs: 10 songs that make him happy', Wes Corbett gives not only an audio playlist of a pretty wide range of banjo music, but a YouTube video of each of them as well. The last player on his list is Jake Blount, who has a Banjo Month feature, 'Watch: Jake Blount, "Once there was no sun"', devoted to the official video (also on YouTube) of a track from his album The new faith, due for release on 23 Sept.

And in 'Can banjo transcend cultural divisions? Bill Evans' new album makes the case', Lindsey Terrell interviews Bill Evans (below) on his personal involvement with the banjo and its history, his new DVD/CD project The banjo in America, and his hopes for 'a broader vision of all of us playing the banjo, all of us celebrating the banjo, and using it to transcend some of our cultural divisions'.

© Richard Hawkins

Two Time Polka gigs, July-Aug. 2022

Ray Barron of Two Time Polka sends news of the band's forthcoming gigs:

Waterford Spraoi, Waterford city
Fri. 29th July: Bailey’s New Street stage, 8.00–10.00 p.m.
Sat. 30th: O’Connell St. stage, 7.00–8.30 p.m.

Caherciveen Celtic Music Festival, Co. Kerry
Sun. 31st: Open air outside Library, 3.30–5.30 p.m.

Eat & Beats Festival, Killarney, Co. Kerry
Sun. 31st: Old Killarney Inn, Groin, Aghadoe, Co. Kerry, 10.00 p.m.

Thurs. 4th Aug.: Crane Lane Theatre, Phoenix St., Cork city, midnight.

Paulusfeesten, Ostend, Belgium
Thurs. 11th: Paulusplein stage, 10.30 p.m.

Munich, Germany
Thurs. 25th: Killians Bar, Frauenplatz, 9.00 p.m.
Munich Irish Nights Festival
Fri. 26th: Rindermarkt, open air, 8.00 p.m.
Sat. 27th: Rindermarkt, open air, 5.00 p.m.

Our website and facebook page will be updated regularly.. Regards & thanks,

Ray & TTP

© Richard Hawkins

'Mean Mary' on Deering Live, 28 July 2022

The Deering Banjo Company announce that multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, author, and longtime Deering player 'Mean Mary' James from Alabama, who toured in Ulster in 2016 and 2018, will be the featured artist on Deering Live tomorrow night, Thurs. 28 July. The interview can also be viewed on YouTube from 11.00 p.m. Irish time. A playlist of eleven tracks from Mary's latest album, Portrait of a woman, part 1, is on the Deering Live page.

The Deering website includes advice on setting a banjo bridge for correct intonation, with an accompanying three-minute video by Chad Kopotic (also on YouTube).

© Richard Hawkins

Curly Strings (EST) receive first IBMA International Band Performance grant

The BIB editor writes:

On Monday (25 July) the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) announced that its first International Band Performance Grant (see the BIB for 11 Mar. 2022) has been awarded to the Estonian band Curly Strings (photo). The grant will enable them to attend this year's IBMA World Of Bluegrass in Raleigh, NC, with a follow-up tour in 2023. Paul Schiminger, chair of the IBMA International Band Steering Committee, said: 'We felt Curly Strings stood out with their exciting blend of Estonian-influenced bluegrass music.'

With all due respect to IBMA and the band - whom I described after seeing them five years ago, when they had already won a string of European awards, as 'a young, original band, full of charm, verve, and musical mastery, and worth anyone's time to see and hear' - I stick with the view I had then, that their sound could be better described as 'bluegrass-influenced Estonian music', with the bluegrass influence basically consisting of using fiddle, upright bass, mandolin, and flat-picked guitar. Since then, they have also used a four-string banjo played with a plectrum, which I admit is an innovation in bluegrass.

More details, together with a video (also on YouTube), are in John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Trafaria Bluegrass in Portugal, 9-11 Sept. 2022

On 21 April the BIB reported that Trafaria Bluegrass, the first international bluegrass festival in Portugal, will be held on the weekend Fri. 9-Sun. 11 Sept. 2022. The venue is the village of Trafaria, near Lisbon and the mouth of the Tagus river. with four international bands and one from Portugal taking part.

Andre Dal Lentilhas, the moving spirit of bluegrass in Portugal, announces the full lineup (see poster image), with Rawhide (BE), the Often Herd (GB), the Original Five (SE), Buster Sledge (N), and the home team, Stonebones & Bad Spaghetti. (Three of these bands have played in Ireland.) Andre points out:

The festival is FREE OF CHARGE but we do need to raise an additional €4,000 to cover expenses. Hopefully, we can count on your support. Please share and contribute any amount to our crowdfunding campaign.

Full details of the lineup and programme, in English and Portuguese, will be on the website very soon. See also John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Bluegrass? Dago Red in Ireland, 29 July-2 Aug. 2022

St John's Theatre & Arts Centre at Listowel, Co. Kerry, draws attention to the Italian band Dago Red (right; also on Facebook), who will be playing at Listowel in the second gig of their 'Little Big Tour of Ireland 2022'. The theatre's e-mail newsletter is titled 'THIS WEEK: BLUEGRASS with Dago Red' and calls them a 'Blue Grass folk-blues band'; but frankly, the BIB thinks this is someone's error.

Dago Red's instrumentation includes acoustic and electric guitars, bass, drums/percussion, keyboards, and Indian harmonium; none of their listed musical influences belong to the bluegrass world; and their leader Giuseppe Mascitelli is known as 'the Italian Bob Dylan'. However, if these details sound appealing, the full tour schedule is:

• Fri. 29th July: Whelan's, Dublin 2 (part of Whelan's Blues, Roots & Brass Festival); FREE
• Sat. 30th: St John's Theatre & Arts Centre, Listowel, Co. Kerry, 8.00 p.m., €15
• Sun. 31st: O'Connor's, Cloghane, Co. Kerry, 1.00 p.m.
• Sun. 31st: (7.30pm): Levis Corner House, Ballydehob, west Co. Cork, 7.30 p.m. ('pass the hat')
• Mon. 1st Aug: Sea Church, Ballycotton, east Co. Cork, 8.00 p.m.
• Tues. 2nd: 'Available for a Dublin gig, or a few pints, or both!'

NB: Dago Red have, we admit, put a unique treatment of 'Rolling in my sweet baby's arms' on YouTube.

© Richard Hawkins

Bluegrass Sundays! Mother Reilly's 7.00-11.00 p.m.

Following up last Wednesday's post, the BIB joined the audience yesterday at the Dublin Bluegrass Collective's new weekly bluegrass jam session in Rathmines, Dublin, and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Patrick Simpson of the DBC (aka the Bluestack Mountain Boys) sends this invitation to all pickers within reach of Rathmines:

We play every Sunday from 7.00 to 11.00 p.m. with featured local musicians and mighty fine bluegrass tunes. We like to explore the genre completely, so any instrumentalists or touring musicians - please drop in for some stonkin' bluegrass, good food, and great live music!

The photo above shows TJ Screene (double bass) outside the venue - Mother Reilly's, 32 Rathmines Road Upper, Dublin 6.

© Richard Hawkins

Two great July weekends: Durrow and Ardara

Woodbine with John Denby and Long Way Home, in 'Bob's Hideout'

Thanks to Tony O'Brien for this report on the Mini Bluegrass Festival in Bob's Bar, Durrow, Co. Laois (1-2 July) and the Ardara Bluegrass Festival in Co. Donegal (15-17 July):

The Mini Bluegrass Festival in Bob's Bar, Durrow, was a resounding success with two sold-out concerts and some great pickin' sessions. The audience on both nights were amazing, giving the acts a fantastic reception. It looks as if this event could turn into a regular annual festival. Long Way Home and Geraldine & Kevin Gill gave two great performances, and Woodbine with John Denby on mandolin were in fine form on both nights.

Woodbine with John Denby

Geraldine and Kevin Gill

Woodbine at Ardara with Joe Meehan (extreme left)

Ardara Bluegrass Festival, back after two years of lockdown and featuring an all-Irish lineup, was the usual great weekend. The concert on Saturday night, with Colin & Janet Henry, Woodbine with Joe Meehan (mandolin) and Dessie Crerand (fiddle) and Mules & Men in the Nesbitt Arms, was a very emotional event with moving tributes to Mel Corry and P.J. Coleman, both very much part of the Ardara festival since its inception in 2008. Colin & Janet with a fabulous version of 'The sunny side of the mountain' and Woodbine with 'Queen Anne's lace' paid tribute to Mel, and Woodbine with 'Free as a breeze' as a tribute to P.J. Colin also commemorated the legendary Geordie McAdam. A great show to a really fine audience.

The Sunday night was a full house upstairs in the Beehive with hosts Woodbine and guest spots from Kevin & Geraldine Gill (who paid tribute to Siona Knepper), Paddy Cummins (mandolin), Sean McMonagle (vocals), Daniel & Susanne (from Sweden; mandolin and guitar), and Ken Brown (USA; guitar & vocals). A fitting wind-up to a great weekend of music from both the concerts and the usual Beehive jam sessions [below].

© Richard Hawkins

Blue Grass Boys of the past

From Richard Thompson's article on Bluegrass Today, the BIB learns with regret of the death of guitarist and singer (Esmond) Arnold Terry (22 June 1933-17 July 2022) of Virginia, one of the generation that began playing bluegrass before it was generally known by that name. He served in the US army during the Korean war; afterwards, on the recommendation of Bobby Hicks, he auditioned for Bill Monroe on 17 Dec. 1955 and played as a Blue Grass Boy to 2 Mar. 1956. He then became a member of Jim Eanes's Shenandoah Valley Boys, recording with Eanes, with other musicians, and under his own name (Richard Thompson's feature includes a discography and four YouTube videos), and in the 1960s left the music business to become a preacher. His funeral took place on Thursday 21 July.

*

Arnold Terry did not record with the Blue Grass Boys, but Richard Thompson has also drawn attention to another Virginia musician and Korean War veteran, Rudy Lyle (17 Mar. 1930-11 Feb. 1985), who joined the band in mid August 1949 and contributed his powerful playing, solidly based in Scruggs style with his own distinctive touch, to a dozen recording sessions between Oct. 1949 and Jan. 1954. The substantial interview article by Doug Hutchens for Bluegrass Unlimited in 1985, reprinted in Thomas Goldsmith (ed.), The bluegrass reader (2004), has been one of the fullest sources on his life till now. Max Wareham, banjo-player for the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band, has written Rudy Lyle: the unsung hero of the five-string banjo, due for release on 23 Aug. This is not only a biography including previously unpublished photos, but an analytical study, with transcriptions, of all Lyle's recorded lead and backup playing with Monroe. More details, including a link for pre-ordering, are on Bluegrass Today.

Update 4 Aug.: Another of Richard Thompson's valuable obituaries - Leslie Matheson 'Les' Sandy of North Carolina died on 28 July, less than two weeks short of his ninety-fourth birthday. He spent brief periods as a Blue Grass Boy in the 1950s, but these included recording (on guitar) several tracks on Monroe's first LP, Knee deep in blue grass. He also played and recorded with Jim & Jesse and other major figures of the founding years of bluegrass. Much more detail is on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Martin Howley speaks for We Banjo 3

This month's cover story for the Bluegrass Situation online magazine (BGS) is a substantial feature by Kira Grunenberg, who has interviewed Martin Howley (tenor banjo, mandolin, vocals) of We Banjo 3 by Zoom. The occasion was the release of the group's latest album Open the road, marking their ten years together so far.

The result is 'In a time of fear, We Banjo 3 make a brave statement on "Open the road"', which goes fairly deeply into the members' backgrounds, the bonds that connect them and form their approach to music, how these have developed, and their songwriting processes. The feature includes videos from YouTube of the songs 'Gift of life', 'Open the road', 'Hummingbird', and 'Garden song'.

© Richard Hawkins

More news of past visitors

The Appalachian Road Show (above), who would have headlined the Omagh bluegrass festival in May 2020 if the pandemic hadn't prevented it, and the Special Consensus (below), who have toured in Ireland more than any other US band, will be among the acts in a concert in the 'Song of the Mountains' series at the Lincoln Theatre in Marion, VA, on Saturday 6 Aug., which will be taped for TV. The Special C. are scheduled to be back in Ireland in January and February 2023.

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The latest Weekly Dispatch from the Bluegrass Situation (BGS) online magazine includes an eighteen-and-a-half-minute video (also on YouTube) of Molly Tuttle and her bluegrass band Golden Highway, joined by Jerry Douglas, recorded at DelFest in Maryland two months ago. The BGS staff add: 'For those of us who couldn’t get to DelFest this year, this video is a great way to feel like you didn’t completely miss out.'

*

Darin and Brooke Aldridge recently performed on Mike Huckabee's TV show in the USA, and made such an impression with their 'Grand Ole Circle' song that the host invited them to sing another. The feature by John Lawless on Bluegrass Today includes videos of their performances and of them talking about the background to the 'Grand Ole Circle'.

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The Fretboard Journal (FJ) includes in its latest e-newsletter a link to a seven-minute YouTube video prepared specially for the FJ by master guitarist Kenny Smith, who demonstrates an up-the-neck lick in G. It's a good introduction to Kenny's teaching style and to the instructional material on his website.

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The Engelhardt Music Group (EMG) announce a new single by Fast Track from their latest album Heartache and trouble - the Ron Spears composition 'Jenny Lynn', on which Ron (bass player in the band) sings lead. The recording, which can be heard on the EMG press release, includes part of the fiddle tune 'Jenny Lynn' which Bill Monroe learned in youth from his uncle Pendleton Vandiver. The Monroe recording can be heard on YouTube. Heartache and trouble has been warmly reviewed; see the BIB for 5 July.

© Richard Hawkins

High-quality banjos from these islands

The news blog of FOAOTMAD, the British national association for old-time music and dance, reports that James Bowen, maker of the very-high-quality open-back Griffin Banjos in Britain, is interested in selling his own personal instruments to FOAOTMAD members. Any BIB readers who are also FOAOTMAD members will already be aware of this; for others, the Irish angle in this news is that one of the four instruments is a Clareen 'Oyster Queen' 5-string banjo in bird's-eye maple and ebony, with a Whyte Laydie tone-ring and a frailing scoop, made by Tom Cussen at Clarinbridge, Co. Galway.

© Richard Hawkins

New Dublin Bluegrass Collective open jam session: EVERY SUNDAY

Thanks to Patrick Simpson of the Dublin Bluegrass Collective (aka the Bluestack Mountain Boys) for this welcome news of the new weekly bluegrass jam session at Mother Reilly's, 32 Rathmines Road Upper, Dublin 6, from 7.00 to 11.00 p.m. every Sunday:

Last Sunday we began our new open jam session in Mother Reilly's to a busy beer garden and we were received very well by the bar and its patrons. We hope to bring lots of energy to this one and hope that once the word gets out, we will have loads of musicians turning up to play and perform their songs with us.

We invite any bluegrass musicians, both professional and amateur, to come join us for a pick, whether they are new to the genre or professional touring musicians. We hope to create a new international hub for anyone travelling to Dublin with their instruments, and encourage musicians to pick and perform with us using the Pete Wernick method of Jam Essentials as a blueprint. Of course we are always willing to go above and beyond, so singer/songwriters and cover songs are both equally acceptable, just as long as they have a country and bluegrass feel. In any case, it's going to be the hottest new jam session in South Dublin.

As a side note, thank you for putting Lukas Halter (visiting banjo player from Switzerland) in touch with me [see the BIB for 27 June]; we all enjoyed a fine evening of music with him in Kavanagh's Pub, Aughrim St., last Wednesday at the Dangerfield bluegrass night that is on there every Wednesday from 8.00 to 10.00 p.m. We hope to see more of this kind of thing at Mother Reilly's on Sundays, as the Wednesday night at Kavanagh's has now been cancelled indefinitely. Thank you to all who came out in support. We hope to see you at Mother Reilly's on Sundays, 7.00-11.00 p.m., for some fine bluegrass music.

(R-l) Anto Griffen, Luke Coffey, TJ Screene, Lukas Halter, Patrick Simpson, Pedro

© Richard Hawkins

Kristin Scott Benson on Deering Live tonight (20 July 2022)

The Deeting Banjo Company announce that the multi-award-winning Kristin Scott Benson will be featured on Deering Live tonight (Wed. 20 July); the interview can also be viewed on YouTube from 11.00 p.m. Irish time.

John Lawless reports on Bluegrass Today that Kristin Scott Benson is also the newest endorser of Deering banjos. As a result of contact between her and the company, mediated by Jens Kruger, she favoured Deering's Golden Series of banjos, and has chosen a custom instrument based on the Rustic Wreath model.

© Richard Hawkins

Detached notes

Dailey & Vincent, who headlined the 2011 Omagh bluegrass festival in 2011, when they were in full award-winning mode with their outstanding vocals, now announce their latest album, Let's sing some country!, which is due for release on 16 Sept. 2022. More details, together with links to pre-ordering facilities and to audio and video tracks, are on their press release. See also John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

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The BIB has previously mentioned the presentations on banjo history by Bill Evans, and it is now announced that his The banjo in America, a 65-minute DVD/CD set from the Old-Time Tiki Parlour (featuring nineteen songs and medleys played on ten different instruments, and showing developments in banjo construction, music, and playing styles over the last two-and-a-half centuries or more) can be bought for $19.99 from the Old-Time Tiki Parlour or autographed from Bill's website for $24.95.

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The Deering Banjo Company announce a new limited edition of instruments: their Goodtime Bronze Banjos, consisting of the Goodtime Openback (11" head), Goodtime Americana (openback, 12" head), and Goodtime Two (resonator), all with a gold-rubbed bronze powder finish on the hardware - extremely durable and low-maintenance, and also 100% hypoallergenic - and a special inlay pattern. This collection (featured on Bluegrass Today last Friday, 15 July) will only be available to the end of the summer.

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The ProPik® company, associated with Deering, announce their new ProPik® Heritage Fingerpicks, based on a set of Nationals that Earl Scruggs used to record 'Pike County breakdown' in 1950. The history of these iconic picks, and full details of the new issues (priced at $14.00 per pick) is on the lProPik® website.

These picks are of course aimed at fingerpickers with a sense of history. Flatpickers who look to the future will welcome ToneSlabs, plectrums made of a new and specially developed material. Three shapes of flatpick are now on offer; a thumbpick is being developed. See John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

Update 20 July: Much more detail on the new ProPik® range is given by John Curtis Goad on Bluegrass Today.

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In 'No Depression’s best roots music albums of 2022 (so far)', bluegrass-related music is represented by Crooked tree from Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, and Good and green again from Jake Xerxes Fussell (who played this year's Kilkenny Roots festival and other gigs). No Depression also carries Henry Carrigan's review of Bob Black's book Mandolin man: the bluegrass life of Roland White, published by the University of Illinois Press.

*

Just under a year ago the BIB recommended Dave Berry's major two-part interview of Kathy Kallick on Bluegrass Today because it was such a good picture of the musical life and experiences of an important figure in our music. Similarly worth reading is Claire Levine's interview on the Bluegrass Situation, 'Kathy Kallick honors her mother's legacy while establishing her own'. The interview includes five audio tracks from Kallick's album of songs she learned from her mother, with stellar guest artists, plus a YouTube recording of 'I can't stand to ramble' from the Good Ol' Persons.

© Richard Hawkins

Fellow Pynins (USA) in Ireland

The BIB editor writes:

As a result of being away for a week, I missed the start of a tour of Ireland by the folk duo Fellow Pynins (right) from the vigorous music scene in Portland, OR (home of the Foghorn Stringband and many others). They previously visited Ireland in 2018, playing at the Omagh bluegrass festival that year.

Fellow Pynins comprises Dani Aubert (clawhammer banjo, bouzouki) and Ian George (guitar, mandolin). On Sunday 17 July they took part in a concert at the Hawk's Well Theatre in Sligo town. Their remaining shows in Ireland, before continuing the tour in Britain, are:

• Tues. 19th July: Murray's Yard Music Venue, Inishbofin, Co. Galway, 7.30 p.m.
• Wed. 20th: Sea Church, Ballycotton, east Co. Cork, 8.30 p.m.
• Thurs. 28th: Levis' Bar, Ballydehob, west Co. Cork, 7.30 p.m.
• Sat. 30th: The Cobblestone, 77 King St. North, Dublin 7, 7.30 p.m.
• Sun. 31st: Sunflower Public House, 65 Union St., Belfast, 8.00 p.m.

Links for online bookings are on their tour schedule.

© Richard Hawkins

Dewey Farmer, 1942-2022

From Richard Thompson's feature on Bluegrass Today, the BIB learns with regret of the death of Dewey Lee Farmer from the Carolinas, at the age of 79. A multi-instrumentalist, he was outstanding on mandolin; his playing, founded on Bill Monroe's style, was developed to the point where a case has been made that he in turn influenced Monroe. The three-minute home video (shown on Bluegrass Today and also on YouTube) of him playing a Monroe tune on his new Altman F-5 mandolin is worth watching both for the sound produced and for the way his hands move.

The feature also includes a discography, tributes from musicians who knew him, and six further videos, the last of which is a tribute song ('The legend of Dewey Farmer'), composed, played, and sung by Willie McDonald, mandolinist of the Bluegrass Patriots, the fine Colorado group who headlined the first Dunmore East bluegrass festival in 1995 and toured Ireland five times before they retired as a band in 2011. The image above is taken from the cover of the 2012 Patuxent Records album Dewey Farmer & Derwin Hinson.

© Richard Hawkins

Irish pickers in the USA in the coming months

Carlow guitar maestro Shane Hennessy will be touring the USA from the end of this month, playing nine venues there up to 19 August, and six more in early September - following this by a tour of twelve shows in Germany during three weeks in October. His only remaining 2022 performances in Ireland at present are at the Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival (26-28 Aug.) in Co. Waterford. More details are on Shane's latest e-newsletter, and online booking facilities are on his website.

Tullamore's JigJam will also begin a USA tour on 30 July, playing eight festivals including Winfield, KS, and IBMA World Of Bluegrass, where they are on the official showcase programme (in which Shane Hennessy took part by Zoom last year). Fill-in dates between their festival appearances will be announced soon. JigJam also announce their new line of merchandise - An Tulach Mhór T-shirts, which can be seen on their e-newsletter.

At the time of writing this post, Galway's We Banjo 3 are playing, or about to play, at the prestigious Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in New York state. Their US tour will last till 2 Sept., with the next date there on 21 Oct. Online booking links for all dates are on their website.

© Richard Hawkins

We Banjo 3's Open the road released and reviewed

Galway's We Banjo 3, kings of Celtgrass, announce the release today (15 July) of their new album Open the road, which can be heard now on one's prefered platform. The band invite feedback from fans on the album and the songs: 'Which ones move you? Which ones make you want to dance? Which ones make you want to call your bestie and make road trip plans?'

A video premiere party will be held live on YouTube at 7.00 p.m. Irish time a week from now (22 July), which will also celebrate the band's ten years together. In addition, Cillea Houghton's review on No Depression, 'Humanity hums through We Banjo 3’s Open the road’ affirms that the new album 'captures the essence of bluegrass with organic banjo and fiddle melodies that evoke warm vibes and lyrics that feel like a welcoming embrace'. The review includes two YouTube videos.

© Richard Hawkins

Wernick Method Bluegrass Jam Camp coming to Galway, 4-6 Nov. 2022

In April (thanks to Sean McGrath) the BIB received the news that Larry Kernagis (right), a fully accredited and highly experienced Wernick Method teacher, will lead a Weekend Bluegrass Jam Camp at the Galway Mechanics Institute, Middle St., Galway H91 XT6P, on the weekend Fri. 4-Sun. 6 Nov. 2022. Larry led a previous Jam Camp in west Cork seven years ago (see the BIB for 26 July 2015 or click on the 'Kernagis' label at the end of this post). This year's Camp would have been held in 2021 if it had not been for the Covid restrictions that were then in place. Larry now (14 July) writes:

By popular request I have located in Galway this time. This camp is intended for players of all levels and all bluegrass instruments interested in learning the finer points of ensemble playing.

Full details of the Camp and of the Wernick Method, together with testimonials from Larry's students, photos from his previous Camps, and links for registration and a downloadable Camp flyer are here. Recommendations for accommodation will be added shortly. All the bluegrass instruments are welcome, and no previous jamming experience is necessary.

© Richard Hawkins

News of Al Jones

In December 2011 the BIB reported the death of banjo-player Frank Necessary and mentioned his musical partner Al Jones and their band the Spruce Mountain Boys.

Last Friday (8 July) a comment on the 2011 post asked about the health of Al Jones. The BIB thanks Tom Mindte (owner of the Patuxent Music record company and leader of the Patuxent Partners band) for the photo above and the following news:

For the past couple of years, Al has been battling cancer of the jaw. He underwent surgery to remove the tumour and has been taking various treatments since then. At one point, the doctors told him that he was just to go home and wait for the end. But his friend and caregiver, Kathy, was able to get him into an experimental treatment program at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore. Those treatments got him literally back on his feet, out of the wheelchair, and back to having some quality of life. In February, we celebrated his ninetieth birthday and he was feeling alright.

The photo shows Al (centre, with white hat), Tom (left of centre, with mandolin), and friends at the celebration. Al's most recent album, recorded with Billy Baker and Dee Gunter, veterans of the Baltimore bluegrass scene, was released as Just a memory (Patuxent CD-320) in 2018.

© Richard Hawkins

Bil VornDick

More sad news, as we learn of the death on Tuesday 5 July of Bil VornDick (right), whom John Lawless on Bluegrass Today (BT) calls 'a giant in our music'. The BIB is fortunate to have the following feature by Richard Thompson, one of the core BT contributors.

Bil VornDick, the legendary Grammy award-winning producer, recording engineer, songwriter, and musician, passed away on 5 July 2022, just a few days after learning that he had cancer. He was 72 years old.

Originally from the suburbs of Washington, D.C., he took an interest in songwriting and recording processes from an early age. Eventually, persuaded by mentor Chet Atkins, VornDick moved to Music City, having already signed as a songwriter to Nashville’s fabled Cedarwood Music publishing company. Once there he enrolled for a new music business programme at Belmont College, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1979.

His studio career began when working for Marty Robbins, and subsequently VornDick became the chief engineer at Stargem Studio, the founder of The Music Shop, and the owner of Music Row Audio and Mountainside Music Group Productions. He worked on over 600 sessions in a variety of roles, recording a considerable array of musicians across many genres, with bluegrass prominent among them. VornDick collaborated with a few Irish acts, including:

• Carmel Sheerin & the Ravens, Here with you (Auld SheBeen Music, 2008)
• Maura O'Connell, Just in time (Polydor/ Ogham 831184-1, 1986); Western highway (Raglan Records RGCD 9, 1987); Helpless heart (Warner Bros. Records 9 26016-2, 1989); Blue is the color of hope (Warner Bros. 9362450632, 1992); Stories (Hannibal Records HNBC 1389, 1995); and Don't I know (Sugar Hill Records SUG-CD-3979, 2004).

BIB editor's note: The scale of Bil VornDick's contribution is indicated by the discography section of his website.

© Richard Hawkins

Siona Knepper

Uri Kohen, director of the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival, sends this very sad news:

On Friday last, we learned of the untimely passing of our dear friend and important member of the Irish bluegrass and old-time family - Siona Knepper. Siona played bass with the Brendan Butler Trio and with Ireland's leading old-time group, the Grits & Gravy String Band.

Siona and her husband Ian were regular visitors to the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival and played the festival as well as many other gigs in the Cork area and around the country. Her passing has come as a great shock to our community, and she will be well missed by all who knew her.

We would like to offer our deepest sympathy to Ian, their daughter Ada, and Siona's wider family. May she rest in peace.

Uri sends the photo above, showing Siona playing in a session in Blouser's during the festival, and the two photos below, showing her as a member of the Brendan Butler Trio and the Grits & Gravy String Band.
© Richard Hawkins

'Nine eagle feathers in a County Cork park'

This is the title of a post by John Lawless on Bluegrass Today, and it's also the name of a new old-time tune composed by banjo-player Cameron DeWhitt and recorded by the Tall Poppy String Band, of which he is a member. The tune was inspired by the story behind the creation of the stainless-steel Alex Pentek sculpture 'Kindred spirits', commissioned by the town council of Midleton, Co. Cork; installed in Bailick Park, Midleton, in 2015; and officially unveiled and dedicated in 2017 by Chief Gary Batton of the Choctaw Nation, leading a delegation of twenty other Choctaw citizens.

The sculpture was inspired by the story of funds raised by the Choctaw people in 1847 to alleviate the famine in Ireland. The band, who will have an album out later this month, can be seen and heard playing the tune on the Bluegrass Today feature and on YouTube.

© Richard Hawkins

Ten years of We Banjo 3

Galway's We Banjo 3, kings of Celtgrass, announce that they will be spending this year celebrating their ten years 'with one foot in Irish music and one foot in Americana music', by taking a look back at the band's history. A decisive step was taken in 2012, after they had been performing together for a while, with the release of their debut album Roots of the banjo tree (cover image, right), which won the Irish Times Traditional Irish Album of the Year award.

We Banjo 3 invite us to join them down Memory Lane here with a 45-second snatch of 'Gonna write me a letter', then learn more on their ten-year anniversary site.

© Richard Hawkins

Commemorating the Bristol Sessions, 95 years on

The Birthplace of Country Music Museum announces that to mark the 95th anniversary of the Bristol Sessions (held in Bristol, TN, 25 July-5 Aug. 1927), Ralph Peer II (right) - son of the Ralph Peer (1892-1960) who recorded the original Sessions and a vast amount of other early country music - will speak via Zoom on 18 July about his father's career, the impact of the Sessions, and the music industry. This event is free and open to the public, but pre-registration for the Zoom link is required. More details and a link for registration are on the Museum's press release.

The first day of recording of the Sessions, 25 July 1927, was devoted to recording Ernest Van 'Pop' Stoneman, his family and friends from Galax, VA. He was one of the most successful early recording artists among US rural musicians; he had done much of the work of preparing for the Sessions; and his children later included Roni Stoneman (First Lady of Bluegrass Banjo), who visited and performed in Ireland in 2013 and 2016. Roni will be among the artists taking place in a concert commemorating the Sessions, to be held in Bristol on 21 July (more details here).

© Richard Hawkins

More news of past visitors

The BIB has just mentioned Chris Jones & the Night Drivers (right) in connection with the Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire (where they played on their first tour of Ireland in 2018). Chris and the band have now made their debut appearance on the Grand Ole Opry last Saturday night (2 July). This follows a string of chart successes on bluegrass radio, with seven consecutive #1 singles from their current project, Make each second last, on the Mountain Home Music Company label. More details are on last Friday's Bluegrass Today, which also reveals that the Opry lineup on the same night with Chris & Co. would include Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley, headliners at the Dunmore East festival in 2016.

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The Fretboard Journal magazine announces that its #50 issue will include an interview with Béla Fleck conducted by Tristan Scroggins in which Fleck speaks about his return to bluegrass, the making of his latest album and of his new signature Gold Tone banjo, and the profound influence of Chick Corea, and much more.

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Jim Hurst, wizard of the flat-picked and finger-picked acoustic guitar (with or without sound enhancement), has released his new album From the ground up, his first in seven years, on Pinecastle Records. It comprises eleven tracks, four of which Jim wrote or co-wrote. More details and a full track listing are given on the Pinecastle press release.

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Fast Track (below) have had their latest album Heartache and trouble released by the Engelhardt Music Group; it is their third in three years with the label. The album is very warmly reviewed by John Curtis Goad on Bluegrass Today, who gives special praise to the songwriting and singing of Ron Spears. Ron plays bass with Fast Track; a multi-instrumentalist and multi-part-singer, he toured Ireland in 2007 as mandolin-player with the Special Consensus.

© Richard Hawkins

Dún Laoghaire Folk Festival, 22 Aug.-11 Sept. 2022

Foggy Notions in association with the Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, announce that the Dún Laoghaire Folk Festival will be held from Mon. 22 Aug. to Sun. 11 Sept. 2022. Tickets are already on sale for the first ten shows and sixteen artists - which, unfortunately, do not at present include any acts from bluegrass or old-time music. Bookings can be made free online here. The Pavilion Theatre has been hospitable to bluegrass in the past, presenting shows by the Special Consensus and Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, and a screening of The Broken Circle Breakdown.

© Richard Hawkins

Editorial hiatus, 6-13 July 2022

The BIB editor will be out of the editorial chair for a week, starting on Wednesday 6 July; so please keep sending in news, but don't expect it to appear before Wednesday 13 July at the earliest. A few delayed-action posts will appear at intervals in the next couple of days.

Gary Ferguson and Ireland in July BU

The July 2022 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine includes a three-page feature by Professor Jack Bernhardt of North Carolina, 'Gary Ferguson: Color his songs red, white, and blue and emerald green', on Gary Gene Ferguson, singer and songwriter, who has toured Ireland annually from 2005 to 2019. Indeed, at least two-thirds of the article deals with Gary's tours in Ireland, his friendship and musical collaboration with Belfast's Colin Henry and Janet Holmes, and the culminating project Ferguson's farewell: the Irish connection, released last autumn (see the BIB for 21 Sept. 2021) on Bell Buckle Records.

Ferguson's farewell is Gary's thirteenth CD, a twelve-track album celebrating his collaboration over the years with Charlie McGettigan, Donna and Joe Murray, Mary Greene, Errol Walsh, Carrie Haskins, Niall Toner, Shane Sullivan, Roy Thompson, Janet and Colin Henry, Gillian Tuite, Ted Ponsonby, and Frankie Lane. The article also draws attention to the supporting musicians and the recording engineers, George Hodgkiss in the USA and Joe Murray in Ireland.

Balsam Range appear on the cover of the July BU, and Derek Halsey interviews all the members on their experiences with the band in their fifteen years together. The many other features include Nancy Cardwell's interview with John McEuen about his book (due to be published next month) Will the circle be unbroken: the making of a landmark album, 50th anniversary, on how 'the most important album in the history of country music' came about.

© Richard Hawkins

Old-time folk and blues playlists from Smithsonian Folkways

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings announce a twenty-three track playlist, A field guide to... North Carolina, running to 76 minutes playing time, with ample notes on each track by Steve Weiss, curator of the Southern Folklife Collection at UNC Chapel Hill. The artists comprise historically notable old-time and blues musicians of the Old North State. A geographically wider range is covered in the twenty-eight track playlist A field guide to... Appalachia, running to 98 minutes, with notes by Jeff Place of Smithsonian Folkways. Frank Profitt's 'Tom Dooley' appears on both playlists.

© Richard Hawkins

Dunmore East 2022 lineup: part 1

Thanks to Mick Daly, director of the Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival in Co. Waterford, for the news that the first acts to be revealed for the lineup of this year's festival (26-28 Aug.) are:

Shane Hennessy (above left)
Knotty Pine String Band (above right)
Mons Wheeler Band
Pilgrim St
The Backyard Band
Woodbine (with Gerry Madden)

Four more acts are to be announced next week.

BIB editor's note: Apologies to Shane Hennessy for using a photo from an earlier album release, but it was a fine image and fitted the space...

© Richard Hawkins