IBMA awards for 2022 announced (update)

Last night (29 Sept.) the thirty-third annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards were presented at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh, NC. The IBMA's press release gives the full list of recipients, including those inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall Of Fame. As usual, the list includes a sizeable proportion of artists who have played in Ireland: Rick Faris as New Artist of the Year, Jason Moore of Sideline as Bass Player of the Year, and Molly Tuttle as Female Vocalist of the Year, to name but three. Photos from the awards show and other WOB events yesterday can be seen on Bluegrass Today.

It's worth mentioning that on 9 December the IBMA's Entertainer of the Year, who also sang on the Song of the Year, is scheduled to perform at The Academy in Middle Abbey Street, Dublin.

NB: A Distinguished Achievement Award went to Dan Crary, who played at Tailors' Hall, Dublin, in the autumn of 1978 with the Sackville String Band opening for him - but no, that wasn't what won him the award.

Update 6 Oct.: The report by the staff of the Bluegrass Situation (BGS) lists the winners and includes three videos and links to BGS interviews with some of the artists.

© Richard Hawkins

Familiar faces in photos from IBMA WOB 2022

During the IBMA World Of Bluegrass, now in progress, innumerable photographs of the artists (and others) in Raleigh are being taken, and some of special interest to bluegrass fans in Ireland are appearing on Bluegrass Today (BT).

Frank Baker's twenty-two pics from Tuesday night includes shots of Rick Faris, Becky Buller, Missy Raines (with Ellie Hakanson and Tristan Scroggins in her band), and two photos of The Foreign Landers (David Benedict and Tabitha Benedict (née Agnew), well known to us all as banjo player with Cup O' Joe and Midnight Skyracer). Bill Warren's eighteen photos from the same evening include Rick Faris again and Kristy Cox.

Tabitha Benedict appears in more Frank Baker photos from the Momentum Awards show, which she hosted, being a previous Momentum Award winner. One of these photos shows her with George Jackson, who won an Instrumentalist award this year. She and David Benedict appear in two monochrome photos by Jeromie Stephens, among twenty posted on BT yesterday. More photos from the World Of Bluegrass will continue to appear on BT.

© Richard Hawkins

Tradition and technology

Jake Blount (left), Aaron Jonah Lewis (right)

[...] we are not learning from long-dead musicians when we study recordings of them. We aren’t learning from musicians at all. We are learning from electromechanical reproductions of musicians — limitlessly replicable acoustic automata that repeat the same few minutes over and over again, for as long as they endure.

This is quoted from 'SPOTLIGHT: Jake Blount on traditional music’s built-in science fiction', published on No Depression on Monday (26 Sept.), and well worth reading in full for the several issues it raises. Jake Blount's points have much in common with what Aaron Jonah Lewis said at his fiddle workshop on 28 May this year at the Ulster American Folk Park about the limitations put on us - without our knowing it - by learning from recordings, especially older ones.

Perspectives do change with the passage of time. One of Jake Blount's first sentences - 'Our instrument [the banjo] is firmly entrenched in the American consciousness as a symbol of cultural and political conservatism' - might have puzzled a reader sixty years ago, when the banjo player best known to the public was Pete Seeger, and when the 'melodic' revolution was beginning to transform bluegrass banjo playing.

© Richard Hawkins

Professional development courses for musicians

In the coming three months, Music Network presents three new online series of 'Taking charge of your performance career', its professional development training programme for professional musicians in Ireland. The three series are:

• Making music accessible for children with special educational needs (four Zoom workshops, 22 and 29 Oct.);
• Taking charge of your performance career: Inside the creative process (six Zoom sessions, 14-29 Nov.); 
• Taking charge of your performance career: Developing essential skills (three-part Zoom series on developing resilience, networking skills, and stage presence (12-14 Dec.),

Not many of us in bluegrass on this side of the Atlantic have a professional musical career, but similar sessions and seminars are being held this week in Raleigh, NC, during the IBMA's World Of Bluegrass, and annually in the IBMA's Leadership Bluegrass programme.

© Richard Hawkins

'Old train' rolling out of Newmarket, Co. Cork

Thanks to César Benzoni for this memory of the 'Evening of Bluegrass Music' concert, held on Friday 9 Sept. in the McAuliffe Heritage Centre/ Cultúrlann MacAmhlaoibh, Church St., Newmarket, Co. Cork. The lineup included Owen Schinkel and Kylie Kay Anderson of Long Way Home, Kevin and Geraldine Gill of the Prairie Jaywalkers, and César himself. The video, shot with a stationary camera set up by César, shows them combining (l-r: Kevin, César, Kylie Kay, Geraldine, Owen) in a fine performance of 'Old train'.

César, based in Galway, operates the Yodel Studio for audio and video recording, mixing, and mastering, and plays in several combinations and musical genres. His YouTube channel has many videos of performance, instruction and advice, instrument reviews, and more.

The song 'Old train', written by Herb and Nikki Pedersen, was first recorded by the Seldom Scene (1974), and next by the Tony Rice Unit on the classic Manzanita album (1979).

© Richard Hawkins

Buddy Spurlock, 1941-2022

The Bluegrass Alliance c.1969: (l-r) Buddy Spurlock, Ebo Walker, Dan Crary, Danny Jones, Lonnie Peerce

The BIB learns with regret of the death last Wednesday (21 Sept.) of Buddy Spurlock of eastern Kentucky at the age of 81. The Bluegrass Alliance was a band that made a powerful impact on the US scene in the late '60s and '70s and provided a launch pad for the careers of Sam Bush, Tony Rice, and Vince Gill; and Buddy Spurlock was the banjo-player in the Alliance's lineup that recorded their influential 1969 LP (cover image above). His individual touch, tone, and licks were among the features that made the band influential. John Lawless's obituary on Bluegrass Today includes tributes from Doyle Lawson and Scott Napier, plus a recording of Buddy's composition 'Naugahyde', played by the Alliance. Scott Napier's memories - well worth reading in full - include these words:

Although he was not active on the music scene [after leaving the Alliance], he was very passionate about playing, and playing well. He influenced me in the fact that he was so good, but had a burning desire to improve, even though he had no interest in being heard.

© Richard Hawkins

Irish takeover of bluegrass continues

... as you can see from the appearance of We Banjo 3, kings of Celtgrass, on the cover of the October 2022 issue of the Bluegrass Standard magazine. The issue is now available but not yet online: this is IBMA World Of Bluegrass week, and the September issue is what appears on the magazine's website. However, you can see from the October cover image (with London's The Vanguards at the bottom of the page) that the contents include features on the British Bluegrass Music Association, as well as The Foreign Landers.

© Richard Hawkins

Irish talent galore at 50th Féile Ghleann na Gallchnónna

The BIB post of 16 July reported on Irish pickers who would be playing in the USA in the coming months. A fine example of this phenomenon is now on Bluegrass Today, where John Lawless introduces forty photographs taken at the fiftieth Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. Lawless writes:

Many folks know of the prestige that attaches to the various instrumental competitions that occur at Walnut Valley, but may not understand that a full-fledged festival of bluegrass and other roots acoustic music is happening at the same time. Put this one on your bucket list.

Immediately following these words is a video showing JigJam leading the audience at a main stage evening concert in 'Will you go, lassie, go?' The video can also be seen on the band's Facebook, where there are other videos from their current USA tour.

Following this, the first of the forty photos shows Galway's We Banjo 3 on stage, seen from the audience. After this photo, the captions identifying the artists shown become few and far between, but we strongly suspect that two of them show Carlow's Shane Hennessy.

© Richard Hawkins

A great night at the Dublin Sunday jam - and another on the way

Thanks to Patrick Simpson of the Bluestack Mountain Boys / Dublin Bluegrass Collective for this news and photo from another good time last night at the weekly Dublin bluegrass jam session in Mother Reilly's, 32 Rathmines Road Upper, Dublin 6:

We really enjoyed Hubert Murray and David Hawkins joining us last night from the Midlands, The jam was mighty! Thanks to all who make it so good.

Great to hear that we will be having Mark Epstein [see the BIB for 8 Sept.] join us for a pick on his banjo next Sun. (2 Oct.). Thank you for letting me know. It really is quite fun and we really appreciate Mother Reilly's Bar & Restaurant for hosting and all the regulars and those who came out especially to hear us. Keep it country! Don't go changing!

© Richard Hawkins

Approaches to older music (update)

The BIB editor writes:

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings released on Friday (23 Sept.) The new faith (SFW40247), the latest album from Jake Blount, whose website states that it 'answers the question, “What would black music sound like after climate change renders most of the world uninhabitable? What gods would this community praise, and what stories would they tell?”'. The album presents, as the music of this dark future, 'spirituals that are age-old even now' and 'songs, which have seen black Americans through countless struggles' - in other words, music which already has a proven record of sustaining in adversity, and which is given new treatments here.

Jake Blount is the September Spotlight artist of No Depression, and the magazine's coverage of him includes Jim Shahen's interview article 'Jake Blount takes folk into the future', with two videos; and Stacy Chandler's 'The intersection of past, present, and future on Jake Blount’s "The new faith"’, introducing a seven-minute video (also on YouTube) in which Blount explains the concept of the album and sings, with fiddle, 'Tangle Eye blues'. This derives from the unaccompanied singing of Walter 'Tangle Eye' Jackson, recorded by Alan Lomax in the Mississippi state penitentiary in 1947, which can be heard on YouTube; for instance, here.

Update 30 Sept.: An interview with Jake Blount published in The Guardian on 27 Sept. can be read here.

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Another approach to older music is taken by Squirrel Butter (also on Facebook), the husband-and-wife duo of Charlie Beck and Charmaine Slaven. Their fifth album, Hazelnut, came out in July this year, when a brief interview with them appeared on the Bluegrass Situation in its 'BGS 5+5' series. The album has since been reviewed, with samples of all eighteen tracks, by Braeden Paul on Bluegrass Today.

Like Jake Blount with the sources on which he draws, Squirrel Butter have merged themselves with old-time, early bluegrass, and early country to the point where their original tunes and songs come from the same place. Or the same place in a parallel universe? I'm thinking of Charlie Beck's banjo playing. In addition to clawhammer, he plays three-finger style with an unrestrained, fluent, and imaginative mastery that doesn't sound like newgrass playing. Instead, we're perhaps hearing how country players might have sounded in the 1930s, if they'd chosen to develop a technique comparable to what 'classical' 5-string players had at that time.

© Richard Hawkins

Riley Baugus in Britain, 15-25 Nov. 2022

Thanks to the FOAOTMAD news blog, organ of the UK's national association for American old-time music and dance, for the news that Riley Baugus, who last toured here (much too briefly) three years ago, will be playing nine shows in Britain in the second half of November. Unfortunately, neither on FOAOTMAD's news item nor on his own calendar is there any indication of dates in Ireland; but if you're likely to be in Britain at that time, the full schedule is given by FOAOTMAD.

© Richard Hawkins

Bil VornDick commemorated in Nashville

The BIB was fortunate to be able to publish on 14 July Richard Thompson's obituary of Bil VornDick (right), the legendary Grammy-award-winning producer, recording engineer, songwriter, and musician, who died on 5 July at the age of 72.

Sandy Hatley has now reported for Bluegrass Today on the ceremony celebrating Bil VornDick's life which was held at the Ocean Way Studio in Nashville, TN, two days ago (20 Seot.). Tributes in speech and music during the occasion included contributions from Béla Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Craig Duncan, and Edgar Meyer, and clearly show why Bil VornDick was held in such high regard.

Jerry Douglas also makes a substantial contribution to the obituary of Bil VornDick that appears in the Sept. 2022 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine.

© Richard Hawkins

Banjo All Stars trading cards - second series to be voted for

Exactly eight months ago (21 Jan.) - it seems a lot longer, but much has happened in the world since then - the BIB relayed the news from Bluegrass Today of Colyn Brown, his Bluegrass Trading Company, and the first series of Banjo All Stars trading cards, showing forty prominent bluegrass banjo players as represented in newly commissioned artwork. A new series is now in preparation, to include over sixty players; nominations are flooding in, and the issue is planned for spring 2023. Full details are on the Bluegrass Trading Company website and John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

Dublin's Georgina Flood is contributing her artwork to the project, including the portrait above of a young Carl Jackson - see the notes on the Bluegrass Trading Company Facebook. The BIB is pleased to note a nice portrait of Greg Cahill, leader of the Special Consensus, painted by Anna Magruder of Portland, OR.

© Richard Hawkins

Jim Pankey at Crawford Banjos, Ballynahinch, Co. Down

Prior to this evening, the BIB believed that Jim Pankey was last here as banjo-player for the Hamilton County Ramblers of Chattanooga, TN, in 2016 when they played at the Woodbine Bluegrass Jamboree, at the Ardara Bluegrass Festival, and as instructors at the first Bluegrass Camp Ireland. Now, we're not so sure: Jim has just added the video above to his YouTube channel, and began receiving comments from Ireland at once. So what other private visits may he have made in the last six years?

Be that as it may, the video introduces Crawford Banjos (also on Facebook), made by Robert Crawford in Ballynahinch, Co. Down, with the aid of machinery much of which dates from the nineteenth century; but the design and workmanship are clearly of a very high order, and the results look and sound beautiful. The video shows chiefly a slotted-head fretless with brass-plated fingerboard and many individual touches; Facebook shows instruments that include tack-head, gourd, and other old-time banjos, but bluegrass banjos are also made. Well worth checking out.

© Richard Hawkins

A successful first Trafaria bluegrass festival (update)

Norwegian band Buster Sledge playing at Trafaria
(photo: Maria Lazaro)

Thanks to Andre Dal Lentilhas, the moving spirit of bluegrass in Portugal, for his report on the successful holding of Portugal's first ever international bluegrass festival - Trafaria Bluegrass - Festival by the River. The completely free event was held on 9-11 September in the small fishing village of Trafaria on the south bank of the Tagus, close to the river mouth and Lisbon.

As reported on the BIB on 26 July, the lineup comprised Rawhide (BE), the Often Herd (GB), the Original Five (SE), Buster Sledge (N), and the home team, Stonebones & Bad Spaghetti. Each band played twice on the weekend: once on the main stage in the village square, and again on one of the five side stages in other locations. Photos of the programme are shown on the festival Facebook. Five instrument workshops (guitar, mandolin, dobro, banjo, fiddle) were also held on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and Andre writes: 'Jams were encouraged as a lively and vibrant part of the festival.'

A subsidiary programme was also developed to show Trafaria, its surroundings, and its people to vistors, including storytelling for children, walks around the village, archeological tours, active aging and intergenerational interaction encounters, and recycling workshops.

View from the main stage at an evening concert (photo: Felipe Lima)

Presentations and speeches were made by the president of the organising team, Recreios Desportivos da Trafaria, João Horta; the artistic director, André Dal; and the mayors of Almada city council (Inês de Medeiros) and Trafaria parish council (Sandra Chaíça). Andre writes:

Even though public transportation is sparse and needs to be improved, the festival was a huge success. The small village of Trafaria was crowded during the whole weekend and all stages were packed. The audience felt the vibrant performance of the bands and responded accordingly. Because this was the first ever bluegrass festival to be held in Portugal, the organization's team did not have an idea of the number of people who could join the event.

Nevertheless, local people from the village of Trafaria came in great numbers, as well as from other parts of Portugal and also from abroad, and more than 3,000 people attended enthusiastically to all the concerts. Portuguese and foreign musicians took part in the jams with the bands' musicians, and locals felt the village had a great atmosphere. The side activities were also packed with people trying to discover more about the village. Children and adults were eager to learn more about bluegrass music as well.

It is safe to say that due to the success of this first event, the city council of Almada and the parish council of Trafaria will extend their support for next year's edition and hopefully, with the help of local companies, associations, institutions, EBMA, and private people as was this year.

BIB editor's note: Why does it not surprise us that Rawhide took part in forging a new musical genre, 'Fadograss', together with the Portuguese singer Ana Margarida?

Update 21 Sept.: The full text of Andre's report, together with two videos and more photographs from the Festival, can now be seen on Bluegrass Today.

Andre (banjo) with his band Stonebones & Bad Spaghetti
(photo: Maria Lazaro)

© Richard Hawkins

New season of Ken Perlman 'Clawhammer Clinics', Oct. 2022

Ken Perlman, master of 'melodic claw-hammer' banjo, announces that the first online live instructional workshops in the new season of his 'Clawhammer Clinics for old-time banjo' series will be '"Keith"-picking: adapting the principles of melodic bluegrass to clawhammer' (Mon. 3 Oct.) and 'Movable major & minor chord shapes in double-C / double-D tuning' (Mon. 24 Oct.). Each clinic lasts an hour and a half. All of Ken's twenty-four previous Clinics are available as videos from his website at $25 each, and he can also be contacted for private lessons by Zoom.

© Richard Hawkins

Special Consensus (USA) - a busy schedule for Jan.-Feb. 2023

The band's current lineup: (l-r) Dan Eubanks, Greg Cahill, Greg Blake, Michael Prewitt

Following on from the remark in our last post that Greg Blake would be here early in 2023 as a member of the award-winning Special Consensus, the BIB is delighted to see that the band now has a very full schedule for their tour in this island. The Special C., founded in 1975 and going from strength to strength, first came here for a brief tour of four or five shows in 1995, and - thanks to Nigel Martyn and his Old Flattop agency - have since played here more times than any other band from abroad, settling into a biennial schedule of coming over early in the year, and only missing 2021 because of the pandemic.

The schedule that the BIB published in May for their 2023 tour has since been much extended and amended, and now (according to the band's online tour schedule) gives a total of seventeen shows in this island, with an interval of four in Britain including the 2023 Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow:

• Wed. 25th Jan.: Black Box, Belfast, 12.00 p.m. (part of Out to Lunch Arts Festival); American Bar, Belfast, 8.00 p.m.
• Thurs. 26th: Court House, Bangor, Co. Down, 8.00 p.m.
• Fri. 27th: Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, Limavady, Co. Londonderry, 8.00 p.m.
• Sat. 28th: Marketplace Theatre, Armagh city, 8.00 p.m.

[interval in Britain]

• Fri. 3rd Feb.: Colfers Pub, Carrig-on-Bannow, Co. Wexford, 9.00 p.m.
• Sat. 4th: Raheen House Hotel, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, 9.00 p.m.
• Sun. 5th: Campbell's Tavern, Headford, Co. Galway, 4.00 p.m.
• Mon. 6th: Kilworth Community Hall, Co. Cork, 8.00 p.m.
• Tues. 7th: Bob's Bar, Durrow, Co. Laois, 8.00 p.m.
• Wed. 8th: Hawk's Well Theatre, Sligo town, 8.00 p.m.
• Thurs. 9th: Beehive Bar, Ardara, Co. Donegal, 8.00 p.m.
• Fri. 10th: Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, 8.00 p.m.
• Sat. 11th: Séamus Ennis Arts Centre & Café, Naul, Co. Dublin, 8.00 p.m.
• Sun. 12th: Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, 8.00 p.m.
• Mon. 13th: The Red Room, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, 8.00 p.m.
• Tues. 14th: Corner House, Lurgan, Co. Armagh, 8.00 p.m.

© Richard Hawkins

More news of past visitors

'Greg Blake', writes John Lawless on Bluegrass Today, 'has certainly got to be in the running for busiest man in bluegrass for 2022.' Greg and his Kansas City band Hometown have just released their recording of the John Starling song 'Gardens and memories', which can be heard on Bluegrass Today and on YouTube.

The photo above shows Hometown - (l-r) Brian McCarty, Greg, Todd Davis, and Grant Cochran. We expect to see Greg (who has toured Ireland several times as solo artist, bandleader, and guitarist/ lead singer with Jeff Scroggins & Colorado) back here in four months' time with the Special Consensus.

Update 20 Sept.: Turnberry Records have just released Greg Blake's latest single, 'From me to we'. On the Turnberry press release Greg explains how he came to write this song about 'the importance of relationships and how precious, yet fragile, they can be'.

*

Some nice photos of Seth Mulder & Midnight Run are among those taken by Laura Tate at the recent Camp Springs Bluegrass Festival, featured by Sandy Hatley on Bluegrass Today; and many photos of Laurie Lewis, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, and the Gibson Brothers, taken by Frank Baker at the 2022 Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival, are also on Bluegrass Today.

*

Jason Carter, who first played in Ireland not all that long after he became fiddle player for Del McCoury, has just released the single 'King of the Hill' from his coming album Lowdown hoedown, also featured on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Art we can appreciate

The BIB editor writes:

This is not a paid ad for No Depression, but I compliment the magazine and its artist on the design (right) for the cover of its Fall 2022 print issue. I have seen, but can't now locate, a picture of a nineteenth-century banjo with a soundhole in the centre of the head.* In the 1980s Mark Cox revived the idea, and (on the advice of Don Reno) put the hole in the 'ten o'clock' position, which might have been a problem for the tracklaying crew shown in the picture.

By the way, No Depression published on 14 Sept. a review by Andy Crump of If it all goes south, the new album by Amy Ray. The review includes two YouTube videos of numbers from the album. In addition to being an activist for social justice and environmental causes, Ray is not a characteristic bluegrass singer; the songs in the videos, however, lend themselves well to a bluegrass treatment, and the instrumentation includes impeccable, imaginative banjo-playing by Alison Brown.

* A c.1920 Fred Van Eps Recording banjo, with the soundhole forward of centre, can be seen here.

© Richard Hawkins

The latest BU and BBN

The Sept. 2022 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine includes a five-page feature on Tom Mindte, leader of the Patuxent Partners (last here in 2015) and owner of Patuxent Records; and three pages on Canadian mandolinist Andrew Collins, who toured here with the Foggy Hogtown Boys in 2009. The rest of the issue is full of equally good stuff, including an inspiring story by Chuck Dunlop (with cartoon strips by Jim Scancarelli) of how his 1947 Martin D-18 was stolen in 1972, was recovered forty-nine years later in 2021, and (after restoration) continues to delight its owner.

*

The cover story of the summer 2022 issue of British Bluegrass News (magazine of the British Bluegrass Music Association (BBMA)) is Matt Hutchinson's interview with London's The Vanguards (above), who were headliners at the 2017 Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival, provided the music for the festival's launch party in 2019, and followed that with five other shows in Ireland. Their first studio album, South of the river, is reviewed in this issue by Hilary Gowen. Among other features are an interview with luthier Phil Davidson, a report on the Battlefield Bluegrass Festival (July), another on a band's trip to this year's EWOB Festival in the Netherlands, and an introduction to sources on old-time music.

The BIB, however, specially recommends 'The joy of singing - at last!', a brief article by Eris Kwiatkowski, who had written himself off as 'unable to sing' until a qualified singing teacher showed him correct breathing and voice production. Eric writes: 'Don't assume you can't sing, and don't listen to anyone who says you can't.' This advice is genuinely capable of changing one's life.

© Richard Hawkins

Traveler: new biography of Tim O'Brien

This month the University of Oklahoma Press publishes Traveler: the musical odyssey of Tim O'Brien, by Bobbie Malone and Bill C. Malone, in its 'American Popular Music' series, as a book of 232 pages with twenty-two monochrome illustrations. It is available in hardcover at $26.95 and as an e-book at $21.95. More details and descriptions of the book are in Richard Thompson's feature on Bluegrass Today. Both authors are musicians as well as being respected biographers and historians; Bill C. Malone's works include Country music U.S.A. (1968; 3rd ed. 2010); Music from the true vine: Mike Seeger's life and musical journey (2011); and Working girl blues: the life and music of Hazel Dickens (with Hazel Dickens; 2008).

Tim O'Brien is prominent among a generation of musicians who have led a rapprochement between bluegrass and Irish music - two genres which in the 1940s and '50s did not seem particularly close. One of his own early visits to Ireland included playing with the Sackville String Band at Tailors' Hall, Dublin, in the late 1970s; later visits include tours with Hot Rize and leading his own Tim O'Brien Band; and his many musical connections with this island range from the 1999 album The crossing to 'Walking home to Wexford', his 2020 collaboration with Milan Miller.

© Richard Hawkins

Bill Monroe, born 13 Sept. 1911

Richard D. Smith, author of Can't you hear me callin': the life of Bill Monroe, Father of Bluegrass (New York, 2000), writes:

We celebrate Bill as the 'Father of Bluegrass', probably the only individual yet to create a distinctive genre of popular music; as a powerfully innovative virtuoso mandolin player; and as a compelling vocalist whose melody lines and high harmonies still thrillingly define 'the high, lonesome sound'. But Bill Monroe is also arguably the first great autobiographical singer-songwriter in country music history [...]

... and goes on to substantiate his case on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Recordings, releases, and related news

On 9 Sept. the BIB carried a recording from YouTube of Hazel Dickens singing 'Hills of Galilee'. By coincidence (if that's what it was), on the same day Smithsonian Folkways Recordings announced three coming reissues of classic recordings by Hazel Dickens and her musical partner Alice Gerrard. The two albums Who's that knocking? and Won't you come and sing for me?, completely remastered, are being rereleased on vinyl, and issued for the first time as downloads or on streaming. At the same time (21 Oct.) all the Folkways recordings by Alice and Hazel are being rereleased as Pioneering women of bluegrass: the definitive edition on streaming and CD, with extras including a previously unreleased cut of a Louvin Brothers song.

*

Richard Thompson reported yesterday on Bluegrass Today (BT) a new thirty-two-minute documentary film on Hazel Dickens's life: Don't put her down: the life and times of Hazel Dickens, produced and directed by Julia Golonka, who explains in the BT feature how the film was inspired and came to be made. It will be screened at several festivals in coming months.

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The Dark Shadow Recording company announces that the Stillhouse Junkies (who made a big impression at this year's Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival) released their album Small towns on Friday (9 Sept.). On Bluegrass Today, Lee Zimmerman's review of the album includes a playlist with samples of all twelve tracks.

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Kenny & Amanda Smith (above) have released their eighth album together, the twelve-track All I need, which is now available on all streaming platforms, and from their website in CD form. Kenny has appeared more than once at Omagh festivals, and Amanda once with her husband.

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We Banjo 3, originators of Celtgrass, could be heard live last Friday on 'Bluegrass Junction', the premier bluegrass programme on the Sirius XM station. The band's Fergal Scahill had previously (23 Aug.) been interviewed on the Hops and Spirits Bar Conversations podcast series.

*

The Moving On Music agency announce that in their Belfast concert on Sun. 23 Oct. the Damien O'Kane and Ron Block Band will be joined by John Joe Kelly on bodhrán; that percussive dancer Nic Gareiss will be performing with fiddler, violist, and composer Ultan O’Brien at the Duncairn, Belfast, on Sun. 6 Nov.; and that in mid November Don Vappie, jazz tenor-banjo maestro, and his band will be playing four dates up North: dates and booking links are here - no connection with bluegrass, but potentially of great interest to mandolinists as well as jazz fans.

© Richard Hawkins

Nu-Blu - more from Ireland

On 6 Sept. the BIB reported on the US contemporary bluegrass band Nu-Blu and their 'Ireland along the way' tour, which began this past weekend. Nu-Blu now announce that this week's half-hour episode of 'Bluegrass Ridge', the weekly TV series which they host, will present more on-location features from Ireland, plus the second half of an interview with Ronnie Norton (right), host of 'Bluegrass and beyond' on Bluegrass Country Radio. Details of the band's tour schedule in Ireland, and locations of the venues where they may be playing, are apparently reserved for those who are on the tour.

Update 16 Sept.: Bluegrass Today carries a report by Tara Linhardt, with two dozen photos and a video, of a historic celebration last Saturday (10 Sept.) of the founders of what became Bluegrass Country. The first show in the lineage was broadcast on 2 July 1967 (the same day on which the BIB editor and his lovely wife Carol were married).

© Richard Hawkins

Herschel Sizemore, 6 Aug. 1935-9 Sept. 2022

Herschel Sizemore playing 'Rebecca' in the lobby of the Renaissance Hotel, Nashville, TN, during IBMA's World of Bluegrass 2006 (photo: Carol Hawkins)

The BIB learns with regret of the death yesterday morning of master mandolinist Herschel Sizemore at the age of 87. Another veteran of the generation who played bluegrass music before it was given that name, he was inspired as a child by the playing of Bill Monroe, and as a professional served his time in many leading bands - Jimmy Martin & the Sunny Mountain Boys, Lester Flatt & the Nashville Grass, Del McCoury & the Dixie Pals, among others. His compositions included the classic 'Rebecca'. (In 2011 Chris Stuart discussed on Bluegrass Today the processes that lead to the creation of such classics.) Richard Thompson's exemplary obituary on Bluegrass Today includes a discography and eight videos, with bluegrass music of a very high quality.

Update 12 Sept.: The funeral service for Herschel Sizemore will be held on Thursday afternoon (15 Sept.) in Roanoke, VA. Other details are in Richard Thompson's post of 11 Sept. on Bluegrass Today.

Update 16 Sept.: A 1993 Bluegrass Unlimited article on Herschel, written by Don Rigsby, can be read online.

© Richard Hawkins

Without comment

The Solemn Old Judge

Thanks to Roger Green for sending a link to 'Meet the American who founded the Grand Ole Opry: "Remarkable visionary" George D. Hay', an article by Kerry J. Byrne, published last week on the Fox News website. It commemorates George Dewey Hay (right; 1895-1968), creator of the name 'Grand Ole Opry' rather than the show itself, but his enthusiasm for rural music and rural life did much to make the show a national institution. The article includes eleven photos and a brief video. One of the photos shows the Ben Watts statue of Loretta Lynn outside the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN; in the background is Watts's statue of Bill Monroe. The article can also be heard as an eight-minute audio recording.

© Richard Hawkins

Visiting US pickers, Sept. 2022-Jan. 2023

Mark Epstein (right) plays banjo and sings in the high-energy traditional bluegrass band Badly Bent, based in Durango, CO. Mark is visiting Ireland later this month, primarily for a golf trip; but being a picker, he is also hoping to find and join any open jams here. He arrives in Belfast on Sunday 25 September, and will be travelling around from there. If your jam has a spare chair for a banjo-player, Mark can be contacted by e-mail.

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Hank Smith (left), whose videos of banjo advice and instruction on the Deering Live channel have often been mentioned on the BIB, is co-leader, with Pattie Hopkins, of the progressive bluegrass band Hank, Pattie & the Current, and since 2017 has been lecturer in banjo at the University of North Carolina. He is also a friend of Dublin's own Paddy Kiernan.

Thanks to Hank for the news that he and Billie Feather (the Current's guitarist, who is also an educator) will be travelling as a duo to Ireland at the end of this year, and will be in Dublin from 29 Dec. to 7 Jan. As the Current's YouTube channel and Spotify playlist show, they are masters of a variety of genres as well as bluegrass - folk, jazz, classical, etc. Hank and Billie hope to learn of any gig or workshop opportunities in the Dublin area in that time frame. Hank can be contacted by e-mail.

Update 10 Sept.: Hank demonstrates the Deering Goodtime Blackgrass banjo (and his impressive command of the instrument) in a two-minute video of 'Dear old Dixie' on the Deering YouTube channel.

© Richard Hawkins

Dunmore East 2022 on Bluegrass Today

Michael Luchtan has written an excellent feature on this year's Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival (26-28 Aug.) in Co. Waterford, which has just been published on Bluegrass Today, together with six photos taken by Garrett Fitzgerald. Michael has a good word for all the bands taking part, with sets by the Blue Light Smugglers, the Mons Wheeler Band, the Blueberry Pickers, and Long Way Home mentioned as highlights; and he advises US bands who may be thinking of coming over to e-mail Mick Daly - and to check the BIB for whatever else may be going on. After seeing this feature, more bands are likely to be contacting Mick.

One word in the article needs to be changed: the US band that headlined the first Dunmore East festival back in 1995 was not the 'Bluegrass Pioneers', but the Bluegrass Patriots, the splendid Colorado band who were active for almost exactly thirty-one years (see the BIB for 10 Oct. 2011).

© Richard Hawkins

The Irish element in Andy Leftwich's The American fiddler (for release 28 Oct.)

The latest e-newsletter from the Mountain Home Music Company announces the forthcoming release of The American fiddler, an all-instrumental album by Andy Leftwich, formerly fiddler with Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder from 2001 to 2016. Since joining Mountain Home early in 2021, he has released as singles several exciting original compositions which will be on the new album, including 'Through the east gate', 'Over Cincinnati', 'Pikes Peak breakdown', and 'Kimber county'. It is the title track, however, that listeners in this island may particularly want to hear. Leftwich says:

Influenced by Irish and bluegrass fiddling, I wanted to write a piece of music that showcased both styles. [...] This song exemplifies what this entire project is all about, so I thought it was fitting for this to be the title cut. [...] The songs on this album represent some of my favorite styles of fiddling that have been passed down from Scottish, Irish, and Appalachian heritages.

The album is scheduled for release on 28 October and can be pre-ordered now. More details, with links, are on the Mountain Home e-newsletter.

© Richard Hawkins

Steve Arkin, 1 May 1944-24 Aug. 2022

The BIB learns with regret of the death of Steve Arkin at the age of 78. Already in his teens an active member of the New York bluegrass scene, he became a friend of Bill Keith and an exponent of Keith's new 'melodic' style of banjo playing; served two months as a Blue Grass Boy in the summer of 1964; and in later life played not only in bluegrass bands but in a succession of old-time combinations. Richard Thompson's obituary on Bluegrass Today includes five videos, illustrating this versatility. In the YouTube video, shot in 2011, of him playing with Paul Brown (fiddle), Arkin plays 'Sally in the turnip patch' in clawhammer style, then puts on his picks to play Fiddlin' Arthur Smith's 'Fiddler's reel' in three-finger style. The photo above shows him as a member of the New Cut Road String Band. Music was by no means his only interest, as Richard Thompson's admirable obituary shows.

Arkin was well qualified to write 'Banjo playing: Reno, Thompson, Scruggs, Keith style and beyond', a solid and entertaining article, first published in Pickin' magazine in October 1974. Part of it appeared two years later as an appendix to Tony Trischka's Melodic banjo (Oak Publications, New York, 1976), and the whole has been reprinted in Thomas Goldsmith (ed.), The bluegrass reader (University of Illinois Press, 2004). It was particularly important as a response to what Arkin considered an 'inane argument' about whether Bill Keith or Bobby Thompson (1937-2005) originated the melodic style; for it described an occasion at which he introduced Keith and Thompson to one another in Converse, SC, in the summer of 1964. As far as the BIB is aware, this view has not been successfully challenged.

© Richard Hawkins

Shane Hennessy at the Station Inn tonight

Thanks to Carlow guitar maestro Shane Hennessy for his latest e-newsletter, sent in the fifth week of his current US tour, and just before he is due to play (together with some special guests) at the world-famous Station Inn, the premier venue for live music - especially bluegrass - in Nashville, TN. His remaining US dates, up to 18 Sept., include the equally famous Walnut Valley Festival at Winfield, KS. The newsletter includes photos from the tour - one is the shot above, showing Shane with Galway's We Banjo 3 at the Kansas City Irish Fest. The image below gives the dates for his October tour in Germany. The final photo in the newsletter may stir memories of Jimmy Martin's 'Guitar picking president'.

© Richard Hawkins

Nu-Blu present 'Bluegrass Ridge' on location in Ireland - with Ronnie Norton

Last Saturday (3 Sept.) the BIB reported on the US contemporary bluegrass band Nu-Blu and their 'Ireland along the way' tour, which begins this coming weekend. Nu-Blu now announce that this week's half-hour episode of 'Bluegrass Ridge', the weekly TV series which they host, will be an on-location special from Ireland - shot in Dublin and featuring 'some of the best videos in bluegrass' plus an interview with Ronnie Norton (right), host of 'Bluegrass and beyond' on Bluegrass Country Radio. The Nu-Blu newsletter gives more details, including the networks showing 'Bluegrass Ridge'.

© Richard Hawkins

Colton Crawford of the Dead South on Deering Live

The featured artist on Deering Live last Thursday was Colton Crawford, banjo player in the Dead South (also on Facebook). The Canadian roots-music four-piece is described as a 'rock band without a drummer, a bluegrass band without a fiddler'; as a string band with mandolin, banjo, guitar, and cello (worn on a sling, somewhat like a bass guitar), they have a strong appeal for young audiences who don't follow bluegrass or old-time music.

Colton Crawford plays both clawhammer and three-finger style, using a Deering Vega Little Wonder and Saratoga Star as his main instruments. Thursday night's interview can be seen on Deering Live and YouTube; the first piece played is a Crawford composition, using clawhammer technique in 6/8 time.

© Richard Hawkins

Pat Kelleher's 'Fall in Carolina' tour, 4-27 Sept. 2022

Thanks (and envy) to Pat Kelleher (right) of Dripsey, Co. Cork, one of the world's leading exponents of the long-neck 5-string banjo, for the news that he is in North Carolina for the month of September, and will be playing a list of select engagements, beginning tomorrow (4 Sept.). Pat's schedule is as follows:

• Sun. 4th: Happy Valley Fiddlers Convention, Lenoir, NC
• Thurs. 8th: Black Mountain Kitchen & Ale House, Black Mountain, NC (Guesting with The Big Deal Band)
• Fri. 9th: Private house concert, Lenoir, NC
• Sat. 10th: Mount Airy Merry Go Round, Mount Airy, NC
• Sun. 11th: Music In The Valle, Valle Crusis, NC
• Sun. 11th: Lost Province Brewing Co, Boone, NC
• Tues. 13th: Private house concert, Brevard, NC
• Thurs. 15th: Hub Station, Hudson. NC
• Sat. 17th: Asheville Guitar Bar, Asheville, NC
• Sun. 18h: Liquid Roots Brewing Project, Lenoir, NC
• Tues. 27th: R.A. Fountain General Store, Fountain, NC

Pat can be contacted through his Long Neck Music website, his Facebook, and e-mail, while his music can be heard on his Youtube Channel - this includes over a hundred episodes (each ninety minutes to two hours long) of Pat's 'From Our Living Room To Yours' video series, delivered on live stream during the pandemic. An audio sample of Pat's songwriting is his philosophical 'Moving on' on SoundCloud.

© Richard Hawkins

Nu-Blu's 'Ireland along the way' tour, 10-18 Sept. 2022

Nu-Blu (above), based in Siler City, NC, toured here in 2019 in a trio configuration. The band now announce their eight-day 'Ireland along the way' tour for this year, which will begin a week from now (10-18 Sept.). The tour begins and ends at Dublin airport; the cost starts from €3995 per person, based on double or twin sharing, and including (among other good things) high-class accommodation, breakfast and lunch/ dinner each day, and entry fees into historic sites and 'quaint music venues' where the band will be performing. Unfortunately Nu-Blu's newsletter and online tour schedule give no details of the performances other than for the first day of the tour (10 Sept.), when the band will take part in the Moonrise Festival at Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan.

After the tour of Ireland ends, Nu-Blu will be headlining the Moniaive Michaelmas Bluegrass Festival (23-25 Sept.) in Scotland before returning to the USA for events including the IBMA World Of Bluegrass in Raleigh, NC.

© Richard Hawkins

News from FOAOTMAD - not just for old-time fans

Thanks to the blog of FOAOTMAD, the UK's national association for American old-time music and dance, for its two latest news items. First: the Slocan Ramblers, whose most recent visit here was in May, began last night (1 Sept.) a tour of Britain, playing fifteen shows up to 18 Sept. FOAOTMAD remind old-time fans:

While primarily known as a bluegrass band, the Slocan Ramblers perform a wide range of acoustic styles which certainly include old-time music. Banjoist Frank Evans is recognised as one of the finest clawhammer players on the contemporary scene, and uses both banjo styles within the band’s repertoire. He started out playing clawhammer and was mentored by Chris Coole from an early age. Frank is also a member of the Tune Hash old-time collective, alongside fiddler George Jackson and a host of other stellar players [links added by the BIB].

So: unfortunately, no part of the tour is in this island (the nearest show as the crow flies is at St David's, Pembrokeshire), but if you have friends in Britain or may find yourself near any of the locations, the complete schedule (with links for online booking) is shown here.

Secondly, Su & Jules's Online Old Time Session has been running sessions on Zoom since Mar. 2020. With the return of live music, online attenders are fewer; but Su and Jules are maintaining the Zoom sessions, as

[...] these sessions also benefit those who don’t drive or travel at night, or are physically unable to travel [or, perhaps, are in a different country - BIB editor]. I would like to push these sessions in the future for that very purpose to provide that opportunity for people. Slow jams have also been a major success where you can learn a range of instruments and not worry about being heard if you are working a tune or chords out. [...] These sessions are free and donations can be made.

Full details for joining the Zoom events are on their website.

© Richard Hawkins

New chapter from Cedar Hill

Cedar Hill, the fine traditional bluegrass band from the Ozark region, have made many friends and fans in Ireland from performances at Omagh and elsewhere. Their latest album, New chapter, was recently released as their first on the Mountain Fever Records label. John Curtis Goad reviews it in detail on Bluegrass Today, with a playlist giving samples of all eleven tracks, and sums up: 'an extremely strong album that fits right into today’s popular country-tinged traditional bluegrass sound, featuring fine musicians who certainly know what they’re doing'. One-minute excerpts of all tracks can also be heard on the band's website.

The BIB has already reported on singles from the album: 'How deep is the lonesome', 'The art of love', and 'Smilin''. Other artists on the Mountain Fever label include Seth Mulder & Midnight Run, whose new album In dreams I go back is released today (see the BIB for 24 Aug.).

© Richard Hawkins