Jake Blount on Deering Live TONIGHT

Tonight (Wednesday 30 Nov.) the Deering Banjo Company presents on Deering Live the award-winning musician and scholar Jake Blount, a specialist in the early folk music of black Americans (see the BIB for 29 Oct.). The interview can be watched live tonight on Deering Live from 11.00 p.m. Irish time, or on YouTube, where it will also be available later.

Goodtime openback and Goodtime Two (resonator) banjos will also be available - from dealers taking part in this sale - for $130 and $170 off the regular price, up to and including Sunday 4 December.

© Richard Hawkins

Tim O'Brien joins TradFest lineup

The organising team of Dublin's TradFest Temple Bar announce that Tim O'Brien (above) will take part in the Great Irish Songbook event in the National Stadium on Thurs. 26 Jan. 2023 at 7.30 p.m. (single ticket €39.99):

Grammy-award-winning singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Brien has joined the Great Irish Songbook lineup. One of the spearheads of contemporary bluegrass, O'Brien was the co-founder of Hot Rize/ Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers, as well as enjoying a successful career as a solo artist. Tim O'Brien will perform with an already star-studded lineup of fantastic musicians - Dervish, Eddi Reader, Ralph McTell and Cara Dillon. This will be a night to remember!

© Richard Hawkins

Mile Twelve: new single, 'Close enough to hear'

(L-r) Evan Murphy, Korey Brodsky, Ella Jordan,
Nate Sabat, BB Bowness

John Lawless reports on Bluegrass Today that Boston's Mile Twelve have released their latest single, 'Close enough to hear', the title track of their coming album, which is due for release on 3 Feb. 2023.

Sixty per cent of the band's present lineup corresponds with that of their most recent tour of Ireland (John Nyhan's first tours for them were arranged back when they were a four-piece). The song, written by Evan Murphy during the early lockdown experiences, can be heard in the official video on Bluegrass Today and on YouTube, and is available on streaming services. The album can be pre-ordered from Mile Twelve's website.

© Richard Hawkins

Cedar Hill: new single, 'I remember the blues'

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. The latest Mountain Fever Records press release announces the band's new single, 'I remember the blues', written by founder member Frank Ray, who explains that it is about 'that feeling you just can’t lose when old memories come flooding back and how you felt at the time'.

Cedar Hill's lineup on the recording consists of Frank (mandolin, harmony vocal), Dalton Harper (lead vocal, guitar), Patti LaFleur (upright bass), Pete Brown (fiddle, harmony vocal), and D.J. Shumate (banjo). The song can be heard on YouTube.

Update 5 Dec.: It can now also be heard in John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

'Nothing but a child' from Danny and Áine Burns (update)

The latest Pinecastle Records press release describes the label's Christmas recordings, one of which is a single from Danny Burns:

For Danny Burns, Christmas has always been about family and the true nostalgia of the season. That inspiration is on full display with his remake of his friend Steve Earle’s 'Nothing but a child'. He enlisted his wife, fellow Irish powerhouse vocalist Áine Burns. Together their voices blend like a warm blanket in front of a fireplace on a snowy Christmas Eve night. The song takes a more serious tone, recalling the birth of Jesus Christ and how it also relates to modern-day society.

'Nothing but a child' can be heard on YouTube.

Update 15 Dec.: See also John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Gift parcel from Bluegrass Today

Chris Coole (banjo) and John Showman (fiddle) of the Lonesome Ace Stringband have a new album, Much further out than inevitable, comprising a dozen songs by the late John Hartford, due for release this coming Friday and now available for pre-ordering. A video of them playing the Hartford song 'Back in the goodle days' can be seen in John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today, and also on YouTube.

*

The Petersens, who have (thanks to John Nyhan) toured Ireland several times, released earlier this month a new album, My Ozark Mountain home. Lee Zimmerman reviews the album on Bluegrass Today, with a playlist of samples of all thirteen songs.

*

The Appalachian Road Show (see the BIB for 19 Nov.) made their first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN, last Friday (25 Nov.), and it seems to have been a powerful experience for everyone there, whether on stage or in the seats. Three videos and several photos from the occasion are given in John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

*

The living legend Paul Williams has been inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame twice: as a member of the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers (2009), and in his own right (2018). A major part of his career was his time as tenor singer, mandolinist, and songwriter in Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys. Sandy Hatley's recent conversation with him about his life is recorded on Bluegrass Today. One of his compositions, the gospel duet 'Stormy waters' can be heard here, with Williams's soaring tenor above Martin's lead. Of the versions available by different artists on YouTube, this one best embodies the blend of voices that Jimmy Martin strove for.

Update 2 Dec.: More of Paul Williams's memories and life story, recounted by Joe Mullins, can now be read on Bluegrass Today.

*

Finally, Richard Thompson posts on Bluegrass Today the sad news of the death of guitarist and singer Dudley Murphy (16 Apr. 1940-19 Nov. 2022). Like many contemporaries, Murphy grew up listening to rock and folk rather than traditional music, but became a masterful flat-picker and lead singer in two highly regarded bands, County Line and Radio Flyer, as well as taking part in what may have been the first twin flat-picking album ever recorded. Thompson's obituary includes tributes by those who knew Murphy, a discography, four videos (two of them are recordings of full LPs), and five photos. Dudley Murphy's funeral took place yesterday, 28 Nov. 2022.

© Richard Hawkins

Fretboard Journal's Cyber Monday sale

The Fretboard Journal (FJ) produces a constant stream of videos, podcasts, and online articles for the instrument freak; but Jason Verlinde, its editor, stresses:

The truth of the matter is this: our print magazine is where we really put our energy. Every edition is 128 pages of great guitar storytelling, from all genres and styles. We love it all: acoustic and electric, vintage and boutique. So we basically make a quarterly coffee table book filled with interviews and photo essays, just for like-minded guitarists.

In the BIB's view, this sells the FJ short - it deals not just with guitars, but with mandolins (in the picture above, note the figure of David Grisman), banjos, and other fretted instruments, has even been known to mention fiddles, and does all this with informed writing and beautiful photography. Jason continues:

Today is the last day of our sale. Use the discount code CYBER22 when you check out and you'll save 20% off your order on any print (or digital) subscription. The code works on any order: single issues, a gift subscription, renewals, digital subscriptions, or a mystery bundle package. You'll basically be paying our 2012 subscription rates in 2022. But act fast. This offer ends tonight at midnight.

The BIB calculates this means 8.00 a.m. on 29 Nov. (Irish time). Click here to place a subscription or gift subscription.

© Richard Hawkins

TradFest tickets: 10% off, today ONLY

The organising team of Dublin's TradFest Temple Bar announce that today only (Cyber Monday, Mon. 28 Nov.) tickets to the coming TradFest shows can be bought at a 10% discount with the code CYBER10. The shows include the JigJam concert at the Grand Social on 26 Jan. at 8.00/8.30 p.m. Jigjam now consists of Jamie McKeogh (lead vocal, guitar), Daithi Melia (5-string banjo, dobro), Gavin Strappe (mandolin, tenor banjo), and Glaswegians Calum Morrison (bass) and Danny Hunter (fiddle).

© Richard Hawkins

The banjo's hidden history, and much more, in BBN

In the latest issue - no. 99, autumn 2022 - of British Bluegrass News (BBN), the magazine of the British Bluegrass Music Association (BBMA), the cover story is on Noel Dashwood, perhaps the no. 1 dobro player in Britain and an instructor in dobro at previous Sore Fingers events. In addition to the four-page interview by Trevor Hyett, Dashwood's new album receives two reviews, one by Brian Dowdall and one by the UK country bandleader Hank Wangford, with whose band he often plays.

Maria Wallace of the True North Music agency contributes two articles: one on Canada's Slocan Ramblers (photo above), who toured the UK twice this year (having toured Ireland in 2017 and 2019, and played at this year's Bluegrass Omagh festival); and one on Stuart Williams, leading figure of the Cheshire bluegrass scene. Cheshire is relatively accessible from Dublin, so bluegrassers from Ireland should look up the Helsby Bluegrass Club website.

The many other good things in the issue include Eric Kwiatkowski's confessions of a serial instrument-buyer, and 'Tab corner', devoted to the three-part Bill Monroe composition 'The Golden West', with Jack Baker's substantial commentary on Monroe's music and on bluegrass in California.

A good deal of thought and comment is sure to be stimulated by Kristina R. Gaddy's new book Well of souls: uncovering the banjo's hidden history. Matt Hutchinson interviewed the author in an hour-long podcast, of which an abridged transcript appears in this issue of BBN. The book has a foreword by Rhiannon Giddens; a sample can be read on Amazon.co.uk.

© Richard Hawkins

Smithsonian Folkways on Alice Gerrard and Jean Ritchie

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (SFR) present the video above: an animated interview with Alice Gerrard, in which Alice talks about her involvement with music and her collaboration with Hazel Dickens. This ties in with a recent seven-minute interview on PBS TV with Ali Rogin, 'Bluegrass icon Alice Gerrard on her trailblazing career'.

The SFR Facebook also recently features 'the mother of Folk' (and the person most responsible for spreading the use of the mountain dulcimer), Jean Ritchie of Viper, KY, and her recordings. From today (25 November) through midnight on Monday 28 November, everything in the SFR catalogue is 30% off with code BLACKFRIDAY2022.

© Richard Hawkins

Black Friday offers from We Banjo 3

Following their announcement of earlier this week, Galway's We Banjo 3 open their Black Friday sale with 20% off all items in their store, up to and including 1 Jan. 2023.

Update 28 Nov.: We Banjo 3 underline the fact that their sale extends well beyond Cyber Monday.

We Banjo 3 will be touring in the USA early next year (at about the same time that the Special Consensus will be touring in Ireland), so their online schedule offers links for bookings. They add the warning:

Since we're taking some time off after this run, these performances are our last and only shows for the year [2023]. We'd love to see you out there! Maybe a short concert getaway for you and a friend or family member? Best gift ever!

© Richard Hawkins

Billy Strings - from 2017 in North Carolina to 2022 in Dublin

Thanks to Dave Byrne jr of mygrassisblue.com, who announces:

We have a few tickets to give away for the Billy Strings gig in Dublin on 9 December. All the detail can be found on our Facebook page.

Although the gig is officially sold-out, and if the comments on our Facebook post thus far are any indication, there are people offering tickets for the show. Winning, buying, or being gifted a ticket, it’s a performance not to be missed; having seen Billy Strings for the first time back in October 2017 when he was a relative unknown, we’re not surprised he has gone (bluegrass) stratospheric in the five years since. We are, however, surprised it has taken him this long to get to Europe, and are glad Ireland is on the itinerary.

Dave includes this link to the mygrassisblue.com feature on Billy Strings and his band at Bluegrass Island in early October 2017, which has five videos from the show and several photos, including those shown below.

Billy Strings and band on day 4 of the Bluegrass Island Festival,
NC, 7 Oct. 2017

Billy Strings between Dave Byrne sr and jr

© Richard Hawkins

For mouth-harp players

The BIB editor writes:

For most of the first year of the Sackville String Band's existence, though we would have loved to have a fiddler who could play old-time music, a similarly qualified harmonica player would have been a very acceptable substitute. Cary Moskovitz of North Carolina has now brought out an album, North Carolina breakdown, of fourteen fiddle tunes (one of them an original composition) played on harmonicas accompanied by Moskovitz himself on rhythm guitar and banjo. I read the album notes on Bandcamp after hearing the tracks, and it was a surprise to find that the banjos played are 4-strings, both tenor and plectrum;* the banjo parts could well have been played by a 5-string. In any case, the ensemble sound is clear and integrated, and the tunes are set at tempos ranging from easy-going to sprightly. The album ($10 or more as a digital download) is reviewed by Braeden Paul on Bluegrass Today.

*I should have remembered his Duets album with Mark Olitsky (see the BIB for 11 May 2017).

© Richard Hawkins

Support international bluegrass!

Two months from now we shall be able to see and hear Greg Cahill of the Special Consensus in person when the band comes over to tour Ireland (and briefly Britain) in January and February 2023; but thanks to the IBMA, it is now possible to see Greg's cheerful face and hear him explain the new IBMA initiative to help bands from outside the USA to reach the Mother Country. This, and a great deal more, is on the latest IBMA e-newsletter.

Meanwhile, Chris Jones & the Night Drivers (Chris was once guitarist and lead singer for the Special C.) are celebrating - as the Mountain Home Music Company press release says - 'their eighth no. 1 song from one album, an unprecedented milestone in bluegrass radio', with 'Silver City' from their album Make each second last. The song was featured by John Lawless on Bluegrass Today back in August.

© Richard Hawkins

Remembering Carl Story with BU

Carl Moore Story (1916-95), born in Lenoir, NC, was one of the first generation of bluegrass musicians, having started a 'hillbilly' band in his mid teens as a fiddle player, together with Johnny/Johnnie 'Half-Pint' Whisnant playing three-finger style banjo. His long career included playing fiddle with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in 1942-3, before he went on to become known as the 'father of bluegrass gospel'. His story up to 1985 is told in a major article by Roy Thigpen, published in Bluegrass Unlimited magazine in Feb. 1985, which can now be read from BU's online archives. BU has also made available a Spotify playlist of fifty of his recordings.

PS: In this video from 1977 of an ensemble led by Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley, singing 'I'll fly away', Carl Story is on the right in a white shirt - perhaps the same outfit he has on in one of the photos in Roy Thigpen's article.

© Richard Hawkins

Shane Hennessy at Athlone, 27 Nov. 2022

Shane Hennessy, in his latest e-newsletter, draws attention to his free admission concert this coming Sunday (27 Nov.) at the Dean Crowe Theatre, Chapel St., Athlone, Co. Westmeath. Doors open at 7.00 p.m. and the show starts at 8.00 p.m.

He also includes links to four of his recent performance videos, which are also on YouTube (but by using the e-newsletter links, you avoid the ads). Two are from his concert earlier this month in Munich with Tommy Emmanuel; one is from his October 'Live at the Local' show at Kilcock, Co. Kildare, with Inni-K and Eimear; and the most directly bluegrass-related is a forty-minute compilation from this year's Walnut Valley Festival at Winfield, KS, in which he plays both solo and with JigJam.

© Richard Hawkins

We Banjo 3: a sale, a tour, and a break

After their tour in Ireland, the members of We Banjo 3 send good wishes to all for the holiday season, and report:

It’s been a relatively quiet fall season for the band, though each of us have certainly been enjoying our own adventures – Fergal travelling to exotic places, Martin weaving around the US with the production Come from away, David on his first solo tour opening for world music artist Ajeet, and Enda continuing to conquer the wormhole between the banjo and technology.

The band have seven dates in the USA around late January and early February 2023 (see poster image). and then...

After these shows, We Banjo 3 is taking a break. We are making space for individual creative projects. We look forward to what happens in this space, and we’ll keep you posted. We are proud of everything we’ve created together with you all.

Their Holiday Sale offers 20% off all merchandise in their store till 1 Jan. 2023.

© Richard Hawkins

Gainsborough old-time festival, 10-12 Feb. 2023

Owing to delay in publishing the next edition of its magazine Old Time News, with full details of the Gainsborough 2023 old-time festival, the Friends Of American Old Time Music And Dance (FOAOTMAD), the UK's national old-time association, announce that the festival will be held on the weekend Fri. 10-Sun. 12 Feb. Tickets will be available from 1 December, at £80 (member's full weekend ticket); £105 (non-member's weekend ticket; includes one year's FOAOTMAD membership); and £50 (day ticket).

FOAOTMAD announce: 'As well as a great lineup of artists from the UK, we are also pleased to have Spencer and Rains, Rachel Eddy, and Mitch Depew from the USA.' A great deal of basic info on the festival can already be found here, but the dedicated festival website should be online by the end of this month; meanwhile, anyone needing more information should e-mail Tim Rooke.

© Richard Hawkins

Remembering Jason Moore

Thanks again to Dave Byrne of mygrassisblue.com, who (as promised a week ago) sends this commemoration of Jason Moore of Sideline, who toured Ireland three years ago. Dave writes:

Today is the first anniversary of Jason Moore’s passing. We’ve published a video of an interview we recorded with him during the Sideline tour of Ireland back in 2019. The video is on our Facebook page and website and here’s the YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHCCgLmnK0M.

In the eight-and-three-quarter-minute interview, conducted at the Theatre Royal, Waterford, on 13 July 2019, Jason talks about how Sideline came together; his favourite Sideline song; his view of what constitutes bluegrass and what makes a good bluegrass band; audiences in Ireland, and much more.

© Richard Hawkins

Two almost-visitor bands and their latest releases

Two outstanding US bands, who would have performed at major bluegrass events in Ireland in 2020 if the pandemic had not intervened, have recently released new singles, both of which are unashamedly retro in nature. Both songs, moreover, centre on a familiar motif in bluegrass - a sweetheart in the mountains.

The Appalachian Road Show (above), who were to play at Bluegrass Omagh in May 2020 (the first time the Omagh festival had been scheduled for the spring), have a new single, 'The ballad of Kidder Cole', from their latest album, Jubilation - their previous album was Tribulation. The history of the song is told on Bluegrass Today, where you can hear the Road Show's recording, as well as on YouTube.

The Kody Norris Show, who were to play at the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival in June 2020, have just released a lyric video for 'Mountain Rosalie', their current single. It can be seen on YouTube and also on Bluegrass Today, where John Lawless comments:

Where a lot of contemporary bluegrass acts work to tone down the hard core hillbilly sound of traditional grass, Kody and company take the exact opposite approach, embracing the look and sound of the early days of our music.

© Richard Hawkins

A past visitor and a future visitor

Bronwyn Keith-Hynes (right), who has toured Ireland several times (thanks to John Nyhan) as a member of Boston's Mile Twelve, is now a sought-after session musician and a member of Molly Tuttle's band Golden Highway, and won the IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year award in 2021 and 2022. A major interview with her by author Mike Fiorito appeared last week on Bluegrass Today: 'The Bell Bottom bluegrass of Bronwyn Keith-Hynes'. In it, she reveals:

I grew up in an Irish American family. My dad’s parents immigrated from Ireland during World War II. And so, much of my dad’s family are still over there, and we would go to Ireland a lot when I was a kid. That experience exposed me to Irish traditional music. It was one of the first fiddle styles I got into, and I was passionate about that as a kid and a teenager.

Later, when asked whether she would ever record Celtic music:

I think I identify too much as a bluegrass fiddler. I mean, maybe, you never know. Life is long, and I love that music [Celtic] so much, but I don’t feel like I identify with it anymore. I have a deep love for Celtic music, but that’s not me anymore.

Along with a great amount of information, the interview is accompanied by three videos.

*

Billy Strings will be playing in Dublin early next month. Whether or not you were lucky enough to get a ticket for the show, the Bluegrass Situation (BGS) offers an opportunity to hear him playing and singing with Dierks Bentley on a video released today, and also on YouTube, of the song 'High note'. The video sets the world-famous Station Inn in Nashville, TN, in a nuclear-apocalyptic background, in which Bentley and Strings declare their intention of going down (or out) on a high note, 'like a tenor in an old hillbilly band'. The song will also be on Bentley's forthcoming album, with artists including Jerry Douglas (dobro), Sam Bush (mandolin), and Billy Strings and Bryan Sutton (guitar).

© Richard Hawkins

14th Annual Red Wine Bluegrass Party, 11-12 Nov. 2022

It's far too long since our old friends Red Wine from Genoa played in Ireland. As Italy's premier contemporary bluegrass band, who have performed with and befriended leading American artists, they hold annual concerts under the title of the 'Red Wine Bluegrass Party' at the Teatro Della Tosse in their home town.

Last weekend (11-12 Nov.) the band held the fourteenth Party on two sold-out nights at the Teatro, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the epochal album Will the circle be unbroken. Bluegrass Today carries a fine report of the event, written by Martino Coppo, Red Wine's mandolinist and lead singer, together with seventeen outstanding photos by Alessandro Ardy, including the shot above of all the performers taking their bow at the end.

© Richard Hawkins

Ken Perlman online banjo workshops, Dec.-Jan.

Ken Perlman (right), master of 'melodic clawhammer' banjo, announces that the next two online live instructional workshops in the current season of his 'Clawhammer Clinics for old-time banjo' series will be 'Modes & pentatonics in old-time music' (5 Dec.) and 'Creating variations via scale formulas on clawhammer banjo' (9 Jan.). Each clinic lasts an hour and a half. All Ken's 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

The mandolin-guitar hybrid

The Gold Tone Music Group draw attention to their F-6 Mando-Guitar or 'Manditar', with a body in the form of an F-style mandola, a 15" scale, and six strings tuned EADGBE (an octave above a regular guitar) so that it can easily be taken up by guitarists. It comes with a trapeze-style tailpiece, a pickup, and a hard-shell case for $699.99; Gold Tone are also giving one away in a draw that can be entered here up to 22 Nov. They make A-6, GME-6 (solid-body), and F-12 models with the same scale length.

The tenor 'banjo' was invented about 120 years ago so that musicians used to the tuning and/or playing style of instruments in the violin and mandolin families could pass as banjo-players before the general public, and the Gold Tone instruments represent a similar development. They're not a completely new idea - the Gibson M-6, introduced about twenty years ago, used a similar neck and tuning on an A-style mandolin body - but Gold Tone can be complimented on making this option available again.

© Richard Hawkins

Ryan Cavanaugh on single-string playing (and more)

On the Deering Banjos Blog, David Bandrowski presents for 5-string players a feature on Ryan Cavanaugh's 'Top 5 tips for improving single-string playing', a six-minute video that can also be seen on YouTube. In fact, all the titles of the five tips, and a high proportion of Cavanaugh's advice under those titles, are equally important for the picking hand of any banjo-player, not to mention players of other instruments. The titles are:

1. Pick attack
2. Relaxed hand position
3. Economy of motion
4. Proper application of pressure
5. Finesse

'Finesse' is a matter of making the banjo 'sing'. (Yes, it can be done.) There is more to the tips than the wording of the titles suggests, so the video is well worth taking on board. Other instructional videos by Ryan Cavanaugh are on the Deering YouTube channel.

© Richard Hawkins

Rudy Lyle interview; Grammy nomination for Peter Rowan

The Deering Banjo Company anounce that on Deering Live this coming Thursday (17 Nov.) banjoist and author Max Wareham will be interviewed about his book Rudy Lyle: the unsung hero of the five-string banjo (see the BIB for 28 Aug.). The book was published in late August and is available from the author at $30+postage for hard copy, or $20 for a digital download. The interview can be watched at 11.00 p.m. Irish time on Thursday, either on Deering Live or on YouTube. All episodes of Deering Live are now available as podcasts.

Max Wareham plays banjo for the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band. Fans, friends, and admirers of Peter Rowan, who has visited Ireland several times in his long career, will welcome the news that his latest album Calling you from my mountain, released in late June this year, has been nominated for the bluegrass category in the 2023 Grammy awards. More details, together with the names of other bluegrass and bluegrass-related nominees, are on Bluegrass Today, with special attention to the album on the press releases from Hearth Music and Rebel Records.

© Richard Hawkins

Detached notes

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings draw attention to Eddie Dean's substantial Washington Post article 'Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducts Washington guitar legend Libba Cotten'. Dean provides a picture of the long life of Elizabeth Cotten (1893-1987) composer of 'Freight train' and many other songs, and the events that led to her induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on 5 Nov.

*

The Bluegrass Situation (BGS) presents a powerful video of Dailey & Vincent (Omagh headliners in 2011) singing the quintessential bluegrass song 'Those memories of you', joined by Darrin Vincent's sister Rhonda. It can also be seen on YouTube. Yes, there's electric guitar and drums; the singing is what matters.

*

Nick Dumas (also on Facebook), who toured Ireland twice as mandolinist with Special Consensus, has released a new single on Skyline Records, 'We'd go to town', which can be heard and viewed (with full lyrics) on Bluegrass Today and YouTube.

*

This week's episode of the 'Bluegrass Ridge' TV series (see the BIB for 7 Nov.) includes videos from Unspoken Tradition, the Earls of Leicester, Special Consensus, the First Ladies of Bluegrass, and the host band Nu-Blu, whose Spotlight Interview segment is with guitarist Rick Faris (who toured Ireland several times with the Special C.).

*

Michael Luchtan contributes to Bluegrass Today a full and detailed report on the recent 21st Al Ras Bluegrass and Old Time Music Festival, and draws attention to forthcoming Barcelona events including the 7th Barcelona Bluegrass Camp (3-4 Mar. 2023).

© Richard Hawkins

'The life of a musician' - a new route to access

Thanks again to Dave Byrne of mygrassisblue.com for this important addition to Saturday's post, facilitating access to the episodes of 'The life of a musician'. Bold type has been added by the BIB:

I’ve added a post to our site (recently updated) highlighting the sponsorship, and will be updating the post to include subsequent episodes when they are broadcast – episodes 1 through 5 are already posted. As far as I can tell, the videos will stream from the site, no problem (so far, so good), negating the need to visit the PBS site, register an account, and navigate to the episodes in question.

https://mygrassisblue.com/the-life-of-a-musician-series-one/

Apart from that, I’ll be in touch later this week with a flyer for the sold-out Billy Strings concert in Dublin in December (we’ve a few tickets to give away for that) and next week with a video interview we conducted with Jason Moore [right] during our Sideline tour in 2019. Unseen to date, I hope to broadcast it on the first anniversary of his death next Monday, 21 November, pending the approval of Mollie, his widow.

© Richard Hawkins

'The life of a musician'

Thanks to Dave Byrne jr of mygrassisblue.com for this news:

As per our recent Facebook post, I want to highlight a sponsorship agreement we’ve recently entered into, and to highlight some content your audience might like.

'The life of a musician' is a new music interview series featuring a selection of some of the best acoustic musicians around. Hosted by acclaimed singer-songwriter and flatpicking Danville, VA, native Brandon Lee Adams (who we toured around Ireland as a duo with Johnny Staats in late 2019) and broadcast on Roanoke-based Blue Ridge PBS, each of the thirteen episodes in the show’s inaugural series is filmed on location in an intimate Danville setting including an array of historical homes, local business establishments, hotels, and even an old gas station. These are one-on-one stripped-down authentically 'real' interviews with no scripts, offering a unique insight into the musician’s influences and their musical journey.

All episodes will be viewable via broadcast every Saturday at 9.00 p.m. ET as per the below schedule but can also be streamed on the Blue Ridge PBS website (www.pbs.org/show/life-musician/), accessible to international viewers after a free and simple registration process).

'The life of a musician', Series One broadcast schedule:

• Episode 1 (October 15): John Jorgenson
• Episode 2 (October 22): Kristy Cox
• Episode 3 (October 29): Kristy Cox Concert
• Episode 4 (November 5): Sammy Shelor
• Episode 5 (November 12): Larry Cordle
• Episode 6 (November 19): Alecia Nugent
• Episode 7 (November 26): John McEuen, Part 1
• Episode 8 (December 3): John McEuan, Part 2
• Episode 9 (December 10): Scott Fore
• Episode 10 (December 17): Vintage Silk
• Episode 11 (December 24): Jonah Horton
• Episode 12 (December 31): Jerry Salley - Songwriter-Singer, Part 1
• Episode 13 (January 7, 2023): Jerry Salley, Part 2

A second season of 'The life of a musician' is already in the works, and we’re excited to work with Brandon to take the show international in the coming years. Watch this space.

Apart from this, we’re busy lining up events for 2023 (and beyond) and will be back in touch soon with more updates.

© Richard Hawkins

Sore Fingers Week, 10-14 Apr. 2023

Sore Fingers Summer Schools (SFSS), Europe's leading organisation for bluegrass and old-time music instruction camps, announce that next year's main event will be held on 10-14 April 2023 at Kingham Hill School (right), Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire OX7 6TH, England - the traditional venue, now with even better facilities.

Following the pandemic, the organisers (John and Moira Wirtz) aim at a Sore Fingers Week attendance of 300 or more this year (which has been achieved in the past) to put SFSS back on a secure footing for the future. The full schedule of courses and instructors can be seen here and also on Bluegrass Today; readers in Ireland will recognise among the teaching faculty several names of artists who have performed here in the past.

At present the tour schedule of the Lonesome Ace Stringband doesn't go far enough to tell whether the listing of Chris Coole and John Showman as instructors (in old-time banjo and old-time fiddle, respectively) indicates a tour in spring by the band - which will be touring Britain in the second half of January.

The new four-minute SFSS promo video below can be seen on the Sore Fingers website and on Bluegrass Today. The BIB testifies that it presents an accurate picture. Fans of Irish music will recognise the tune played throughout as 'John Stenson's no. 2'.

© Richard Hawkins

Entries welcomed for BU's 2023 Festival Guide

Bluegrass Unlimited (BU) magazine invites all bluegrass festival organisers throughout the world to submit the details of their events for inclusion in the annual BU festival guide, which will appear in the Jan. 2023 issue of the magazine. NB: the BU list no longer includes instructional camps, workshops, and seminars.

It's clear that by no means all organisers of bluegrass festivals outside the USA take the trouble to see that their events are included; nonetheless, Ireland has always managed to come in among the leaders in the field. Details of your event can be entered on the BU festival guide submission form and sent in with one click. Completed forms must be received by 25 Nov. 2022. (This information is on BU's weekly newsletter no. 105, not on the submission form.)

© Richard Hawkins

Bill Evans, Enda Scahill receive Steve Martin Banjo Prizes 2022

Steve Martin (photo: Danny Clinch)

Stacy Chandler announces on No Depression that the awards for this year's Steve Martin Banjo Prize will go to Bill Evans and Enda Scahill, each of whom will receive $25,000. Their ample contributions to the banjo world are detailed on No Depression. The awards are made jointly by the Fresh Grass Foundation and the Compass Records Group. The official presentation will be hosted tonight (10 Nov.) on Deering Live at midnight Irish time, and can also be seen then and later on YouTube.

Update 11.00 p.m.: See also Bluegrass Today.

Update 15 Nov.: Stacy Chandler's article on this year's awards can be seen on No Depression.

© Richard Hawkins

For guitarists

On Tuesday John Lawless announced on Bluegrass Today that fiddle maestro Mark O'Connor has just released as an eight-minute single 'MashbluegrassD-28', a 1978 unofficial recording which has only recently been rediscovered. It was made after the taping of O'Connor's first album, Markology, when he, Tony Rice, and Dan Crary were jamming in the studio. The photo of the three of them is well worth seeing in itself; the recording can be heard on Bluegrass Today, on YouTube, and here, and can be bought online at the usual outlets. It dates from the same year that Dan Crary first played in Dublin, with the Sackville String Band (beginning a more bluegrass-orientated phase) opening for him at the Tailors' Hall.

*

Claire Lynch and Jim Hurst are playing shows together in the USA till the end of this year. Both have played several times in Ireland - Jim Hurst as recently as three years ago. Claire Lynch intends to take 2023 off as far as live shows are concerned, so fans who can get to the shows should make the effort; details are given by John Lawless on Bluegrass Today.

*

Bluegrass Today also announces an exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, VA, entitled 'The guitar in American art' and featuring 125 art works and thirty-five instruments. The exhibition began a month ago and runs to 19 March 2023, after which it will move to Nashville. A half-minute trailer video showing a few of the art works can be seen on Bluegrass Today, on the VMFA website, and on YouTube. The exhibition is accompanied by a 300-page catalogue which 'positions the guitar within a nexus of art, music, literary, and cultural histories', and by a series of 'Richmond sessions' - studio recordings by an 'eclectic roster of guitarists performing in the art exhibition'.

*

Finally, Fretboard Journal magazine will publish next month An instrument maker's guide to insanity and redemption, by luthiers Michael Gurian and Dick Boak (see cover image above). The book, which FJ says is 'not just for luthiers, but for any fans of the modern guitar movement', can be pre-ordered for $19.95.

© Richard Hawkins

Fast Track: 'The legend of Bonnie and Clyde'

Fast Track (with Ron Spears on bass and vocals, who was here with Special Consensus in 2007) have just had a further single released from their album Heartache and trouble: it's 'The legend of Bonnie and Clyde', a song by Merle Haggard and his wife Bonnie Owens, written to follow the success of the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde with Earl Scruggs's 'Foggy Mountain breakdown' on the soundtrack. Fast Track (also on Facebook) deliver a driving bluegrass treatment of the song, which can be heard on the Engelhardt Music Group press release.

Haggard's 1968 recording can be heard on YouTube. A 1969 video of Haggard and Glen Campbell singing it, with John Hartford playing some unusual banjo, can be seen here. For the 1968 album recorded by Flatt & Scruggs to capitalise on the film, see the BIB for 7 Oct. 2021.

© Richard Hawkins

Chris Thile at the NCH, 15 Nov. 2022

The National Concert Hall, Dublin, sends a reminder of the concert featuring Chris Thile, with special guest Sam Amidon, which will be held on the NCH Main Stage a week today (Tuesday 15 Nov.) at 8.00 p.m. The NCH blurb reads:

MacArthur Fellow and Grammy Award-winning mandolinist, singer, songwriter Chris Thile, who The Guardian calls 'that rare being: an all-round musician who can settle into any style, from bluegrass to classical', and NPR calls a 'genre-defying musical genius', is a founding member of the critically acclaimed bands Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek.

Chris's most recent album Laysongs is his first truly solo album: just Thile, his voice, and his mandolin, on new recordings of six original songs and three covers, all of which contextualize and banter with his ideas about spirituality.

© Richard Hawkins

'Bluegrass Ridge' aims to bring the music to the world

Nu-Blu, based in Siler City, NC, toured Ireland in 2019 in a trio configuration and have since organised their series of 'Ireland along the way' tours for visitors. They also host the TV show 'Bluegrass Ridge', a weekly half-hour programme featuring music videos from bluegrass’s biggest artists and from up-and-coming artists, together with an interview spot. As Sandy Hatley observes on Bluegrass Today, 'It has always had one goal, to share the bluegrass genre with the largest audience possible', and the current Bluegrass Ridge newsletter puts its audience as 120 million households weekly.

This week 'Bluegrass Ridge' features videos from Sideline, the Special Consensus, the Steep Canyon Rangers, the Tennessee Bluegrass Band, and Greg Blake, plus a Spotlight interview with songwriter and bluegrass journalist David Morris. Of the artists listed, the Tennessee Bluegrass Band are the only ones who have not yet played in Ireland; given their growing reputation, the BIB hopes that will soon be remedied. Bands who would like to see their video on TV should contact the station website.

© Richard Hawkins

Danny Burns: new single 'Some might say'

On 25 Oct. the BIB reported on the release by the Bonfire Music Group/ Pinecastle Records of an official video of the single 'Someone like you' recorded by Danny Burns. The song was a hit for Burns, becoming his first No. 1 on the Bluegrass Today Grassicana chart.

The Bonfire Music Group now announce the release of a further single from his Promised land album: 'Some might say', a song first released in 1995 by the rock band Oasis. As the Bonfire Music Group press release says, 'Given Burns’ upbringing in Ireland, it was very common to hear the song covered at pubs and bars over the years.' Bonfire stress that the new album will display

the same heart and spirit that has existed in all of Danny Burns’ previous material. With a total of ten recordings, he’s taking a slightly different approach with this album going straight-ahead bluegrass.

Update 10 Nov.: See also Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Shane Hennessy - coming events

Carlow guitar maestro Shane Hennessy announces that he will be playing with the great Tommy Emmanuel (above, right), his friend and mentor, at two dates in Germany at the beginning of the coming week: in Darmstadt tomorrow (Mon. 7 Nov.) and Munich on Tues. 8 Nov. Shane will not now he playing the Dresden date (Wed. 9 Nov.) announced earlier. Tickets are available for his free-entry show at the Dean Crowe Theatre, Athlone, on 27 Nov. On the poster (right), Tommy Emmanuel is quoted: 'Shane transcends the guitar the same way Muhammed Ali transcended boxing'.

Shane will also be appearing as an official showcase artist at the 35th annual Folk Alliance International Conference, to be held in Kansas City, MO, on 1-5 Feb. 2023.

© Richard Hawkins

The 5-string banjo and bluegrass in Latin America

On Thursday (3 Nov.) the Deering Banjo Company presented on Deering Live the duo of Larry and Joe, consisting of Joe Troop, originally from North Carolina (see the BIB for 31 Aug. 2021) on 5-string banjo and Larry Bellorín from Venezuela on the llanera harp. The 72-minute interview, with ample musical illustrations, can now be seen and heard on YouTube. For anyone who enjoys Latin American string music, this is a treat, and pickers will be interested in Troop's account of the banjo's acceptance in a culture where it was unknown, but where, at the same time, there was no prejudice against it; and of how he adjusted his bluegrass technique to the demands of llanera. Trigger warning: halfway through, there are a few sentences that may offend classical harpists.

The Deering blog also features 'Bluegrass in Buenos Aires', an article by Nuala McLoughlin on the scene in the capital of Argentina, where an old-time music jam is held every fortnight, and the first Buenos Aires bluegrass festival is being held today (6 Nov.). A video is included. McLoughlin adds: 'The lineup includes bands from all over Argentina and even a couple of familiar faces from the popular "Latingrass" fusion group Che Apalache', which Joe Troop founded while he was resident there.

© Richard Hawkins

The sensory power of music

Tim Carter and his brother Danny, as the Carter Brothers (USA), were regular audience-pleasers on successive Johnny Keenan Banjo Festivals. Among other activities, Tim has in recent years been the banjo-player for Hayseed Dixie (USA; right), who have been delivering 'Rockgrass' since 2001 and make frequent European tours; the BIB reported on their summer tour, which included three dates in Ireland. The band are now nearing the end of another European tour which began in September, and Tim has a remarkable story of an episode during their show at Narberth, Wales, on 21 Oct. As John Lawless writes, it's a 'truly lovely story' which can best be told in Tim's own words. Read them on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Halloween Special jam in Rathmines, 30 Oct. 2022

Thanks again to Patrick Simpson of the Bluestack Mountain Boys / Dublin Bluegrass Collective , who reports on last weekend's Halloween Special edition of the weekly Dublin bluegrass jam at Mother Reilly's, 32 Rathmines Rd Upper, Dublin 6:

It was another great night for Dublin bluegrass, and I'd like to thank all who came out in support. The music was fantastic and the craic was mighty! Mother Reilly's was very nice to have contributed a cake, which was enjoyed, Very thoughtful of them. We didn't raise any money, but I appreciated the cards and gifts I got for my birthday, and I thank those who came out to the session. It really is a great jam and indeed a great spot for bluegrass music in Dublin. You're welcome to join us there anytime. We pick every Sunday from 7.00 p.m.-11.00 and are open to new musicians who would like to join us.

Top, the jam in full swing; above right, the entry of the Cake; below, scanty remains of a feast

© Richard Hawkins