Things to come, from the BGS

The latest Bluegrass Situation (BGS) Weekly Dispatch includes:

* Justin Hiltner's major interview with master fiddler Michael Cleveland, focusing on his latest album (Lovin' of the game, released on Compass Records earlier this month) and his ability to reach out beyond the bluegrass audience. The article includes five videos of tracks from the album (including a vocal version of the 'Temperance reel'), and quotes Cleveland: 'Any time I’ve been in a situation [...] where bluegrass is presented to an audience that isn’t familiar with it, it’s great. That’s what I like to do more than anything these days.'
* A feature on Alison Russell (on 5-string banjo) and members of the Black Opry performing 'You're not alone', which can also be seen on YouTube.
* A 52-minute podcast with Sara Watkins of the recently reunited Nickel Creek.
* A separate feature on Michael Cleveland, with a video (also on YouTube) of him, Flamekeeper, and Charlie Starr playing 'One horse town'.
* A mixtape compiled by Doug Paisley of the music of artists he encountered at the 1994 Merle Watson Memorial Festival. He comments: 'I like that bluegrass means such different things to its adherents, but that they all feel it strongly. It can be an exercise in authenticity, an article of faith, a technical jungle gym, and an emblem of a time and place in history. It’s a genre that’s small and quirky enough that some people feel they can inhabit, protect, and partly own it.'

No Depression has put online a long excerpt from the interview feature on Nickel Creek that is published in their spring print issue - Stacy Chandler's 'Nickel Creek meets in the middle for "Celebrants"'

© Richard Hawkins