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Colin Henry (left) and Jerry Douglas in Belfast, 2011

A major interview with Jerry Douglas by Mike Fiorito appeared on Bluegrass Today last week. It is well worth reading for anyone interested not just in Douglas but in bluegrass music, its instruments, its people, and much more. Mike Fiorito's book on Peter Rowan (see the BIB for 14 Feb. and John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today) was published on Friday 31 Mar.

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Ticket sales for this year's IBMA World Of Bluegrass in Raleigh, NC, opened yesterday (4 Apr.) for IBMA members, and will open for the general public in two weeks (18 Apr.); see the IBMA's e-newsletter.

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A month ago the BIB mentioned that the online magazine No Depression had named the new bluegrass supergroup Mighty Poplar as its Spotlight band for March. The band's debut album was released last Friday (31 Mar.), and a four-page feature by Tim Newby on the band and the album is in the current (April 2023) issue of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine. No Depression has now published 'Mighty Poplar’s Chris Eldridge on listening past perfection'. Chris Eldridge suggests an 'assignment' to his readers:

Sit down with a good record that was recorded live by real people and I want you to listen beyond the top layer of the music. Listen into the moment that got captured on tape. Listen for the people — the actual human beings — making the music. Listen for the interplay. Listen to how they are (hopefully!) leaving it all out on the field. And listen to the beauty of human expression, in all of its perfect imperfection.

He also lists seven albums as specially rewarding for use in this exercise.

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In the aftermath of the Special Consensus tour earlier this year, we note that (1) Compass Records have announced new T-shirts with imagery from the cover of the latest Special C. album, Great blue North (see the BIB for 23 Feb.); and (2) Robbie Fulks (see the BIB for 22 Feb.), a Special C. alumnus, is now releasing his album Bluegrass vacation. A review by Lee Zimmerman, with a playlist sampling all the tracks, is on Bluegrass Today.

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Lee Zimmerman has also recently interviewed Sara Watkins on Bluegrass Today, about Celebrants, the new album from Nickel Creek. The published interview comes with four videos.

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Lindsay Lou, who toured Ireland seven years ago with her then band the Flatbellys, is featured in a video on the Bluegrass Situation (BGS) singing 'Takes so long, goes so fast' (also on YouTube).

© Richard Hawkins