More on artists recently mentioned on the BIB

Robbie Fulks, whose versatile musical career began as an early member of the Special Consensus, has had his album Bluegrass vacation released today (7 Apr.) on Compass Records. Jon Young reviews it warmly on No Depression; the review includes two videos of songs from the album and ends: 'Robbie Fulks is so good at whatever he tries that you don’t want him to stand still long. But he sounds so contented here that it’s hard to begrudge his happiness.'

Update 8 Apr.: See also Lee Zimmerman's interview article published yesterday on Bluegrass Today.

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The latest Weekly Dispatch from the Bluegrass Situation (BGS) online magazine includes five videos in David Menconi's review/interview article 'As the newest supergroup in bluegrass, Mighty Poplar goes back to the classics'. Learn more about where the band's name came from, what recording the album was like, comparisons with the Bluegrass Album Band, and more.

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Nickel Creek are the BGS Artist of the Month for April, and the BGS staff have provided an introductory feature with a playlist of 'the essential Nickel Creek' and an official video of 'Celebrants' from the group's new album of the same name, and quotes from all three members about the album and their reunion. Chris Thile, citing his 1924 mandolin, says: '... there’s no substitute for what age and use does to the wood. That’s what Sara, Sean, and I have together. We started this band in 1989, and at this point, music just vibrates through us in a different way than I’ve experienced in any other collaboration.'

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Lindsay Lou plays guitar and sings harmony to Kyle Tuttle's banjo and lead vocal, with John Mailander's fiddling, performing 'Not quite spring' from a ski-lift above snow-covered Colorado, in a video on the BGS and also on YouTube.

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Finally, though Peggy Seeger has not been mentioned on the BIB recently (she was on tour here last summer), the BGS has published a video (also on YouTube) of her singing, to her own piano accompaniment, the love song Ewan MacColl wrote for her, 'The first time ever I saw your face'.

© Richard Hawkins