Dan's Travel Bass in action

On 23 Nov. 2021 the BIB posted news about Dan Eubanks, bass player of the Special Consensus, and his review on Bluegrass Today of the Travel Bass (right), made in Italy. (Italy is a rising power in the bluegrass world these days, what with the Truffle Valley Boys, the recent IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award to Red Wine, the universal respect for banjo bridges made by Silvio Ferretti, and the emergence of TechPicks.)

Dan can now be seen with his Travel Bass on stage in the eighteenth of a fine collection of photos by Kevin Slick, taken at the Snowy Grass Music Festival in Colorado a month ago.

© Richard Hawkins

Learning aids

Barry Bales (right), who played here in 1994 (and subsequently) on bass with Alison Krauss & Union Station, has since become one of the most respected and in-demand bass players in bluegrass music. For the benefit of players learning the upright bass, he is now presenting online 'My approach to bluegrass bass' as a course offered by the Discover Double Bass website. More details, together with a brief introductory video, are on Bluegrass Today.

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The California Bluegrass Association, which counts the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival among its global connections, reports that at its recent Fathers' Day Festival the Vidami company was a sponsor. Vidami make electronic devices which facilitate learning an instrument, by making it possible to control the playing of instructional videos by foot action - that is, without having to take one's hands off the instrument. The company (which has a YouTube channel) is also running a giveaway for bluegrass players, for which the draw will be on 4 July. Vidami also ship to Ireland.

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On YouTube, Ear Trumpet Labs have a 33-minute video on 'How to mic a bluegrass band', made with the aid of the band Man About A Horse.

© Richard Hawkins

Detached notes

On Tuesday Michael Cleveland, who has played in Ireland several times, first as a member of Dale Ann Bradley's band and later with his own band Flamekeeper, was named a National Heritage Fellow by the US National Endowment for the Arts. As John Lawless explains on Bluegrass Today, 'This is the highest award offered in the United States for the folk and traditional arts, with recipients nominated by members of the public, and then chosen by a panel of experts in their fields.' A list of other recipients of 2022 National Heritage fellowships, together with a video of Michael Cleveland playing with Béla Fleck, is on Bluegrass Today.

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The BIB mentioned on 17 June that the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum's Rompfest (held on 22-25 June in Owensboro, KY) would include Galway's We Banjo 3, among many other acts and artists familiar to Irish audiences. Bluegrass Today has now published eighteen photos taken at ROMP; no. 7 is a fine shot of Enda Scahill on stage.

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Last November the BIB reported that the Gold Tone Music Group are offering mahogany necks identical to that fitted to their new 'Bluegrass Heart' model banjo. A ten-minute video on YouTube shows the process of fitting one such neck to the pot of a Gibson Earl Scruggs Standard banjo.

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Dark Shadow Recording announces that Colorado's Stillhouse Junkies have a new single, 'Moonrise over Ridgway', which was released last Friday (24 June) - the second to be released from their forthcoming album Small towns. More details are on the Dark Shadow press release.

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The BIB learns with regret of the death of James Reams from cancer at the age of 66. Born in Kentucky, he was for nearly thirty years a moving force in bluegrass and old-time circles in New York as a performing and recording artist, songwriter, and bandleader, with a special concern for documenting the pioneers of the music. John Lawless, who knew him as a friend, has posted an appreciation on Bluegrass Today.

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The BIB mentioned a month ago that Ashby Frank, formerly mandolinist with the Special Consensus, had signed with the Mountain Home Music Company and was about to release a single, 'Midnight highway'. The label now announce Ashby's second single, 'Jump on it', made like the first with a distinguished casr of guest artists. A sample of it can be heard via the press release.

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Thanks to Ellen Pasternack, executive director of Bluegrass Country Soul, Inc., for a reminder that the fiftieth anniversary of the first public screening of the historic film 'Bluegrass country soul' will fall on 6 July this year (the website gives the date 7 July; the BIB recommends celebrating on both dates). The film, shot at the 1971 Camp Springs bluegrass festival, encapsulates the US scene at a pivotal time in bluegrass history. A Golden Anniversary edition of the film is now available. The photo below, by Robert Kaylor, shows the Country Gentlemen warming up offstage at Camp Springs: (l-r) Bill Emerson, Doyle Lawson, Bill Yates, Charlie Waller.

© Richard Hawkins

Detached notes

On the Deering Banjos blog, David Bandrowski introduces a video (also on YouTube since January) of Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi performing 'I shall not be moved', a song that became an anthem of the civil rights movement in the USA during the 1960s. She links the song with her experience of learning from the African-American fiddler Joe Thompson, and both of these to the principles of purpose, service, and community.

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Ken Perlman (USA), master of 'melodic clawhammer' banjo, announces that the next two online live instructional banjo workshops in his 'Clawhammer Clinic' series will be 'Playing Celtic reels with taste and authority, clawhammer style' on Mon. 21 Mar., and 'Playing in the key of D from open G tuning (gDGBD)' on Mon. 11 Apr., together with a reminder of the last chance to register for the Suwannee Banjo Camp this coming weekend (12-13 Mar.).

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For upright bass players faced with the lasting difficulty of lugging the thing around, have a look at Bluegrass Today where John Curtis Goad draws attention to the R.C. Williams Company, designers of music accessories, and two of their recent products. The dbl Bass Buggie™ is a pair of wheels with handle and harness to fit any bass from 1/10 to 4/4 size. The Amazing Bass Stand doubles as a comfortable chair to use while practising, and can take a load of up to 500 lb. Similar stand/chair items are also made for guitar, banjo, and fiddle, and we imagine that dobros, mandolins, and their players would probably find that these suited them as well.

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'Little Roy' Lewis had his eightieth birthday two weeks ago (see the BIB for 24 Feb.), and is very much alive. Much more about him and his foster-daughter Lizzy Long (photo below) is in the Mountain Home Music Company press release for Welcome to the show, the new album by the Little Roy and Lizzy Show, which is due out on 29 Apr. and can be pre-ordered.
PS: Their new single can be heard on Bluegrass Today and YouTube.

© Richard Hawkins

Dan Eubanks and the Travel Bass

When live gigs return here, bass players will again be faced with the demands of transporting their instrument - quite enough of a challenge even over the distance from the car to the stage, and potentially a nightmare when it comes to flying. Dan Eubanks, well known to bluegrass audiences in Ireland from successive tours with the Special Consensus, reviews in Bluegrass Today the Travel Bass, made in Italy. Dan makes very specific demands of a bass, and his full account of how the Travel Bass meets those demands is well worth reading for all bassists who travel. As can be seen from the image above of the instrument in its case, it is not only compact but elegant, and the Travel Bass website is also a treat for the eyes.

Update 24 Nov.: See also the 'Fold-a-bassist' item in Chris Jones's post on gift ideas in his 'From the side of the road' series.

© Richard Hawkins

News of past visitors (and an almost-visitor)

Congratulations to Aaron Jonah Lewis of the multi-instrumentalist trio the Corn Potato String Band, and Grace van 't Hof, banjoist with Chris Jones & the Night Drivers. They were married last Friday (11 June), as reported on Bluegrass Today. Aaron has toured Ireland several times with the Corn Potatoes; Grace had just become a Night Driver at the time of their 2019 visit to Ireland, but Gina Furtado, the band's banjo-player for the previous four years, stayed with them for the tour.

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Gina Furtado and her band, the Gina Furtado Project, recently released 'Kansas City railroad blues' as a single. Among other treatments of the tune, solo banjo versions have been recorded by Butch Robins and Russ Carson. All are a good deal faster than the 1927 recording 'K.C. railroad blues' by Andrew and Jim Baxter.

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John Nyhan arranged several tours in Ireland for Boston's Mile Twelve in previous years, so many will have seen their bass-player Nate Sabat. He has now produced an instruction book for beginning bassists, Dirt simple upright bass, published by Mel Bay at $14.99 for book with fifty online audio recordings; an e-book version is $5 less. More details are on the Mel Bay website and in John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

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In his latest e-newsletter, Michael J. Miles, master of eclectic clawhammer banjo, reports that his project Mississippi River suite reached the rank of #9 on national folk charts.

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Nu-Blu from Siler City, NC, who were on tour here in October 2019 in a trio configuration, are delighted to be back on the road again in the US with a busy touring schedule. Their new virtual album Where you've been can be pre-ordered from their website, and they have an 'Encounter Ireland' trip announced for this year.

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Back in October the BIB reported on Lorraine Jordan of North Carolina - leader of her band Carolina Road - who visited Ireland three years ago and played at the 2017 Ardara Bluegrass Festival and other venues with the Garrett Newton Band. We mentioned then that she is known as one of the most business-focused people in bluegrass, citing John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today, which featured her musical coffee house in Garner, NC. She responded to Covid restrictions by expanding the coffee house into a café, which opened in April; see yesterday's feature by Sandy Hatley on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

For bassists

The upright double bass was rare in early string bands; it tended to be too big and expensive, and some bands used the more portable cello. By the time bluegrass music emerged, the upright bass had become more common, and it is now valued in bluegrass both for its sound and for its appearance. It remains, however, more of a handful to carry around than the electric bass guitar.

Mark Zandveld, bassist, artist, and luthier from Hoorn in the Netherlands, has recently devised The Bace (a Bass Cello), which is essentially a cello body fitted with the neck of a fretless electric bass. Several videos are on the website and on YouTube, all of which show the instrument being played like a bass guitar - though it can be played as an upright, and has a much more acoustic sound than the bass guitars shown for comparison here. In the travel version, the neck can be detached and the whole instrument carried in a fairly compact case. The Bace is also on Facebook.

© Richard Hawkins

Happy birthday, Tom Gray

Today is the eightieth birthday of Thomas L. 'Tom' Gray, a pillar of the bluegrass scene in the Washington DC area and one of the few people to have been inducted twice into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, as a core member of two extremely influential bands: the 'classic' Country Gentlemen and the original Seldom Scene. In the image (right) from the Gents' second Folkways album, Tom is right of centre. A long list of other artists with whom he has recorded over the years is on Wikipedia.

Tom was the first bassist inducted into the Hall of Fame, and while with the Seldom Scene he won the IBMA's Bass Player of the Year award eight times. His many achievements in a number of fields are outlined in the biographical article about him for the Hall of Fame. Happy birthday, Tom Gray!

News from Gold Tone

Gold Tone Musical Instruments announce in their latest e-newsletter that select B-stock 25"-scale fretted Microbasses are available at 50% off retail price. A complete list of B-list stock is here. Gold Tone also announce that they are now selling the highly regarded Rickard Cyclone 10:1 geared 5-string banjo tuners at $223.70 for a set of five in nickel or gold finish.

Wayne Rogers, owner of Gold Tone, and some of the company's instrument makers recently experimented with cutting down the weight of a 5-string, and achieved encouraging results which may result in a production model weighing five pounds (2.268 kg). A brief video of the test model being played, with details of its components, is here.

Howard Watts ('Cedric Rainwater'), 1913-70

Howard Staton Watts, born in Florida on 19 Feb. 1913, died fifty years ago today (21 Jan. 1970). One of the founding generation of bluegrass musicians, in the 1930s he was a professional hillbilly entertainer as singer, guitarist, comedian, and tap-dancer, using from 1938 the stage name 'Arizona Slim'. In 1941 he moved to Nashville, TN, where he began playing upright bass.

In 1943 he joined Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys as bass player and comedian, adopting the stage name 'Cedric Rainwater', introducing the 'walking bass' style common among western swing bassists, and 'helping to solidify the definitive bluegrass sound' (Gary Reid). From 1945 to 1948 he was a member of the 'classic' Blue Grass Boys - including Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and Chubby Wise - and when Scruggs and then Flatt left, he joined them as bassist for their first two years and four recording sessions. He subsequently performed and recorded with Hank Williams, Hank Snow, Ray Price, Marty Robbins, and many other leading country artists.

In 2007 he was the first bass player to be inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in his own right (Tom Gray was inducted in 1996 as a member of the 'classic' Country Gentlemen and 'Pop' Lewis in 2006 as a member of the Lewis Family). The first five lines of his biography on the Hall of Fame website have been stuck in out of context, but otherwise Gary Reid's excellent article is unaltered.

Caludo (CH) in Ireland, July-Aug. 2019

Our Swiss friend Stefan Behler has toured Ireland several times with Mala & Fyrmoon, and now writes:

I will be on tour in July/ August with a new band. Mala decided to continue as a solo performer [see the BIB for 4 Nov. 2018], so Fyrmoon was dis-banded.

But I found a great fiddle player, Catie Jo Pidel from Minnesota, who now lives in Zurich. Our new project is called Caludo [also on Facebook], and we have Vincent Zurkinden again on bass.

These are our so-far booked gigs, and more to come:

Wed. 24th July: Ryan's Bar, Kilkenny city
Thurs. 25th: Sin E, Cork city
Fri. 26th: Crowleys’s Bar, Kenmare, Co. Kerry
Mon. 29th: Matt Molloy's (Yard Bar), Bridge St., Westport, Co. Mayo

Thurs. 1st Aug.: Sunflower Folk Club, Belfast
Fri. 2nd: Nancy’s bar, Ardara, Co. Donegal
Sat. 3rd: JJ Harlows Bar, Roscommon town

Organisers can contact me at stefan.behler@bluewin.ch if they would like to book us. During our tour, we need to loan an upright bass. so if anybody has an instrument that is available during that time, please get in touch with us.

Caludo call their music 'Swissicana (noun) /ˈswis-ə-ˈkä-nə/: folk music with bluegrass drive'. Four videos are on their website and more on YouTube.

Not just for bassists (or mandolinists)

Two weeks ago on Bluegrass Today Dave Berry of the California Bluegrass Association conducted a substantial interview with Lisa Burns (left), multi-award-winning bassist and a pillar of the California scene. While the interview includes tips specifically for bass players, the middle third of it - on timing, using the metronome, practice methods, and getting the whole band to gell - is worth reading for anyone who plays in a group.

Update 2 Nov.: Today, Bluegrass Today publishes Dave Berry's interview with master luthier Steve Gilchrist. Mostly about mandolins, of course, but of interest to anyone who's into instruments and the making of them - plus you can see a video (also on YouTube) of Chris Thile playing a Gilchrist Model 5.

For bassists

Thanks to A & R Marketing and GHS Strings for the news that GHS have become the US distributors for Innovation double-bass strings, made in the UK. The strings have a unique non-metallic core, designed to sound like gut strings without the problems or expense of gut.

Innovation intend their strings to suit bassists in all genres: the packaging (above left) mentions orchestral, jazz, rockabilly, psychobilly, and bluegrass music.

Bass amp wanted for touring band, 6-15 Apr. 2018

East of Monroe: (l-r) Jackie Frost, Gary Alan Ferguson, Billy Budd,

 Wally Hughes, Lisa Kay Howard, Terry Wittenberg

Roger Ryan reports that the highly regarded Virginia-based band East of Monroe, who will be touring selected venues in Ireland in the second week of next month,

... need to rent/loan a bass amp. The one they are thinking of is a Hartke kickback with 120W and 1X12" speaker or something similar. [...] They will be finishing up in Dublin and can return it there.

If you can help, please contact Roger by e-mail.

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Full information on the band is on their website and Facebook. Confirmed dates for the tour are:

Fri. 6th Apr.: Private engagement
Sat. 7th: Moy River B&B Folk Club, Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo, 8.00 p.m.
Sun. 8th: The Red Room, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, 8.30 p.m.
Mon. 9th-Wed. 11th: Off (sightseeing)
Thurs. 12th: Matt Molloy's Acoustic Yard, Bridge St., Westport, Co. Mayo, 8.00 p.m.
Fri. 13th: St John’s Theatre, Listowel, Co. Kerry, 8.00 p.m.
Sat. 14th: Rockies GAA Club, Church Rd, Blackrock, Cork city

Martin Harley and Daniel Kimbro in Ireland, 27-8 Jan. 2018

Acoustic blues and slide guitar have clear links to bluegrass music, so BIB readers may welcome the news that slide-guitar maestro and singer/ songwriter Martin Harley (UK) and US bass maestro Daniel Kimbro (Jerry Douglas Band, Larkin Poe) will be in Ireland for two dates at the end of January, as part of an extended tour supporting their current album Static in the wires, which has received ecstatic reviews from the blues and folk media. There's an even stronger bluegrass connection, as Daniel Kimbro played in old-time and bluegrass bands before studying bass at East Tennessee State University; and Jerry Douglas is one of the guest musicians on the album.

You can hear a full album stream of Static in the wires via SoundCloud. Sample YouTube videos of the duo in performance are ‘Feet don’t fail me’ and ‘Mean old city - part 2’. Their 'Feet don't fail me' tour begins on Fri. 26 Jan. at the Glasgow Celtic Connections festival, after which they will be playing two dates in this island:

Sat. 27th: Island Arts Centre, Lisburn, Co. Antrim
Sun. 28th: The Printworks, Dublin Castle: 'Folk Gala' with Shelby Lynne & Allison Moorer and I Draw Slow (part of Dublin Tradfest)

before returning to Britain for eight dates in February and a further eight in March. For further information and interview, session, or guest-list requests, contact Geraint or Deb Jones at
G Promo PR; phone +44 (0) 1584 873211; e-mail

Have your questions ready!

A month from today the Special Consensus will begin their 2017 tour in Ireland, in concert at the Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire; details of the tour are on the band's website and the BIB calendar.

By coincidence, the current issue of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine includes 'Bluegrass bass: the final frontier' by Dan Eubanks (above right), the Special C.'s bass player (and a former jazz bassist). It's Dan's answer to the most common question he gets asked as a teacher at bass workshops: 'How do I get better at bass breaks?' He deals with two aspects: getting melody notes through the ears into the left hand by scale practice, and adjusting right-hand position to make playing melodic phrases easier. Dan ends by writing:

I'm always available and open to your questions and, for further study, I'm also all over the country and the world, performing with Special Consensus, so don't be shy if you see us!

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This issue of BU also includes a review of the Special C.'s latest CD, beginning with the words: 'If you want to know how Special Consensus have managed to stay in business for 40 years, all you have to do is pick up a copy of Long I ride.' Neither the review nor the article are on BU's website, so you'll have to order the issue; but that's all right, as you will then get Pete Wernick's guest editorial on the place of bluegrass in the hi-tech 21st century, and much more.

From White Mansions to new pastures

The Belfast-based band The White Mansions (above) have been active on the scene for several years now, playing their blend of honky-tonk and other tough country music on the bluegrass instruments, at many festivals and other events including 'Bluegrass on the Walls' at Derry and the Ulster American Folk Park bluegrass festival. Their album Don't get too close can be heard on ReverbNation.

We learn with regret that the White Mansions will be retiring as a band next month, though we doubt that their members will quit picking. Bassist Mark Skillen, for one, is looking for a new project to work on - ideally, in a context similar to that of the White Mansions. Mark is 49 and based in Banbridge, Co. Down, so groups based in Belfast or south Down would be perfect for him. Contact Mark by e-mail.

Awards for old friends

High Country (l-r): Tom Bekeny (fiddle), Larry Cohea (banjo), Glenn Dauphin (bass), Butch Waller (mandolin), Bob Waller (guitar), Jim Mintun (dobro)

We think that without presumption the members of the premier California bluegrass band High Country can be called 'old friends'; they were on the bill at the very first Athy Bluegrass Festival in 1991, and again in 1993 and 2008. Anyway, the main point is that, as reported in Bluegrass Today, the 8th annual Northern California Bluegrass Awards were given out during the past weekend at the Bluegrass on Broadway festival in Redwood City, CA.

The awards for Best Banjo Player and Best Dobro Player went to Larry Cohea and Jim Mintun, while Louise Mintun, who plays with Jim in the four-piece band Slide Road, tied with Lisa Burns for Best Bass Player. Jim has now won the Best Dobro Player title five times (Kathy Barwick, who toured in Ireland in 2013 and 2014, won the title in 2010).

On Slide Road's website, you can see a video of High Country with Jim Mintun singing the Bill Monroe song 'Body and soul' - plus there's a good view of Larry Cohea, who is next to him on stage. Congratulations to both!

Bass player wanted

Thanks once more to Ray O'Brien and 'Bluegrass in Ireland' for sharing this appeal:

Bass player wanted for three-piece old-timey/bluegrass band, very familiar with touring the festivals both here and abroad, based in the north-east of Ireland. Double bass would be great, superb third-piece harmony singing a bonus.

If you are interested, please contact the band by e-mail.

Double bass and instruction books for sale

When we learned on Sunday that Tony Wall of Waterford city is selling his rare Bill Keith Signature Rich & Taylor banjo, we (knowing that Tony has owned more than one banjo) did not take this as bad news at the time.

However, we are very sorry to learn from Ray O'Brien's Bluegrass in Ireland Facebook page that Southern Welfare, after a welcome return to the scene last year, has broken up, and consequently Tony is now offering for sale more high-quality bluegrass goods.

The bass shown above (more photos are on Ray's site) was once owned by Longford-based bass player and singer John Cassin, who played with Southern Welfare for a period. It is in excellent condition, with a K&K pickup system, plus a pickup under the neck for slap action; Innovation Super Silver strings; a soft case; and a stand (visible in the photo). Ray says: 'This is a real bargain at €600 (no offers)', and few will argue with that.

Tony is also selling his collection of Earl Scruggs books, which should be required reading for all bluegrass banjo players. Tony can be contacted via e-mail or by 'phone (0876244718).