Late delivery

The BIB editor (retired) writes:

On 31 Aug. it was announced that news that came in during my absence (14-19 Sept.) would be dealt with on my return. Here it is:

Dark Shadow Recording announce that Chicago's Henhouse Prowlers, Bluegrass Ambassadors to the world, and headliners of the bluegrass section of the 2022 Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival, released on Friday 15 Sept. their latest album, Lead and iron, comprising eleven tracks, all written or co-written by Prowler members. Full details are on the Dark Shadow press release.

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South London's The Vanguards (Jack Baker, mandolin; Alex Clarke, guitar; Chris Lord, banjo; Laura Nailor, fiddle; and Pete Thomas, bass) are interviewed by Lee Zimmerman in 'England’s Vanguards take their name seriously', the latest in his 'Bluegrass beyond borders' series on Bluegrass Today. The feature includes two videos and an audio track. The Vanguards played at the 2017 Westport festival, and followed this with a 2019 tour of Ireland centred on the festival's launch party. Chris Lord is also editor of British Bluegrass News, to which Jack Baker contributes the regular 'Tab corner', which always includes solid helpings of bluegrass history.

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More bluegrass history: the good things in the Bluegrass Unlimited weekly newsletter no. 149 include an invaluable article from BU archives on Ola Belle Reed by Rhonda Strickland, published in the June 1983 issue under the title 'Preserving traditional music without killing it'.

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Rick Faris, singer, songwriter, recording artist, and luthier, who toured Ireland several times during his eleven years on mandolin and guitar with the Special Consensus, will be moving his Faris Guitar Co. to an 1800-sq.-ft workshop at the Kentucky Guitar Works in Owensboro, Ky, More details and a statement from Rick are in John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

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East Nash Grass (USA; see the BIB for 7 Apr.), who have not yet visited Ireland, are young musicians who embody well-established bluegrass practices: individually they've all played in different bands, and as a band they've held down a long residency at a particular venue - in their case, weekly at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge in Madison, TN. On the Bluegrass Situation (BGS) Thomas Cassell interviews the ENG's James Kee (mandolin) and Cory Walker (banjo) about the experience of their residency, their rapport with audiences, their new album, and more. The interview includes three videos - one of them a two-hour live performance at Dee's.

© Richard Hawkins

September 2023 BU

The September 2023 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine has Bobby Osborne on the cover, and much of the contents of the issue is devoted to aspects of Bobby's life and career. Bill Conger contributes a six-page biographical article; Nancy Posey writes on C.J. Lewandowski of the Po' Ramblin' Boys and the work of preserving Bobby's legacy; and Scott Napier recalls episodes in his thirty years' friendship with Bobby. The December issue of BU will have a similar focus on Jesse McReynolds.

Other articles in the September issue include Cathy Fink on the songwriting of Ola Belle Reed; the song 'Kentucky morning' written by Darrell Scott and recorded by Bobby Osborne; Sandy Hatley on the work of John Holder as a premier bluegrass soundman; Bill Conger again, with an article on Ashby Frank; and the tale of restoring a badly damaged 1922 Gibson A-2 mandolin. The review section includes Mike England's review of the album The UK & Ireland dobro celebration, which includes the work of Johnny Gleeson, Colin Henry, and Ted Ponsonby.

© Richard Hawkins

Kody Norris Show (USA) on the air this weekend

Thanks to Jeremy Westby of 2911 Media for the news that the Kody Norris Show (whose headlining the bluegrass section of this year's Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival is just one part of the roll they're on) can be heard for four successive days this weekend, beginning today (Fri. 25 Aug.) on SiriusXM Bluegrass Junction Channel 77 radio, with emphasis on their latest album Rhinestone revival.

For many more details, including the band's tour schedule till the beginning of December, photos, and a video, conxult the 2911 Media press release, In early November the Kody Norris Show is scheduled to play on three days at the Mountaingrass festival in Australia.

© Richard Hawkins

More detached notes (updated)

Dark Shadow Recording announce that Chicago's Henhouse Prowlers released on Friday last (18 Aug.) 'My last run', the fourth single from their new album Lead and iron, which is scheduled for release on 15 Sept. The song can now be heard on Bluegrass Today.

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New Zealand-born fiddle maestro George Jackson, now resident in Nashville, TN, has just released an album of orginal compositions for fiddle, George Jackson's Local Trio. In an article on No Depression he asks the question Why make a fiddle album? and gives his own reasons for doing so, concluding: 'at its core it’s art for the artist, music for the musician, deep cuts for the appreciator. And that’s music at its most thrilling and risky and rewarding.'

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Alan Munde, one of the finest performers and most prolific composers for banjo in the history of bluegrass music, has a new album out, Excelsior, on Tom Mindte's Patuxent Records label. The album is reviewed by Braeden Paul on Bluegrass Today, with a playlist sampling all the tracks.

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Recent Bluegrass Unlimited podcasts include interviews with past visitors such as Molly Tuttle, Raymond McLain, and Jeff White. The 144th Bluegrass Unlimited weekly newsletter also includes a Spotify playlist of the recordings of Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road, and (from the BU archives) a July 2010 article by Nancy Cardwell on Jesse McReynolds at eighty years of age.

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On 4 August Steve Hochman published on the Bluegrass Situation (BGS) a history of the Kentucky Colonels, one of the most enduringly influential West Coast bands. The figures in the cartoon at the head of the article look nothing like any of the members of the band, but don't let that worry you. The article includes seven videos illustrating stages in the career of the Colonels and of Clarence White, their epoch-making lead guitar player.

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Pete 'Dr Banjo' Wernick, founder of the Wernick System and apostle of the art of jamming, has contributed to the Deering Banjo Company blog a valuable article on how to recognise chord changes, and why they matter. This article was originally published in the late lamented Banjo News Letter.

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Taylor Hagood, author of Stringbean: the life and murder of a country music legend (published earlier this year), will give a talk at the American Banjo Museum on 9 Sept. 2023. More details are in John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

From the bluegrass print media

The August 2023 issue (vol. 58, no. 2) of Bluegrass Unlimited has a seven-page cover story by Sandy Hatley on Lorraine Jordan, with much more about the Lady of Tradition elsewhere in the issue; features on fiddlers Warren Blair and Wayne Jerrolds; and a review section including the latest albums by Rick Faris and Molly Tuttle (among others) and BU editor Dan Miller's review of Michael Streissguth's new book Highways and heartaches: how Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, and children of the New South saved the soul of country music, which he highly recommends.

The current issue ('no. 102', summer 2023) of British Bluegrass News, journal of the British Bluegrass Music Association (BBMA), has a four-page cover story on Paul Armer, young guitarist, singer, and songwriter from Cornwall, who came to bluegrass through rock, country, and Sturgill Simpson and developed a strong sense of time through the metronome (he now recommends Strum Machine). He talks to BBN editor Chris Lord about his guitars, recording projects, and more. Other features include a report by Glasgow-based mandolinist Callum Morton; Eric Kwiatkowski's memories of his journey as a flatpicker; and highly positive reviews by Brian Dowdall of the CD The Truffle Valley Boys sing and play authentic Blue Grass music, and by Jack Baker of another Italian product, Techpicks. Baker's regular 'Tab corner' features the Sonny Osborne classic 'Sledd ridin'', with tabs for banjo, mandolin, and guitar, and notation for fiddle.

© Richard Hawkins

No Depression's choice of roots albums for 2023 (so far)

Following the BIB post of last Sunday (16 July), which reported on the Bluegrass Situation (BGS) staff's 'favourite albums of 2023 (so far)', we note that No Depression has published its own list of 'Best roots music albums of 2023 (so far)'. Several albums appear on both lists, as might be expected; but of the bluegrass-related records that are on the BGS list, only one appears on No Depression's: Brennen Leigh's Ain't through honky-tonkin' yet. As the BIB reported on 21 June, the album has been reviewed by Noah Berlatsky on No Depression, with two embedded videos, also on YouTube: 'Carole with an E' and 'Running out of Hope, Arkansas'.

© Richard Hawkins

Titbits from the bluegrass media

In memory of the late Bobby Osborne the staff of the Bluegrass Situation (BGS) present a 2022 podcast interview with Bobby by radio presenter Tom Power in his 'Toy heart' series. The interview covers many episodes from Bobby's career, including his combat service with the US Marine Corps in the Korean war. A note to BGS staff: though Sonny Osborne retired and died before Bobby, he was not Bobby's older brother, but nearly six years younger.

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Also on the BGS, Rachel Baiman (past-visitor and almost-visitor to Ireland) talks to Tim O'Brien about the themes of his latest album, Cup of sugar, about writing songs from the perspective of animals or other people, the way in which his own writing has developed over decades, and more. The interview includes four songs from YouTube.

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Justin Hiltner presents BGS's 'favourite albums of 2023 (so far)', and there's a strikingly high proportion of bluegrass and bluegrass-related material among them, including Rachel Baiman's Common nation of sorrow, Michael Cleveland's Lovin' of the game, Ashby Frank's Leaving is believing, Haas by Brittany and Natalie Haas, Brennen Leigh's Ain't through honky tonkin' yet, Darren Nicholson's Wanderer, Nickel Creek's Celebrants, Mighty Poplar's Mighty Poplar, and City of gold by Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway. Videos of songs from each of these albums and a corresponding Spotify playlist are in Justin Hiltner's feature.

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As the BIB mentioned on 11 June, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of Folkways Records by reissuing many classic Folkways LPs on vinyl, including The New Lost City Ramblers with Cousin Emmy (1968). Smithsonian's e-newsletter says the album 'rekindled traditions of southern mountain music, introducing them to wider audiences'. By 1968 the Ramblers had been a performing group for ten years and this was their twentieth album, so it seems likely that they were already doing a reasonable job of rekindling traditions.

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The July issue of the Bluegrass Standard, which can be seen online, has a subtitle to the cover, 'Preserving the tradition of bluegrass music into the future'. This is not an inward-looking message, as is shown by several articles about Folk Alliance International, the International Council for Traditional Music, Mari Black, the 'multi-style violinist', country singer Marty Falle, and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance.

© Richard Hawkins

High Fidelity, high satisfaction (update)

The BIB editor writes:

When the BIB mentions US bands, it's normally because they're either coming to Ireland, or have come in the past, or have achieved a historic status that concerns all bluegrass fans anywhere. However, after the reception given to Italy's Truffle Valley Boys at Bluegrass Omagh 2023, it's appropriate to mention High Fidelty - an excellent example of a young bluegrass band with the sound, the feel, and the spirit of the founding generation of bluegrass music.

Learn more about them in John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today on their latest single, 'The mighty name of Jesus'. The song was written by their fiddler Corrina Rose Logston; Lawless writes about it:

Had they said that the song was found on an old radio transcription by an unknown group from 1955, we would have believed it. Corrina has perfectly captured that style in this cheerful and engaging number.

The photo above shows High Fidelty with the late Jesse McReynolds. A video of the band performing 'Tears of regret' with Jesse is on their website and on YouTube.

Update 18 Aug.: High Fidelity's official video of 'The mighty name of Jesus' can now be seen on Bluegrass Todat and on YouTube.

© Richard Hawkins

Detached notes + PS

Recordings recently released by Pinecastle Records include albums by Dale Ann Bradley and Lorraine Jordan. as well as singles by them and by Danny Burns and Danny Paisley. YouTube videos of the singles can be seen on the Pinecastle press release. 'I loved 'em every one', the new single by Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road, had its radio debut on 30 June and will be available on digital platforms on 14 July.

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Bluegrass Unlimited's Newsletter no. 138 announces that in the coming weeks Jesse McReynolds and Bobby Osborne will be commemorated by archive articles and Spotify playlists. A 1977 article on the Osborne Brothers by Pete Kuykendall, BU editor, can be read here.

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Turnberry Records announce the release of an official video of Mike Mitchell's rendition of 'Love of the mountains', a song written by Allen Mills, bass player of the influential Lost and Found band. The song was sung by Larry Cohea of California's High Country at one of the first (possibly the first) of the Athy bluegrass festivals, and again two months ago by High Plains Tradition at the Durrow Mini-Bluegrass Festival. The Mitchell video can be seen on the Turnberry press release, on Bluegrass Today, and on YouTube.

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Finally, yesterday on Bluegrass Today Richard Thompson commemorated 4 July 1941, when Doc Watson, then 18 years old, played for the first time into a microphone, resulting in the first audio recording of his playing.

PS: John Lawless has reported on Bluegrass Today that Willie Nelson's next album will comprise a dozen of his classic songs, newly recorded with backing by first-class bluegrass musicians. A video of a debut single, 'You left me a long, long time ago', can be seen on Bluegrass Today and on YouTube. His admirers will be relieved to know that Willie's characteristic vocal delivery and sense of timing have not been bluegrassified.

© Richard Hawkins

Watch Crossover Festival (GB) on livestream

Uri Kohen of the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival forwards this announcement by the organisers of the Crossover Festival of bluegrass, old-time, and Americana music (14-16 July). Uri adds: 'We are happy to support this event and their wonderful lineup.'

CAN'T MAKE THE FESTIVAL? LIVE IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY? We've got you covered!

The concerts at Crossover Festival will be livestreamed for your viewing pleasure! Thanks to the renowned 'Fat Pigeon' video company, you can expect top-notch sound and video quality that will make you feel like you're right there in the action.

While we're offering FREE access to the livestream via Facebook and YouTube, we kindly urge you to PURCHASE a livestream ticket (only £12.50 per concert) to support this event and the incredible musicians involved. Your ticket purchase directly contributes to covering the costs of running this immersive experience and ensures the artists receive the recognition they deserve.

You can buy a full weekend livestream concert ticket or any of the individual concerts. Schedule below:

Friday Night: 6:45 - 11 PM
Saturday Afternoon: 1 - 5 PM
Saturday Evening: 6:45 - 11 PM
Sunday Afternoon: 12 - 4 PM

Purchase your tickets now at https://www.crossoverfest.com/tickets-1 and get ready for a livestream experience that brings the festival atmosphere straight to your screens! Don't miss out on this chance to support the event and enjoy music from the comfort of your own home.

© Richard Hawkins

The new issue of BU

The cover story in the July 2023 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited is Mike Fiorito's seven-page interview article on Michael Cleveland, with heavy emphasis on his new album Lovin' of the game. Other features include substantial articles by Jon Hartley Fox on the Dillards and on Kathy Kallick; by Mike England on Alison Brown; by Derek Halsey on the multi-faceted Floyd Country Store of Floyd, VA; reports by BU editor Dan Miller on three US colleges with bluegrass study programmes, including Berea College, KY, whose Bluegrass Ensemble has toured Ireland several times, thanks to John Nyhan; and reviews of new records, including some by recent visitors.

© Richard Hawkins

Fog Holler's experiences in Ireland

Kianna Mott-Smith, manager of Fog Holler, has been compiling a chronicle of the band's two-month tour of Europe, and the BIB has reported the appearance of previous instalments on Bluegrass Today. Yesterday the fourth instalment of the chronicle was published; it describes at length and in detail their time in Ireland, and is headed by the photo above, which (though not captioned) will be recognised by all who know the Red Room, Cookstown.

While Fog Holler and their manager seem to have had good times throughout their European tour, this instalment is an outstanding endorsement of the Westport festival and the Red Room - the latter considered not just as a venue, but as the whole environment that Arnie and Sharon Loughrin have created. The instalment includes two videos (one from the Westport concert, and one from an earlier show in the Netherlands) and sixteen photos.

© Richard Hawkins

Eilis Boland on Westport 2023

L-r, top row: indoor old-time session, Rustic Robots, Fog Holler; middle row, Kody Norris Show, Jacob Groopman & Melody Walker, outdoor old-time session; bottom row, Bill & the Belles, workshop, Lluis Gomez Quartet

'The small team in Westport have pulled off yet another successful production, their seventeenth, to continue the high standards of what has been rightly declared as one of the top boutique festivals in Ireland' - the first sentence of Eilis Boland's report for Lonesome Highway on this year's Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival. Read the whole of the report here, and look also at the post on the Lonesome Highway Facebook.

© Richard Hawkins

Welcome to BanjoRadio (update)

BanjoRadio, a new 24/7 bluegrass radio service, is to be launched in the very near future. The founder and director is Kyle Cantrell, formerly director of the Bluegrass Junction channel on Sirius XM, winner of the IBMA Broadcaster of the Year award five times and of the SPBGMA DJ of the Year award nine times, and member of the Country Radio Broadcasters Hall of Fame. The BIB applauds his choice of a name for the new service. More detail is in John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today and the East Public Relations press release.

Update 14 July: BanjoRadio has launched today, after a period of testing its systems; see John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Close-ups of Westport from afar

For those of us unlucky enough not to be in Westport for this weekend's festival, photos, video shorties, and longer snatches of film are appearing on the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival Facebook, in which members of the leading acts can be seen on and off stage, as well as members of the festival organising team. Get a glimpse of what we're missing.

© Richard Hawkins

Joe Mullins in 1995, from BU

The BIB mentioned a few days ago that this month's issue of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine (BU) has Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers (headliners at Omagh in 2019) on the cover. We followed that by taking our Quote of the Month from Kara Kundert's article on the Ramblers and their latest album, Let time ride.

In its latest weekly newsletter, BU has reprinted 'Joe Mullins - It's going to swell your heart', an article bv Penny Parsons from its July 1995 issue, headed by the photo above of a younger Joe Mullins with his Rich & Taylor banjo (described in the text). It's an excellent interview article, conveying in detail the many experiences that went into the making of a third-generation professional bluegrass musician and radio presenter, and showing that he had, twenty-eight years ago, already put much thought into what he was doing.

© Richard Hawkins

Some of the good things in the June BU

The cover story of the June 2023 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine (BU) is Kara Kundert's article on Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers and their latest album, Let time ride. The many other good things include articles by Mike England on celebrating the centenary of Doc Watson's birth; by Jon Hartley Fox on the influential 1973 supergroup Muleskinner and the death (15 July 1973) of its lead guitarist Clarence White; by Nancy Posey on The Petersens (who, thanks to John Nyhan, have toured Ireland several times); by BU editor Dan Miller on fiddler Annie Savage's 'Free Strings Curriculum' learning system; and by Casey L. Penn on the song 'Crooked tree', written by Molly Tuttle and Melody Walker - the latter will be here shortly, performing at the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival.

Gary Reid's 'Notes, queries, & remembrances' section includes obituaries of Ron Spears, and of Dwight Diller (the first published obituary of Diller, who died in February, that your editor has seen). The full-page festival ads also reveal that Armagh's Cup O' Joe (below) are billed to play at the big Pickin' in Parsons festival in West Virginia (1-5 Aug.), which is not yet on the 'Tour' section of their website.

© Richard Hawkins

Detached notes

Bluegrass Unlimited magazine's weekly newsletter no. 132 includes among other goodies a ninety-minute podcast featuring Greg Cahill, leader of Special Consensus; a Spotify playlist of recordings by the Country Gentlemen, and a link to the Bluegrass Unlimited archives for a major article from 1984 by Steven Robinson, 'The Country Gentlemen - In the truest sense'. The band then consisted (see album cover image, l-r) of Jimmy Gaudreau, mandolin; Dick Smith, banjo; Charlie Waller, guitarist and lead singer of the Gents throughout the band's existence; and Bill Yates, bass. Each member is interviewed at length about his career, his feelings about the band, and his attitudes to music, and it's a worthwhile read.

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Craig Shelburne on the Bluegrass Situation reports on the new exhibit at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, TN/VA. entitled 'I've endured: women in old-time music'. The article includes photos, a playlist, an introductory video (also on YouTube), and a discussion on the disadvantages still facing women.

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Also on the theme of what women have to endure: Gina Furtado, who has toured here on banjo with Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, has released a recording of the 1945 classic 'True life blues'. Full details are in the Mountain Home Music Company press release.

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The Kody Norris Show, headliners at the coming Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival, will be hosting a release party for their new album Rhinestone revival on 2 June, just a week before Westport. More details are on the 2911 Media press release.

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The Gibson Brothers, who made impressive appearances at Omagh earlier this century, announce that they now have new merchandise, including t-shirts and trucker caps. The latter should sell well to bluegrassers and/or drivers in Britain, as they come with a conspicuous 'GB' logo on the front.

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The Fretboard Journal announces that its latest podcast has as the guest the musician, educator, and writer Cameron Knowler. FJ editor Jason Verlinde writes: 'Cameron has authored an instruction book that's unlike any we've ever seen and it has an equally unique title, Guitars have feelings too. In it, he does a deep dive into old-time and bluegrass rhythm guitar, with a focus on Norman Blake and all the music roads that led to his technique.' The book can be ordered from a link on the podcast page, where you can also download an excerpt from it.

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Finally, Bluegrass Today reports that the outstanding songwriter/ performer Larry Cordle has released a recording of 'The abduction of Antônio Vilas-Boas', based on the claim of a Brazilian farmer that he was abducted by aliens while working in his field. The song can be heard on Bluegrass Today and on YouTube. The BIB suggests that the Irish bluegrass scene's own resident Brazilian, Galway-based César Benzoni, should secure the rights to translate it into Portuguese.

© Richard Hawkins

The latest BBN

The cover story of the summer 2023 issue of British Bluegrass News (magazine of the British Bluegrass Music Association (BBMA)) is Richard Partridge's interview with the members of the Hackney Hillpickers of London; a photo of their guitarist Luke Donovan is on the magazine cover. Other goodies include Philippa Ogden's interview with Tim Loten, banjo-player of the Canadian band Crooked Creek, who will be touring Britain in July this year; and her interview with Rupert Hughes of the Hexham Bluegrass Festival (see poster image below).

David Mepsted gives a funny and essentially truthful description of Sore Fingers Week; BBN editor Chris Lord interviews Maria Wallace of the True North Music agency; amd Jack Baker's regular 'Tab Corner' feature gives notation and tab for fiddle, mandolin, and banjo of the 1971 classic 'Ashland breakdown'. And there's more, with full-colour, full-page ads for festivals and instrument suppliers featuring prominently. Production standards on BBN continue to be very high.

© Richard Hawkins

Westport programme - and Westport on the Brian Lally show

Thanks to the organising team of the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival for the following news and these images (click on the programme image for an enlarged display):

1. As the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival is coming ever closer, the organising committee has published the full timetable [above] of all the official events at this year's festival.
We highly recommend all festival goers to familiarise themselves with all acts and venues, to ensure maximum enjoyment from all the music which will be on hand.
Info of all the acts, the venues, main festival concerts, accommodation providers in the town, and a link for online tickets service are on the festival's website, http://westportfolkbluegrass.com/.
We will encourage musicians at all levels to start their own sessions, and the pubs in the town will open their doors for such initiatives.

2. Fans of country and bluegrass music will be very much familiar with Brian Lally [below] and his great show 'Country Time' on RTE Radio 1 (every Saturday night at 11.00 p.m.). Last night he tipped his hat to the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival, playing three artists who will feature at this year's event, and a short message from festival producer Uri Kohen.

Country Time Saturday 13 May 2023

© Richard Hawkins