Catching up

Diverse items of news from the past two weeks about bands and artists from abroad who have previously visited Ireland or will be doing so: first, Mark Stoffel, long-time mandolinist with Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, had his latest solo album Curious times released by the Mountain Home Music Company on the same day that this year's Omagh festival began. More detail is on the Mountain Home press release. The four-and-a-half-minute title track can be heard on the Bluegrass Today feature by John Lawless, who comments: 'You really can hear the mix of Appalachian and Irish influences throughout this engaging three-part instrumental in fiddle tune form.'

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The BIB learns with regret of the death on 18 May, at the age of 89, of Don Kissil, bluegrass promoter, photographer, writer, and publisher, whose Pickin' magazine was extremely influential in the mid 1970s. A detailed biography by Richard Thompson is on Bluegrass Today.

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The Henhouse Prowlers, who headed the bill at the Saturday night concert of last year's Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival, have released as a single the title track from their album Lead and iron. The band's mandolinist Jake Howard wrote the song from the point of view of a parent who has lost a child in a school shooting. More details are on the Dark Shadow Recording press release.

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Missy Raines, who has been ten times IBMA's Bass Player of the Year, has released a video of the Loretta Lynn song 'These ole blues', accompanied by her touring bluegrass band Allegheny and by Danny Paisley, Darol Anger, Shad Cobb, and Ellie Hakanson. The video can be seen on the Bluegrass Situation and on YouTube. Missy writes: 'The project is about paying homage to the earliest sounds that inspired me, and this version of "These ole blues" feels both authentic and genuine to my very core.'

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Finland's Jussi Syren & the Groundbreakers haven't visited Ireland and (as far as we know) have no plans to do so, but they deserve attention as an example of a European band who have consistently won respect from bluegrass people in the US by the strength and integrity of their traditional style. Their thirteenth album Bluegrass voice is due for release this coming Friday (9 June). They have released a single, 'Echoes from another world', which can be heard on Bluegrass Today and on YouTube. It includes the fiddling of Michael Cleveland, whose new single 'The blues are close at hand' was released last Friday (2 June).

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Alison Brown is interviewed at length by Lee Zimmerman on Bluegrass Today, focusing on what has gone into the making of her latest instrumental album, On banjo, and on the wider topics of being a musician, being involved in bluegrass, and producing records. 'At the end of the day,' she sums up, 'it really boils down to the fact that we create this music, because that’s what we’re driven to do.' The article includes four videos from YouTube of songs from the album.

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The Kody Norris Show released their latest album Rhinestone revival on Friday last (2 June), and it's a fairly safe bet that at this weekend's Westport festival they will have copies on hand and will be doing songs from it. The track 'Gotta get my baby back' can be heard on Bluegrass Today and YouTube.

© 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

Cory Walker on Deering Live

The Deering Banjo Company featured banjoist Cory Walker on episode 88 of their 'Deering Live' series of interviews+music with notable pickers. The BIB received the news too late to enable BIB readers to watch it on live stream and comment, but the 70-minute feature can be seen on YouTube.

Cory Walker has played in many bands and on many recordings; he is currently in East Nash Grass (see the BIB for 7 April) and his own latest recording, 'Tried to ruin my name', with Sierra Ferrell, was featured a week ago on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Niall Toner: never too old to swing

Thanks to Frank Galligan (right), doyen of bluegrass MCs in Ireland, for this well deserved tribute to Niall Toner. Frank writes:

There were many highlights at this year’s Bluegrass Omagh, not least from the father of Irish bluegrass, Niall Toner. Niall was my guest at the McConversations, and as well as being informative and entertaining, it was very moving for this most gentle of our beloved Irish musicians. I first introduced him 25 years ago, and on numerous occasions since - Derry and Longford, and Omagh of course. What has always struck me about his songs is that, although steeped in homage to Bill Monroe and others, they carry the unique Toner sound; and as a lover of good lyrics, I must say Niall has few equals. John Prine once said to me of songwriting: 'I just love to see the way that words lean on one another', and Niall epitomises that domino effect of the lyrical line effortlessly segueing into the next.

Richard Hurst’s retirement added to the overall poignancy of this great festival, and when Niall, Dick Gladney, Gerry Madden, Johnny Gleeson and Andrea Booth stepped on stage, it was most definitely a ‘bringing it all back home’ moment. All the old hands were back, Tony O’Brien, the Knotty Pines and others, while young talent was best exemplified by the Cool Hand String Band and Old Baby Mackerel. The international ensembles included the brilliant Blue Grass Boogiemen, the Truffle Valley Boys, Viper Central and Zoe and Cloyd. Just as the ghost of Bill Monroe hovers over all bluegrass bands, Niall Toner, the father of Irish bluegrass, sits at the head of our table, and reminds us - if I may paraphrase Gene Autry:

'In a vine-covered shack in the mountains,
His pen seeking reason in rhyme,
There's a dear one who's weathered life's sorrow;
It's that silver-haired daddy of mine.

If I could recall all the great tunes,
Dear old Daddy, you’ve caused us to sing,
If I could add lines to your great design,
I’d just say “Keep plucking those strings”.

If God would but grant me the power
Just to turn back the pages of time,
I'd give all I own for hearth and for home
And that silver-haired daddy of mine.'

© Richard Hawkins

Familiar faces in IBMA showcases

The International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) has announced the names of thirty acts who will be on the official showcase schedule at this year's World Of Bluegrass convention and festival in Raleigh, NC. The names include Seth Mulder & Midnight Run (above), who were among the last bands to visit Ireland before the pandemic, and took part in Bluegrass Omagh 2022; and the US Navy Band's Country Current, in which the fiddle player is the outstanding Patrick McAvinue (right), who played in Ireland in his teens as a member of Tom Mindte's Patuxent Partners. For his most recent recording, see Tuesday's Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Quote of the month

For [Joe] Mullins, bluegrass isn't defined by geography or genealogy. After all, the genre wouldn't ne what it is today without icons like Rhonda Vincent (Missouri), Alison Krauss (Illinois) or Tony Rice (California). Nor is it about exclusion or gate-keeping. For him - just as it was for his father and mother before him - bluegrass is about making a home for people who feel isolated. He's quick to point out that the genre is young, not even 80 years old yet. While many outside of the genre think of it as being as old as the Appalachian mountains themselves, that's not really true. In its earliest form, bluegrass was music made by the people who had left home, and now had to find a new way to build a life in a world that was different than the one they were born into.

Kara Kundert, in 'Joe Mullins: Let time ride', Bluegrass Unlimited, vol. 57, no. 12 (June 2023), pp 35-6

Fog Holler (USA): on their way to Westport

The BIB reported on 21 May that Kianna Mott-Smith, manager of Fog Holler from Portland, OR (who will be playing at the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival at the end of next week) had contributed to Bluegrass Today the first instalment of a commentary on their tour of Europe that began on 2 May. The second instalment has now been published, covering more dates in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The instalment includes two live-performance videos and eighteen photos.

PS: Plenty of excellent monochrome photos of the Kody Norris Show are among those taken at the first Tony Rice Memorial Day Musicfest by Jeromie Stephens and now on Bluegrass Today.

© 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

They have souls as well

The Gibson RB-Granada Mastertone #9584-3 that was the main banjo of Earl Scruggs from 1949 onwards has for some years been on loan and on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Nashville, TN, and has even been played there in special events (see the BIB for 29 Oct. 2020). Last Monday, however, saw an extremely special event there, held to mark the presentation of 9584-3 to the Museum by Earl's grandchildren. Vince Gill was master of ceremonies, revealing that he was first recorded as a banjo-player.

Bluegrass Today reports that 'music was provided by the Earls of Leicester, Sierra Ferrrell, and Alison Brown, who performed 'Earl’s breakdown' on Earl’s Granada. For that tune the Museum brought out a number of instruments that had been used by Flatt & Scruggs, including Lester Flatt’s D-28, Josh Graves’ Dobro, Paul Warren’s fiddle, and Curly Seckler’s mandolin. Jerry Douglas introduces the culminating musical episode with:

We have some instruments up here that'haven't seen each other since 1969. [...} They have souls as well. And it's a good thing for them to be able to talk to each other a bit before they go back to sleep in their respective museums. [...] These instruments are the reason why I play music at all.

A 36-minute video of the entire presentation event can be seen on BBluegrass Today and YouTube.

© Richard Hawkins

Commemorating Jimmie Rodgers

The BIB last posted a commemoration of Jimmie Rodgers (right) back in 2012, on the 79th anniversary of his death. Today will be the ninetieth anniversary. He has had an immeasurable influence on popular music, and in particular many of his songs have passed into the repertoire of bluegrass musicians. Bluegrass Today is currently issuing a succession of posts from ten years ago, under the series title 'Bluegrass yesterday'; earlier this week Daniel Mullins's 2013 post commemorating Jimmie appeared in this series. The Jimmie Rodgers Foundation, founded in 1953, held its annual festival in Meridian, Mississippi, in the second week of this month.

© Richard Hawkins

Southern Legacy (USA) to play tribute to Tony Rice

On Bluegrass Today Sandy Hatley reports the formation of Southern Legacy, a high-powered new US band composed of leading bluegrass musicians and centred on Don Rigsby (left above), who has played here several times in different combinations, and Josh Williams (right above), who first played here early this century as a lanky teenage mandolinist with Special Consensus and has since won the IBMA Guitar Player of the Year award three times. This coming weekend, when Bluegrass Omagh 2023 will be on here, Southern Legacy will be playing in Reidsville, NC, with Ron Stewart (banjo), Jim VanCleve (fiddle), and Mike Anglin (bass), and tributes to Tony Rice will form an important part of their programme.

© Richard Hawkins

Many photos of coming visitors

In a little over two weeks from now, it will be possible to see the Kody Norris Show from Tennessee live on stage at this year's Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival. You can see a lot of them, individually and together, on Bluegrass Today in seventeen splendid photos by Frank Baker, taken at the 84th Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival last weekend. Seeing them in motion and with sound will be even better.

There are also fourteen Baker photos of Appalachian Roadshow, who would have been headliners at Omagh 2020 but for the pandemic; and nineteen of Sister Sadie, of whom audiences here have so far seen only one or two members.

© Richard Hawkins

For record collectors

The Friends Of American Old Time Music And Dance (FOAOTMAD), Britain's national organisation for old-time music enthusiasts, announces on its news blog that 250 vinyl LPs from the collection of the late Paul Stephens will be among the items auctioned by Special Auction Services of Newbury, Berks., on 31 May as part of their Music & Entertainment Auction. FOAOTMAD report: 'Paul's music collection takes 17 lots of over 570 lots in the sale and most of his are lots of between 14 and 65 LPs with estimates between £40 and £100.'

© 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

Session Americana (USA) for Ireland in 2024?

Thanks to Loudon Temple of the Brookfield Knights agency in Britain for the news that the Boston-based 'roots collective' Session Americana (above), who last toured here in the autumn of 2019, will be touring in Britain in the spring of 2024 and have expressed interest in coming back to Ireland for up to two weeks. Loudon writes:

They have earned legendary status, particularly among their peers, but also with those who have been lucky enough to share the same room during one of their barnstorming performances. Personally speaking, Session Americana put on one of the finest shows I have ever had the great pleasure to promote and, therefore, it is a huge pleasure to get the chance to work with them again.

The band is always something of a moveable feast, their revolving doors policy attracting some of the biggest names on the circuit to join them on stage. The backbone always remains the same, however, and it's as powerful as any. There are far too many great live videos to see, so we decided not to select anything in particular. After all, their reputation says it all.

If you'd like to grab them for a slot on your programme, please let me know what date/s might be available. They will tour England/Scotland from March 25 to April 7 next year and have expressed keen interest in returning to Ireland for a run that could be 7-14 days, depending on level of interest, immediately thereafter. It would be helpful to me if you indicate that preference might be date/s wise time to help us look at sensible routing options.

The band comprises Ry Cavanaugh, Billy Beard, Dinty Child, Jim Fitting, and Jon Bistline.

© Richard Hawkins

Two Time Polka: June 2023 gigs

Ray Barron of Two Time Polka sends news of the band's forthcoming gigs:

Ireland Bikefest, Killarney, Co. Kerry
Fri. 2nd June: Harley Bar, Muckross Rd, Killarney, 9.30 p.m., adm. free

Strings & Things, Clashmore, Co. Waterford
Sun. 4th: River stage, 5.30 p.m., adm. free

Michael Dwyer Festival, Allihies, Co. Cork
Fri. 9th: Lighthouse Bar, Allihies, 10.00 p.m., adm. free

Sat. 17th: Blue Haven Bar, Kinsale, Co. Cork, 10.00 p.m.

Cork Summer Show, Showgrounds, Curaheen Rd
Sun. 18th: Main stage, 4.00 p.m. Tickets

Sun. 18th: Crane Lane Theatre, Cork city, midnight, adm. free

Our next mail will give details of our gigs at the Forest Fest in Emo, Kilkee, Kinsale, and the Cahersiveen Festival of Music & the Arts. Check our website for all gig details.

Regards & thanks,

Ray & TTP

© 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

News of US bands coming to Westport

Fog Holler, from the vigorous acoustic music scene in Portland, OR, will be playing at the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival three weeks from now, as part of a tour of Europe that began on 2 May. Earlier this week their manager Kianna Mott-Smith contributed to Bluegrass Today the first instalment of a commentary on the progress of the tour, together with eight photos taken during travel or shows. In the first week they played in the Netherlands, Germany (including Bühl, the main south German bluegrass festival), and Switzerland.

From tomorrow, Fog Holler will be playing ten dates in Belgium and six in the Netherlands (including the Rotterdam Bluegrass Festival), five in Germany (including Grevengrass, the main north German bluegrass festival), two in Britain, and three in Ireland:

• Fri. 9th-Sun. 11th June: Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival
• Tues. 13th: The Red Room, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone
• Wed. 14th: The Moorings, Bellanaleck, Co. Fermanagh

The photo above right shows Lilian Sawyer (fiddle), Tommy Schulz (guitar, vocals), Casey James Holmberg (banjo, vocals), and Noa (bass).

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Thanks to 2911 Media for the news that the Kody Norris Show, who close the Saturday night concert at Westport, will be hosting this coming September the Mountain City Fiddlers' Convention in Johnson County, TN - the first time the convention has been held since 2019. Kody Norris, a native of Johnson County, says: 'Growing up in Mountain City, the fiddlers’ convention has always held a special place in my heart. Some of the greatest fiddlers in history got their start right here. Mary Rachel [Kody's wife and the band's fiddler] and I never dreamed we would be hosting this event but are super excited to breathe some new life into this Northeast Tennessee treasure.'

© Richard Hawkins

Zoe & Cloyd release Songs of our grandfathers

Zoe & Cloyd, who with their band will be among the US artists on the lineup at next weekend's Bluegrass Omagh 2023, had their new album Songs of our grandfathers released yesterday on the Organic Records label. The grandfathers of Zoe (Natalya Zoe Weinstein) and Cloyd (John Cloyd Miller) were respectively David Weinstein, a Ukrainian-born klezmer musician, and Jim Shumate, the North Carolina fiddler who recommended Earl Scruggs for a job with Bill Monroe. On the track 'We'll meet again sweetheart', Zoe plays Jim Shumate's fiddle.

The music of Zoe & Cloyd is built on this heritage. They state: 'Both styles [bluegrass and klezmer] are melting pots and it is fitting and natural for us to combine them in our music.' More details are on the Organic Records press release.

Update 23 May: The album is reviewed, and Zoe and Cloyd are interviewed, by Stacy Chandler on No Depression in the article 'In the deep end with... Zoe & Cloyd'.

© Richard Hawkins

Much more on The UK & Ireland dobro celebration

Following the BIB post of a week ago, thanks to Richard Thompson for his much fuller post on Bluegrass Today. It includes a 36-minute Zoom video in which Chris Eaton, the originator and producer of the album, and five of the other players on the album - including Johnny Gleeson of Carlow - talk about their involvement with the dobro. There are also contributions from Chris Eaton, Colin Henry of Belfast, Johnny Gleeson, Henry Senior, Noel Dashwood, and C.J. Hillman; audio snippets of Eaton's 'Cherokee shuffle', Colin's 'Imperfection', and Dashwood's 'Celebration'; and a YouTube video of Hillman's 'C.J.'s bounce'.

The latter was the first single from the album, released a fortnight ago; the second single, Martin Harley's 'Cowboys in Hawaii' is being released today, and the third, 'Salt Creek/ Cherokee shuffle' will come out on 2 June. Chris Heaton announces on his Facebook: 'I'm really pleased to announce that I'll be teaching Dobro at Sore Fingers Summer Schools weekend this year, 20th 22nd October.'

© Richard Hawkins

Bluegrass Omagh 2023: enjoy a weekend of world-class bluegrass at the Ulster American Folk Park

Thanks to Eiméar Cassidy of National Museums NI for this press release:

Bluegrass Omagh makes a welcome return to the Ulster American Folk Park this year, from Saturday 27th until Monday 29th May. The annual festival will bring together the finest bluegrass bands from around the corner and across the seas, as well as wholesome food and fun activities for the whole family.

Over the last three decades, Bluegrass Omagh has become one of the largest bluegrass events outside of North America and has left an indelible mark on the Ulster American Folk Park, a museum which tells the story of Irish emigration to America. The festival is one of the major highlights of their annual events calendar, attracting musicians, enthusiasts, and visitors from all over the world.

This year’s lineup includes North American headliners Zoe & Cloyd, The Honeydew Drops, and Viper Central – groups that highlight the next generation of women in bluegrass. They will be joined by local, homegrown talent including Eilidh Patterson, Woodbine, and Knotty Pine String Band. Throughout the weekend, audiences can also watch talent from near and far pick ‘n bow ‘n strum ‘n sing at the Geordie McAdam Open Mic Sessions - in memory of one of the finest old-time fiddlers ever produced here at home. On Saturday 27th May bluegrass enthusiasts will have the opportunity to hear from the best in the industry at The McConversations - an informal Q&A with one of the genre’s finest exponents, Niall Toner. Niall is widely regarded as one of Ireland's leading experts on bluegrass and American country music and will delve into his years of experience on the musical road, with a song or two thrown in for good measure.

Tickets for the festival are available to book at ulsteramericanfolkpark.org, with a range of options from day tickets and family tickets to weekend passes. Weekend tickets also include entry to the Bluegrass Family Day on Monday 29th May.

So, whether it’s a day out with the family or an easy-going long weekend, start your Summer off with Bluegrass Omagh 2023 and enjoy a toe-tappin’, knee-clappin’, finger-pickin’ bluegrass weekend to remember! Visit ulsteramericanfolkpark.org to get your tickets.

BIB editor's note: The photo at the head of this post, showing Geordie playing with Annie Staninec, is taken from the Folk Park's Facebook.

© Richard Hawkins

More historic guitar news

Bluegrass Today reports that the story of Earl Scruggs's 1955 Martin D-18 guitar (see the BIB for 15 May) was so well received by readers that a similar story of Lester Flatt's 1942 D-18 has now been republished from the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation website.

The instrument itself, after a career that included a long spell in one owner's cupboard, was on display in mid April this year at the Bluegrass Heritage Festival, where (among others) Greg Cahill of Special Consensus and Rick Faris, Special C. alumnus and luthier, had the chance of trying it out. The Bluegrass Today feature includes nine photos by Nate Dalzell: five of the guitar, one of the leather strap embossed with 'Lester Flatt', and three of authenticating documents.

© Richard Hawkins

News of former Omagh headliners

With the next major event on the Irish bluegrass calendar, Bluegrass Omagh 2023, now just over a week away, the BIB has received news of some of the US artists who have played at the Ulster American Folk Park in previous years. Let time ride, the latest album by Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers (above), headliners in 2019, has been reviewed on Bluegrass Today by John Curtis Goad, who considers it 'hands-down the best album ever released from Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers, and the musicians here truly make all the difference. [...] there’s not a misfire on the album.' The review includes a playlist with ninety-second samples of all the tracks.

The Malpass Brothers, for whom Omagh was the first bluegrass festival they had ever played (and they subsequently played Omagh a total of three times), now host their own festival at the Denton Farm Park in North Carolina, the festival venue previously occupied for forty years by Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver (also Omagh veterans). As described by Sandy Hatley on Bluegrass Today, the Brothers' second annual festival was a great success even though interrupted at one time by a power failure. The report includes a video and seven photographs.

© Richard Hawkins

Foghorns at Westport, last Sunday

The Foghorn Stringband from Portland, OR, who opened their latest tour of Ireland at the Baltimore Fiddle Fair, rounded it off last Sunday (14 May) before a full and very appreciative house at the Clew Bay Hotel, Westport, Co. Mayo. The video above, shot by Pervege Free Films, shows them performing 'Outshine the sun'. It can be seen via the Festival's Facebook and on the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival YouTube channel. Pervege Free Films also caught them playing the fiddle tune 'Horseshoe Bend'. This year's Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival opens just over three weeks from now, on Friday 9 June.

© Richard Hawkins

New album coming from Rhiannon Giddens

Stacy Chandler of No Depression posted a week ago (9 May) a report, 'Rhiannon Giddens announces new album, her first with all original songs', giving the full track list of Rhiannon Giddens's forthcoming album You're the one (due for release in mid August) together with a summary of her recent and current achievements and activities. The article includes a video, also on YouTube, of the album's title track, in which the rich arrangement is punctuated with the voice of a banjo. See also the BIB for 10 May.

© Richard Hawkins

More for guitarists (and luthiers, and instrument buffs)

Sandy Hatley's major article 'Lincoln Hensley and the pursuit of Earl Scruggs’ guitar' on Bluegrass Today is the kind of story that one would expect to find in the Fretboard Journal. It centres upon the 1955 Martin D-18 played by Earl Scruggs during his partnership with Lester Flatt, its subsequent history, and the determination of Lincoln Hensley (better known as a highly talented young banjo-player continuing the legacy of Sonny Osborne) to master the style in which Scruggs played and to find a guitar as similar as possible to the one he used.

The article includes two YouTube videos of Earl playing the guitar. Anyone interested in historic bluegrass instruments, their vicissitudes, and their care and restoration, should find it rewarding.

© 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

Gloria Belle, 9 June 1939-5 May 2023

The BIB learns with great regret of the death of Gloria Bernadette Flickinger, 'Gloria Belle', one of the pioneer professional women bluegrass performers, whose long career included performances and recordings with Jimmy Martin.

In 2019 the BIB referred readers to Wikipedia and to a 2013 feature by Richard Thompson on Bluegrass Today. A comprehensive biography/ obituary of Gloria Belle by Richard Thompson is now on Bluegrass Today, including tributes from fellow musicians, eight photos, a discography, and thirteen YouTube recordings of songs from successive stages of her career.

The chapter about her in Murphy Henry's Pretty good for a girl: women in bluegrass (2013) ends with a brief fable - a rough and almost invisible path through the bluegrass woods has a signpost saying 'Groundbreaking women in bluegrass enter here' and underneath, in tiny letters, the words 'Path carved by Gloria Belle'.

Update 5 June: On 31 May the Bluegrass Situation (BGS) published Claire Levine's biographical article 'Gloria Belle: a woman "sideman" who held her own in bluegrass'. The article includes five videos, and a note from the BGS editor states that the IBMA Foundation is establishing a scholarship fund in the name of Gloria Belle.

© Richard Hawkins

'Don't hold back' from Rick Faris

The latest Dark Shadow Recording press release announces a new single from Rick Faris - 'Don't hold back', the third single from his forthcoming album Uncommon sky. The idea for the song came from Evan Dickerson, who co-wrote it with Rick. The Dark Shadow release classifies it as a motivational gospel song; Rick says it 'resonated with my running routine of praying and asking God to reveal where I am falling short. Boy, you wanna talk about a prayer that works!'

For anyone who didn't become acquainted with Rick during his eleven years on mandolin or guitar with Special Consensus, including several tours of Ireland, more details on his career are on the press release. Coincidentally, today (Fri. 12 May) Compass Records release the Special C.'s latest album: their tribute to Canada, Great blue North.

© Richard Hawkins

New album: The UK & Ireland dobro celebration

Thanks to Colin Henry in Belfast, who writes:

Just wanted to let you know about a new Dobro project and CD.

The project is the creation of UK dobro player Chris Eaton. He wanted to bring together on a CD as many of the current dobro players in the UK and Ireland as he could get, and he has managed to bring together quite a few on the CD. It is due for release in June. The styles and sounds are all different but showcase the great players that are in these islands. Johnny Gleeson from Carlow and Ted Ponsonby from Letterkenny each have a great track. I have a track also, and I guess I straddle both jurisdictions!
Here is the link to the CD: www.chriseatonguitar.com/dobro

The 13-track album will be available online via the usual streaming platforms from 23 June 2023. CDs will cost £12+postage and packing.

© Richard Hawkins

Westport's new partnerships on Bluegrass Today

The ambitious new partnership project which the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival announced earlier this week has now been featured on Bluegrass Today, where Uri's exposition of the proposed course of collaborative action is quoted at length. John Lawless adds this comment:

More than just a series of concerts held in a number of different settings in Westport, the Folk and Bluegrass festival has a serious ethnomusicological intent, researching and studying the deep connections between the folk music of Ireland and Scotland, and the Appalachian folk music that developed [in] the United States. It’s no surprise that this should be the case, as the Scots/Irish were prominent among the people who settled in America in the Appalachian Mountain communities, and folklorists and studious amateurs have long been fascinated by the parallels between bluegrass and old time music and that from the Celtic tradition.

© Richard Hawkins

News of past visitors

Thanks to Michael J. MIles for this image (right) from his latest e-newsletter, with its regular crop of instructional aids and other good things. Michael adds: 'the most important to me, my life's work really, is the release of this new recording American Bach revisited. [...] Official release is Aug 4, we're taking pre-orders now that will give you immediate access to a few of the tracks.'

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Billy Strings has been nominated for the Artist of the Year award in the 2023 Honors and Awards of the Americana Music Association. Nickel Creek are also nominated for Duo/ Group of the Year and several bluegrass or old-time pickers for the Instrumentalist of the Year award. More details are on Bluegrass Today.

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Tim O'Brien, who toured here in January, has a new single, 'Bear', from his latest album Cup of sugar, due for release next month. Tim is feeling old enough to sympathise with the bear, who he says 'represents anyone or any social group that feels their world has changed too much while they weren’t looking'. More detail is on John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

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The outstanding tenor singer Don Rigsby, who has played here several times in different combinations including his own band, has released two new singles, for which the videos can be seen on Bluegrass Today or on YouTube: the gospel song 'When Jesus calls my name' and the secular song 'Cold ashes'.

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The Special Consensus have released a new video from their latest album Great blue North, a tribute to Canada; appropriately, the song chosen is 'Alberta bound' by the late Gordon Lightfoot, with a strong supporting cast of Canadian musicians: Ray Legere (fiddle); John Reischman, Trisha Gagnon, and Patrick Sauber (The Jaybird Trio), Pharis & Jason Romero, and Claire Lynch.

The video can be seen on Bluegrass Today or YouTube, and includes some stunning scenes of Canadian mountains. However, the footage of the Special C. playing the song is credited to Adam Bradley in Belfast, and Nigel Martyn (note the 'y'), who has organised their tours here for over twenty years, is also in the credits.

© Richard Hawkins

For guitarists (and others)

The latest e-newsletter from the Fretboard Journal (FJ) is entitled 'Ten things we love right now'. The list includes:

• A video (also on YouTube) of the 1936 Martin D-18 shown on the cover (right) of Norman Blake's album Whiskey before breakfast, being played by Chris Eldridge, Bob Minner, Kenny Smith, and Bryan Sutton. The FJ says of the video: 'This is basically a 45-minute-long love letter to a guitar and it's full of insights on Blake.'
• A raffle ($25 a ticket) for a new Jackson Cunningham slope-shoulder jumbo guitar, which is fully described here;
• The news that Rhiannon Giddens has won a Pulitzer Prize for her opera Omar, and has just announced her next album, You're the one, due for release on 18 Aug. 2023 and available for pre-order.
• The life of Chris Strachwitz, founder of Arhoolie Records, who died last Friday (5 May) at the age of 91.

The FJ includes a link to David Katznelson's 'The down home music man', a fine obituary of Chris Strachwitz, concentrating on the many blues and zydeco artists he recorded, but also mentioning the first album by Del McCoury (left) as a bandleader. For a much fuller account of the debt bluegrass and related music owes to Arhoolie recordings, see Richard Thompson's major obituary of him on Bluegrass Today, with no fewer than twenty-three embedded videos from YouTube.

Update 12 May: Daniel Sheehy, director and curator emeritus of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, which took over the Arhoolie catalogue, has a major article celebrating Chris Strachwitz on the Smithsonian website.

© Richard Hawkins

Updates

On banjo, the new album by Alison Brown, was released last Friday (5 May), and has been reviewed by Henry Carrigan on No Depression. The review includes a video of one of the tracks, 'Porches', accompanied by the Kronos Quartet, which is also on YouTube.

Further update 19 May: On banjo has made its debut on the Billboard bluegrass chart at #1.

Following on from the BIB post of 5 May, Amos Perrine introduces on No Depression a compilation of sixty-three fine photos of artists performing at last month's MerleFest, including one (taken by himself) of Louise Holden of Dublin's I Draw Slow.

© Richard Hawkins

Westport - hub of a new transatlantic partnership in music

Thanks to Uri Kohen, head of the organising team of the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival, for news of a ground-breaking project in which the festival will lead a transatlantic collaboration between major academic institutions:

Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival are excited to announce details of their new project.

For the first time ever, we have created a partnership between the festival and three major academic institutions: the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick; East Tennessee State University - The Home of Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots Music Studies in Higher Education; and the Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University.

We will mark the start of this unique collaboration when all three universities will have representatives at this year's festival, where they will present literature about their own unique musical studies, have the opportunity to have face-to-face meeting with interested parties, and the chance to partake in some of the musical performances and sessions.

During the summer months, we will work with the universities to collaborate on an academic level and build unique programs for students and teachers exchanges, as well as the exchange of academic papers on the deep roots and connections between Irish traditional music and bluegrass and American old-time music.

In addition, we are already making plans for bands from the universities to be part of our 2024 program, both as individuals and as musical collaborators. This opportunity will allow such acts to present both styles of music to our audiences, and to highlight their differences and similarities.

The Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival organising committee believe that this first-of-its-kind project is vital for a better understanding of both the Irish traditional and bluegrass music, and the deep connections between these genres of music.

We are really looking forward to work with our new partners, and hope that this will be a great benefit for future festival-goers and the next generations for musicians on both sides of the Atlantic.

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For more details and interviews, please contact Uri Kohen, Festival producer; mobile 087 757 0958; e-mail.

Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival now has a very attractive six-page, full-colour, amply illustrated press kit, including very positive testimonials from Roni Stoneman, the Foghorn Stringband, headline artists from 2022, and some of the Festival's many partner organisations.

© Richard Hawkins

Videos and photos from MerleFest

The Deering Banjo Company announce (links added by the BIB):

We survived Merlefest 2023 and it was wonderful to be back! It was a little wet, but it was still a fantastic time listening to great music, catching up with artists, and seeing old and new friends.

One of the cool things about Merlefest is that you never know who you will meet! Over the course of the weekend, we teamed up with our friends the Chapmans at Acoustic Music Shoppe, to perform live on-the-fly interviews with the likes of Dom Flemmons, Wes Corbett, Henhouse Prowlers, and the ever-wonderful Alison Brown.

Four Deering videos of interviews-plus-picking with the above-mentioned artists can be watched here. A comprehensive report on MerleFest 2023 by Gina Elliott Proulx, together with sixty-six photos taken at the festival, is on Bluegrass Today. Alison Brown's new album, On banjo, is being released today (Fri. 5 May) by Compass Records.

© Richard Hawkins

Gordon Lightfoot (17 Nov. 1938–1 May 2023)

The BIB learns with regret of the death of Canadian singer/ songwriter Gordon Lightfoot on Monday 1 May, of natural causes, at the age of 84. Many of his songs have passed into the repertoire of bluegrass musicians; an important factor was the enthusiasm of Tony Rice as a member of J.D. Crowe & the New South, whose highly influential 1975 album J.D. Crowe & the New South (Rounder 0044) included two Lightfoot songs, 'Ten degrees and getting colder' and 'You are what I am'.

Update 7 May: A major obituary by Richard Thompson of Gordon Lightfoot, with many videos of his songs as performed by bluegrass musicians, can now be seen on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Visiting pickers in Co. Donegal

Thanks to Alec Somerville in Co. Donegal for the news that Petr Jezek (banjo-player in the Czech duo Pe & Pe) was recently at Ardara for a festival, but has now gone home. Alec also reports that an unidentified couple from North Carolina have recently played old-time music at Ardara on banjo and autoharp. Perhaps some other BIB reader knows who they are?

This year's Ardara Bluegrass Festival is announced for 21-23 July. Woodbine have reported being booked for it, and the BIB will post further details as soon as we receive them.

© Richard Hawkins

Jens Kruger on Doc Watson

'We experienced Doc’s music as pure, honest, unpretentious, highly suggestive, funny, earnest, and soulful. What more could music be?'

The above is a direct quote from Jens Kruger of the Kruger Brothers, who in his article 'Jens Kruger on Doc Watson’s Appalachian American dream', published a week ago on No Depression, describes how the lives of himself and his brother Uwe were changed, first by Doc's recorded music and later by the experience of coming to know him as a mentor and friend. Very much worth reading.

© Richard Hawkins