2009 has been kind to Lonesome River Band so far. Their latest CD, No Turning Back, has been lighting up the bluegrass charts, holding the current #1 spot on both the album and singles spots in the Bluegrass Unlimited July Bluegrass Survey.

Seeing the value of their partnership with Rural Rhythm Records, LRB lead singer and guitarist Brandon Rickman has chosen Rural Rhythm to release his solo debut, Young Man, Old Soul. 9 of the 12 tracks are Rickman compositions, co-written with some prominent contemporary bluegrass writers. Craig Market, Chris Stapleton and Jerry Salley are among his collaborators on this new project, released on June 30.

Brandon covers a wide range of styles within the bluegrass/Americana genre, sometimes with a full band, other times with only sparse guitar accompaniment. The focus throughout is on Rickman’s plaintive and passionate vocals, a sound that will be familiar to LRB fans this past few years.

Backing musicians include Aaron McDaris on banjo, Randy Kohrs on resonator guitar, Andy Ball on mandolin, Mike Anglin on bass and Janeé Fleenor on fiddle. Harmony vocals come from Terry Eldridge, Tammy Rogers, Larry Cordle, Andy Ball and Jerry Salley among others. Brandon handles the guitar and much of the bass duties, as well as some of the harmonies.

You can hear audio from all 12 tracks at the Rural Rhythm web site and in iTunes. If you’ve enjoyed Brandon’s work with LRB, this CD will be right up your alley.

The seating of five newly-elected members of  the Board of Directors for the International Bluegrass Music Association has just been announced. Three incumbent board members return to their seats along with two new members to fill the Board’s full complement of 17 members.

From IBMA’s press release…

• Alison Brown, an executive with Compass Records and an award winning artist from Nashville, Tennessee was re-elected to represent members involved in recording, distribution and marketing.
• Mike Bub, an award-winning musician from Nashville, Tennessee, was re-elected to represent artists, composers and music publishers.
• Craig Ferguson, a festival producer with Planet Bluegrass in Lyons, Colorado was elected by members involved in event production.
• Jim Roe, of Roe Entertainment from Owensboro, Kentucky was elected to represent agents, managers and publicists.
• Neil Rosenberg, an author and historian from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada was re-elected by all professional members to an at-large post.

The Grascals have put together an informal video to keep their fans up to date with all their comings and goings this year. Jamie Johnson, Terry Eldridge and Danny Roberts take turns interviewing each other as they talk about visiting the White House, recording with Hank Williams Jr., and performing for actor Steven Segal’s birthday party in LA.

Fun stuff…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2q7fxT3WbY

Alecia Nugent has announced the winner in her online Hillbilly Goddess contest where fans were invited to submit essays promoting the cause of their own better halves as the one, true Hillbilly Goddess.

The contest was born of the lyrics to the title track to Alecia’s latest CD, a clever and quite funny song she wrote with Sonya Kelly and Carl Jackson, describing a Hillbilly Goddess as the opposite of a high fashion, pop culture diva.

The winning entry came from W. Brent Woodal, and is titled My Hillbilly Goddess - My Wife Marie. Here’s just a taste:

On our first date we went to the edge of the woods near her home and picked polk salad. Then we went back to her place where she cooked it for supper. She knew exactly how much fatback to throw in for seasoning; I was hooked from the first bite. I hadn’t tasted polk salad that good since my grandmother died. After sopping up the last of the pot likker with the cornbread she had made I asked her to marry me. She told me that I was moving way too fast so I waited until our fourth date to ask her again. That time she said, “Yes.” Because of fond childhood memories she has of listening to the Louisiana Hayride, we got married at the Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana. After the preacher pronounced us man and wife I removed her John Deere cap before kissing her. We then went with family and friends to a local Waffle House where our reception was held.

How can you top that!

Brent wins a copy of Alecia’s CD plus a basketload of T shirts and other fun stuff from John Deere and Smith & Wesson. Something tells me they will be put to good use.

The video for Don’t Turn Your Back, the title track from Dale Ann Bradley’s new CD on Compass, is making waves at CMT Pure. She beat out country heavyweights Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and Alan Jackson polling #2 in last week’s voting.

Online viewers are invited to pick their favorite videos from a much longer list, and the top 12 are announced as the CMT Pure 12 Pack each week.

Bluegrass fans who would like to see Dale Ann hang in there at the top of the charts for another week can cast their vote at CMT.com. And since you are allowed to select up to 12 videos with your vote, be on the lookout for a number of other bluegrass or bluegrassy videos worthy of your attention in the poll:

• The Abrams Brothers - Viva la Vida
• Melonie Cannon - Back To Earth 
• The Duhks - Fast Paced World
• Old Crowe Medicine Show - Caroline
• Dan Tyminski - Wheels
• Bradley Walker - A Little Change

How cool would it be to see all those videos in the top 12!

Voting each week ends on Friday, so head over to CMT.com if you want to make your opinion known.

The Bluegrass Blog always pays special attention where young pickers are concerned. The education and nurturing of our next generation of bluegrass artists is a matter of great concern to many formerly young people such as myself who care deeply about the future of this music.

So it is always a treat to find out about talented young pickers like Green on the Vyne, a Nashville-based quintet of teenaged grassers. Their debut CD, Ready For The Pickin’, was released a few weeks back, showing that these youngsters have learned quite a bit about music - plus performing and recording - at such a tender age.

Here’s a video introduction to the band…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6UwLKftw-A

The eldest member of the group is 16 years old, but they have all spent quite some time exposed to and studying bluegrass. They have had the great good fortune of having Deanie Richardson as a mentor, something that is often missing when talented young artists take a shot in the professional music world. Deanie was a member of The New Coon Creek Girls in the mid-1990s, along with Dale Ann Bradley, and has worked in Nashville with Patty Loveless, Vince Gill and many other country acts, returning to bluegrass from time to time as well.

Deanie explains how the band came together…

I was part owner in a music school (The Main Stage in Springfield, TN) and three of these band members, Sydni Perry, Ty Jackson and Emily Dean, were students of mine. I had been working with them individually for a while on their various instruments and singing, but often wondered what it would sound like - of if they would even know what to do - if I put them together in a trio setting.

It was amazing. I could not believe what I was hearing. They all three heard parts and the blend of them together was so intense; it brought me to tears. At this point they were only 12 and 13 years old. I was so in awe of how they knew instantly what to do with these parts….even though they hadn’t spent a lot of time around bluegrass music. They just instantly heard the natural bends and twist.

Then we added the most talented Casey Campbell, son of the late, great Jimmy Campbell. I have known Casey since birth. His mother Marcia is a lifelong friend of mine and my family’s. Casey just fit right in and added the traditional mandolin style that I was hearing with these vocals. He is such a tasteful old soul kind of player. (more…)

Serious students of the mandolin have long revered the name of Lloyd Loar, the Gibson luthier from the 1920s whose design innovations during his brief 5 year tenure are widely credited with revolutionizing their fretted instruments. Gibson’s most prized mandolins are still built to his specs, and vintage F-5s signed by Lloyd Loar command astronomical prices in the secondary market.

Bill Graham has written a lengthy piece for Mandolin Cafe detailing his visit to the site of Gibson’s old shop in Kalamazoo, MI, where Loar once roamed the halls. The facility is now the home of the Heritage Guitar Company and Graham interviewed Ren Wall, who had worked there for Gibson for more than 20 years. Like a number of other Gibson employees, when the company moved to Nashville in 1984, Wall remained in Kalamazoo to ply his trade with Heritage.

The article is full of details that will of interest to any fan of the vintage Gibson instruments, and the “old school” methods of manufacture still is use at Heritage. Graham also has a number of photos from his visit.

Here’s a taste of the article, describing his first arriving at the shop…

Loar had formal ties to Gibson starting in 1911 as a music composer, arranger and performer, Siminoff said. He may have visited Kalamazoo when the Gibson Co. made instruments at previous factory sites on East Exchange Place and East Harrison Court.

But by 1919 when Loar began his longest stint as a designer for Gibson, 225 Parsons Street was a modern, state-of-the-art factory building. By the early 1920s he was working at the plant fulltime in various roles, according to Siminoff. The F5 mandolin and other refined carved-top instruments that he helped design and build until his departure late in 1924 would change the musical world forever.

I came looking for what is and shadows of what was.

A worker was having a smoke break outside an arched entryway with a wooden door that says Heritage Guitar Inc. with a cutout of an F5 mandolin underneath. I told him I was looking for Ren Wall. Former Gibson employees started Heritage in 1985 in what Siminoff says “they always kindly referred to as the old building,” a place where Gibson built mandolins and banjos right up until they left in 1984.

“Ren’s here,” the gentleman said. “Go on in. Go down through this door, down the stairs and through the next door and look for him on the left.”

I did, and stepped into a large room with offices on my left, a guy gluing binding on a guitar on my right, sawdust and wood and instrument part shapes and equipment in front of me for a long ways.

Read the full piece at Mandolin Cafe.

Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sarah Jarosz, whose debut CD Song Up In Her Head is just out on Sugar Hill, performed live on KXAN television in Austin, TX about two weeks ago.

Her solo version of the title track shows the degree of poise and professionalism that has brought this talented young woman to such prominence just as she graduates from high school.

Have a look…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d4PZgK3MZc

Marty Raybon is next up on the Bluegrass Junction Track-By-Track show on Sirius-XM, starting this morning (7/1) at 11:00 a.m. (EDT).

He and host Kyle Cantrell will play through all 14 tracks of Marty’s new CD, This, That & The Other, with his band, Full Circle.

The show will air three times over the next few days (all times Eastern):

You’ll find Bluegrass Junction at Sirius 65 or XM 14.

Just yesterday we mentioned that The Abrams Brothers would have a live CD out this year, and we now see that they have a major studio project in the works as well.

This Canadian teen bluegrass trio has hooked up with a New York management company, Invasion Group, and the guys have a new look and sound that is more polished and progressive than what people may have seen from them on the festival circuit in recent years. They are keeping the basic bluegrass approach, and including drums for their live shows.

The new CD on the United For Opportunity label is expected in the latter part of 2009, titled Viva La Vida for their grassy remake of the Coldplay hit from last year which anchors the project. In addition to Abrams Brothers John on guitar and James on fiddle, cousin Eli Abrams is on bass, Nick Piccinini is on banjo, Chris Brown on keyboards, and Anton Fier on drums. All three Abramses share vocal duties.

They have released a single and music video for Viva La Vida in advance of the CD. The video, directed by Derek Horn, debuted this past weekend on CMT and is getting some attention from the folks at the network. The single is available now in iTunes.

Here’s a look at the video…

If they can get a fraction of the attention going to another group of handsome young brothers in the pop music world, 2009 could be a very good year for The Abrams Brothers.

As reported earlier veteran singer/multi-instrumentalist Bill Harrell passed away on June 24 at his home in Davidsonville, Maryland. He had suffered a stroke on June 12 and was hospitalized for a week. His health was further complicated by advanced prostate cancer, an enlarged heart and fluid on his lungs.

Born in Marion, Virginia, on September 14, 1934, Harrell had a recognizable vocal style, light and mellow in tone, in a bluegrass music career that started during his college years when he began playing mandolin in a trio. Prior to that he learned to play the piano and to read music.

Subsequently he played with several Washington, DC area musicians like Eddie Adcock, Donny Bryant, Smiley Hobbs, Smitty Irvin, Carl Nelson and Roy Self, during stints with bands such as the Rocky Mountain Boys.

While serving in the armed forces, Harrell was injured in an auto accident, and spent close to a year recovering in a military hospital. Upon his release, he returned to Washington, DC and formed a group that released three singles on the Starday label. Subsequently he formed the Virginians with Irvin on banjo, Buck Ryan on fiddle and Stoney Edwards on bass and in 1963 released the album The Wonderful World of Bluegrass Music (United Artists). This was followed two years later with Ballads and Bluegrass (Adelphi). The group played dates up and down the East Coast of America and Harrell hosted his own weekly television program from Harrisonburg, Virginia, and the group were frequent guests on Jimmy Dean’s network TV series.

In December 1966, Harrell joined Don Reno and the Tennessee Cut-Ups, remaining Reno’s partner for over a decade; a period in which saw the rise in popularity of bluegrass music festivals. Reno and Harrell recorded several albums for a variety of established labels, like King, Starday and Monument, as well as smaller ones such as Jalyn, King Bluegrass and CMH (recently formed at that time).

Early in 1977 Harrell and bass player Ed Ferris amicably left the Tennessee Cut-Ups to re-form the Virginians with Harrell’s old friend Carl Nelson on fiddle and newcomer Darrell Sanders on banjo. The following year the band released their first album Bluegrass and Ballads (Adelphi), followed by the back-to-back albums Bluegrass Gospel, Pure and Simple (Leather) and I Can Hear Virginia Calling Me (Rebel), in 1980. By this time mandolin player Larry Stephenson had joined the band also. These albums were followed by another album for Leather, The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore (in 1981). Despite a constantly changing line-up, Harrell continued to lead the Virginians well into the 1990s, issuing excellent records like Walking in the Early Morning Dew (1983), Blue Virginia, Blue (1986) and After The Sunrise (1990); all for Rebel Records.

Shortly afterwards, Harrell retired and son Mitch, who was already by that time a member of the Virginians, took over the band.

In a career that spanned over 30 years and is noted for his relaxed, easy-going style of traditional bluegrass, Bill Harrell was a major contributor to the growth of bluegrass music in the Washington DC area. He performed for three presidents; Nixon, Reagan and Bush.

Last year the IBMA honored Harrell with a Distinguished Achievement Award, presented to him by Larry Stephenson.

In addition to Richard Thompson’s overview of Bill Harrell’s long career in bluegrass, we spoke to a number of artists who had worked with Bill, and wanted to share their thoughts on his passing.

First up is Ronnie Reno, who performed with Bill as a member of Reno & Harrell.

“Bill Harrell goes deep into being a Pioneer of the music and was a great influence on a lot of young pickers and singers. I know for a fact that my friend Larry Stephenson was a student of Bill’s. Bill met my Dad (Don Reno) and Red Smiley in the middle 50’s and I remember Bill playing mandolin with them at the Old Dominion Barn Dance in Richmond VA.

Shortly after that I believe Bill went onto the Army. Dad and I moved to Riverdale MD in 1966 and he and Bill had a great 10 year partnership. I was with them for a year and then I moved to Nashville TN. During that short year I got to know Bill very well. He was a gentle man with a lot of talent and was a great business man. Bill had a very smooth voice and played a hard driving rhythm guitar. He was also a very good song writer and interacted well with his fans and friends on stage.

Bill will be remembered as a great influence on our next generations for years to come. I will miss Bill as I considered him a friend and he was always there when I needed him.

May he rest in piece and enjoy singing with Dad and Red on a wonderful trio as of this writing.”

Larry Stephenson also had a few thoughts to share…

“Bill Harrell was the complete package. Guitar playing, songwriting, emceeing, working an audience, and he knew how to sing a song. His phrasing was second to none. When I was with Bill he kept us very busy. He did his own booking and also did some booking in the early days for the Johnson Mountain Boys and other acts in the DC-Baltimore area.

I learned the business of Bluegrass from Bill Harrell……how to find songs, put an album together, book a band, how to treat your band….. just everything about running a band as a business. I’ve tried my best to carry on my ‘Bill Harrell Schooling’ for the last twenty years of the Larry Stephenson Band. He was the best and I will miss him forever.

I want to thank IBMA for Bill’s Distinguished Achievement Award last October at the World of Bluegrass in Nashville, TN. He’s was so happy and never quit talking about it. It was well deserved and way over due.” (more…)

If you follow Nothin’ Fancy’s newsletter, you will have noted the sad story they told in the March ‘09 issue. It was a tale of vehicular woe, in which a wheel from their long-suffering van came rolling off and passed them on the highway.

Mandolinist Mike Andes relayed the events that transpired on February 22…

Within 20 minutes of our trip, Mitchell says, “There are flames coming out of the back wheel.” Mitchell was driving so he pulls off the road and Gary puts the fire out with ice from our cooler. We stand around for a while and decide to try and limp the van up the road to an exit ramp. Everything is going quite well; we stop a couple of times and check the wheel, its OK. We keep going.

Tony is riding shotgun, he is glued to the mirror watching the passenger side rear wheel when he says “there’s sparks coming out of the trailer wheel.” Mitchell stops immediately; we check the wheel and agree to keep going as far as we can. Finally we get off the interstate and pull into a service mart. We are trying to come up with a game plan. We check the wheels, they’re not overly hot, and so we decide to go further.

While leaving the parking lot, Tony says, “The trailer wheel is really wobbling.” OK, so we drop the trailer and put everything we need into Chris’s vehicle. Chris is following the injured Nothin’ Fancy van.

Now back on the road, I really thought we might make it since we weren’t pulling the trailer; I was wrong. 15 minutes into the journey, I had just fallen asleep along side the bass and all kinds of luggage, KA BOOM the van is listing starboard. My first question was, “Did Chris run over our wheel?” Tony answered, “no, our wheel passed us.”

Here we sit.

Everyone will be glad to know that the boys made it on time for their next show - thanks to a taxi service - and are now driving their own tour bus, recently acquired from David Parmley. They even sent along a few photos of their new ride.

              

Our good buddy, Katy Daley from WAMU’s Bluegrass Country, spent much of last week at the River Of Music Party, more commonly known as ROMP, in Owensboro, KY. It’s a 4 day festival put on by the International Bluegrass Museum which always makes recognition of the pioneers of our music a part of their stage schedule.

Katy not only served as an emcee, but also kept up a regular blog on the WAMU’s MySpace page throughout the week. She has photos and a running commentary of the week’s events.

She also was on the job getting signatures on petitions for the Bill Monroe US Postal Stamp campaign. The goal of the campaign is to convince the United States Postal Service to honor Bill Monroe with his own stamp in 2011, which would have been his 100th birthday.

Katy sent along these photos of prominent grassers endorsing the Monroe stamp campaign at ROMP.

               Find out how you can help make the Monroe stamp come to fruition. All necessary details and materials here.

Darrell Webb has left Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper and announced that he is forming his own group. His last show with Michael was on June 21, and Darrell has most of his new band already in place.

Matt Leadbetter will be on resonator guitar, Owen Piatt on banjo and Jeremy Aarwood on bass. Darrell tells us that he will either play mandolin or guitar himself, depending on who he chooses to complete the group.

He tells us that after stints with Lonesome River Band, JD Crowe & The New South, Wildfire, Rhonda Vincent & The Rage and Flamekeeper, the time is right for him to lead his own band.

“I’m going to do my own thing from here on out. I’ve waited long enough, and I’m really going to work hard and do my best to try make it happen on my own.

You don’t ever know until you try.”

Flamekeeper has not yet chosen a replacement for Darrell, and has Jeff White playing guitar on an interim basis until a new hire comes on board. Webb leaves with nothing but respect for Michael and all the guys in Flamekeeper.

“I wish the band the best of luck but right now I have a lot of goals I want to accomplish. My fans can look forward to seeing The Darrell Webb Band out and about soon. I am excited about the new things that are in store for me right now.”

Darrell’s web site is being updated now, and new information should be available there in a few weeks. In the meantime, he is eager to communicate with anyone about his new endeavor, and can be reached by email at mandocaster2005@hotmail.com.

His energies right now are dedicated to his first effort at festival promotion with Coalfest 2009 (July 17-19) in Pilgrims Knob, VA, where he serves as co-director.

Initially launched a subscription service, the McCoury Music Club now allows for non-subscribers to purchase individual live shows from The Del McCoury Band without being a subscriber. Delheads can choose to subscribe and receive one show download per month, or pick the shows they want and download them á la carte.

These shows are professionally recorded and mixed and each contains at least one full live set.

Fees range from $10-$15 for each show and an annual subscription bills for $100, with 2 free months for pre-payment. Full details online.

Mastershield Records has released a new CD from Darren Beachley, which consists of songs previously released in limited circulation.

As the title, Sad Songs and Sunday Mornings, suggests, the album is a mix of sacred and secular material. Tracks include I Love You To The Moon And Back, Daddy’s Chair and Lovin’ Ain’t Been Easy On My Mind, along with Darren’s versions of a number of Gospel favorites.

The CD isn’t showing up yet on either the Mastershield or Darren Beachley sites, but you can surely pick one up at any of Darren’s shows with his new group, Legends Of The Potomac.

Also coming soon from Mastershield are a live CD from The Abrams Brothers and a new Country Gentlemen tribute project from Bill Yates.

Recording King, a division of The Music Link, has introduced two new banjo models aimed at new players looking at their first upgrade, or beginners wanting to start out on a better than entry level banjo.

The Madison is offered in both a resonator and open back version, both built with a 3-ply maple rim. The necks are made from maple with rosewood fingerboards. Planetary tuner and a geared 5th string peg, plus dual coordinator rods, are also included on both.

The resonator model (RK-R25) features a tube and plate flange which attaches the maple resonator, and a fan inlay pattern adorns the fingerboard and headstock. The open back version (RK-O25) is inlaid with a simple dot pattern.

These new banjos will be available from Recording King dealers worldwide. The resonator model carries a retail price of $659.99 and the open back $499.99.

If it’s Friday, it must be time for another installment of Ask Doyle, Doyle Lawson’s weekly webisode. Hear Doyle describe how he chooses which songs to include on a show, and what it takes to be a part of his band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQMScEvfCkE

Hayes Mandolins, built by hand by luthier Rick Hayes, has used the launch of their first guitar model as the occasion to change company name to Rick Hayes Instruments.

Rick has teamed up with fellow luthier Dann Ross to augment his F-style mandolins with a handcrafted, steel string guitar. It is made with a AAA red spruce top and Honduran mahogany back and sides. The bridge and fingerboard are ebony without fretboard position markers, and Rick’s signature is inlaid at the 14th fret.

Until last fall, Rick toured as the mandolinist with The Gibson Brothers, a position he relinquished in October ‘08 to concentrate on his instrument building and recording studio businesses. Hayes has also worked as a graphic artist, and feels that his performing/recording experience, together with the eye of an artist, allows him to build instruments that please both the eye and the ear.

The Hayes guitar sells for $2999 with a hard shell case. They are available directly from Rick’s shop, or through MyFavoriteGuitars.com.