Feed aggregator

It’s difficult to name a band that is more all-around talented than The Boxcars. Band members have numerous IBMA and Grammy Awards and have shared the stage with most of the top names in bluegrass. Their first two releases as a group helped earn them [...]

Ahead of the May 28 release of Blue Side Of The Moon, Blue Moon Rising has released a single to radio through Airplay Direct. Colder December was written by Tony and David Mowell with Cory Wharton, and performed by the current edition of the band: Chris [...]

Nashville, TN) May 9th, 2013 – Acclaimed bluegrass singer-songwriter Claire Lynch presents her much-anticipated Compass Records debut album Dear Sister, arriving May 28th. By any measure, Claire Lynch is high on the roots music world’s A-list. Her accolades include two International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Female Vocalist of the Year Awards, 2 GRAMMY nominations for Best Bluegrass Album, songs recorded by such luminaries as Patty Loveless, The Seldom Scene, Cherryholmes, Kathy Mattea, the Whites and Stephanie Davis, and now the 2012 United States Artists $50,000 Walker Fellowship.

But it’s as a bluegrass bandleader that she’s best known and her current lineup is her strongest yet, featuring like-minded musicians blending tradition and innovation - two-time IBMA-winning bassist-clawhammer banjo player-dancer-percussionist Mark Schatz, mandolinist-guitarist Matt Wingate and 21-year-old string wizard Bryan McDowell, who at 18, won an unprecedented Triple Crown at Winfield, Kansas - taking first place honors in the flatpicking guitar, mandolin and fiddle contests. “There’s wonderful live chemistry in this band,” she says. “Granted, the show is focused around me, but it speaks volumes of what we create together.”

Her bluegrass bona fides include two IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year awards, but she continues expanding her musical vision, incorporating swing, vintage country, old-timey, Celtic and delicate singer-songwriter balladry. Lynch co-led the acclaimed Alabama-based Front Porch String Band for many years with her ex-husband, singer-mandolinist Larry Lynch, before forming her own Claire Lynch Band, a band that has featured masters like bassist Missy Raines, guitarist Jim Hurst and mandolinist David Harvey.

It is always Claire herself and that angelic voice that remains front and center. Claire has all the basic tools that make a great singer - impeccable pitch, tone and phrasing - but what truly sets her apart is the way she harnesses her considerable gifts to express the feeling as well as the meaning of a song. She is fluent in the complete vocabulary of human emotion and in her delivery we feel it vividly.

There’s girlish innocence in the unrequited love song “How Many Moons”; the regret and relentless road weariness in the locomotive rhythm of “Doin’ Time” a track that features Tim O’Brien; her joy at letting her bluegrass pony run in a feisty remake of the Osborne Brothers’ classic, “I’ll be Alright Tomorrow,” featuring Compass co-founder Alison Brown on banjo. On Pierce Pettis’ “That Kind of Love,” she’s the voice of clear-eyed experience. Along the way there’s the full-tilt country of “Everybody Knows I’ve Been Cryin’,” and “Buttermilk Road/The Arbours,” a song/fiddle tune medley that’s simultaneously contemporary and old-timey, featuring Mark Schatz on clawhammer banjo and “hambone” percussion.

However, the emotional lodestone of the album is the title song, “Dear Sister.” Co-written by Claire and the remarkable Louisa Branscomb, “Dear Sister” has its roots in Louisa’s ’s family tree. “Her great-great-great aunt from Union Springs, deep in Southern Alabama, had four brothers who fought in the Civil War and they all wrote letters home to her,” Claire explains.

The aunt saved the letters in a trunk, where they were discovered more than 100 years later. Louisa’s cousin Frank edited them into a book entitled Dear Sister. Piecing together information from the letters, Claire and Louisa believe it’s likely that at least one brother fought in the famous Battle of Stones River, on the outskirts of Murfreesboro, Tennessee., which lasted three days and resulted in nearly 25,000 casualties.

The song imagines what that brother might have written just before the fighting began on Dec. 31, 1862, using historical accounts that tell of each side singing battle hymns until both came together in what was then a fairly new popular tune, “Home Sweet Home.” It’s on this song you hear very clearly why Claire Lynch is a once-in-a-generation voice. She brings it viscerally to life, capturing the dread of the soldiers waiting to fight, the love of home that inspired both sides and the hope that death is not the end. It all comes together in the heartbreaking way she sings two simple words - “sweet home.”

Anyone needing an introduction to Claire Lynch will find it all on the 10 tracks on Dear Sister. She takes classic bluegrass and Americana themes of love and home and at once makes them both universal and utterly contemporary leaving little question about her place in the pantheon of acoustic music's greatest voices.

Tags: Claire LynchDear SisterCompass RecordsCD Release

Asheville, NC -- John Cloyd Miller won first place in the 21st annual Chris Austin Songwriting Contest in the bluegrass category at MerleFest 2013. Miller is a vocalist, guitarist and mandolin player for the Asheville-based band, Red June, a nationally touring acoustic Americana trio that includes his wife, fiddler and vocalist Natalya Weinstein, and multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Will Straughan. The winning song, “Cloud of Dust,” appears on Red June’s 2012 release, em>Beauty Will Come.

“'Cloud of Dust' highlights the frustrations and resolve of a young man during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s,” John says, “This song tells the story of what happens when we abuse our land.” Red June kicked off 2013 with the release of a music video for the song which features powerful archival footage from the Dust Bowl.

Acclaimed NC traditional musician, Riley Baugus, says, “John's music reminds me of being in the Blue Ridge Mountains, high on a hill all alone and hearing the sound of the mountains coming from all around and filling your soul with the feeling that everything is just right in that place. His voice is strong and pure and harkens back to a time when there was no need for electronic enhancement and tuning adjustments. In short, John is the real thing and is just incredible.”

The Chris Austin Songwriting Contest offers songwriters the opportunity to have their original songs heard by a panel of professional songwriters and others from the Nashville music industry. The 2013 winners were chosen from more than 700 entries. Winners in the Bluegrass category included 1st Place - John Cloyd Miller’s "Cloud of Dust" (Asheville, NC); 2nd Place - Todd Grebe’s "Master of My Destiny" (Nashville, Tenn.); and 3rd Place - Aaron Burdett’s "Magpie (Saluda, NC). Previous winners of the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest include Gillian Welch, Tift Merritt, Michael Reno Harrell, Adrienne Young, Martha Scanlan, David Via and Johnny Williams.

"The talent this year was amazing!" says Laurie Brintle-Jarvis, coordinator of the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest. "They gave an inspirational performance on the Cabin Stage on Friday evening, sharing their talents and enthusiasm with the crowd.” For more details about the contest, visit www.merlefest.org/ChrisAustinSongwritingContest.

In 2012, Red June made their MerleFest debut, performing at the 25th anniversary festival. Later that year they released their second full-length album, Beauty Will Come, and performed at numerous shows and festivals across the country including Music City Roots, Suwannee Springfest, Beartrap Summer Festival, and Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival. The band was selected for an official showcase at The Station Inn in Nashville at the Americana Music Association conference, and was featured in the October 2012 issue of Southern Living magazine with Douglas Rogers writing, “Bands like Old Crow Medicine Show, The Avett Brothers, and Red June have recently put the sounds of Appalachia back on the map.”

A native of Hickory, NC, Miller’s musical background includes deep roots in bluegrass. A self-taught musician, he grew up listening to his grandfather, legendary bluegrass fiddler and NC Folk Heritage Award winner, Jim Shumate. After graduating from Appalachian State University, Miller moved to Utah and joined the bluegrass band Lo-Fi Breakdown. Eventually the band relocated to Asheville, NC, and continued to perform until early 2009. Around that same time, Miller, Weinstein, and Straughan formed Red June (named after an heirloom apple variety), a group that emphasizes songwriting while combining elements of bluegrass, old-time, country and American roots music.

“Beauty Will Come by Red June just may be the most stunningly gorgeous country album in years. Everything about it: from the exquisite three-part harmonies and acoustic loveliness of the mandolin, fiddle, guitar and upright bass...This is the epitome of Americana...” says Mike Greenblatt with Rant'n'Roll Aquarian Weekly. p

Tags: John Cloyd MillerChris Austin Songwriting ContestMerlefestCloud of DustBeauty Will ComeSongwritingAward

Nashville, TN (April 30, 2013) Rural Rhythm Records has entered into an exclusive distribution deal with New Day Distribution for exclusive distribution to the CBA market. As of May 1st New Day Distribution will have exclusive distribution rights to the Christian market of physical CD’s for both the Rural Rhythm Records and Rural Rhythm Christian lines. eOne Distribution will maintain their exclusive distribution for both physical CD’s and digital distribution to the Mainstream market.

Created in 1955, Rural Rhythm is currently one of the top labels in the Bluegrass community with recent album releases by such popular contemporary artists as Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, The Lonesome River Band, Marty Raybon, The Roys, Audie Blaylock & Redline and Legends including Mac Wiseman, Reno & Smiley, Hylo Brown, J.E. Mainer and more.

In 2010 Rural Rhythm started Rural Rhythm Christian to create a brand of quality Christian Country & Bluegrass music. Rural Rhythm Christian’s releases contain powerful songs with strong messages about “Faith, Inspiration and Family” performed by today’s top Artists from America’s Heartland. Rural Rhythm Christian has released titles by Marty Raybon, Larry Sparks, Michael Martin Murphey, Rodney Dillard, Lou Reid & Carolina, The Marksmen Quartet, Mike Scott, Cody Shuler & Pine Mountain Railroad and the special event CD/DVD Christmas the Mountain Way. Since its inception in 2010 many Rural Rhythm Christian releases have gone on to receive DOVE, PowerSource and CGM Christian Voice awards and nominations.

“We are very excited to have New Day Distribution representing Rural Rhythm Records and Rural Rhythm Christian to the Christian market. They have been a major force in the Christian market for many years and I really feel that Michael Turner and his team are a perfect match to help us bring our Artists music to the Christian market.”, said Sam Passamano, II - President Rural Rhythm Records & Rural Rhythm Christian.

Two new upcoming releases on Rural Rhythm Christian include an exciting gospel album project by top Bluegrass vocalist Steve Gulley, which will include special guests, Doyle Lawson, Ricky Skaggs, Dale Ann Bradley (his touring and singing partner), Joe Mullins, Kenny & Amanda Smith and more. In addition, there is the much anticipated new album by the talented, gifted and popular mountain community group Locust Ridge.

"I am so very proud of my Locust Ridge neighbors. They are so talented and such wonderful people. I am very excited about their project "Healed"...", commented Country Legend Dolly Parton. "HEALED," will be getting lots of airplay on Front Porch Fellowship!”, stated Les Butler, Publisher Singing News Magazine, Solid Gospel and Front Porch Fellowship: Radio Host.

CBA retailers can get more information about Rural Rhythm and Rural Rhythm Christian releases by contacting their New Day Distribution representative or by going to www.newdaydistribution.com.

Tags: Rural Rhythm ChristianRural RhythmSteve GulleyLocust RidgeBusiness

Nashville, TN -- The Americana Music Association will announce the nominees for the 2013 Honors & Awards ceremony on Tuesday, May 14th at 2PM ET/11AM PT. The ceremony will be broadcast live from the Grammy Museum’s Clive Davis Theatre in downtown Los Angeles live on AXS TV, with a special encore presentation at 9PM ET/6PM PT.

This special one-hour program will feature Americana stalwarts Jim Lauderdale and Buddy Miller with their All Star band (Fats Kaplin, Brian Owings and Jay Weaver) and performances by Lisa Marie Presley, Elizabeth Cook, The Milk Carton Kids with special guest T Bone Burnett.

The winners of each category will be announced during the Americana Honors and Awards show on September 18, 2013 at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN which will be broadcast live on AXS TV. The celebrated program is the capstone event of the Americana Music Festival and Conference, which runs from September 18-22, 2013.

An edited version of the program titled ACL Presents: Americana Music Festival, broadcast on KLRU-Austin PBS in the Austin City Limits time slot on November 23, 2013.

Each year, the Americana Music Association honors distinguished members of the music community with six member voted annual awards and with Lifetime Achievement Awards, which will be announced leading up to the event. Jim Lauderdale hosts the critically acclaimed show with Buddy Miller as the program's bandleader.

Described by Emmylou Harris as “the shining star of Nashville and music everywhere,” the Americana Honors and Awards show has been broadcast via SiriusXM Radio, BBC2, WSM and Voice of America. The show has featured many amazing moments in musical history including Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash's last live performance together, as well as show-stopping appearances by Bonnie Raitt, Gregg Allman, The Avett Brothers, Solomon Burke, Rosanne Cash, Civil Wars, Patty Griffin, Levon Helm, Robert Plant and many more.

The Americana Music Association is a professional non-profit trade organization whose mission is to advocate for the authentic voice of American roots music around the world.. The Association produces events throughout the year including the annual Americana Music Festival and Conference, Presented by Nissan, which will take place September 18-22, 2013 in Nashville, TN. Americana Music Festival and Conference Registrations are now available at Early Bird rates through the store at americanamusic.org.

Find out more about the Americana Music Association at www.americanamusic.org

Tags: Americana Honors & AwardsAmericana Music AssociationEventBroadcast

Thanks to April Verch for offering Bluegrass Today readers a chance to listen to her new album, Bright Like Gold, for a limited time here on the site. All 17 tracks can be streamed in the player below. The record, released on April 1, features [...]

Rebel Records has released a first single from their upcoming album from Big Country Bluegrass, Memories Of The Past.  The track is I’m Putting On My Leaving Shoes, a new song from Tom T. & Dixie Hall and Troy Engle. It demonstrates that the band still [...]

In the Spring of 2006, Ernie Thacker was an up-and-coming bluegrass singer and band leader from Virginia, noted for his soulful and expressive vocal delivery. He had already spent five years with Ralph Stanley as a Clinch Mountain Boy on mandolin, guitar and lead vocals, [...]

Mark Newton & Steve Thomas’ debut album, Reborn, was released April 30 on Pinecastle, and the first single, Old McDonald Sold The Farm, has been getting strong airplay from bluegrass radio. It debuted on our Bluegrass Today Weekly Airplay Chart two weeks ago at #15. [...]

On This Day ……… On May 9, 1956 Jimmy Martin had his first recording session for Decca Records. At an afternoon session at Bradley Studio, 804 16th Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee, Jimmy Martin recorded four songs Before the Sun Goes Down, Skip Hop and Wobble, [...]

Award-winning Bluegrass duo The Roys will celebrate their latest new album, Gypsy Runaway Train May 16th with a series of Pre-Release events. Lee and Elaine invite their fans and friends worldwide to tune in to wsmonline.com for a live stream as they host the station's Guest Artist Series from 2-3 p.m. That evening, The Roys ask Music City locals to join them at The Silver Dollar Saloon for a preview of the new music from their upcoming June 4th release of their latest Rural Rhythm Records' CD.

In a fun twist, Joe Limardi (Program Director, 650 AM WSM) will introduce the siblings at the club.

"I have always been a fan of Lee and Elaine but when I found out we were all from Massachusetts it made it even more special. You're gonna love this new album!"
- Joe Limardi

The award-winning duo's latest is a masterful collection that contains six Roys' originals and seven of the siblings' all-time favorite Bluegrass and Country classics. Hot vocals, steamin' pickin', unbridled enthusiasm and passion make this 13-track wonder a vibrant celebration of the Roots genre.

After bursting on the Bluegrass scene in 2011 with their Top 10 debut album Lonesome Whistle, The Roys followed with their sophomore project New Day Dawning in 2012. That landmark EP debuted at #2 on the Billboard Bluegrass Albums Chart, dominated the Hotdisc Top 40, reached #1 on Amazon's Bluegrass Best Sellers list and climbed to the #14 spot on Bluegrass Unlimited magazine's Top 15 Albums chart. By September 21, each track of this EP owned a position on the Bluegrass Today chart, making The Roys the first-ever act to accomplish this feat.

Tickets are $5, and for more information call 615-891-3468 or email info@silverdollarsaloon.com. Can't make this show? Pre-order your copy of Gypsy Runaway Train from Amazon and follow The Roys online, on Facebook and via Twitter.

Tags: The RoysRural RhythmGypsy Runaway TrainCD ReleaseEvent

Charlottesville, VA -- Rebel Records is excited to announce June 18th as the release date for Big Country Bluegrass's second Rebel recording, Memories Of The Past. Folks can get a little taste of this wonderful new record now by downloading the first single, "I'm Putting on My Leaving Shoes," which is available as a special pre-album promotion via iTunes, Amazon and other online retailers. Disc Jockeys also have the opportunity to download the single by going to AirPlay Direct.

Known to fans of traditional bluegrass throughout the country, Big Country Bluegrass has been plying its trade for over 25 years now, led by the husband and wife team of Tommy and Teresa Sells. Having grown up in one of the real hotbeds of bluegrass music (Southwestern Virginia), they have a particularly strong appeal to the many fans of the music for whom traditional bluegrass is second nature.

The band truly emerged on the national scene in 2011 with its previous release (and Rebel debut) The Boys In Hats & Ties. The title track, written by Tom T. and Dixie Hall, earned the #1 spot on Bluegrass Unlimited's National Bluegrass Survey in February and March of that year and remained on the chart for an impressive 13 months! This new record contains another from the Halls’ impressive songlist: “I’m Putting On My Leaving Shoes.” The rest of the 14-song lineup includes a mixture of wonderfully played standards like “Little Girl and The Dreadful Snake,” “99 Years” and Aubrey Holt’s “Headin’ South,” and fine newer material including the poignant “John Doe Made the Crossing.”

The current lineup features the newly-added, powerful fine lead singing of Eddie Gill, who is joined on tenor vocals by Teresa Sells?some songs include the superb tenor voice and fiddle of guest Don Rigsby as well?and Teresa’s high-baritone part in a few of the trios makes for some unique and powerful music! Back with Big Country Bluegrass again is Lynwood Lunsford, the experienced banjo picker who provides top-notch instrumental backing, and also offers a sterling “Choking the Strings”?a classic Don Reno banjo tune. Special guest Billy Hawks, a Big Country Bluegrass alum now performing with Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice, handles most of the fiddle duties on the album with Tommy Sells featured on mandolin.

Tags: Big Country BluegrassMemories of the PastCD Release

The 2013 42nd Grand Master Fiddler Championship (GMFC) will be held on August 30 and 31 at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, TN. Since 2005, the championship was held along with the International Bluegrass Music Association's (IBMA) World of Bluegrass trade show and convention in Nashville. The IBMA will hold their event in Raleigh, North Carolina now. The Grand Master Fiddler Championship will remain rooted in Nashville, Tennessee and the 2013 competition will take place at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Competitions will follow the same format as previous years.

The Championship would incur a loss of over $10,999 in funding if they joined the IBMA in Raleigh thus, it makes better sense to remain in Nashville. Nashville has many resources available and they have been working with the Country Music Hall of Fame to establish a partnership to hold the festival there. Sunday, the GMFC announced that date and location had been set on their Facebook page.

The Grand Master Fiddler Championship Inc. is organized as a Tennessee nonprofit and U.S. IRS 501(c)(3) charitable corporation, formed to educate about and perpetuate fiddling as an art form and cultural treasure. The competition is an extension of that effort and is held every year in Tennessee.

Follow the GMFC at www.grandmasterfiddler.com and https://www.facebook.com/grandmasterfiddler for updates and the latest information. They are updating the main web site and the facebook page is announcing updates as they happen. We will post more information as it becomes available.

Tags: Grand Master Fiddler ChampionshipsIBMACountry Music Hall of Fame and MuseumCompetitionEvent

The Baltimore Bluegrass Band will be hosted by the Creative Alliance at The Patterson Theater, located at 3134 Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21224, for a Friday evening performance on May, 10th starting at 8:00 pm. The opening act will be the upbeat bluegrass band from Harford County, Across The Tracks. Charge will be $15.00 at the door, $10.00 for members.

Baltimore Bluegrass Band plays traditional bluegrass with elegance, drive, and accomplished technique. The band dips into the country music repertoire for truly great songs that showcase fiddler/vocal master Warren Blair, a long-time Del McCoury Band veteran. Through bandleader Frankie Short, the ensemble’s roots go back to an old, accomplished family in the Maryland Appalachian diaspora. From Harford County, the upbeat band Across The Tracks has fun with the opening set.

Among the members of The Baltimore Bluegrass Band, there are some familiar figures. Warren Blair will be on fiddle & vocals and is perhaps the most well-known of the group, having served with distinction in the bands of bluegrass legends Charlie Moore and Bill Harrell, as well as the Bluegrass Cardinals, The Del McCoury Band and Jimmy Gaudreau's Bluegrass Unit. David Propst, on mandolin & vocals, has also impressed East Coast audiences for years with his deft contributions alongside multiple higher profiled bluegrass bands such as Paul Adkins and the Borderline Band, Norman Wright, Kevin Church & The Travelers and Darren Beachley’s Maryland Line Band. Steve Streett on banjo & vocals and Brian Eldreth on upright bass & vocals have done much of the same and excelled within lesser known East Coast acts. Frankie Short on guitar & vocals is the most least known of the group, but does claim his own musical pedigree being from a legendary Maryland bluegrass family and son of the late Frankie Short, Sr., whom did acquired bluegrass legendary status by frequenting the Baltimore area for years and playing club after club alongside other such legendary Baltimore bluegrass legends such as Jim McCall, Walter Hensley & Dee Gunter.

The Baltimore Bluegrass Band at The Patterson Theater, Baltimore Maryland

Across The Tracks bluegrass band is based in Harford County, Maryland. The group has been playing bluegrass for nearly 6 years together we have grown quickly and honestly. Once they started playing together as a group it was a instant click, it was like they have been together for 20 years. The band says, "With a mix of new and old our sound is like no other."

The band members have over 50 years combined playing bluegrass music. The groups says, "We believe that to have a good band you must have fun when performing. Having fun makes the music what it truely should be."

Tags: Baltimore Bluegrass BandAcross The TracksConcertEvent

Valerie Smith has released a music video for The Moon Ain’t Square, a track she sings on the new Daughters of Bluegrass CD, Pickin’ Like A Girl. It’s a silly song and a funny video, but Valerie tells us it was hard won, arising from [...]

24 new episodes were announced today for the 8th season of the live bluegrass and acoustic music program, Song Of The Mountains, debuting June 15 on almost 200 public television affiliates across the US. The show works in collaboration with UNC-TV in Research Triangle City in North [...]

MerleFest 2013 is now history, but the music, moments and memories remain to savor. This year’s festival posted aggregate numbers of 76,000 over the four days beginning April 25 and running through the 28th, on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. [...]

I’m on a flight across North America right now, the second of three legs of my trip home from our recent European tour. This seemed like a good time to write this column, because for one thing the deadline is almost here, and for another, [...]

This is the third in a fun new series in which we ask bluegrass music personalities, some famous, some not so well known, about some of their interests as well as about the music that they love. Today’s guest is Bob Wolff, who initiated the concept [...]