Blog Title: The Bluegrass Blog: bluegrass music news

Peter Rowan saw bluegrass born

In advance of his appearance this Saturday (1/10) at Don Quixote’s International Music Hall (Felton, CA), the Santa Cruz Good Time Weekly wrote about man-of-many-disciplines Peter Rowan. In an article entitled Peter Rowan saw bluegrass born, the writer drew attention to Rowan’s website, where the former Blue Grass Boy comments on the present state of the read more..

Jerry Douglas at MPI

Jerry Douglas, Jim Lauderdale and Sam Bush are all scheduled as presenters at Music Producers Institute sessions in 2009. These 3 day sessions offer a crash course in how successful studio producers “do what they do.” Led by Grammy-winning producer Steve Fishell, the sessions allow ten participants to follow the entire record-making process, from pre-production and read more..

IBMA Travelogue #14

Our own intrepid correspondent, Richard Thompson [bluegrassmercury], spent a week in Nashville in early October, having traveled from the UK to attend the IBMA convention, accompanied by his wife, Karen. It was their first trip to IBMA in 20 years, and we thought that his post-IBMA impressions and reflections would be of interest both to read more..

Still Inside: The Tony Rice Story

April 2009 has been set as the publication date for the in-depth biography of Tony Rice, of which we first learned more than two years ago. Written by Tim Stafford and Caroline Wright, it will be debuted during this year’s Merlefest in North Carolina. Tim tells us that the working title for the book is Still read more..

Dailey & Vincent vocal DVD from Homespun

Dailey & Vincent won nearly every conceivable award from IBMA in 2008. They have a new CD due in March, and their tour schedule is the envy of most every other bluegrass act. Now, they have dipped their toes into the instructional video market with a new release from Homespun. Bluegrass and Gospel Duet Singing is read more..

Win a Sirius/XM radio from Wichita

Wichita Rutherford made an appearance on CMT over the weekend. He was featured on CMT Insider’s “The Year in a Nutshell,” along with several other comedians. They asked Wichita some questions and during his responses he talked about some famous people. I predicted that Wichita would run “8 silly contests on his blog” during 2009. He’s read more..

Clay Jones back with Mountain Heart

After a hiatus of 16 months, Clay Jones has re-assumed the guitar chair with Mountain Heart. Jones left the band in August of 2007 to deal with some personal and familial issues, and with Clay Hess having left the group to work with Sierra Hull, he is happy for the chance to return. “I’m so excited to read more..

The Infamous Stringdusters - live download

The Infamous Stringdusters have just made their first live download available. The band has been multi-tracking their live shows since June of 2008. This first download is from a September 13, 2008 show in Normal, IL, at the Illinois State University Performing Arts Center. The show includes the expected Dusters tracks along with a couple standards read more..

Backwoods from Larry Keel

Larry Keel and Natural Bridge have released a new CD for 2009. Backwoods features 10 tracks, with 7 originals from the band, all performed in the high-energy, ultra-progressive style that is the hallmark of their popular live show. It features Keel on guitar and vocals, Mark Schimick on mandolin, Jason Flournoy on banjo and Jenny Keel on read more..

2008 Top 40 Countdown

As we reported earlier (12/31), WAMU’s Bluegrass Country DJ Lee Michael Demsey saw in the New Year with his Top 40 Countdown computed on the same basis as the Bluegrass Unlimited National Survey. The full list of 40 songs is shown below, but first there are a couple of observations made by Demsey during the program. read more..

Fearless predictions for 2009

We have noticed that a great many blogs have issued a list of predictions for the new year, touching on their individual areas of interest or expertise. Leaping gingerly onto the bandwagon, here are some predictions from The Bluegrass Blog, to be taken with as large a grain of salt as you have at your disposal. Dailey read more..

Walter Haynes passes

Walter Haynes, steel guitar player and producer, passed away on Thursday, January 1, in Tyler, Texas. He was 80 years old. Born December 14, 1928, in Kingsport, Tennessee, Haynes was an under-rated steel guitar player who worked with Little Jimmy Dickens, Ferlin Husky and Webb Pierce. However, Haynes’ legacy is not solely defined by his steel guitar read more..

Bluegrass vs. old time

When I was first learning to play bluegrass music back in the 1970s, I spent as much time around old time players as I did ‘grassers. Though I never learned to play it in an authentic style, I have always enjoyed old time music and old time influences in bluegrass. I recall the sport of (mostly) read more..

Larry Sparks signature guitar

Blueridge Guitars is set to introduce a limited edition, signature model guitar for Larry Sparks, honoring a true trend-setter among bluegrass flatpickers. It will be designated as the Blueridge BR-3060, and styled after Larry’s legendary early 1950’s D-28, including the distinctive double pickguard. Specifications for the BR-3060: Select solid Sitka spruce top White body binding - with characteristic W/B/W read more..

Warren Haynes’ bluegrass past

Rolling Stone Magazine has listed Warren Haynes as 23rd on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. While I would contend that the title of that list should be amended to the 100 Greatest Rock Guitarists of All Time, and even then it could be disputed (by those concerned with the genre), read more..

Luthier’s Glossary from Roger Siminoff

Roger Siminoff has dedicated his life to the fretted string instruments we use to play bluegrass music. His work as a luthier - and as an instructor to other builders and repairmen - has been a valuable service to our acoustic music community. Roger’s latest effort is a book of descriptive definitions, illustrations and photos for read more..

Hillbilly Goddess update

On October 31 of last year, we mentioned that the forthcoming Alecia Nugent album, Hillbilly Goddess, on Rounder Records, was to be released on January 13, 2009. Rounder has pushed that release date back to March 24, 2009, and chosen revised artwork for the cover. The full track listing is now available: Wreckin’ The Train Don’t Tell Me read more..

Ted Lehmann’s 2008 photos

Our friend Ted Lehmann has posted several galleries of photos he took over the course of 2008 which we think our readers would enjoy. In addition to blogging about bluegrass, Ted also travels to festivals and shows all over the US where he captures images of the various performers, both on stage and off. I’ve included a read more..

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from all of us at The Bluegrass Blog! We would like to wish our readers all the best in the new year, while we strive to retain your support of our work online. When you need to make a bluegrass purchase in the coming months, please consider patronizing the many fine advertisers who allow read more..

Bluegrass Top 40 for 2008

The end of each year inevitably brings a plethora of countdowns and “best of” events in both television and radio. And bluegrass music is no different… Lee Michael Demsey has compiled his Top 40 Bluegrass Songs of 2008, which he will disclose on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country on New Yea’s Eve from 10:00 p.m. until midnight (EST), and read more..