Author: Editor

Gages restaurant in the falls plaza is proud to host "BIG COUNTRY BLUEGRASS" as part of their bluegrass summer nights series July 24^th. With the date falling the weekend of the start of the highlands festival the restaurant thought it best to bring in a great bluegrass band to help kickoff the events for the festival. Big Country Bluegrass is currently no strangers to bluegrass music and are definitely crowd favorites where ever they perform whether that being festivals, concerts, or on the Grand Ole Opry stage. They deliver their own sound of hard driving traditional bluegrass music reminiscent of that of Bill Monroe and Lester Flat & Earl Scruggs. They have developed a large and devoted following all over America and now to many foreign countries including Great Britain and Australia and are making a showing on the national bluegrass charts with their new single "High Alleghenies" which for the month of March was #1 on the national bluegrass charts and has maintained its stay in the top 10. Their brand new album "Open for Business" has maintained its stay as well in the top 10 new bluegrass albums. For a show you don’t want to miss and one you want forget bring your lawn chairs, eat a bite, and sit back and enjoy a great evening of the best in traditional bluegrass music. Seating Room for up to 1000 people or more outside so tell all your friends and pray for good weather.

Tickets for show will be sold in advance  starting on June 5th and will only be available on Fridays during the month of June through July leading up to the performance(see attention note below for reason). Only 120 tickets will be sold so don’t wait get yours now several tickets have already been requested for pickup on June 5th as well as dinner reservations already made.(Sorry No Phone Orders, Must Pickup Tickets) Don’t miss this opportunity to see one of bluegrass musics chart topping artist!!!

Attention: In case of rain, restaurant will only hold apprx 120 chairs & only ticket holders will be allowed inside in case of rain so get your tickets now so you don’t miss out!!!! Come & stay for the weekend and checkout The Va Highland Festival(one of the top festivals in the U.S.!!!)For more info, dinner reservations, directions, etc call (276)525-1610. Also checkout our myspace page www.myspace.com/bluegrasssummernights also check out Big Country Bluegrass at www.bigcountrybluegrass.com or for more on the Va Highlands festival checkout www.vahighlandsfestival.org

Known as the Jerry Lee Lewis of Bluegrass Music, Regionally & Nationally Known Entertainer Lonesome Will & His Va Playboys will not only put on one of the best mountain style traditional bluegrass shows around but will also give you one of the most entertaining and exciting shows you will ever see!!!!  Lonesome & The Boys will perform at Gages on June 5th, 2009 at 7pm as part of their Bluegrass Summer Nights Series. Quickly becoming one of the most requested performers in bluegrass music Lonesome Will has traveled throughout  the US and Canada bringing audiences to their feet across the nation with their high energy,entertaining show. If you have never seen this group perform you are in for a treat so come, bring your lawn chairs and a hungry appetite(eating not required)and join us for this much anticipated event!!! Admission is only $5.00 per person and all proceeds collected will go straight to the band. Many people have already called for reservations for dinner for this event so we request you call now if you are planning on eating. If not we have room for up to 1000 lawn chairs if the weather is great so tell all your friends and family and join us. For more info, dinner reservations, directions, etc you can call (276)525-1610. Also you can check out the schedule for all of June on our myspace page at www.myspace.com/bluegrasssummernights  or to hear Lonesome Will check out www.myspace.com/lonesomewillmullinsandthevirginiaplayboys

Award winning artist Carolina Blue from Brevard NC will be performing June 12th, 2009 7pm at Gages Restaurant of the Falls Plaza Abingdon Va as part of their Bluegrass Summer Nights Concert Series.

Carolina Blue has many qualities that make them unique. The basis of their success lies in old fashioned hard work. All five band members will pull together their creative ideas to form their own variety of bluegrass music. Every member takes a turn singing lead & showing their abilities. Their live shows include a lot of dynamic bluegrass that has involved with the genuine bluegrass dream.  For great traditional bluegrass and amazing performance bring your lawn chairs and a hungry appetite(eating not required) and join us for this wondeful performance by Carolina Blue. Admission for show is $5.00 per person with all proceeds going to the band. For more info, directions, dinner reservations, etc please call Gages at (276)525-1610.

The New North String Band will release their self-titled debut album “NNSB” on May 30th, 2009.  4 tracks from this upcoming album can be heard online…

www.TheNewNorthStringBand.com

In the words of a veteran bluegrass promoter from Virginia…
You might wonder what Eau Claire, Wisconsin has that would be the envy of Nashville, Tennessee. After all, Music City has, in the lyrics by John Sebastian, “thirteen hundred and fifty two guitar pickers” and no shortage of young, eager talent. What Nashville doesn’t have is the New North String Band. With the release of their self-titled first CD, the NNSB has shown that even cities in Wisconsin can produce music that is as finger pickin’ good as any coming from below the Mason-Dixon line.

The group formed a year ago at the annual Minnesota Homegrown Kickoff Festival in Richmond, MN and their high score at the Harvest Jamboree Festival Band Contest in November of 2008 earned them audiences throughout the region. They have been barnstorming ever since and now have a first rate CD to show for it.

Most bluegrass fans expect to hear a nod to the past, e.g. a Bill Monroe fiddle tune or a Stanley Brothers mournful lament, by which they can assess the credibility of a band that claims to play bluegrass. On this the New North String Band does not disappoint. There are 10 original tunes and only two traditional numbers included on the disc (one of which is Monroe’s gospel gem “Wicked Path of Sin”) When talent like this can create original, straight ahead, hot pickin’ versions of the best of the genre, why dwell on the past?

Seven of the tracks come from the pen of mandolinist and lead singer Jake Henry, the band’s Eau Claire native. With the opening track, “Bills” (a treatise on the trials and tribulations of life in the working man’s world) and throughout the recording, Jake’s talent for crafting songs of hard livin’, hard drinkin’, love, longing and loss never fades. Jake even wrote original lyrics to the classic fiddle tune “Billy In The Lowground”. It takes courage to adopt an old standard covered by the likes of Doc Watson and Mark O’Connor and put your own words to it. Jake’s tale of friendship and fate for two Civil War
rebel soldiers evokes the echo of bugle and drum and one can almost smell the dogwood flowers. I asked Jake where he got the idea to put words to this old tune and he explained, “I heard the instrumental on a Kentucky Colonel’s recording and really liked the melody – enough to want to make a song of it.”
Good thinking Jake. This is a triumph.

Ryan Kimm from Mankato, MN plays resophonic guitar, sings lead and harmony and contributes two original tunes. Ryan’s vocal style differs nicely from Jake’s   when the band needs that high, lonesome and edgy sound Ryan steps to the mic and delivers. His songs, “Waitin’ On You” and “Save ‘Em Up” (both recorded in Monroe’s vocal key of Bb) have a traditional sound and lyrical quality reminiscent of the great Stanley Brothers. This was just natural, according to Ryan. ” I’ve been getting into the old style stuff just recently. It’s not like I really studied the Stanley’s,” he explained. “But I’m really just a country boy, you know, I grew up in a small town so it just came easy I guess.” Ryan played guitar as a teenager and honed his dobro chops when he bought one in 2007. Since then he has developed a solid melodic style that knows when to bark out a strong solo or slide into a sweet fill behind the vocalist.

The other NNSB original, “Up Above The Timberline”, comes from banjo player and baritone singer Mike Hedding of Minneapolis, MN. It is a fine showcasing instrumental, a chance for NNSB to display their skills. Who else but a group of young trailblazers would record a banjo tune in the key of Eb? “Well, Bill Keith did it and I liked the idea,” said Mike. “It started as an exercise and the melody came from that.”

Trent Cuthbert of Madison, WI plays guitar and doubles on baritone vocals, Trent’s tasty solos and intro and fill work anchor the group and expertly play off the rock solid framework of Steve Clay’s driving bass fiddle. Steve confidently moves from the traditional support of the bass to the haunting bowed bass take on ” Nine Miles Lonesome.” Trent moves deftly from fancy
footwork solo on “Bills” to the sparse, melody bound groove of “Nine Miles Lonesome”. It takes a mature, confident picker to know when “less is more” and listening to Trent play confirms the groups credibility from the very first track.

The New North String Band proves it can put one foot outside the box to the very edge of coolness while the other foot remains firmly grounded in th  traditional groove of bluegrass music. The NNSB is rising fast, and if this first CD is any indication, time is running out for folks to listen and clai  “I heard them when.”

Martha Galep
Minnesota Bluegrass & Old Time Music Association (MBOTMA)
Harvest Jamboree Director

Hi there bluegrassers….Well, we’re in the midst of National Bluegrass Month and there is so much brand new music filling the air. I want to extend a warm welcome to all those folks who would like to hear some fine bluegrass on Saturday evening. My show, “Pacifically Bluegrass” is on from 7-10pm est. on Saturday, on the Bluegrass Mix where you can hear the internet’s finest bluegrass 24/7.

The featured bands of the week are: Frank Solivan II & Dirty Kitchen and Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands. I will also feature several cuts from the brand new album by The Gibson Brothers: “Ring the Bell”. I’ll also play the new single from the new Dale Ann Bradley album: “Don’t Turn Your Back”.

Some of the other bands that I will be playing are:

Sweet Sunny South

The Stanleytones

The Badly Bents

Blue Canyon Boys

The Bluegrass Mix has a very friendly chatroom for all those bluegrassers who would like to stop by and meet some other bluegrassers. So stop on by if you have the opportunity and hear some great bluegrass.

Sky Powers

Pacifically Bluegrass

Saturdays 7-10pm est.

sky@bluegrassmix.com

www.bluegrassmix.com

For seven years, one of the top-selling bluegrass and Americana concert series in the country, Southern Soul & Song has featured such legendary artists as Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs, Del McCoury, and Doc Watson. The Morris Museum of Art’s Budweiser True Music Southern Soul & Song continues this year with an all-star line-up of spectacular, distinctly Southern music, which includes five concerts between October 2009 though March 2010, as well as a special concert on September 17, opening the 2009 Westobou Arts Festival.

The Southern Soul & Song special, "Bluegrass Queen" Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, opens the 2009 Westobou Arts Festival on Thursday, September 17 at 7:30 p.m. on the Augusta Commons. This special concert is presented by the Morris Museum of Art and the Greater Augusta Arts Council. General admission tickets are $20. They go on sale on Monday, June 29. Tickets can be purchased on the following web sites: http://store.themorris.org/cat-25-1-33/Event_Tickets.htm and http://www.augustaarts.com/.

The 2009-2010 Southern Soul & Song series includes shows by bluegrass fan favorites Mountain Heart; indie-country-bluegrass new-comers the Steep Canyon Rangers; trendsetting bluegrass veterans Blue Highway with gospel-bluegrass group The Kenny and Amanda Smith Band; award-winning bluegrass stars Dailey & Vincent; and country-bluegrass legend Marty Stuart with his Fabulous Superlatives. Series tickets provide all five shows for the price of four. All series concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. at the historic Imperial Theatre. Series tickets are on sale September 8, and are available at the Imperial Theatre box office (706-722-8341) or online, www.imperialtheatre.com. For photos, band biographies, or more information on Southern Soul & Song, visit www.southernsoulandsong.org.

Neosho, MO – June 27, 2009 – 7:00pm

After a recent $3 Million dollar renovation, The Civic (formerly known as The Neosho Municipal Auditorium) will host the first Bluegrass event in the new venue.  The act to break in the new venue will be The Del McCoury Band, along with special guest Lonesome Road.

If you live in or around Southwest Missouri or you are willing to drive for a concert event – this will be one you won’t want to miss.  The Civic renovation has created a beautiful facility that will be the perfect environment for concerts of this type.

There will be three seating areas:  Artist Circle, Floor & Balcony.  The main floor is flat with folding chairs – but they are comfortable.  The balcony is fully padded theater style seating.  This will be a great venue for quaint indoor concerts with concessions and nice restroom facilities and a great theater setting.  The venue only seats 975 people, and the worst seat in the house is still a GREAT SEAT.

Tickets and more information are available at www.theneoshocivic.com – please check it out and pass on this information.  The Del McCoury Band doesn’t get to our part of the country very often – so we want everyone to know about this and come out and support Bluegrass music in this venue.  If this event is a success – our city will gladly host more concerts of this type.  Bluegrassers spread the word and they will come !!

Playing outdoors with all the wonders of nature does every now and then brings unforseen problems.  Two years ago at the International Bluegrass Festival in Guthrie, Oklahoma an evening bug flew up Rhonda’s dress necessitating her departure from the stage awhile, until she got rid of the insolent pest!  Earlier that evening, a flying varmit almost flew down Claire Lynch’s throat!  Just one of those nights!

Summer Pick Inn Party & Jesse McReynolds’ 80th Birthday Bash

The Pick Inn
550 Zieglers Fort Road
GALLATIN, TENNESEE

Friday 4-9 p.m.
Saturday 12-9 p.m.
July 10 & 11, 2009

For more information
Website: www.jimandjesse.com
Phone: 615.452.7321
Email: jimandjesse@bellsouth.net

A Two-Day Musical Fest Featuring:

Harv Mason (Pick Inn Party radio DJ & our announcer)
Daniel Rothwell
The Chigger Hill Boys & Terri
Judy Carrier & Rens Vreeburg
The Straight Arrow Boys
SURPRISE GUESTS
JESSE McREYNOLDS and The Virginia Boys Band Reunion

*We welcome all Former Virginia Boys to this event!*

ADMISSION :
$10.00 PER DAY

Rough camping available $10 per person, per night at the Pick Inn. Email jimandjesse@bellsouth.net or call 615.452.7321 for reservations.

Bluegrass festival season is about to start out here in the Pacific Northwest with one of the first being the Goldendale bluegrass festival (Fiddlin’ Under the Stars) May 29-30 in Goldendale, Washington.

Sponsored by the city of Goldendale, the festival is held in E’kone Park with dry camping available and weather that is guaranteed to be much drier and warmer than a typical spring day in Portland or Seattle. We (Urban Monroes) are playing three shows, one on Friday and two on Saturday. Other bands performing at the festival are Deadwood Revival, Ida Viper and more.

Goldendale is a two-hour drive from Portland, OR and sits just above the Columbia River Gorge with Mt. Adams looming over the skyline. It is a stunning view that by itself might be worth the trip, but with two days of bluegrass, there’s all the more reason to experience it. If any readers do happen to make it out, please stop by and say hi to the Urban Monroes! In case anyone is interested, more Pacific Northwest festivals can be found on our schedule at www.myspace.com/urbanmonroes or www.urbanmonroes.com.