John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2004 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.
Aa a part of the Folk Marathon airing this week on the University of Virginia’s WTJU during its 2025 fundraising drive, Bill Evans will be hosting a two-hour program this afternoon where he will play live recordings made at Charlottesville’s C&O Restaurant during the 1980s.
Way back in the previous century, when Bill was a recent graduate of UVA, he sponsored a concert series at C&O, and will be sharing board tapes from these shows from 4:00-6:00 p.m. today. Included will be music from Larry Sparks & the Lonesome Ramblers (featuring a young Stuart Duncan), Tony Trischka & Skyline, Country Gazette, Hot Rize, Cloud Valley, Peter Rowan (solo and with Cloud Valley), and J. D. Crowe & the New South.
Those of us who remember the ’80s can enjoy reliving the music of those days, hearing some of our beloved artists when they were 40 years younger, and newer bluegrass lovers can get a taste of how it was back then. Hint… it was really good.
WTJU broadcasts in central Virginia at 91.1 FM, and can be heard worldwide online from their web site.
If you miss it live, the program will be archived for two weeks at the WTJU site. After that, its gone.
This afternoon in Los Angeles The Recording Academy is holding the Grammy Premiere Ceremony, announcing and distributing the awards deemed insufficiently important for their big, televised Grammy Awards show this evening on CBS.
But, of course, these are exactly the ones we most care about, as they include the annual award for Best Bluegrass Album, just announced.
He was not in attendance at the ceremony, so segment host Rhiannon Giddens accepted on his behalf.
Well done, Billy.
Also of interest to many of our readers is the fact that Sierra Ferrell, who accepted awards for Best Americana Performance for American Dreaming, Best American Roots Song (with Melody Walker) for the same, and Best Americana Album for Trail of Flowers.
For their latest Rebel Records single, The Kody Norris Show features fiddler and mandolinist Mary Rachel Nalley-Norris on a song she co-wrote with her husband, bossman Kody Norris.
Blue Ain’t The Word also marks Mary Rachel’s debut as a lead singer with the band, on a song that she says came to her as she was dropping off to sleep.
“You know those light naps you doze into when you’re traveling? Well this song came to me while trying to fade into my slumber! We were headed to a show and all of a sudden this melody was just there. I had been humming the words, ‘Blue, Blue, Blue, Ain’t the Word,’ for a couple days, but couldn’t find a melody that fit quite right. I woke up, grabbed the first instrument I saw, wrote the chorus… and within a couple days, Kody and I had finished the verses!”
No one will be shocked to learn that it’s a very traditional bluegrass number. I mean, they never do that!
The Show also adds a clever call-and-response harmony to the chorus that gives the song a memorable twist.
Support on the track comes from band members Kody Norris on guitar, Mary Rachel on mandolin and fiddle, Josiah Tyree on banjo, and Charlie Lowman on bass. Josiah and Charlie sing harmony.
It’s a good’n. Have a listen.
Blue Ain’t The Word is available now from popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.
Australian bluegrass songbird Kristy Cox has won yet another Golden Guitar award at the Australian Country Music Awards, held this month in Tamworth.
She’s won in 2025 in the Bluegrass Recording of the Year category for her current Billy Blue Records project, Let It Burn. This is her seventh Golden Guitar award.
Cox has been singing since she was pre-teen in her native Adelaide, located in the southeastern corner of South Australia. She received a scholarship to study at the CMAA Australian College of Country Music, graduating in 2005, with her debut album following a year later. At this time Kristy was recording contemporary country music, but made a move to a bluegrass sound after that first release.
She came to live in Nashville in 2013, and has since been recording for American labels like Pisgah Ridge, Mountain Fever, and now Billy Blue. Throughout she has been closely associated with Jerry Salley, who has produced and contributed songs to most of the records she has made.
Here’s a listen to the title track from Let It Burn.
Congratulation to Kristy Cox for her seventh Golden Guitar!
As we reported earlier, the parking lot of the Sheraton Music City hotel, which hosted the event, and several others in the vicinity, were victimized by smash and grab robbers. What many refer to as the “lower parking lot,” down the hill from the Sheraton and not controlled by them or their security, was hit both Friday and Saturday evening, as were the lots for the adjacent Hampton Inn and Embassy Suites properties.
In her statement, Jones describes break ins that occurred on Saturday evening as happening on Sunday, as that’s how the police reports have it. They didn’t arrive at the hotel until after midnight, though the breaking of windows occurred earlier.
Here is the statement from SPBGMA events.
As SPBGMA closes out the 50th Anniversary Celebration this past week in Nashville Tennessee, we want to send out our heartfelt sympathies and express our shock and dismay at the senseless acts of vandalism that occurred at the Sheraton Music City Hotel.
The vehicle break ins occurred on the Sheraton Music City Hotel property on Sunday January 26, 2025 with four (4) cars damaged that were SPBGMA guests. Mark Deinhart, Area Managing Director at HEI Hotels & Resorts, which includes the Sheraton Music City, indicates they are working with Nashville Police to be sure that this never happens again. He also states the Hotel will possibly position police vehicles in the lot for special events and are determined to keep the parking lot safe for all guests.
Sheraton Music City Hotel Director of Front Office Joshua Urias told us the hotel has reached out to the four (4) affected SPBGMA guests and are assisting them in any way they can. If anyone has concerns with the unfortunate events on Sunday January 26th or needs assistance, please reach out to Joshua at the Sheraton, phone: 615-231-1125 email: Jurias@sheratonmusiccity.com or to SPBGMA email: stephanie@spbgma.com.
We deeply regret that this occurred during our Anniversary Celebration and please know that preventing this will be a main focus for events in the future. Thank you for your support and know that we support you as well.
You can be sure that both SPBGMA and the Sheraton Music City staff will be on top of this issue in the future.
Billy Blue Records has a fun new single for Dave Adkins, Ol’ Rooster, which uses a barnyard metaphor to express how men of a certain age, who may have lost a little spring in their step, can still have the same vim and vigor in spirit as they ever did.
It’s one included on his current album, What I’m For, which Dave says is an anthem for the mature gentleman.
“Ol’ Rooster is a song I have been wanting to record for a few years now. With producer Jerry Salley’s help, I finally got a chance to, and I love the way it turned out!
For all of us fellas getting a little older, it’s a fun message. Ha!
Thanks to songwriters Shawn Camp, Dennis Morgan, and Billy Burnette for writing such a wonderfully clever song. And, to my longtime friend and songplugger, Sherrill Blackman, for pitching me the song.
Please give Ol’ Rooster a listen. I’m hoping it puts a big ol’ smile on your face and everyone who hears it!”
The tracks starts with a bit of chicken scratch, courtesy of Aaron McDaris on banjo, before being joined by Justin Roller on guitar and fiddle, Justin Moses on mandolin and reso-guitar, and Jeff Partin on bass. Jerry Salley adds harmony vocals.
Have a listen and see if it doesn’t make you want to crow just a little bit.
Ol’ Rooster, and the full What I’m For album, are available now from popular download and streaming services online. Radio programmers will find the tracks at AirPlay Direct.
The International Bluegrass Music Association has announced the 2025 class invited to attend their annual Leadership Bluegrass course, held March 10-12 in Nashville. This year marks the 25th anniversary of this groundbreaking course, designed to identify and facilitate future leaders in the bluegrass community
Participants are chosen in a competitive process to be a part of this educational and networking experience, where they meet and learn from existing industry leaders, and from one another.
IBMA Executive Director Ken White speaks highly of this group.
“This year’s Leadership Bluegrass class is as strong as any I’ve seen. The large number of diverse and high-quality applicants is quite a statement about the impressive qualifications of those selected, and the reputation of the program.
Our association’s mission is to connect, educate, and empower bluegrass professionals, and IBMA’s Leadership Bluegrass continues to be one of the most important professional development programs in the bluegrass music industry.
Participation in this class, and future alumni activities, is an impactful commitment to one’s career, the IBMA, and the bluegrass community. Congratulations to the Class of 2025!”
Chosen for 2025 are:
Katherine Bestwick – Appalachian Fiddle & Bluegrass Association (Zion Grove, PA)
Jennifer Brooke – Floyd Music School, LLC (Floyd, VA)
Pamela Brown – Oregon Bluegrass Association / Shaniko Music Sanctuary (Shaniko, OR)
Trudy Chandler – Nick Chandler and Delivered (Weaverville, NC)
Sofia Chiarandini – Jacob’s Ladder / Tufts University (Cambridge, MA)
Joseph Cornett – Billy Blue Music Publishing (White House, TN)
Elizabeth Dewey – International Bluegrass Music Association (Nashville, TN)
Darren Eedens – Taff Rapids / Self (Cardiff, Wales)
Donna Harrison – Chattanooga Tourism Co. (Chattanooga, TN)
Jenny Hirt – Durango Bluegrass Meltdown / KSUT Public Radio (Durango, CO)
Sara Johnson – Vivid Events / Pickin’ In The Peaches Music Festival (Augusta, GA)
Ella Jordan – Ella Jordan Music (Nashville, TN)
Kirk Kenney – China Bluegrass Network (Shanghai, China)
Crystal Lariza – Never Come Down (Hood River, OR)
Jon Lundbom – Central Texas Bluegrass Association (Austin, TX)
Erin Moorman – Syntax Creative (Franklin, TN)
Robbie Morris – Grasstime (Nashville, TN)
Caroline Owens – Billy Blue Records / Billy Blue Publishing (Denton, NC)
Aynsley Porchak – East Tennessee State University (Gate City, VA)
Nancy Posey – Music In Community Network (Brentwood, TN)
Joshua Rilko – Touring Musician (Nashville, TN)
Erin Rouse – Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum (Owensboro, KY)
Mona Salyer – IBMA Foundation Board (Bristol, VA)
Danny Stewart Jr. – U.S. Navy Band / Turtle Hill Banjo Co. / Annapolis Bluegrass (Edgewater, MD)
Zachary Taylor – Planning Stages Inc. (Hixson, TN)
Ross Willits – Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Association (Roseville, MN)
There is no fee to take part in Leadership Bluegrass, but class members pay their own room and board if they live outside Nashville.
More information about the program, and its more than 500 graduates, can be found online.
In their first question, the interviewer asked if Lee could define the term, “Americana Music.”
And he responded…
“Well, that’s an excellent question to begin with. In writing this book, I had to tackle that question because Americana tends to mean different things to different people. Some people think of it as another form of country music and they say, “I don’t like country music.” But I would say that Americana is a very, very wide umbrella, and Americana can encompass roots music, music from the Heartland, R&B, gospel. It’s a very wide umbrella. I would say as well, that Americana’s roots go back to the beginnings of this nation’s history. I mean, to me, Stephen Foster was the essence of Americana. The early settlers who came here and had these songs, for example, from the Civil War—When Johnny Comes Marching Home to The Battle Hymn of the Republic—those were undoubtedly Americana music. So, I think to sum it up, I would say that Americana music is a sound that reflects the essence of our nation’s history and culture.
Now, in a broader sense, Americana has also been adopted and adapted by musicians from other countries. In the UK, there’s a Americana association [Americana Music Association UK]. I do a column for a publication called Bluegrass Today, and the column is called Bluegrass Beyond Borders. That’s a regular column that I do. I look beyond our shores—to England, to France, to Japan, to Australia, and at the musicians that are making music.
I’ll say that how it began, if you really want to look at it, Americana began in the British Isles, in Ireland, in Scotland. When the settlers came over here and settled in Appalachia, they brought those musical traditions with them. So, we can’t say that Americana is strictly an American genre because, like everything, it came from somewhere else. It even came from Africa. The people that came over here on the slave ships brought the banjo. The banjo is an African instrument. So, [Americana] is a very complex and multi-hued form of music, which took its influence and essence from afar, and yet made it something that we can claim here, and which has now been exported overseas.
So, to answer your question, there’s really no succinct answer. There really isn’t. You can see examples of what Americana is now. You look at people like the War and Treaty or Billy Strings, or the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. In the book, I go back even further to the Everly Brothers and Elvis and Johnny Cash. They were more or less the pioneers of modern Americana, all of those people.
So, it’s a very wide umbrella. When I have friends who say, “I don’t like country music,” I say, “Well, you’re not really listening. You like blues, it’s blues. You like gospel, you like soul. It’s all in the mix in Americana.”
The good folks with Landis Studios in Arkansas, the skilled silversmiths who offer the custom engraved sterling silver finger picks, have brought out new jewelry for your favorite banjo Valentines.
First up is a silver-plated brass banjo pendant, an exquisitely-detailed miniature with visible frets, inlay markers, bridge, tailpiece, armrest, resonator, tuners, and hooks. There is even a Landis script in the headstock. It can be purchased for $30 from the Studios’ web site on either satin cord to be worn around the neck, or on a key chain.
Also new are their micro banjo sterling silver earrings, slightly less detailed given their tiny size, but still clearly identifiable as five strings. Each banjo comes on an ear wire, but they will soon also have them on split rings and latch back ear loops. They sell for $30 each, or $55 for a pair online.
Landis also has pewter miniatures for mandolin, guitar, reso-guitar, and fiddle, plus a wide range of other designs struck in metal.
You can see all they have available by visiting them online.
Houser, a talented songwriter and singer, was rocked last spring by a diagnosis of Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer. As we all would, he surrounded himself with his family, made his peace with God, and headed into treatment. With cancer this advanced, the future can look bleak indeed, but Mark felt he had a promise to keep.
Some years ago, when he signed with Rural Rhythm Records, Houser made a pledge that his third album would be a gospel project. But would he be able to hold to his word? So he set quickly to work with his producer, Rick Herring, to get started on Gospel Train. They worked backwards, so to speak, cutting guitar and vocal tracks first, as Mark was unsure of how well his health would stand up, but they finished the record, and Houser is still standing.
They recorded with some top flight Nashville artists: Wanda Vick on fiddle, viola, reso-guitar and banjo; Shaun Richardson on guitar, mandolin, and banjo; Andy Leftwich on mandolin and fiddle, and Mark Fain on bass. Herring added guitar and background vocals, as did Keith Sewell. Rhonda Vincent and Darin & Brooke Aldridge make guest appearances.
Here’s a listen to the opening track, one called I Still Believe in the Blood, which Mark wrote with Jimmy Bilbrey. It recalls singing with his family growing up, and the many old songs that still bring comfort and peace.
Houser says that he and his wife were traveling out west when the notion first popped up.
“It was in Colorado that the idea came to me for this song. I held on to it for a few days, then called my long-time songwriting buddy, Jimmy Bilbrey, to share the idea. He nailed the choruses with the names of all of these old hymns, and changed them with each verse making this one a really fun song.”
Have a listen…
Gospel Train is available from the popular download and streaming services online, and as an autographed audio CD or vinyl LP directly from the artist.
Radio programmers will find the tracks at AirPlay Direct.
