This post is a contribution from Richard Thompson, a semi-regular contributor here at Bluegrass Today. He is also a longstanding contributor to British Bluegrass News, a quarterly print publication where he also briefly served as editor.
The February edition of the widely read British publication Country Music People (CMP) magazine features Jim Lauderdale on the front cover.
Lauderdale, whose new album, Bluegrass, was released last September on the Yep Roc label, discussed his song writing and recording career with Janet Apsley as they got together on what was described as a drizzly, dank November evening in Essex. He says he would do anything for bluegrass and speaks of his occasional song writing collaborations with Ralph Stanley. The article covers a complete five pages.
The second and concluding part of an interview with living legend Mac Wiseman, conducted by Nashville-based reporter Walt Trott, is also included. Titled Mac Wiseman: Music and Memories, the article resumes Wiseman’s story in the Spring of 1947, following his departure from Molly O’Day’s band. This later period in his musical life covers the bluegrass era – with Bill Monroe, and Flatt and Scruggs, among others – the Dot Record period and the years thereafter. The comprehensive article, covering ten pages, includes a photograph of the first twin fiddlers in bluegrass; Tommy Jackson and Dale Potter.
Among the CDs reviewed in the magazine are the J D Crowe & The New South Lefty’s Old Guitar (3 out of 5 stars), David Davis And The Warrior River Boys’ Troubled Times (3 stars) and Vernon Oxford Sings Gospel, Country & Bluegrass (3 stars).
Country Music People is available at all good British news vendors and by subscription. Their web site gives readers an idea of its usual content, though the site features an older edition of CMP.
