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We posted last week about the J.D. Crowe Tribute Band performing in Nashville and Kentucky, an endeavor by Don Rigsby and Josh Williams to remember the music of The New South, particularly from the Keith Whitley era.
Fortunately, video of their performance at Simply the Best Sports Bar and Grill in Grayson, KY was posted online. Here’s a few of the songs available on YouTube.
Jason McKendree is on banjo, Aubrey Haynie on fiddle, and Mike Anglin on bass.
Sugar Hill has released a video sampler for Bryan Sutton’s latest CD, Into My Own. It was shot during his album release party last month at Carter Fine Guitars in Nashville with many of the artists who performed on the record.
Bryan handles guitar and lead vocals with Noam Pikelny on banjo, Casey Campbell on mandolin, Sam Grisman on bass, and Aubrey Haynie on fiddle. Luke Bulla takes the high harmony. He played fiddle on the CD, but had broken the little finger on his left hand and couldn’t fiddle.
Check out our review of the album here.
Her bio reads like something from central casting. At the University of Tennessee, she was a featured twirler for the UT Southland Marching Band where she performed before huge crowds at football games. After earning her degree, she headed straight for Pigeon Forge where she auditioned as a singer at Dollywood, winning a job as the youngest cast member in that year’s new show.
The Dolly Parton influence is clear in Holly’s writing and singing on her debut album, Appalachian Angel. It includes 7 of her original songs, along with a pair from her producer, Ernie Rowell, and a cover of The Eagles’ Lyin’ Eyes, all with contemporary bluegrass accompaniment.
The album was recorded at Rowell’s Nashville Studio, with assistance from Mike Johnson on reso-guitar, Kevin Grantt on bass, Danny Parks on guitar and banjo, Bruce Watkins on guitar, Glen Duncan on mandolin, and Aubrey Haynie and Larry Franklin on fiddle.
You can hear as much country influence as bluegrass in both the songs and the arrangements. No surprise given Holly’s admiration for Dolly, and her family’s background in country and bluegrass music. There’s a number of broken heart songs, like the opener, Free, which features some brilliant Pedabro playing from Johnson. The instrument is a cumbersome combination of a dobro guitar with the sort of pedal bending apparatus a pedal steel would use, and it sounds great here.
Another highlight is Death In The Family, a 3/4 time country ballad from Rowell and Lee Bach. It’s performed here as a duet with Rhonda Vincent with stellar results. Lyin’ Eyes get an understated country treatment, not much different from the original, which Norman sings with passion.
Overall, Appalachian Angel is more laid back than your typical bluegrass album, but if you enjoy acoustic country with clever hooks (and a bluegrass flavor), there’ll be a lot for you to enjoy here.
Find moe details about Holly Norman on her web site.
The state of Florida, and the Tampa area in particular, lost a great friend of bluegrass music when long time radio host Tom Henderson passed away on February 25. Henderson was 75 years old, and had been suffering from heart problems since November of 2013. He is reported to have died peacefully at the rehab facility where he was living.
His popular radio program, This Is Bluegrass, ran on Tampa’s WMNF from 1971 until his retirement last fall, making his the voice of bluegrass throughout the station’s broadcast range. Tom also ran The Bluegrass Parlor from its opening in 1980 until he sold the business in 2005. The Parlor served as the central meeting place for the local bluegrass community, selling instruments, accessories, and music, plus hosting jams, and offering lessons.
The Bluegrass Parlor Band has been running now since 1983, and has kept going since Tom sold the business in ’05, and even the closing of the store in ’07. New young pickers have continuously moved in and out of the group, more recently under the direction of Jeff Jones, an alumnus of the band.
One of the young pickers who played with Tom is Cory Walker, who recently graduated from college, and is now playing banjo with Ricky Skaggs. He remembers Henderson with great fondness.
Its hard to explain, really. Tom was awesome at what he did. I loved and still love him like family.”
A young Aubrey Haynie was among the future pros that Henderson mentored in Florida, helping prepare him for a career as a top session player and recording artist in Nashville.
He was the first one to really stress timing, and how to play in a band situation. He was a positive role model for me, and I know for many others as well.
He will be missed.”
Another is David Crow, who was a young fiddle prodigy growing up in Florida in the late 1980s. David worked his way through college playing fiddle with The Osborne Brothers, and is now a respected music business attorney in Nashville.
Later in my teens, I had the good fortune to become a member of the Bluegrass Parlor Band. At that time, the band consisted of Tom Henderson, Greg Turner, David McMillon and David ‘Bubba’ Howell. We played many regional festivals, flea markets, state fairs, private parties and also did some recording together.
Tom was a great rhythm guitar player. His timing was solid as a rock and he always played in the sweet spot of his old Martin guitar.
Tom was always encouraging of young musicians. I appreciated that he always treated me as a ‘musician,’ not as a kid or a novelty act. I think that is why so many young musicians were attracted to Tom. He was an encyclopedia of bluegrass history and he knew everyone in the business going back to his days in Virginia.
Tom did so many amazing things for generations of young players in central Florida. Without us realizing it, he taught us the history of bluegrass. He made sure everyone knew that One Tear is an Osborne Brothers song and not a Bluegrass Album Band song. He taught us all who initially recorded all of the classics as well as the key and tempo of those recordings.
By the sheer force of his guitar rhythm, he taught everyone how to feel the pocket and to play in good time with the ensemble. Tom encouraged young musicians to get a good instrument and to play with other people. I am not sure I would have followed the musical path that has been my career without the influence of two great men—Tom Henderson and my fiddle teacher, Ted Locke. I am grateful for the opportunity to have known Tom and his family and to call him a friend.”
The International Bluegrass Music Association awarded Tom Henderson a Distinguished Achievement Award in 1988, then known as a Certificate of Merit, but nothing is likely to match the impact of his work with young musicians.
Information on funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.
R.I.P., Tom Henderson.
Tammy has been singing Gospel music since childhood, touring with her mother and father as The Jones Family. As she grew older, songwriting became a chief interest, and a number of her songs placed high in the Singing News chart before she embarked on a solo singing career n the mid-1990s. Since that time Tammy has seen another 26 of her songs on the charts.
While she and her husband, Jim, have long been bluegrass fans, this will be their first album devoted solely to this kind of music.
They have enlisted an A-list team of pickers and singers in support of Let It Shine. Playing bass and producing is Mark Fain, with Ron Block on guitar and banjo, Aubrey Haynie on fiddle, Andy Leftwich on mandolin, and Rob Ickes on reso-guitar. Assisting with harmony vocals are Jamie Dailey, Jeff Parker, Dale Ann Bradley, Steve Gulley, Cheryl White, Sharon Skaggs, and Jeff Pedersen.
The new CD is available now from popular download sites, and on CD from her web site.
While Baucom’s well-known banjo skills are most certainly on display throughout the album, the songwriting and vocals are highlighted just as much, if not more. Celebrated songwriters such as Tim Stafford and Jon Weisberger have contributed songs, and the singing is largely done by a who’s who of today’s favorite bluegrass male vocalists. The twelve-track collection leans toward the traditional side of things, and Baucom is supported throughout by a talented band featuring some of bluegrass music’s best.
Baucom has been called “The Duke of Drive,” and he shows listeners why on several tracks. His banjo provides a nice opening for the album, kicking off the Milan Miller number Carry Me Back to Carolina. This tune, one of the album’s best, is a classic bluegrass story of a man planning to return to his home in the hills of Carolina, with a nice upbeat feel. Buddy Melton provides lead vocals here, which adds to the feeling that the song would fit in nicely on a Balsam Range project. The closing track, I’ll Be Going Home, is fairly similar in several ways – it’s another of the album’s more upbeat tracks. Melton covers the lead vocals, and the singer shares his yearning to return home. This time, he’s a musician on the road, ready to return home after his last show.
Larry Cordle sings Long Enough to Make Me Blue, an enjoyable number about a woman who, although she promises to stay true, is (as the singer says) “wearin’ out your welcome making tracks across my heart.” John Cowan takes the lead on a bluesy cover of Bill Monroe’s No One But My Darlin’, with his signature vocal style putting a bit of a modern spin on this traditional tune. Sam Bush and Aubrey Haynie offer fine solos on mandolin and fiddle respectively.
Baucom and company go for a more country sound on I’ve Been Around Enough to Know, a wistful song about a man who knows the woman he’s with doesn’t love him, but decides to find comfort in her arms anyway. The lead vocals on this track are provided by John Schneider, in an almost-spoken, classic country style. Although Schneider is best known for his time spent portraying Bo Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard, he also had a second career as a country singer in the 1980s and took this song to number one in 1984. It sounds much the same here, although without the over-the-top 80’s production.
The best known song from the album is probably What’ll I Do, another cut from Milan Miller that recently earned Baucom the 2013 IBMA Recorded Event of the Year. There’s a toe-tapping banjo intro with a nice groove that continues throughout the song. Sam Bush’s vocals are a nice addition, as well.
Never Thought of Looking Back is overall an enjoyable album, with a nice modern traditional feel and skilled musicians throughout. There are a few moments that don’t seem to quite fit (the classic country of I’ve Been Around Enough to Know feels slightly out of place), and the constantly changing stream of lead singers makes for an album that’s not totally cohesive. However, the picking is certainly well-done, with Baucom (banjo), Bush (mandolin), Haynie (fiddle), Jerry Douglas (dobro), Wyatt Rice (guitar), and Steve Bryant (bass) doing a solid job.
For more information, visit Baucom’s website at www.terrybaucom.com. The album can be purchased from his website, as well as several online music retailers.
The song is a Haynie original, Happy Go Lucky, that features him on mandolin and fiddle, with Bryan Sutton on guitar, Jerry Douglas on resonator guitar, Dennis Crouch on bass, and Kenny Malone on percussion.
Congratulations, Aubrey. Hope you get a new car!
It features the Tabor’s impressions of working with Smith on this project, plus some comments from Kenny about the songs, the musicians who tracked with him, and the three rare vintage guitars he used in the studio.
You can watch the first video, and see our interview with Kenny about Return, in an earlier posting at Bluegrass Today.
And here’s some more good news for Kenny Smith fans: Glen tells us that the Kenny & Amanda Smith Band will start work on a new album next month at Gat3. They will be tracking wit their new road band: Cory Piatt on mandolin, Owen Piatt on banjo, and Austin Ward on bass.
Tabor plans to shoot plenty of video while this bunch is in the studio as well.
The project is special in a number of ways. First of all, it’s the first album from Kenny since his 1997 album, Studebaker, and his first all-instrumental record ever. On top of that, he had access to a trio of exception prewar flattops for use in the studio: his own 1935 D-18, Norman Blake’s 1933 D-28 (sunburst), and a rare bird Gibson jumbo prototype from 1935.
The musicians who support Smith here are special as well, with Adam Steffey on mandolin, Barry Bales on bass, Aubrey Haynie on fiddle and Jim Denman and Adam Hurt on banjo.
Kenny tells us that the title refers to him looking back at his musical roots while selecting material for the CD, which came after conducting an informal poll among fans of the flatpicking.
“I asked a lot of guitar players what kind tunes I should put on this project, and the response was to do some standards in my style. I had to go back and treat each song with a new set of ears and a totally different approach. These were the tunes that got me into wanting to play the guitar in the first place.
I hope Return inspires young people like it did me when I heard the notes of my heroes jumping into the air by the way of a record needle.”
And his style is composed of roughly equal parts of three musical personalities: the in-your-face bluegrass Kenny played with Lonesome River Band and now with Kenny & Amanda Smith, the fiddle tune contest style that won him several top 3 finishes at Winfield and a win at Merlefest, and his more recent fascination with old time fiddle and banjo music.
“I think it was a combination of everything that has influenced my playing down through the years. My Dad’s fiddle playing shows up on there as well as the influence of living in southwest Virginia for thirteen years and hearing great old time music. Dad always listened to the Grand Ole Opry on the weekends. I heard great players like Billy Grammer, Howdy Forrester plus all the sidemen that would hit the airwaves every Friday and Saturday night. My playing is a reflection of WSM and who walked across the stage.”
Return is the first release from Gat 3, a new label associated with the studio where Kenny has been recording in recent years after having been impressed with owner/engineer Glenn Tabor’s work. In fact, he told us that he had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the studio to get started.
“We had been talking about this for years but never put it into action, which was my fault. If it wasn’t for Amanda and Glenn the CD would probably still be just an idea. I wanted it to be as good or better than Studebaker and was dreading going into the studio because I never thought I was ready. I started to really hammer and woodshed about two years before this project was recorded.
Glenn is one of these guys that’s not just an engineer. He is a multi-faceted person with a vision and a knack for making ideas come to life. Glenn’s wife Susan has the same personality. No matter what you can dream up these people can make it happen.
I am excited to be teamed up with a label eager to try different ways to get the music out there so it can be heard.”
The album starts out with a pair of snappy numbers in the bluegrass keys of A and B, both featuring a similar chromatic figure.
“I loved Half Step the first time I heard it. Jim Denman sent me this song he had written on the banjo right before I was going in the studio. I love catchy melodies and this is one of my favorite tunes I’ve ever cut.
Half Step: [http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegrasscast/half_step.mp3]
The second tune, Warren Chapel, I wrote with the idea of using the outside notes in the major scale in the melody. I thought these two songs sounded good together, so they follow one another on the CD.”
Warren Chapel: [http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegrasscast/warren_chapel.mp3]
Kenny also takes two familiar fiddle tunes, and brings a new perspective to each of them – not a simple thing on melodies so frequently played and recorded as these.
“This version of Arkansas Traveler was inspired by truly one of the best guitars I had ever had in my hands. I borrowed a 1935 Gibson Advanced Jumbo Prototype from Gary Burnette.
I was lead by the guitar on this song. Sometimes an old guitar has a spirit about it and all you have to do is let it sing.The Texas style arrangement came from meeting and playing with Jim ‘Texas Shorty’ Chancellor over the last year or so.”
Arkansas Traveler: [http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegrasscast/arkansas.mp3]
“I’m playing Leather Britches out of G with the A string tuned down to G. I have always played this tune with a laid back feel, and when Adam, Barry and I recorded the tune it took on a different feel. The rhythm had a certain drive to it so I went with it.
I love Howdy Forrester’s version of this tune and we borrowed the kick off from him.”
Leather Britches: [http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegrasscast/britches.mp3]
Other strong tracks include a reworking of the old time gems Sail Away Ladies and Cumberland Gap, contest favorites Forked Deer, Black Mountain Rag and Billy In The Lowground, plus two more strong Smith originals.
Throughout, Kenny’s guitar alternates between fully-orchestrated rhythm and penetrating solos. There are few who can match him in either realm, and Return demonstrates anew why Kenny Smith is so highly-regarded by flat pickers, and everyone who appreciates steel string guitar played with passion and precision.
The collection showcases instrumental versions of some of Bill Monroe’s most popular numbers, including, Uncle Pen, Blue Moon of Kentucky, Kentucky Waltz, Molly and Tenbrooks and Jerusalem Ridge. Though they are modern recordings, the performances are very much in keeping with the way Monroe represented his music during his lifetime.
The 18–track album was produced by banjo player Mike Scott, and includes 12 songs previously released by Scott on his 2005 album of the same name, plus six newly recorded Monroe pieces. The original project featured Scott on banjo with Bryan Sutton on guitar, Aubrey Haynie on fiddle, Mike Compton on mandolin and Ben Isaacs on bass. Compton and Haynie are both noted interpreters of Bill Monroe’s music, and their love for these songs and tunes is evident.
For the newer tracks, Scott is accompanied by Tim Stafford and Bryan Sutton on guitar, Adam Steffey on mandolin, and Rob Ickes on resonator guitar, with Haynie again on fiddle and Isaacs on bass.
Here is a quick taste of some of the music.
Uncle Pen: [http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegrasscast/uncle_pen.mp3]
Jerusalem Ridge: [http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegrasscast/jerusalem_ridge.mp3]
Blue Moon of Kentucky: [http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegrasscast/blue_moon_ky.mp3]
Additionally, Rural Rhythm will be showing its respects to the Father of Bluegrass Music with two other related products.
In the first instance, Audie Blaylock’s next album for the label will be a tribute album with some very special guest artists who performed with Monroe through the years.
Then in June (6/11-18), Rural Rhythm will be recording a live album during the 45th Annual Bill Monroe Memorial Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival held in Bean Blossom, Indiana. Tribute To Bill Monroe – Live At Bean Blossom will feature many Rural Rhythm artists performing some of Monroe’s bluegrass, Gospel and instrumental gems.
In a special message from Rural Rhythm Records, the label President, Sam Passamano, Jr. commented ….
“My father was a major player of the distribution team with Decca and MCA Records for over 30 years starting in the early 50’s. Bill Monroe was a big part of the label’s tremendous Country and Bluegrass roster through the years, so I literally grew up enjoying Bill’s music and respecting the importance an impact he had on the music world.”
Bill Monroe was born in Rosine, Kentucky, on September 13, 1911 and his centennial is being actively celebrated throughout 2011.
