Jesse Gregory is a strong young vocalist from Maryville, TN, currently enrolled in the Bluegrass, Old Time & Country Music program at East Tennessee State University. She has the distinction of being the first woman to declare a bluegrass major there, and would seem to have a bright future ahead of her in music as she begins to pursue it professionally after graduating after the Fall 2013 semester.
Faultline, her debut CD, was released in 2012, and producers Clay Hess and Randy Kohrs assembled a crack band in support of Gregory’s voice. Hess plays guitar and Korhs reso-guitar, with Sierra Hull on mandolin, Justin Moses on banjo, Tim Crouch on fiddle, and Harold Nixon and Jay Weaver on bass.
Jesse sings with power and authority, and stands out from most of her contemporaries both for the quality and tone of her voice, and by refraining from torturing each line of a melody with every twist and turn imaginable. Far too many young singers seem to view melody as a mere framework for their vocal acrobatics, a trend that has long existed in pop music, and more recently has crept into bluegrass. It is more than a little refreshing to hear Jesse belt out a song without a trace of this “show off” style, which takes a confidence and maturity beyond her 21 years.
But she tells us it’s not because she isn’t aware of, or capable of doing it.
“I grew up practicing vocals with CDs of my favorite singers. If I couldn’t hit vocal inflections just as they did, I would practice until I had something exactly right. As I got older, I took bits and pieces of everything that I had learned (and continue to learn) to make my own style. I don’t want to sound like anyone, but to have my very own unique sound.
Those singers I practice with are usually not bluegrass singers. I love to try and sing/keep up with people like Christina Aguilera or Beyonce. I also am crazy about LeeAnn Womack. Bluegrass and bluegrass/Gospel is where my heart is, but practicing with these types of singers makes those ‘bluegrass trills and inflections’ so much easier!”
She and her producers have chosen 11 terrific songs for this project, mostly new compositions from top writers like Craig Market, Jennifer Strickland, Jerry Salley, Keith Sewell, Dottie Rambo, Clay Hess and Justin Carbone. The sound and production are decidedly contemporary bluegrass, set off nicely by Jesse’s unadorned vocal delivery, with lines held out sans vibrato or the overuse of trills.
Harmony vocals are stellar as well, with contributions from Alison Krauss, Sierra Hull, Randy Kohrs, Justin Moses, Jennifer Strickland and Clay Hess.
Choosing highlight tracks is difficult, as each is a gem. One is Love Lifted Me, a 100 year old Gospel song which has been cut by dozens of country and Gospel artists, gets a rousing bluegrass treatment here. Another is Last Train Done Gone Down, famously recorded by John Denver in 1997. I’ve seen this commonly credited to Peter Rowan, though the writer here is shown as Allen Toussaint. Also strong is Gregory’s cover of Always On A Mountain When I Fall, a 1978 hit for Merle Haggard, and the opening track Highway Of Pain from Glenn Dauphin.
Faultline is a record that slipped under our radar last year. It deserves far wider attention than it has received, even if it comes a few months late. Don’t let this fine album pass you by.
Special kudos to Kohrs, who engineered and mixed at his Slack Key Studio in Nashville, for the sonic purity throughout.
Straight-ahead bluegrassers may recall Richard Bennett’s Tony Rice-like work from his years spent with J.D. Crowe and the New South, where he was featured on the stellar Flashback record. Now, having recorded three solo projects with Rebel Records and performed with the likes of Mike Auldridge and Jimmy Gaudreau over the past few years, Richard Bennett is back at it again, armed with a first-rate list of guest musicians including Rickie Simpkins, Harold Nixon, Danny Barnes, Shayne Bartley, Ron Stewart, Joe Sharp, and J.D. Crowe.
Last Train From Poor Valley, Bennett’s latest effort for Lonesome Day Records, features songs from a widespread group of sources, pulling from the catalogs of artists such as Merle Haggard, Gordon Lightfoot, and John Hartford (just to name a few). The twelve song collection makes for a great representation of this artist’s talents in writing and performing. From straight ahead “1-4-5 drive” tunes like the fan favorites Handsome Molly and Wrong Road Again (which feature the immediately recognizable banjo work of J.D. Crowe) to jazz influenced pieces, this album seems to have something for everyone. In fact, his light and airy arrangement of the classic tune Tennessee Waltz is one of the best I’ve heard in quite some time.
Other standout tracks include the album’s opening number, Haggard’s immediately recognizable Workin’ Man’s Blues, and an obviously Rice-influenced version of Ray Charles’ hit Georgia on My Mind. The record’s title track, Last Train from Poor Valley, is tight and subtly arranged to display wonderful trading back and forth between fiddle and guitar parts. Bennett’s incredible guitar work also shines on his two self-penned instrumentals Roan Mountain Rag and From The Top.
Be careful though, and don’t just eject this disc when the twelfth track fades out – there’s a great surprise on the end. A bonus track performed in what Bennett calls “Head On Style” appears just before the album comes to a close. There’s just one problem, though. To replay the track, you have to rewind it instead of just skipping right to it to hear it again. In other words, make sure and check out Leaving’s Heavy on My Mind.
More information on Richard Bennett’s latest release can be found by contacting Lonesome Day Records at www.lonesomeday.com.
The CD is also available for purchase from iTunes and Amazon.
Tommy Webb is a fine bluegrass singer and songwriter from Bill Monroe’s native state of Kentucky who has a special Monroe tribute song to honor Big Mon’s 100th birthday this year.
Webb has gained some notoriety for his clever original songs and adaptations in the “songs about bluegrass” sub-category. His first was a reworking of Clinton Gregory’s If It Weren’t For Country Music (I’d Go Crazy), where he substituted the word bluegrass for country, and all the references to country artists into ones about grassers.
His new song, From Rock-n-Roll to Bill Monroe, tells a story that may be familiar to a good many readers, that of playing rock music as a youngster, only to graduate eventually to picking and singing grass. Here’s a sample of the track, which will be included on Webb’s next CD in September, and which features Boxcars’ superpickers Ron Stewart on banjo and fiddle, Adam Steffey on mandolin and Harold Nixon on bass.
From Rock-n-Roll to Bill Monroe: [http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegrasscast/webb_rock.mp3]
We’ve waxed enthusiastic several times about The Boxcars here on Bluegrass Today, and the release of their debut, self-titled CD on Mountain Home Records gave us another opportunity to do so in September when the first single dropped, and again in October during IBMA.
The band rolled into Roanoke last Saturday night, providing yet another occasion to spill hyperbole on their behalf. They performed before a sold-out house at the Kirk Avenue Music Hall – probably half of them pickers – ready for the sort of raucous, rowdy show that The Boxcars delivered in spades.
I’ve had several opportunities to watch these guys on stage, but this was the first since becoming familiar with the material from their record. They opened with the single, December 13th, and hit several others from The Boxcars along the way, interspersed with selections from the members’ various solo projects, and bluegrass chestnuts like Down The Road, Shuckin’ The Corn and Pretty Polly.
The band is centered around two legitimate bluegrass superstars, Ron Stewart on banjo/fiddle and Adam Steffey on mandolin, with one rising star (Keith Garrett), and two veteran sidemen (John Bowman on fiddle/banjo and Harold Nixon on bass) deserving of far more attention. Garrett is a writer and vocalist of particular skill, and Bowman’s tenor vocals (both lead and harmony) are the perfect counterpart.
Was it the ’75 New South that set the standard for two lead singers? Or maybe it was The later Stanley Brothers. In any event, it is a solid bluegrass tradition that has carried through Lonesome River Band right up to these Boxcars, and they play it to the hilt. Keith sings most of the leads, but John is prominently featured, as is Adam Steffey with his distinctive, growly baritone. Even Stewart gets a lead or two, leaving poor Mr. Nixon odd man out.
As strong as the singing is, the picking is what tore the roof off the joint in Roanoke. All five ‘Cars are solid players, with Stewart and Steffey leaving me straining with superlatives attempting to describe their efforts.
Adam has long been highly-regarded as a mandolinist, from the time he hit the national scene with Alison Krauss & Union Station in 1991, through memorable stints with The Isaacs, Mountain Heart and Dan Tyminski, plus a pre-AKUS gig with Lonesome River Band just prior to their mainstream ascendancy. He is a seven-time winner of the IBMA’s Mandolin Player of the Year award, and is the subject of a popular instructional DVD from AcuTab.
Steffey’s style is highly improvisational, relying heavily on the steady stream of eighth notes a la bluegrass banjo far more than double stops or tremolo. At the speeds on display at this show, he looked as though his head might explode on several songs, with the audience on the edge of their seats to see if he could pull it off yet one more time. Exciting stuff…
Stewart has the rare honor of being considered a “pickers’ picker” on both banjo and fiddle. I take the position that he is the finest bluegrass musician of his time, and would make the argument that he is among the top 5 in the history of the music. His influence on banjo playing is deep and profound, and the consensus among the several five stringers in attendance Saturday was that there have been none like him. Ron also has a banjo DVD from AcuTab – plus one for fiddle with another due shortly.
On both banjo and fiddle, Stewart merges the style and sound of the very earliest practitioners (Scruggs and Crowe on banjo; Warren, Shumate, Martin, Stoneman, et al on fiddle) and recombines them all with a precision, power and majesty that is wondrous to behold. (How’s that for superlatives?) It’s not that he ignores or eschews the more modern approaches – he has one of his own. His playing just sounds like he leaped from the 1960s to the present, but with the sort of huge tone that was rarely captured on old recordings.
Ron has been at this for some time, growing up as “Little Ronnie Stewart” working with his family band. He first broke out as a long-time member of the Lynn Morris Band, and went to serve an apprenticeship on fiddle with the great JD Crowe when Lynn’s stroke left her unable to perform. You could say that he was born to play bluegrass music.
In most any other band, Bowman’s fiddle and banjo work would stand out as exceptional, but he graciously accepts his place as “second fiddle” (and banjo) to Ron. This allows the band to feature Stewart on both instruments, and provide them a variety they would lose otherwise. But I think it is fair to say that John’s largest contribution is as a vocalist, and his soaring tenor was one of the more remarkable aspects of the show. This is his first venture in a true band setting, though he has worked before for such luminaries as Doyle Lawson, Alison Krauss, The Isaacs and JD Crowe.
Nixon is the quiet man in the group, never addressing the audience, and getting only a single solo turn with a delightful bass break on Clinch Mountain Backstep. Like most of the best bassists in bluegrass, however, he has a deep understanding of the music, and plays all the instruments himself. This sort of knowledge allows him to support each of players as they shine, and always with a powerful tone and crisp attack. I have enjoyed his playing for many years, from his time touring with Unlimited Tradition while Harold was still in high school, through his tenure with The New South and Blue Moon Rising.
But in the end, every band will rise and fall on its singing and material, and here is where Keith Garrett is indispensable. Bluegrass has boasted of some great lead singers and some great songwriters over its relatively short history. Sometimes, they even come in one package, though that is a much shorter list. Ronnie Bowman comes to mind in recent years, and Garrett is surely cut from the same cloth. Time will tell whether his career will ascend to the same heights, but if not, it won’t be for lack of aptitude or capability.
More than once on this page, we’ve delved into the necessary ingredients for an album that stands above the rest. All it takes is a stellar recording of exceptional performances on outstanding songs. That’s a fairly simple formula, but not so easy in its execution.
On The Boxcars, you see all the elements of a near-perfect recording. The performances are what you would expect from musicians of this caliber: virtuosic yet restrained, leaning against the envelope while remaining stylistically appropriate, and both passionate and searing throughout.
It is the choice of songs, however, that sets this project above so much of what we’ve heard of late. 9 of the 13 tracks are band originals: 5 from Garrett and 4 from Stewart. The remainder come from such consistently strong sources as Ron Block and Marshall Wilborn, with a pair of keepers from first generation heroes Jim Eanes and Earl Taylor. They cover a wide range of “contemporary bluegrass,” with proper doses of the old home place (I Went Back Home Today and Log Cabin In The Lane) mixed in with unconventional love/relationship songs (You Can Take Your Time, Old Henry Hill and I Could Change My Mind).
For my money, the standout track is Hurtin’ Inside, a song of Garrett’s that tackles the scourge of depression, and the crippling effect it can have on its victims. The song is told in the first person, with the subject unable to figure out why his world seems so black. Anyone who has suffered from this disease, or dealt with someone who did, will recognize the emotions explored here.
It’s a triumph for any songwriter to capture something so complex in a four minute song, especially outside of the documentary, “story song” form. Well done, Keith!
Do I like these guys? Uh… yes I do.
Do yourself a favor and catch The Boxcars live, and pick up a copy of the CD. Or do your family and friends a favor and send a few out as gifts. They are that good.
This past Friday evening (5/14), I had the good fortune to catch The Boxcars at a small venue here in Roanoke. If you haven’t heard the name, you will surely be hearing it soon.
This is the latest bluegrass supergroup to form from the dissolution of another, in this case The Dan Tyminski Band, which shut down recently when Dan and Barry Bales returned to Alison Krauss & Union Station to record and tour. That left Ron Stewart and Adam Steffey without a performing vehicle, and they soon decided that continuing to work together was what they most wanted to do.
Before long, they had convinced Keith Garret and Harold Nixon, who had been working with Blue Moon Rising, to enlist in the new venture, along with John Bowman, who left JD Crowe for this new group.
Their lengthy set at The Kirk Avenue Music Hall was powerful – passionately performed, brilliantly executed and often downright hilarious. Those who follow bluegrass closely know these five men as virtuosic musicians, with Bowman and Garrett also regarded as stellar vocalists. I make that obvious point primarily to say that I expected nothing short of overall awesomeness from The Boxcars – and they still blew my hair back from start to finish.
Adam Steffey has been riding high as the King of the Mando Hill for some time now, and this new group gives him his best opportunity to shine in all his many years in bluegrass. I sat close enough to hear the band acoustically as well as through the sound system, and Adam’s downbeat chop at the beginning of the banjo solos was like a rifle shot. His solos were equally riveting, as one would expect.
Steffey is also a strikingly effective vocalist. His deep baritone has a gravelly poignancy especially well-suited to the plaintive songs he chooses, and while few may list him as being a truly gifted singer, his songs were consistently well-delivered and received.
For his part, Ron Stewart is widely regarded as his generation’s preeminent bluegrass artist, garnering kudos on both banjo and fiddle. I don’t mean that he can play both; he is among the very best on both. He opened the show on banjo and within a few songs, launched into a scalding version of Earl Scruggs’ Shuckin’ The Corn. Seated behind two budding young bluegrass musicians, I kept an eye on them them as well as the show, and the pure joy and wonder on their faces was as big a treat as the music itself.
Ron absolutely kills on banjo: tone, timing, note selection, attack, authority, consistency, appropriateness… All were spot on. Ron always begs to differ, but his playing was simply flawless.
And then he picked up the fiddle, which he destroyed as well. There is some sort of unfairness at work here, but such is life.
John Bowman played both fiddle and banjo, alternating on one as Stewart grabbed the other. Had a monster like Stewart not been in the band, Bowman would have shone that much brighter. He has long experience in the music, including stints with Alison Krauss, Doyle Lawson and The Isaacs before working for Crowe.
He shone mostly as a lead and tenor vocalist, no less than on a searing version of the Flatt & Scruggs classic, The Old Home Town. His banjo was mighty fine on that one as well.
I need to stop and give props to my Roanoke folks here… You know you are in a bluegrass crowd when the audience is singing along on an obscure number like The Old Home Town. And I mean on the verses. Rock on, Roanoke!
Bassist Harold Nixon has long been one of my favorites. His tone is big and round, and he has a terrific sense of time. As do all the guys in The Boxcars, he also has a great sense of humor which is expressed in some of the small, quirky but subtle rhythmic twists he throws in – often in response to something one of the lead instruments has played. Watching them all crack up at each other’s antics was always fun.
Harold is also a very capable audio engineer who is playing a big part in the recording of the band’s debut CD.
Every band ultimately rises and falls on the quality of their lead singer, and of the material they record. Here, the focus is on guitarist Keith Garrett, perhaps not as well known as the other members of The Boxcars, but a man to be reckoned with in bluegrass music. Keith is a stirring vocalist, and a gifted songwriter to boot. The most memorable numbers on the show were the ones he both wrote and sang, and it seems a safe bet to suggest that you will be hearing plenty of him on bluegrass radio in the latter part of this year.
Garrett is also a very capable rhythm and lead guitarist who, like Bowman, is somewhat overshadowed by the big guns in the band. Don’t sell him short, however. He is the real deal.
OK… you get the drift? I was heartily impressed by The Boxcars – even more than I had expected to be. Their show was crisp and well-paced, with just enough conversation with the audience to make a permanent connection.
Steffey handles most of the MC work, and he is a natural. His moments at the mic as far back as his days with Alison Krauss were always a huge hit, and he always had folks in stitches when he fronted the Tyminski shows last year. His delivery is honest and unpretentious; he really is a down-home country boy with a hilariously self-deprecatory view of himself and the bluegrass music world in which he dwells.
The big story of the night when I saw them last week was their recent adventure with their road van, affectionately known as The General Lee. It had stranded them on the highway returning from the Gettysburg Festival in Pennsylvania to their hotel in Maryland, and nearly prevented them from making the Roanoke date.
A wheel bearing was the culprit, as Harold Nixon explained…
“We started hearing a grinding sound so we pulled over and found that the front passenger side wheel was 10,000 degrees Celsius. We decided to ‘ease it’ two miles to a truck stop in Hagerstown, MD.”
Luckily for the band, two members (Stewart and Bowman) are qualified mechanics, so they figured that they would be able to replace the bearing first thing in the morning, and head on to Roanoke with time to spare.
When they started tackling the job, however, they found that the extreme heat had fused the bearing to the axle, so they began a frantic search for someone to come out with a torch and cut it loose. Fortunately, a torchbearer was found, the repair was made and the boys made it to Roanoke just fine.
Nixon sent along a few photos of the General Lee in disgrace…
When you see them next, be sure to ask about some of the interesting characters they met during this little adventure.
Don’t miss a chance to catch The Boxcars live. Their schedule can be found online.
This past Friday evening (5/14), I had the good fortune to catch The Boxcars at a small venue here in Roanoke. If you haven’t heard the name, you will surely be hearing it soon.
This is the latest bluegrass supergroup to form from the dissolution of another, in this case The Dan Tyminski Band, which shut down recently when Dan and Barry Bales returned to Alison Krauss & Union Station to record and tour. That left Ron Stewart and Adam Steffey without a performing vehicle, and they soon decided that continuing to work together was what they most wanted to do.
Before long, they had convinced Keith Garret and Harold Nixon, who had been working with Blue Moon Rising, to enlist in the new venture, along with John Bowman, who left JD Crowe for this new group.
Their lengthy set at The Kirk Avenue Music Hall was powerful – passionately performed, brilliantly executed and often downright hilarious. Those who follow bluegrass closely know these five men as virtuosic musicians, with Bowman and Garrett also regarded as stellar vocalists. I make that obvious point primarily to say that I expected nothing short of overall awesomeness from The Boxcars – and they still blew my hair back from start to finish.
Adam Steffey has been riding high as the King of the Mando Hill for some time now, and this new group gives him his best opportunity to shine in all his many years in bluegrass. I sat close enough to hear the band acoustically as well as through the sound system, and Adam’s downbeat chop at the beginning of the banjo solos was like a rifle shot. His solos were equally riveting, as one would expect.
Steffey is also a strikingly effective vocalist. His deep baritone has a gravelly poignancy especially well-suited to the plaintive songs he chooses, and while few may list him as being a truly gifted singer, his songs were consistently well-delivered and received.
For his part, Ron Stewart is widely regarded as his generation’s preeminent bluegrass artist, garnering kudos on both banjo and fiddle. I don’t mean that he can play both; he is among the very best on both. He opened the show on banjo and within a few songs, launched into a scalding version of Earl Scruggs’ Shuckin’ The Corn. Seated behind two budding young bluegrass musicians, I kept an eye on them them as well as the show, and the pure joy and wonder on their faces was as big a treat as the music itself.
Ron absolutely kills on banjo: tone, timing, note selection, attack, authority, consistency, appropriateness… All were spot on. Ron always begs to differ, but his playing was simply flawless.
And then he picked up the fiddle, which he destroyed as well. There is some sort of unfairness at work here, but such is life.
John Bowman played both fiddle and banjo, alternating on one as Stewart grabbed the other. Had a monster like Stewart not been in the band, Bowman would have shone that much brighter. He has long experience in the music, including stints with Alison Krauss, Doyle Lawson and The Isaacs before working for Crowe.
He shone mostly as a lead and tenor vocalist, no less than on a searing version of the Flatt & Scruggs classic, The Old Home Town. His banjo was mighty fine on that one as well.
I need to stop and give props to my Roanoke folks here… You know you are in a bluegrass crowd when the audience is singing along on an obscure number like The Old Home Town. And I mean on the verses. Rock on, Roanoke!
Bassist Harold Nixon has long been one of my favorites. His tone is big and round, and he has a terrific sense of time. As do all the guys in The Boxcars, he also has a great sense of humor which is expressed in some of the small, quirky but subtle rhythmic twists he throws in – often in response to something one of the lead instruments has played. Watching them all crack up at each other’s antics was always fun.
Harold is also a very capable audio engineer who is playing a big part in the recording of the band’s debut CD.
Every band ultimately rises and falls on the quality of their lead singer, and of the material they record. Here, the focus is on guitarist Keith Garrett, perhaps not as well known as the other members of The Boxcars, but a man to be reckoned with in bluegrass music. Keith is a stirring vocalist, and a gifted songwriter to boot. The most memorable numbers on the show were the ones he both wrote and sang, and it seems a safe bet to suggest that you will be hearing plenty of him on bluegrass radio in the latter part of this year.
Garrett is also a very capable rhythm and lead guitarist who, like Bowman, is somewhat overshadowed by the big guns in the band. Don’t sell him short, however. He is the real deal.
OK… you get the drift? I was heartily impressed by The Boxcars – even more than I had expected to be. Their show was crisp and well-paced, with just enough conversation with the audience to make a permanent connection.
Steffey handles most of the MC work, and he is a natural. His moments at the mic as far back as his days with Alison Krauss were always a huge hit, and he always had folks in stitches when he fronted the Tyminski shows last year. His delivery is honest and unpretentious; he really is a down-home country boy with a hilariously self-deprecatory view of himself and the bluegrass music world in which he dwells.
The big story of the night when I saw them last week was their recent adventure with their road van, affectionately known as The General Lee. It had stranded them on the highway returning from the Gettysburg Festival in Pennsylvania to their hotel in Maryland, and nearly prevented them from making the Roanoke date.
A wheel bearing was the culprit, as Harold Nixon explained…
“We started hearing a grinding sound so we pulled over and found that the front passenger side wheel was 10,000 degrees Celsius. We decided to ‘ease it’ two miles to a truck stop in Hagerstown, MD.”
Luckily for the band, two members (Stewart and Bowman) are qualified mechanics, so they figured that they would be able to replace the bearing first thing in the morning, and head on to Roanoke with time to spare.
When they started tackling the job, however, they found that the extreme heat had fused the bearing to the axle, so they began a frantic search for someone to come out with a torch and cut it loose. Fortunately, a torchbearer was found, the repair was made and the boys made it to Roanoke just fine.
Nixon sent along a few photos of the General Lee in disgrace…
When you see them next, be sure to ask about some of the interesting characters they met during this little adventure.
Don’t miss a chance to catch The Boxcars live. Their schedule can be found online.
The bluegrass world has been abuzz since the end of 2009 when it was announced that Adam Steffey, Ron Stewart, Harold Nixon, Keith Garrett and John Bowman had assembled a new band.
Billed as The Boxcars, the band has as of early Spring 2010, played only a very shows and the anticipation of hearing them live or recorded is palpable. Nixon tells us that they have completed several tracks for a debut CD, with plans to finish it up in the next few months.
“So far we’ve cut three tunes for that IBMA showcase deadline. One is called December 13th that Keith wrote and sings…another is In God’s Hands sung by John (I can’t remember who wrote it)…and the last on is a tune Ron wrote called I Went Back To My Old Home Today.”
Harold says that most of the material has been chosen, and that they just need to get everyone’s schedule together and get at it.
Mandolinist Adam Steffey is psyched about the new group, and suggests that some major Boxcars news is in the offing…
“We should be able to announce a label affiliation soon as we are in contract talks right now.
The response that the band has received thus far has been very exciting. Anytime that you form a new group I think that you have the underlying question, ‘how will this go over with the fans?’ It’s all been very positive and inspiring.
We are very encouraged by the response from both the fans and promoters who have booked us to come and perform. It’s going to be a fun year and all of us in The Boxcars are excited to get out and play!!”
Class Act Entertainment is managing the band’s booking, and lead agent Mike Drudge hasn’t seen this sort of buzz about a new group in quite some time.
“I can say that we’re thrilled with the level of interest in this band already, even before having an album or even a band photo available! They are already booked at Gettysburg, Three Sisters Festival in Chattanooga and a bunch of others.”
The Boxcars have a web site which Harold is in the process of updating now, where they keep the schedule posted. Here are their show dates as of March 10.
It’s December, so that means it’s time for more band explosions.
Next up is The Dan Tymisnki Band. It was a great ride while it lasted, and everyone who had a chance to catch them live should cherish the memory. With Alison Krauss headed back into the studio, and planning to tour in 2010, Dan and Barry Bales will be tied up with AKUS. So Adam Steffey and Ron Stewart have helped start a new group that has also decimated Blue Moon Rising.
They will be known as The Boxcars with Steffey on mandolin, Stewart on banjo, John Bowman on fiddle, and former Blue Moon Rising members Harold Nixon on bass and Keith Garrett on guitar. Both Bowman and Garrett are outstanding vocalists, and Steffey will also contribute his distinctive vocal style to the band’s sound.
They will be in the studio quite soon, planning to release a debut CD in the first quarter of 2010. According to Mike Drudge, who will represent the band, they are in discussion with a label but nothing has been finalized.
Mike says that they will do some dates soon in support of Adam Steffey’s new CD, One More For the Road, and that he is now accepting dates for them in 2010 and beyond.
We’ll find out more about this intriguing new group in the next few days, and report back on their plans, plus what will happen with both Blue Moon Rising, and JD Crowe & The New South, where Bowman had been playing bass.
It’s December, so that means it’s time for more band explosions.
Next up is The Dan Tymisnki Band. It was a great ride while it lasted, and everyone who had a chance to catch them live should cherish the memory. With Alison Krauss headed back into the studio, and planning to tour in 2010, Dan and Barry Bales will be tied up with AKUS. So Adam Steffey and Ron Stewart have helped start a new group that has also decimated Blue Moon Rising.
They will be known as The Boxcars with Steffey on mandolin, Stewart on banjo, John Bowman on fiddle, and former Blue Moon Rising members Harold Nixon on bass and Keith Garrett on guitar. Both Bowman and Garrett are outstanding vocalists, and Steffey will also contribute his distinctive vocal style to the band’s sound.
They will be in the studio quite soon, planning to release a debut CD in the first quarter of 2010. According to Mike Drudge, who will represent the band, they are in discussion with a label but nothing has been finalized.
Mike says that they will do some dates soon in support of Adam Steffey’s new CD, One More For the Road, and that he is now accepting dates for them in 2010 and beyond.
We’ll find out more about this intriguing new group in the next few days, and report back on their plans, plus what will happen with both Blue Moon Rising, and JD Crowe & The New South, where Bowman had been playing bass.
This latest release from J.D. Crowe & The New South has been so long in coming that guitarist, vocalist and emcee Ricky Wasson had taken to joking on stage that he wasn’t going to even suggest when it was due out any longer. Fans would know it was available when they saw it on the table.
It has been quite some time since the tracks were recorded and the CD’s release (10/10), owing to concerns about mixing, re-mixing and such technical issues, but all that is moot now, and fans will indeed see it on the table at New South shows, and wherever they purchase bluegrass music.
I had a chance to listen to the CD over the weekend, and one thing in particular stood out. This may seem like a celebration of the obvious, but bear with me: Lefty’s Old Guitar sounds precisely like a recording from J.D. Crowe & The New South. From the choice of material to the arrangements and the performances, this project sounds like there have been no changes in the way bluegrass music is played since Crowe redefined the genre in 1975 with his classic Rounder 0044 album – and that’s not a complaint.
It’s all there: Crowe’s silky banjo playing, with his always-imaginative backup; the two lead vocalists, one a deep baritone and the other a soaring tenor; virtuouso performances all around; a mix of uptempo songs and thoughtful ballads. There’s even one trademark Crowe ending featuring the familiar sort of mildly jarring, unexpected chord change we have heard from them so many times in the past.
Lefty’s Old Guitarfeatures the current New South lineup: Ricky Wasson on guitar and vocal, Dwight McCall on mandolin and vocal, Ron Stewart on fiddle, Harold Nixon on bass, and Crowe on banjo and vocal.
Unfortunately, I could not turn up any audio samples yet online, even on the Rounder, New South and Amazon sites. Nor does it show up yet in Apple’s iTunes Music Store. We’ll keep an eye out, and post an update when some audio samples turn up, as they are sure to do shortly after the official release date hits tomorrow.
