Scott Vestal

Leavin' Tennessee, the new CD from Butch Baldassari and Van Manakas which we mentioned last month, is now available online. In truth, it's much more of a Van Manakas than Butch Baldassari project. 12 of the 17 tracks are tunes he

SoundArt Recordings has announced an early August release for a new project from Butch Baldassari and Van Manakas, Leavin' Tennessee, which was completed shortly before Butch succumbed to an aggressive brain cancer in 2009. The album features Butch on mandolin with

Sam Bush has created a series of videos to highlight the music from his new Sugar Hill CD, Circles Around Me. Produced by Craig Havighurst of String Theory Media, they feature Sam and his talented band performing music from the

Banjo picker, producer and studio owner Scott Vestal has happy news to share. He and his wife Alice welcomed a son yesterday (3/26), born at 7:32 p.m. (EDT). Scott tells us that they haven't yet chosen a name, but that mom,

Randy Kohrs' record label, Left of Center Records, is soon to release a new resophonic guitar CD entitled, Hornography. Hornography serves as a tribute to resophonic guitar luthier, Tim Scheerhorn. Kohrs is joined on the CD by an all star line

After a trip to Florida this weekend, Grasstowne will be heading into the studio to get started on their second CD. Resonator guitarist Phil Leadbetter tells us that they have new songs from fellow band members Steve Gulley and Alan Bibey,

The American Made Banjo Co. will unveil their new lightweight banjo tone ring today at the SPBGMA convention in Nashville. The Aluminum Dannick tone ring came into being after American Made owner Tom Mirisola's search for a lighter banjo with a

Oregon based multi-instrumentalist, Joe Ross has recently announced the release of a third album in as many years. Following Festival Time Again (released in 2006) and Spirit of St. Louis (2007) albums, both featuring all-original songs, is a new CD entitled,

For many years now the legend of the Sidemen has lived on even though the group no longer performs at Nashville's Station Inn. In recent months, a new group of sidemen have come together to fill the void. They call themselves

Pinecastle Records has released three new CD projects this week, each of which we had previewed for you here prior to their street date. They have also launched a new, completely redesigned web site which Andy Evans at Pinecastle tells