Big congratulations go out to former Blue Grass Boy Blake Williams, and his wife Kimberly of East Public Relations, on the birth of their third grandchild.
Aiden Blake Cantrell, first child for their daughter Alicia and her husband, Houston Cantrell, was born August 14 at 7:45 a.m. He weighed in at just over 9 pounds, at 21.5 inches long.
Kimberly tells us that’s Aiden has his granddaddy’s legs, as well as his middle name.
Today (5/14) marks the release of Stormy Horizons, a new CD project from The Expedition Show, on Mountain Fever Records.
Fans can hear the entire record this week on Sirius-XM’s Track-by-Track with Kyle Cantrell, starting on Wednesday (5/15) at 11:00 a.m. (EDT). The show will re-air on Thursday at 9:00 p.m. and on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. It will air on channel 61, Bluegrass Junction.
Banjo picker and founding member Blake Williams shared this quick overview of the album:
“We’ve always put great thought into providing a true listening experience with each project we’ve released through song selection and arrangements. Wayne, Alex and I all contributed original songs to this project but we’ve also reached back and recorded songs by Hank Williams, Sr. and Earl Scruggs. And the title cut was a song we’d heard Jim & Jesse do for years that was co-written by Ira Louvin. This is our 7th CD as a band and as with all of them, Tim Crouch adds some amazing fiddle and we were also honored to have our dear friend Phil Leadbetter play dobro of 3 tracks.”
The “Wayne” Blake mentioned is the band’s guitarist, Wayne Southards, and Alex is their mando man, Alex Hibbitts. Rounding out The Show is Kimberly Williams on bass.
They will be celebrating the CD release with a special concert in Rolla, MO at the Ozark Actor’s Theatre on Thursday night.
Radio programmers can download the Stormy Horizons tracks now from Airplay Direct.
The title track of the upcoming Expedition Show album, Stormy Horizons, is released today to bluegrass radio. It’s their revised arrangement of a Jim & Jesse classic from 1960, with a decided Louvin Brothers vibe.
The 12-track project will include new songs from band members Blake Williams, Wayne Southards, and Alex Hibbitts, along with a number of bluegrass classics.
Williams, a former Blue Grass Boy, is on banjo, along with his charming and talented wife, Kimberly, on bass, Southards on guitar, and Hibbitts on mandolin.
Here’s a taste of the track, available to radio programmers through Airplay Direct.
Blake shared a few comments about the single.
“Wayne suggested we record Stormy Horizons for this CD, which was written by Ira Louvin and Iris Franks and recorded by Jim & Jesse & The Virginia Boys many years ago. The song itself is so beautifully written, with some of the most captivating lyrics I’ve ever heard.
We made a few changes to Jim & Jesse’s version to make it fit our style a little more, such as using 4/4 bass on the choruses and instrumental breaks as opposed to walking bass throughout the whole song. Wayne and Kimberly duet on the versus and Alex adds baritone to the choruses.
And of course, we brought in Tim Crouch, who has played on all our records, to do some triple fiddles.
The response from fans and DJs to our duets has been a strong point for us in the past, and we’re really happy with the way this song turned out.”
Look for the Stormy Horizons CD from Mountain Fever Records on May 14.
The Expedition Show is recording this month, sequestering themselves at Depression Lies Studio in Sevierville, TN. That’s the studio owned and operated by Show mandolinist, Alex Hibbitts.
The new album will be released on Mountain Fever Records sometime in the Spring or early Summer of 2013.
The band is fronted by the husband/wife team of Blake Williams on banjo and Kimberly Williams on bass, with Wayne Southards on guitar along with Hibbitts on mandolin.
Kimberly sent along a a video, plus this description of the project so far.
“The album is self-produced by The Expedition Show and, so far, we’ve recorded songs written by Blake, one by Alex, as well as some new arrangements on some great old traditional tunes. We’ll also have more duets on here with Wayne and I than on previous records.
And we’ve recorded the saddest song I’ve ever heard, also written by Blake. In fact, it’s so sad that every time I try to talk about it I start to cry!
We’ll have a couple of special guests on it as well including our good friend Phil Leadbetter who’ll play Dobro on a couple songs for us. And as always, our buddy Tim Crouch is playing fiddle.”
Detour, Michigan’s hottest bluegrass band, has been announced as the newest artist to be represented by Roe Entertainment.
The group has made a big splash with their latest CD, A Better Place, whose opening track, Quarterline Road, has spent several weeks at or near the top of our Bluegrass TodayWeekly Airplay Chart since it was released last month.
Detour is anchored by the lead vocals of their most recent member, Missy Armstrong, with Jeff Rose on mandolin, Scott Zylstra on guitar, Jack Grant on bass, Peter Knupfer on fiddle and Kevin Gaugier on banjo. Though Missy is the primary vocalist, all but Peter take a share of the vocal duties.
Jim Roe, principal at Roe Entertainment, tells us that he has had his eye on the band for almost a year.
“After the 2011 WOB Missy sent me some roughs on a few cuts that were going to be coming out on Detour’s new CD A Better Place. I was truly blown away from the first listen and have been in touch with them ever since. When I saw the radio airplay immediately take off, I made plans to see the entire band perform live, and again I was blown away.
They are the complete package on and off the stage – great material and arrangements on their originals and covers. They have been playing predominantly in the Midwest the past several years, mostly in Michigan, but they are ready to go coast to coast now and I don’t think a detour will stop them from doing it.”
Detour joins other notable acts like Danny Paisley, The Tuttles with A.J. Lee, Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, The Expedition Show, and Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper as Roe clients.
Roe Entertainment has welcomed two new acts into their roster for 2012.
In addition to such celebrated artists as Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Lonesome River Band, Dale Ann Bradley, Chris Jones, and Danny Paisley, Jim Roe is now representing The Tuttles with A.J. Lee, and The Expedition Show.
The Tuttles are a trio of young California pickers (Michael, Sullivan and Molly), under their dad, Jack’s direction, who have teamed up with another talented west coast youngster in A.J. Lee. Their first album together was released in the Fall of 2010, and they got Roe’s attention at IBMA 2011 where he signed them on the spot.
Here’s a couple of live videos from their shows…
The Expedition Show comes from the other side of the street. This a quartet of veteran performers, who are already familiar faces on the concert and festival circuit.
The group consists of former Blue Grass Boy Blake Williams on banjo, his wife Kimberly on bass, Wayne Southards on guitar and Alex Hibbitts on mandolin. Before re-forming as The Expedition Show, Wayne, Blake and Kimberly worked for many years with Bobby Clark as The Williams and Clark Expedition. Then, and now, their show has been noteworthy both for quality music, and hilarious on-stage comedy.
Here’s a look at them on stage.
Information on both groups can be found at the Roe Entertainment web site.
Kimberly Williams, bass player and vocalist with The Expedition Show, and principal with East Public Relations, is at home recovering from gall bladder surgery earlier this week.
She is on light duty for a bit, but is back at work just two days after going under the knife on Monday.
Williams tells us that this medical situation came up suddenly.
“I started having pain a couple of weeks ago and after some tests, the doctor recommended I have my gall bladder removed as soon as possible. The surgery went great and I’m expected to be at a 100% very soon.
Luckily it happened at a time when our band had a couple weeks off so I won’t miss any shows. But I still plan on making Blake carry my bass till at least the end of the year!”
Kimberly is married to Expedition Show banjo picker (and former Blue Grass Boy) Blake Williams.
She asked us to pass along her sincere thanks to all the people who have reached out with prayers and well wishes.
The first single from The Expedition Show, the self-titled debut album from… you guessed it… The Expedition Show, has been sent to radio. The full CD is set for a February 28 release on Mountain Fever Records.
The group features Blake Williams on banjo, Wayne Southards on guitar, Alex Hibbitts on mandolin and Kimberly Williams on bass. Blake, Kimberly and Wayne worked together with Bobby Clark as Williams & Clark Expedition from 2002 until Bobby left in 2009, at which time they reconstituted as The Expedition Show.
Blake has a long history in bluegrass, having worked for both Bill Monroe and Lester Flatt in his youth. He explained a bit about what he learned from the masters, and how he incorporates those lessons into the new group.
“When we started this band, we wanted to be different from anyone else out there. With Wayne and Kimberly both singing lead and harmony, we immediately offer a variety for the listeners and we also write a lot of our own songs. And another thing we wanted to do was to put on an entertaining show. When I worked with Lester Flatt back in the 70’s, he made a point to call his performances a ‘show.’ Every time he stepped on stage, he set out to entertain and not just perform but give that audience a ‘show,’ and I learned very early on that if you can entertain a crowd, not just play to them, then you’ve done what you’re supposed to do when you’re on stage.
I’ve always thought if people were laughing, they’re forgetting their troubles. If you aren’t smiling or laughing throughout our show, then we’re not doing our job as entertainers.”
Mark Hodges at Mountain Fever is happy to have The Expedition Show come aboard, and described the difficulty he faced in choosing a track to push forward in advance of the release.
“We had a real dilemma when choosing the first single for this record. The whole project is really great and offers so much variety with traditional and contemporary styles, original songs and standards, up-tempos and ballads, even a gospel quartet number. But we finally selected Backroads And Little Towns because it truly represents what The Expedition Show is all about, down-home personalities, great picking and singing and wonderful, original writing.”
Backroads And Little Towns: [http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegrasscast/Backroads_And_Little_Towns.mp3]
Radio programmers can get a full resolution copy of the single from either AirPlay Direct or Radio Submit.
The dust is starting to settle from the bluegrass winter personnel rotations.
The Expedition Show, formerly Williams & Clark Expedition, welcomes mandolinist Alex Hibbitts from Johnson City, TN to the band. Alex, 23 years old, is a recent graduate of East Tennessee State University, where he obtained a bacherlor’s degree in accounting with a minor in bluegrass music from the school’s Bluegrass, Old Time & Country Music program. He has already worked with Randy Kohrs, Alecia Nugent and Wildfire, and has two solo CDs to his credit.
Alex joins long time Expedition members Kimberly Williams (bass, vocals), Blake Williams (banjo) and Wayne Southards (guitar, vocals). He tells us that he is stoked to join the band.
“It’s truly an honor to play such quality music with true professionals. We’re all on the same page when it comes to motivation, intensity, and dedication for the music we want to portray.”
You can visit The Expedition Show online for more details.