Bluegrass Underground has generated quite a buzz since the concert radio program debuted in 2008. Shows are recorded before a live audience each month, with segments broadcast weekly on WSM from Nashville. The buzz comes not just from the fabulous music they put out over the air, but also from the fact that Bluegrass Underground is taped in Cumberland Caverns, 333 feet under the ground near McMinnville, TN.
Show producer Todd Mayo was immediately charmed by the Volcano Room at the caverns, and believes that the acoustical purity of the space is an ideal setting for acoustic music.
From the start, the shows have been videotaped as well, with samples available on the web. This week, Mayo has announced that they will shoot a pilot on February 27 with WCTE in Cookeville, TN, and Emmy-winning producer Todd Jarrell, with an eye towards a regular series distributed in high definition to PBS affiliates across the US. Mayo tells us that he hopes it will become a new forum nationally for bluegrass and acoustic music.
“Bluegrass Underground is a labor of love for all who are part of it and the Volcano Room at Cumberland Caverns is one of the most majestic and magical spaces on, or under, earth. We are thrilled to be partnering with WCTE and Todd Jarrell who together have a track record of clearing quality cultural and musical television programming for national PBS audiences.”
The 2/27 taping will feature performances from John Cowan, The Greencards, Mike Farris and the McCrary Sisters.
Here’s a video of The Infamous Stringdusters that offers a look at this unique venue.
You’ll find all pertinent Bluegrass Underground info on their web site.
Barry was nominated in the Best Southern, Country, Or Bluegrass Gospel Album category for In God’s Time, and The Greencards for The Crystal Merchant as Best Country Instrumental Performance.
The main Grammy broadcast is scheduled for this Sunday, January 31, on CBS at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT), but the “other awards” like these are presented earlier in the day. You can follow the pre-telecast awards via online streaming from The Grammy web site starting at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time (4:00 Eastern).
Not only are several bluegrass/acoustic artists up for awards, the Gammies are highlighting bluegrass with a special performance during the early program. It will feature singer/songwriters Jim Lauderdale and Michael Martin Murphey, with Alison Brown on banjo and Bryan Sutton on guitar, Grammy winners all. Gabe Witcher of Punch Brothers will play fiddle.
With much of the south and central US snowed in, what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon?
The two goups are touring together this weekend and will pop in for the radio show tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. (EST). The two alt-grassers are in Birmingham, AL at the Workplay Theatre tonight and at The Square Room in Knoxville, TN on Saturday at The Square Room, where the radio show will originate in the afternoon.
Tune in Saturday in the Knoxville area at 102.9 FM, or catch the live audio stream online.
The Grand Ole Opry also has some great bluegrass on tap this weekend. Del McCoury and Randy Kohrs will both do sets tonight (1/15), as will The Whites and Mike Snider. Del, Mike and The Whites are back on Saturday’s Opry, and Bobby Osborne will appear as well.
Catch The Opry radio broadcast online at wsmonline.com, or on Sirius-XM satellite radio.
We also heard this week from Cadillac Sky with a concise overview of the band’s activities and accomplishments of late, and news of their individual activities in 2010 before they reassemble to tour in the spring.
“On Dec. 3rd, it was announced that the album C-Sky’s rousing guitarist, David Mayfield, who recorded and engineered for Barry Scott & Second wind In God’s Time, was nominated for a GRAMMY!! The award is in the Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album category. He is now, officially, David ‘Grammy Nominated recording engineer’ Mayfield. Congrats To Barry Scott and Second Wind as well!
As of a few months ago, The Dook, aka Bryan ‘The’ Simpson, achieved his first Top 5 songwriting credit. The Dook penned Blake Shelton’s recent single I’ll Just Hold On which climbed to #5 on the Billboard charts, and spent over 32 weeks in the top 40. This is the Dook’s second song to crack Billboard’s Top 20 with “Before I Knew Better” rising to #15 a few years ago.
Ross Holmes and Matt Menefee, C-Sky’s resident violinist and banjoist respectively, have recently started a new tour de force side project with some of their favorite people, not to mention musicians. The quartet, entitled The Good Thieves, includes Coloradan guitar guru Grant Gordy whose talents can also be heard with the David Grisman Quintet on a more regular basis, and North Carolina dobro revolutionary Billy Cardine, who is on a hiatus from his great band, The Biscuit Burners. The group will be releasing tour dates for 2010 soon, and promises to continue to explore and push the boundaries of new acoustic music.
Finally, Ross, the busy boy that he is, will be joining The Greencards on a few dates in 2010 to help fill the gap between Eamon’s departure on violin and the ever-ambiguous ‘new guy.’ He will be manning the violin Jan. 14, 15, 16, and 22nd as the Greencards hit the road with The Infamous Stringdusters. Being a big fan of The ‘Cards,’ it will be cool to see Ross adding his wares to their sound – if only as a brief affair.”
Sugar Hill Records has announced that international acoustic trio The Greencards have signed with the label to release their fourth CD project. Producer Jay Joyce is in the studio with the band now and the new album is expected in the spring of ’09.
The band is composed of Australians Kym Warner on mandolin and Carol Young on bass, along with Englishman Eamon McLoughlin on fiddle and viola. All three sing, with Young handling the bulk of the lead vocals.
The band name came to them when the group got its start in Austin, TX, with all three members being non-natives. Their sound has been a hit with audiences at clubs and eclectic music festivals, mixing various elements of acoustic American folk music with their original songs.
Sugar Hill A&R rep Gary Paczosa brought them into the family, and is psyched to have them on the label.
“The Greencards are a natural fit for us. I worked with them on two previous projects and have always been impressed by their musical vision and their focused approach to their career and development.”
Video journals from the studio are promised over the next few weeks, so keep an eye on their web site and MySpace page for updates.
Kym Warner, hot shot mandolinist with The Greencards, was interviewed recently on Saturday Night Country, broadcast from his native Australia. He is interviewed by show host John Nutting, and speaks about the group’s success of late, including finding their newest CD, Viridian, atop the Billboard bluegrass chart.
Kym moved from Australia and studied bluegrass muisc at South Plains College in Texas, and The Greencards were born while he was living in Austin. He lives now in Nashville when he isn’t out on the road with the band.
Kym is also featured in the current Spring ’07 issue of Mandolin Magazine, which includes a transcription for his song, Mucky The Duck, from Viridian.
You can hear the entire interview from Saturday Night Country on the show’s web site.
The Greencards are a trio of young pickers on the borders of bluegrass music playing what might appropriately be termed Americana music, or as I read on one site “underground folk with a bluegrass influence.” Two of the three, Warner and Young, are Australian while the third member, McLoughlin, is English. The three first met in Austin, TX at a recording session and the music was there from that moment on. They’ve been around for several years now and have released two previous albums. Currently on the verge of releasing their third, they’ve announced a promotional endeavor that includes the gifting of a Collings MT (A style) mandolin and a video iPod.
The new recording is titled Viridian and much of the instrumental magic on the project comes from the able fingers of mandolinist Kim Warner. Kim plays a Collings mandolin much of the time, though he also plays a Gilchrist at times. Based on Kim’s association with Collings this seems like a great way to promote the new recording.
Viridian consists of 12 tracks, many written or co-written by the band members. The disc also features special guests Bryan Sutton, Larry Attamanuik, Jedd Hughes, Andrea Zonn, Viktor Krauss, Doug Lancio, and Chris Carmichael. For the most part this isn’t a bluegrass album, but if you like Americana and bluegrass related acoustic music centered around vocals and mandolin, then this is an album you’ll want to check out. I will point out one particular tune that, even minus the banjo, is a great driving bluegrass tune. Lonesome Side Of Town was written by Kim Warner and Jerry Salley, and could very well be a tune you’ll hear in jam sessions not long after the albums release.
Viridian will be released on Dualtone records with a street date of March 6, 2007. Pre-orders are being accepted at this time from CDBaby.com.
The band is currently running an email promotion through their Myspace page in which the winner will receive a new Collings MT (A style) mandolin, courtesy of Collings. The promotion is a “Tell A Friend” kind of thing where you enter your name and email address, as well as the email addresses of your friends. The promotion entry page states that you are forwarding the page to a friend when you do this.
Those who forward this page to the most people will be eligible to receive prizes.
The wording of the page suggests your friends will receive an email with a link to the page so they can enter themselves, and one would hope that is all the marketing that will be done without their permission.
Prizes in the promotion include the mandolin mentioned above for 1st place. 2nd place is a video ipod, 3rd place is tickets to a show, and five 4th place winners will be given an autographed poster and copy of the new cd. All winners will be selected April 2nd.
