We’ve had a lot on Bluegrass Today of late about the new CMH Records bluegrass Van Halen tribute release, Strummin’ With The Devil – almost on a daily basis this past week or so. We hope that our readers with no interest in this project will excuse the focus it has been given, but we find that the wide media attention this project has generated is at least of interest to folks who work in the bluegrass world, and find it newsworthy on that front alone.
We see that the Van Halen tribute now has its own web site, which not only includes news, reviews and a bulletin board discussion forum, but complete bios of the various bluegrass artists who contributed to the recording, with links to their official sites. Fans of Van Halen who stumble onto this CD will have a excellent opportunity to learn more about Blue Highway, David Grisman, John Cowan, Nashville Bluegrass Band et al.
The one quibble we might have with the artists page is that the members of what is billed as the John Jorgenson Bluegrass band on the CD get no mention, and these are the folks who perform on the tracks with David Lee Roth that are generating so much attention! It would nice to see Scott Vestal, Brad Davis and Stuart Duncan’s name on the list of performers.
Visit the Strummin’ With The Devil site here.
We also mentioned another CMH title earlier this week, Bluegrass Gospel Karaoke, which was released yesterday (6/6). We obtained a few more details about this CD which may be of interest.
The CD contains 8 bluegrass Gospel favorites, and each track is presented twice, one with a guide vocal, and one without. There are harmony vocals available as well, but we still aren’t sure whether they appear on the karaoke tracks or just the guide track. This sounds like a great practice tool for aspiring singers, or just a fun way to belt out some favorites with a bluegrass band behind you.
