australianbluegrass.com

The November issue of The Bluegrass Special now in Cyberspace.

This month Rosanne Cash, Patty Loveless and Maria Muldaur talk at length about their new albums. Reviews this month include a Gospel Set pairing of the Issac’s – Naturally, and the Gaither Vocal Band’s – Reunited.

Other articles in this month’s issue include a main feature on the desperate situation in the Coal River Valley of West Virginia, where mountaintop removal coal mining is destroying the Appalachian Mountain range, the culture of Appalachia, and endangering the lives of people in the valley.

America adores its Adirondacks and reveres the Rockies, while the Appalachian Mountains – with their impoverished and alienated population – are dismantled by coal moguls who dominate state politics and have little to prevent them from blasting the physical landscape to smithereens - Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Album reviews include:

1. Sam Bush – Circles Around Me
2. Emmitt-Nershi Band – New Country Blues
3. Ricky Skaggs – Songs My Dad Loved
4. Ralph Stanley – Can’t You Hear The Mountains Calling
5. Yonder Mountain String Band – The Show

Visit the Bluegrass Special Website

Publications Bluegrass Special, Ralph Stanley, Ricky Skaggs, Sam Bush

I Hear a Voice Calling

During the final years of Bill Monroe’s life, bluegrass fiddler Gene Lowinger took a series of on and off-stage photographs of Monroe on the road, preparing for shows, performing, interacting with fans and audiences and in informal settings with family, friends, and fellow musicians.

This book presents this collection of photos of Monroe’s last years as well as other photos documenting Lowinger’s involvement with the bluegrass scene beginning in the early 1960s. As a fiddler for Monroe, Lowinger was given unique access to Monroe’s private life, and his photographs capture poignant scenes, from energetic performances to moments of quiet repose.

Lowinger’s photos accompany his own story of a New Jersey boy obsessed with folk and bluegrass music, and he recounts college trips to country music parks in Pennsylvania to see Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, Mac Wiseman, and Bill Monroe; his stints as a fiddler for the New York Ramblers and Blue Grass Boys; and his memories of playing at the Grand Ole Opry and music festivals. A photographic reflection on Bill Monroe’s public and private life, I Hear a Voice Calling also testifies to the bluegrass master’s profound mentorship and guidance.

I’ve known Gene Lowinger since our early days in the urban bluegrass scene of the sixties. His photographs have always offered unique perspectives on unique subjects. Now they are skillfully melded with personal remembrances of his own singular career as a ‘Jewish Blue Grass Boy.‘- David Grisman.

This amazing photo collection and others can also be seen on Gene Lowinger’s website

Publications Bill Monroe

Capital News is Australia’s premier country music magazine. It has been around for many years and is released monthly.  The magazine features the latest news in the country music field, both in Australia and abroad, and has regular album reviews, gig guides, festival guides and columns on specialised areas such as bluegrass, alternative music, cyberspace and songwriting.

One of the regular features in the magazine is Bluegrass Scene, presented by Tony Lake. It is a regular column in Capital News and features the latest in bluegrass news and album reviews.

To submit information to the Bluegrass Scene on bluegrass in Australia, please contact Tony at tony.lake@amtac.net.

The August edition of Capital News magazine is currently in newsagents.  This month includes articles on country music and trucking, Liam Brew, Bellbird Music, Steve Eales, Rodney Atkins and a new collaboration between Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel.

Tony Lake’s Bluegrass Scene features information on the World of Bluegrass being held in Nashville Tennessee from 28 September to 4 October, and reviews of the latest Davidson Brothers album Born to Play and Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver’s Lonely Street.

The magazine is available at newsagents on the first Thursday of each month.  For more information, including subscriptions, log onto http://www.capitalnews.com.au/ or contact Cheryl Byrnes on 02 6768 5812.

Publications Capital News

This month Bluegrass Special marks the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival, alongside the other signal events of 1969.
Contributing Editor Billy Altman, who attended Woodstock, looks back on that memorable decade-ending summer when the world was first changed by the sight of a man walking on the moon a month before half a million young people descended on a farm in Bethel, NY, for three days of peace, love & music, as the posters proclaimed.

Bluegrass Special’s cover subject this month is also celebrating an anniversary. Bluegrass great Doyle Lawson marks his 30th year as a solo recording artist this year. In The Bluegrass Special.com interview, Lawson discusses his powerful new album Lonely Street, his early inspirations as an artist, and the work ethic he gained from his farmer father that he’s put into practical application in sustaining one of the most productive careers in bluegrass history.

This month’s reviews include:

• Mary Flower – Bridges
• Alecia Nugent – Hillbilly Goddess
• Chris Pandolfi – Looking Glass
• Kacey Jones – Donald Trump’s Hair
• Bill Noonan – The Man That I Can’t Be
• Daryl Singletary – Rockin’ In the Country
• Russel Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out

Bluegrass Special – August 2009

Publications Bluegrass Special

Gary ‘Rainbow‘ Roberts of  Strzelecki Stringbusters fame, has given us the heads up on yet another free Internet offer. This one is from the great Americana Rhythm Magazine, and is offering a free download of their current publication.

This is a no strings attached offer. I have a copy downloaded and it’s a winner.

Launched in August of 2005, Americana Rhythm’s mission is one of gathering, into one place, *Americana  music, musicians, and music culture, of the Shanandoah Valley of Virginia, Central Virginia, Blue Ridge, Piedmont, The Virginia Highlands, South West Virginia, the West Virginia Panhandle, and points in, around, and in between, and this is it!
Thanks Gary

Visit the website and grab a copy now.

Publications Promotions

Acoustic Guitar Magazine has brought our attention to a new book called Guy’s Grids, the ultimate chord book—for beginner through advanced.

The fretboard is a maze of possibilities. Mastering a full repertoire of chords can be overwhelming.  Guy’s Grids is a 228-page compendium of chords laid out in the most useful way for memorization.

• Easily expand your chord vocabulary by visualizing chord relationships
• Use the Grids to enhance memory retention while reinforcing understanding of chord theory
• Play the practice progressions with the accompanying CD to refine your playing skills

Visit the GuysGrids.com links above for more details.

Publications Promotions

The June 2009 issue of Bluegrass Special is now available online at The Bluegrass Special.com

This months features an interview with Michael Martin Murphy in which he discusses his long-time commitment to the American farmer and his love of the land.

The June issue also features reviews of Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver’s new CD Lonely Street and the Red Stick Ramblers CD My Suitcase Is Always Packed.

Publications Bluegrass Special

Bob Cherry has alerted us, via the Cybergrass website, to a problem in relation to the above magazine launch which we brought you news of last September.

It appears that the premier issue – to be launched at last years Jerusalem Ridge Festival – never appeared, nor has subsequent issues. It now seems that the magazine never reached its required subscriber numbers to fund the first publication.

Additional reading Cybergrass Website

Publications General News

Alison Brown – Compass Records Founder

Bluegrass Special announces the release of their May 2009 edition. This month features Alison Brown, the banjo virtuoso and founder of Compass Records.

Alison is the first woman, and one of only two ever, to win the IBMA’s Banjo Player of the Year Award. This is a special occasion for Brown and Compass Records, as the label marks its 15th year of adventurous, genre-bending musical offerings that take roots music to another level entirely.

Visit – Bluegrass Special May 2009.

Publications Bluegrass Special

March-April 2009 Featuring Lonesome River Band

In this month’s BMP’s Songwriter Profile: Stan Keach, Lead vocalist Brandon Rickman gets personal with BMP. He talks about his early days with the band, why he left, and his return in 2007. He touches on his songwriting talent, his influences and the band’s new project No Turning Back. www.lonesomeriverband.com

Also inside this issue – Williams & Clark Expedition, Bluegrass Side of Charlie Daniels, Remembering Butch Baldassari, The Poirier Family Band, Shop Talk: Alan Munde, Bluegrass Favorites: Rickey Wasson, and Darren Beachley; DJ Profiles: Bill Hensley; Promoter Profile: C.R. Wilson.

Publications Promotions

The BluegrassSpecial.com  announces its first  first anniversary.

This month’s edition features Dailey and Vincent one of bluegrass’s latest and hotest property. Other features this months include Raul Malo, Mark O’Connor, Mickey Clark, and Mickey Raphael on Willie Nelson.

Bluegrass Special also festurs reviews of:

• DVD: Ron Block – A Fresh Look at Bluegrass Banjo
• Dailey and Vincent – Brothers From Different Mothers
• Bobby Osborne – Bluegrass and Beyond

We are humbled by the support we’ve received from publicists and others in the music business; we are humbled by the kind words from artists we have profiled in these pages; we are humbled by readership numbers we could not have imagined in our most fevered dreams back then. Thanks to one and all for believing in what we’re doing and for seeking us out – David McGee, TheBluegrassSpecial.com.

See the online publication TheBluegrassSpecial.com

Publications Bluegrass Special

David McGee and his team at Bluegrass Special that this months e-mag is now available.

This month’s Reviews include: Fontaine Brown – Tales From the Fence Line; Mickey Clark – Winding Highways; Pam Gadd – Benefit Of Doubt; Megan Munroe – One More Broken String; Michael Martin Murphey – Buckaroo Blue Grass; Darryl Rhoades – Weapons Of Mass Deception; April Verch – Steal the Blue; Randy Weeks – Going My Way.

Next Month is Bluegrass Special’s 1st Anniversay and the issue will feature an exclusive cover story with the hottest bluegrass band in the land, Dailey and Vincent, telling all the deep, dark secrets about their powerful new album, Brothers From Different Mothers.

See The Bluegrass Special Now online

Publications Bluegrass Special

The February edition of  the BluegrassSpecial.com is available from their website.

News this month sees a new contributing editor  Christopher Hill’s whose writing has appeared in Spin Magazine, the Los Angeles and Chicago Readers, Chicago Magazine, Summit: The Mountain Journal, and other publications.

Chris was also a contributing editor for four years at Record Magazine. His work has been anthologized in the Rolling Stone Record Review.  He has been an award-winning video producer, an editor, and a communications director for a large non-profit organization. His writing has received the Episcopal Communicators and the Associated Church Press awards. His book, Holidays and Holy Nights, was published by Quest Books in 2005.

…We also welcome a new artist to our cover: Colorado-based singer-songwriter Gabrielle Louise, whose second album, Cigarettes for Sentiments, was produced by the estimable bluegrass veteran Gene Libbea, whom we heard from this past October in our Bearfoot cover story, the Alaska bluegrassers being another stellar Libbea production. Ms. Louise is the first installment in our ‘Artists On the Verge’, 2009 series, spotlighting new artists we feel are on the verge of, well, something big. David McGee Publisher/Editor.

Check out BluegrassSpecial.com

Publications Bluegrass Special

Siminoff’s Luthiers Glossary, First Edition, is a new publication by Roger H. Siminoff of Siminoff Banjo & Mandolin of Arroyo Grand, California.

This publication includes over 800 technical reference terms that are used in the design, construction, and production of string musical instruments and thus is aimed primarily at the instrument builder.

Available direct from Siminoff Website

Publications Roger Siminoff

Mel Bay Publications announces a comprehensive repertoire book of fiddle tunes adapted for banjo, in easy to read tablature. This publication is by renowned player and teacher of the 5-String Banjo, Tony Trischka.

For the early picker to the advanced player, this book and its companion recordings – on 2 CDs – will enable the player to learn by example and broaden their technical range.

Fiddle tunes have been adapted for banjo since the early 1850’s. The explorations contained in this publication include a collection of popular American fiddle tunes and a section of Celtic tunes played in the three major bluegrass banjo styles. These Bluegrass, Old Time and Celtic banjo traditions will expand the players knowledge of the instrument and deepen their understanding of bluegrass and traditional music.

The techniques employed in this publication will build the players technical prowess and broaden their enjoyment of playing.

• Repertoire of fiddle tunes for the early to the advanced banjo player.
• In easy to read tablature with 2 companion CDs.
• Expands the players¡¦ knowledge of Bluegrass banjo styles and banjo music.
• Builds playing skills and adds variety to their playing.

Publications Tony Trischka