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Greg McGrath

Hill Country Re-released by Rounder Records

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Long unavailable, the legacy of Tony Trischka’s 1985 album Hill Country has been kept alive by musicians and fans via carefully guarded vinyl pressings and cassette dubs. On October 21 Rounder Records will release the highly anticipated re-mastered edition, complete with extensive new notes and a bonus track, restoring to print a pivotal piece of bluegrass history.

By investigating his roots in the tradition, maverick banjo virtuoso Tony Trischka crafted an album that revealed limitless potential for innovation within the boundaries of classic bluegrass and inspiring all those who heard it.

Featured performers include Sam Bush, Dudley Connell, Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Del McCoury, Jerry McCoury, Ronnie McCoury, Mark O’Connor, Sonny Osborne, Tony Rice, Eddie Stubbs, and more.

In support of Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular, Trischka performed on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Live with Regis & Kelly.

Track listing for Hill Country:
1. Brandy Station
2. Sunny Days
3. Bloozinee
4. Crossville Breakdown
5. Looking for the Light
6. Hill Country
7. New York Chimes
8. Flat Gap
9. Strawberry Plains
10. Mississippi Sawyer
11. Stop Action
12. Crosseyed Cricket
Bonus Track:
13. Buffalo Creek
Posted by Rounder Records
Photo Credit Angelika Rinnhofer 2005

Cowtippers – Semaphore Music Festival

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Adelaide’s Cowtippers will again be appearing at the Semaphore Music Festival on the Labour Day long weekend. The Semaphore Music Festival has gained a reputation for showcasing acts that straddle the white line at the crossroads of alt-country, bluegrass and other roots music.

Semaphore Music Festival is held on South Australia’s Labour Day Long Weekend 3-6 October, 2008.
The Cowtippers will be appearing at The Federal Hotel, Semaphore Road at 7pm on Saturday the 4th of October.

More information can be found on the Festival Website
For more information on The Cowtippers

Country Music Goodness Interviews Earl Scruggs

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While trawling the Internet, one runs across many and varied sites. From time to time there are a few gems that emerge. Country Music Goodness.com is one of those gems.

CMG an online source for interviews, album reviews, concert reviews, news, viewing, slandering, loving, and all other things that are great in the country music world.

The CMG website describes them and having a heart-beat for all things country music, and that is all across the genre board of what is called Country.We will be covering Classic country, Texas Country, Americana, Old Timey, High Lonesome, Folk, Bluegrass, Nashvillesqe country, indie country.

A fine job they have done too. Catch the interview with Earl Scruggs which starts off:

Country Music Goodness: What kind of music do you like?

Earl Scruggs: My real soul satisfying music would be bluegrass but I like any good country music, country I’m talking about. I like the other kind but I don’t understand it quite as well.

CMG: Do you love rap?

Earl Scruggs: What’s rap?

Read more at Country Music Goodness

Alison Krauss Nominated for CMA Award

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akIs it Bluegrass or Country?

Alison Krauss has been nominated by the Country Music Association for two CMA Awards in the categories of Female Vocalist of the Year and she and Robert Plant have been nominated for Musical Event of the Year for their recent single Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On) off their Raising Sand album.

Rounder Record artist, Alison Krauss is one of the biggest selling Bluegrass artists of all time, and her CMA nomination provides some answers as to her popularity with an obvious country music fan base. Alison Krauss has been nominated in the category of CMA Female Vocalist of the Year three out of the last four years.

The 2008 Country Music Awards will be broadcast live from the Sommet Centre in Nashville Tennessee.

Krauss’s new DVD A Hundred Miles or More: Live From The Tracking Room will be released on November 11, the day before the Country Music Awards ceremony, and will feature Alison Krauss performing songs from her critically acclaimed solo album, A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection with members of her band, Union Station, and special guest musicians.

Additional reading:
* The Bluegrass Journal
* The 9513
* Alison Krauss Website

Skaggs Taps Bluegrass History | South Bend Tribune

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rickyskaggsTom Conway, correspondent for the South Bend Tribune writes:

Ricky Skaggs found fame in the 1980s playing country music, but in the 1990s he returned to his first love, bluegrass music, and he hasn’t looked back since. Well, that’s not entirely true, in fact, the multiple Grammy Award-winning singer did look back into the past, both his own and the bluegrass genre, for his two latest albums, The High Notes and Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947.

Bluegrass music, which has enjoyed a recent resurgence in popularity, was fashioned by Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, as well as the Stanley Brothers, in the mid-40s, and the advent of radio and television helped expand the reach of the music.

Skaggs, sometimes known as bluegrass music’s official ambassador, forms the bridge from its past to its future, having performed with the fathers as well as the new generation of bluegrass artists.

Read the full story: South Bend Tribune

WSM Grand Ole Opry Radio Show – BGP

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bgpBluegrass Parkway are a special presentation at the Dorrigo Theatre – Live in 45 WSM Grand Ole Opry Radio Show as part of this year’s Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival.

Take a step back in time to hear what rural radio used to sound like in its early, formative years; beamed into homesteads right across the entire Appalachian region by way of the WSM Grand Ole Opry radio show. The presentation features live music, from BLuegrass Parkway, an authentic 1940s DJ commentary, digitally projected archival footage and stills and theatrical lighting.
The year is 1945 and you are listening to bluegrass through the most influential medium of the day the wireless.

Early morning radio broadcasts brought a vast array of important information to the rural communities of the Appalachia. It also brought with it entertainment in the form of live music, broadcast directly into the kitchen. Small local radio stations booked bands from around the area as well as from interstate to present their music along with the current corn and hog prices!

So, sit down to the morning coffee, let the wireless valves warm up and soak in the atmosphere of the era as Bluegrass Parkway present, live on stage, the WSM Grand Ole Opry Radio Show

Jerusalem Ridge Magazine Launch

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jrmKeystone Products Direct announces the coming release of Jerusalem Ridge Magazine, conceived and dedicated to the promotion and preservation of traditional bluegrass, old-time and acoustic string music.

The publisher’s website reveals plans to publish the magazine quarterly, and each issue will spotlight in-depth stories, interviews, information and regular features about about the creators, performers, fans and supporters of traditional bluegrass and old-time acoustic string music in the true spirit of those music legends that helped to shape this truly American art form.

Stories, Interviews and Features:
Ralph Stanley: 60 Years in Bluegrass
Phillip Steinmetz: Carrying on the Tradition
The Bluegrass Boys: A Vanishing Breed
Al Jones & Carolina Rose: Bluegrass Bluebloods
Music Milestones, CD Reviews, Picker’s Corner, and much more

The website aims to provide a view to the contents of the current issue of Jerusalem Ridge Magazine, as well as condensed, preview versions of the stories, articles and regular features.

Traditional bluegrass fans may recognize the title Jerusalem Ridge as one of Bill Monroe’s most famous and haunting instrumental tunes written as a tribute to the Monroe family farm where Bill grew up and learned his musical roots from his friends and family members, most notably his beloved Uncle Pen VanDiver.

Bill, along with brothers Charlie and Birch, developed a distinctive vocal and musical style, blending old world Scottish-Celtic folk tunes with blues/spiritual/mountain music prevalent in the region. They spent many hours picking & singing on the porch of their family cabin, later to be immortalized in one of Bill Monroe’s signature tunes, I’m Goin’ Back To The Old Home,and which to this day is one of his most famous and often played songs.

The premiere issue is scheduled for release at this year’s Jerusalem Ridge Bluegrass Celebration in Rosine, Kentucky, October 2-5, 2008. After that it will be distributed at a festival, event or music retailer near you. But even if you can’t attend this year’s festival you can still be sure to get your very own copy of JRM by subscribing from their website

Read more Jerusalem Ridge Magazine

Southland to Play Fleurieu Festival

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Southland to play at the Fleurieu Folk Festival in Wilunga, South Australia, on 24th – 26th October 2008.

The Fleurieu Folk Festival website describes the festival as fantastic family fun. Set in the beautiful historic town of Willunga on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula, the festival presents a weekend of music concerts and sessions, dance, workshops, bush poets, children’s entertainment, stalls, in fact there’s something there for the whole family.

The majority of the Festival is FREE with only a small entry charge of $10 per day for the major concert venue.

Additional reading – Fleurieu Folk Festival
Submitted by Paul Thompson

Bionic Banjo Player – Eddie Adcock

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eddieadcockEddie Adcock, has picked up a new title after recently undergoing brain surgery to correct a right hand tremor. Eddie Adcock in now the Bionic Banjo Player.

The surgery – called Deep Brain Stimulation required implanting an electrode into Eddie’s brain tissue along with a battery-powered generator within his chest cavity. The technologically advanced procedure was performed in multiple stages over the month of August in Nashville, Tennessee, at Vanderbilt Medical Center, a teaching and research hospital which is a world leader in neurological studies and surgeries.

Eddie Adcock entertains the doctors with his Deering Good Time banjo during Pre-Op (pictured).

Sierra Hulls in Billy: The Early Years

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sierrahullNews from the Bluegrass Journal:

The upcoming Billy Graham movie, Billy: The Early Years, will feature sixteen-year-old Rounder artist Sierra Hull who plays Billy Graham’s sister, Catherine.

The movie opens in select theaters across the USA on October 10. The film was produced by Robbie Benson and includes Hull singing Graham’s favorite song, Just As I Am. Hull’s performance of Just as I Am is also included on the original motion picture soundtrack, where she is joined by an all-star choir of John Cowan, Harry Stinson, Ronnie Bowman, Ronnie McCoury, and John Wesley Ryles.

Sierra Hull has also been nominated by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) for the 2008 Mandolin Player of the Year Award. The winners will be named at the IBMA Awards ceremony in Nashville, TN on Thursday, 2nd October.

Read the full story on The Bluegrass Journal