Artists

Sam Bush Says Stop The Violence.

23 Mar, 19 by Greg McGrath Leave a Comment

In his first new music release since Storyman in 2016, Sam Bush leads the Sam Bush Band in a rocking, electric charge against the current climate of our culture. “Stop The Violence”, written by Bush and long-time collaborator Jeff Black, is reminiscent of so many great rock and roll protest songs of the 1960s, but is focused on the here-and-now; a world of mass shootings, polarised politics, and continued social inequality.

Classic Allman Brothers-esque twin-lead guitar, or in this case, electric mandolin and guitar, are interspersed throughout the song, driving home their point with urgency and fervour not commonly found in Bush’s usual world of bluegrass. Today, Rolling Stone debuted “Stop The Violence” along with its music video counterpart, shot and directed by photographer and cinematographer extraordinaire, David McClister. Rolling Stone notes, “Sam Bush delivers a clear call to action in his rousing new song Stop The Violence”.

After sitting on the instrumental portion of Stop The Violence, Sam Bush found himself hanging with co-writer Jeff Black; drinking coffee, shooting the breeze. When the conversation turned to the current state of the world – mass shootings, violence towards women and children and minorities – they began questioning if this was the new normal. Jeff asked Sam what he wanted the song to say and Sam simply replied, “stop the violence.”

Violence has become a disease, a bad gene in our DNA. It’s not normal, but it’s being normalised and it’s happening right in front of our kids. When Sam brought me the track and his vision for the song, I started thinking about all the folks who grow up in a violent environment, and that’s all they know. I think about the children in particular and how they are cast into it without a choice. I think the hope, because violence itself is taught and handed down through the generations, is that someday, by small acts, we can break the chain – Jeff Black.

All-in, Stop The Violence is a decree; a frustrated, weary cry to humankind to stop hurting each other and spread love. When asked about the song. I’m jumping on that peace train. Stop the violence – Sam Bush.

This single comes hot on the heels of Revival: The Sam Bush Story, a documentary released to the public via Amazon in November of last year. Written, produced, and directed by Wayne Franklin & Kris Wheeler, Revival not only chronicles the life and career of the newgrass creator, but weaves an emotional, inspiring story about the risks and rewards of being a musical iconoclast. Since its debut at the Nashville Film Festival in 2015, winning the audience award for Best Music Documentary, the crowd-pleasing film has played to packed houses and standing ovations at independent film festivals (Sidewalk Film Festival, St. Louis International, Big Sky, Noise Pop, IF Film, Durango, Port Townsend, Woods Hole, and Hurricane) across the country and has screened at IBMA, Telluride, Film Falmouth, and Hear BG, picking up three more best documentary awards along the way.

About Sam Bush:

There was only one prize-winning teenager carrying stones big enough to say thanks, but no thanks to Roy Acuff. Only one son of Kentucky finding a light of inspiration from Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys and catching a fire from Bob Marley and The Wailers. Only one progressive hippie allying with like-minded conspirators, rolling out the newgrass revolution, and then leaving the genre’s torch-bearing band behind as it reached its commercial peak. There is only one consensus pick of peers and predecessors, of the traditionalists, the rebels, and the next gen devotees. Music’s ultimate inside outsider. Or is it outside insider? There is only one Sam Bush.

He’s released seven albums, a live DVD, and a documentary over the past two decades and in 2009, the Americana Music Association awarded Bush the Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist. Punch Brothers, Steep Canyon Rangers, and Greensky Bluegrass are just a few present-day bluegrass vanguards among so many musicians he’s influenced. His performances are annual highlights of the festival circuit, with Bush’s joyous perennial appearances at the town’s famed bluegrass fest earning him the title, King of Telluride.

On tour:

March 23 – Boogie at the Broadmoor – Colorado Springs, CO
March 29 – Winter Wonder Grass – Olympic Valley, CA
April 13 – Big Sky Big Grass Festival – Big Sky, MT
April 18 – Germantown Performing Arts Center – Germantown, TN*
April 20 – Nashville Earth Day Festival – Nashville, TN
April 27 – MerleFest – Wilkesboro, NC
May 24 – Rooster Walk Music & Arts Festival – Axton, VA
May 26 – DelFest – Cumberland, MD
June 1 – John Hartford Memorial Festival – Morgantown, IN
June 14 – Blue Ox Music Festival – Eau Claire, WI
June 29 – ROMP Festival – Owensboro, KY

*with The Travelin’ McCourys.

Rising Appalachia – Leylines

21 Mar, 19 by Greg McGrath Leave a Comment

Sisters Leah and Chloe Smith, known musically as Rising Appalachia, have debuted a live performance video of the second single Cuckoo from their new full-length album Leylines,. This album will be released on 3rd May, 2019. Paste Magazine calls the track “upbeat and sturdy… rustic Appalachian music revamped for 2019. The studio version of “Cuckoo” will be released on Friday, but fans can pre-save the track on Spotify here. In February of this year, the band released Harmonize as the first single, which was premiered by Rolling Stone.

Leylines, the band’s seventh studio album, was produced by Joe Henry—the title alluding to the concept of invisible lines believed to stretch around the world between sacred spaces, bonded by a spiritual and magnetic presence. That deep sense of connection is key to understanding Rising Appalachia as a whole.

For the ten-day recording session in Marin County, CA, Rising Appalachia called on producer Joe Henry, along with longtime band members David Brown (stand-up bass, baritone guitar) and Biko Casini (world percussion, n’goni) and two new members, West African musician Arouna Diarra (n’goni, talking drum) and Irish musician Duncan Wickel (fiddle, cello) to bring new life to the band’s blend of world music laced with their own southern roots, creating an inviting folk album. Although Leah and Chloe Smith consider their voices to be their primary instrument, Leah also plays banjo and bodhran on the album, while Chloe plays guitar, fiddle, and banjo. Special guests on Leylines include folk hero Ani DiFranco, soulful songwriter Trevor Hall, and jazz trumpeter Maurice Turner.

Leylines runs the gamut with standout songs, all of which are freshly inspired and inspiring. “Cuckoo” brings together banjo, West African n’goni, and Irish fiddle to tackle the old-time Appalachian fiddle tune with a driving fervour. The uplifting and simple Sunny Days brightens the day with no more than the Smith sisters’ blend of voices and basic back beat hand claps for percussion. Rising Appalachia’s longtime favourite Ani DiFranco contributes her vocal stylings to Speak Out, a musical urge to protect the American South’s diversity, culture, and environmental wealth from the negative impact of consumption and capitalism in its modern age.

With some of our original songs, it’s a reflection of the times. We’re folk singers and we consider this a folk album, so there’s a lot in there. There’s word of politics, of being women in the music industry, as well as a lot about our lives on the road – Rising Appalachia.

Last year, the band released a duo version of Resilient. NPR praised the track as an uplifting, original folk anthem and Rolling Stone called their sound Protest Music for the modern age bolstered by delicate, skilful musicianship and otherworldly vocal harmonies. A full-band version of Resilient can be heard on the new album.

Rising Appalachia has toured British Columbia by sailboat, traversed the U.S. and Europe by train, and engaged in immersive cultural exchange programs in Bulgaria, Ireland, and Southern Italy, as well as Central and South America—not to mention the countless miles in their tour van. Tour highlights include Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco, Music Hall Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York, Boulder Theatre in Boulder, Colorado, and the Showbox in Seattle, Washington. The band’s routinely packed rooms around the globe are a testament to their self-built success and extremely loyal fan base, with no small degree of stubborn independence.

For more information, please visit the website.

Pre-order (digital, cd, or vinyl) Leylines here.

USA Tour Dates:

Apr 20 – Asheville, NC, Salvage Station
May 5 – New Orleans, LA, One Eyed Jacks
May 8 – San Diego, CA, Music Box
May 10-11 – Bakersfield, CA, Lightning in a Bottle
May 24 – Kerrville, TX, Kerrville Folk Festival
Jun 15 – Palisade, CO, Palisade Bluegrass and Roots Festival
Jul 5 – Santa Cruz, CA, Rio Theatre
Jul 6 – Big Sure, CA, Esalen Institute, Calif.
Aug 2 – Loveland, CO, ARISE Music Festival

Track listing:

I Believe In Being Ready
Harmonize
Speak Out (Featuring Ani DiFranco)
Love Her In The Mornin’
Shed Your Grace (Featuring Trevor Hall)
Sadjuna

Make Magic
Sassafras
Sunny Days
Cuckoo
Indigo Dance (Featuring Maurice Turner)
Resilient

About Rising Appalachia:

As world travelers for nearly two decades, Rising Appalachia have merged multiple global music influences with their own southern roots to create the inviting new folk album, Leylines. Remarkably the band built its legion of listeners independently—a self-made success story that has led to major festival appearances and sold-out shows at venues across the country. Rising Appalachia is composed of co-founders and sisters Leah Smith (vocals, banjo, bodhran) and Chloe Smith (guitar, fiddle, banjo) as well as David Brown (stand-up bass, baritone guitar), Biko Casini (world percussion, n’goni), Arouna Diarra (n’goni, talking drum), and Duncan Wickel (fiddle, cello).

Nu-Blu Release The Stories We Can Tell

14 Mar, 19 by Greg McGrath Leave a Comment

After completing a career-defining year last year, Nu-Blu aim to keep momentum rolling throughout 2019. The band has announced their brand new DVD, The Stories We Can Tell, which is available now in digital and physical format (buy a copy here). The visual project includes exclusive music videos and in-depth interviews to show fans a side of the exciting band never seen before. Available exclusively with the purchase of the DVD is the new single, a traditional Bluegrass staple from the Osborne Brothers, OneTear.

It’s safe to say that our story wouldn’t be possible without those that have paved the way before us. Our love for traditional Bluegrass music is what led us to where we are. This is the inspiration behind our radio release of One Tear to go along with the DVD. We really hope you enjoy it – Daniel Routh.

One Tear showcases Daniel and Carolyn Routh’s vocals, as the couple takes a different approach to the classic. Rather than a dialogue from one lost love to another, it becomes a conversation that might be heard in the heat of the moment. Throughout the song, Nu-Blu shows that traditional Bluegrass music is deeply within their wheelhouse. They will be performing the song during their jam-packed tour schedule, which includes stops throughout North America (find full schedule here). The track is available for DJ download on AirplayDirect.

The interview portion of The Stories We Can Tell, was conducted by fellow N.C. native, and DJ Buddy Michaels. Nu-Blu members Daniel and Carolyn Routh open up about an array of challenges and tribulations they’ve had to overcome to reach the point they’re at today. Along with covering how the band was created, the project touches on how the unique sound of Nu-Blu came to be, as well as life on the road and what Bluegrass music means to the couple.

The music videos on The Stories We Can Tell include many of the favourites featured on Nu-Blu’s current album,Vagabonds. Songs included are the No. 1 single 640 Battlefield Drive, the Top Ten charting Sawyer Brown cover of Gypsies on Parade, along with the lead single Still Small Voice featuring Country Music Hall of Fame Statler Brothers singer Jimmy Fortune and Ben Isaacs. Round it out with some Bob Dylan and the Willie and Waylon classic Good Hearted Woman, and you easily see how the project showcases the award-winning band’s unique genre-bending sound. Nu-Blu’s first official Country release, A Lot More Love is also featured on the DVD.

Fans can catch Nu-Blu each week as they host the nationally syndicated television show, Bluegrass Ridge. In addition to airing on Heartland TV, the 30-minute music video driven series also airs on The Family Channel, Keep It Country – UK and Country TV – New Zealand (check local listings). The show is affiliated with the internationally syndicated broadcast Bluegrass Ridge Radio, also hosted by Nu-Blu, which is the new 20-minute radio-cast featuring in-depth interviews with today’s hottest bluegrass personalities.

Big Country Bluegrass – Mountains, Mamas and Memories

8 Mar, 19 by Greg McGrath 2 Comments

Rebel Records has released veteran bluegrass band Big Country Bluegrass’s fifth Rebel release Mountains, Mamas and Memories (REB-1872).

The album marks 32 years as a band, and their dedication to traditional bluegrass is just as strong now as it was when they started back in 1987. Choice material and heartfelt singing coupled with their spirited drive and energy highlight each of their releases, and Mountains, Mamas, and Memories offers plenty of evidence that the group continues to produce outstanding recordings.

Through the years Big Country Bluegrass has proven quite adept at finding older obscure songs as well as new material that fit their style. Mountains, Mamas and Memories is filled with twelve wonderful numbers, and – whether they’re vintage or newly penned – the band makes them their own.

The opening track and first single Country Boy, Banjo, and Flat Top Guitar was written and recorded back in the 1960s by the Highland Ramblers on a small, obscure Midwestern record label, and it is brimming with bluegrass flavour. Other vintage gems on this album include: Red Allen’s Keep on Going, Allen Mills’ Back to the Mountains, The Hills of Caroline, learned from a 1973 Southern Show Boys recording, and the Bill Anderson penned Dead or Alive, which guitarist Eddie Gill found on a 1974 recording by the Bluegrass Blackjacks.

Among the new songs, The Whiskey or the Coal heads up an impressive list. Kentucky writer Greg Preece wrote this fine number, and it could well be a true-life story about t

he struggle of living in the Appalachian Mountains. Boston-based writer Tracy O’Connell, who wrote Burn the Barn on their previous recording Let Them Know I’m From Virginia, has two new songs on this release: Mama’s Radio and You Can’t Buy Your Way Out of the Mines are especially expressive and colourful. North Carolina musician and WPAQ radio disc jockey Tim Frye penned the lively Carolina Traveler, and Glenn Alford of Kentucky follows up his two songs on the last project with How Lucky I Was (To Be Their Son) for this release. Eddie Marrs of West Virginia wrote the compelling Times Were Good When Times Were Hard, and Patrick Burns and Bruce Carpenter co-wrote the stirring sacred number Is This Seat Taken?

Tommy Sells on mandolin and his wife Teresa on guitar singing lead and harmony vocals continue to lead Big Country Bluegrass as they have from the beginning. Eddie Gill plays guitar and sings most of the distinctive lead vocals. John Treadway picks the spirited banjo and sings harmony. Tony King provides the rock solid upright bass work, and Tim Laughlin sings harmony and contributes the rousing fiddling for the band.

Big Country Bluegrass draws from the same old-time and mountain music traditions that the first generation of musicians drew from when bluegrass burst on the scene in the 1940s. When fans approach the band telling them how they love their style of bluegrass, they also usually request that the band never change what they are doing. Band leader Tommy Sells quickly tells them, “We are not going to change the way we play and sing because we love traditional bluegrass, and it’s all we know.”

Click the album title to stream or buy Mountains, Mamas and Memories.

Track List:

1. Country Boy, Banjo and Flat Top Guitar
2. The Whiskey or the Coal
3. Mama’s Radio
4. Keep on Going
5. Times Were Good When Times Were Hard
6. Carolina Traveler

7. How Lucky I Was (To Be Their Son)
8. Back to the Mountains
9. Is This Seat Taken?
10. The Hills of Caroline
11. You Can’t Buy Your Way Out of the Mines
12. Dead or Alive

The Michael Cleveland Story Now Available

6 Mar, 19 by Greg McGrath Leave a Comment

He’s a bluegrass superstar and a rising talent across other genres. He’s an icon and an inspiration. He is eleven-time IBMA  Fiddle Player of the Year and even a Grammy Award nominee, but that’s just a small part of Michael Cleveland’s story. Some even consider him the greatest fiddle player of all time.

Michael Cleveland was born blind and with a cleft palate, and in early childhood lost 80% of the hearing in his left ear. In spite of physical challenges, he undertook a musical career undeterred and has ascended to the highest possible echelons of his genre.

Flamekeeper: The Michael Cleveland Story now released online, is a feature-length documentary for audiences worldwide.

Director John Presley brings his expert eye and heart for storytelling to the project. The film, while visually engaging, was also designed with Cleveland himself in mind.

I learned that our visually impaired friends see the world in an entirely different way. One of my goals was to create a film that Michael would be able to experience and enjoy through sound alone. I have felt deeply honoured to tell his inspirational story and present his talent to new audiences around the world – John Presley.

Years of commercial and short film work, along with his experience as a musician, led the director on a journey to uncover how Cleveland became the artist—and person—he is today.

When I was first approached about the idea of a documentary film about me, I was definitely surprised, and it still seems so surreal. For as long as I’ve been playing music professionally, I have made it a point to keep the focus on the music and not the fact that I am visually impaired. I decided that if I was going to have a career in music, I wanted to make it on my abilities as a musician and not the fact that I was blind. After I talked to John and took a few days to think it over and run it by my family and the rest of the Flamekeeper team, I realized that this could be an inspiration to some young kid somewhere with a dream that looks as impossible as it seemed to me when I was growing up and dreaming of a career in music – Michael Cleveland.

Flamekeeper features interviews with 14-time Grammy Award winner Bela Fleck and 21-time Grammy Award winner Vince Gill. Also appearing in the film are such music notables as Sam Bush, Jens Kruger, Jeff White, the Bibelhauser Brothers and Andy Statman.

It’s wicked to see how much music he pulls out of a bow. He’s untouchable – Vince Gill.

Flamekeeper was produced by Validate Films and is Presley’s first feature-length documentary film. Presley was joined on the project by co-producer Cortlandt Ingram, a familiar name in the bluegrass world. After winning over one hundred fiddle contests early in his career, Ingram founded a company providing audio and lighting resources for events across the nation. Ingram’s knowledge of the bluegrass genre was an invaluable asset to the film’s production.

Vale Mac Wiseman 1925 – 2019

26 Feb, 19 by Greg McGrath Leave a Comment

Mac Wissman has occupied pride of place in the bluegrass arena for more than 70 of his 93 years. He was born on 23rd May, 1925, in Crimora, Virginia.

Mac Wiseman was part of the foundation of bluegrass and modern country music. He remained a valuable mentor and ambassador for both genres until his death this month 24th February.

Wiseman early hits included Jimmy Brown The Newsboy and ‘Tis Sweet To Be Remembered. While he went on to record over 200 or so projects.

His musical career began as upright bass player for country singer Molly O’Day’s Cumberland Mountain Folks. He later went on to play with Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys and with Bill Monroe’s band The Bluegrass Boys.

In 1951, Wiseman released his first solo single, Tis Sweet to Be Remembered. The success of this release was the beginning of his solo career.

Mac Wiseman was one of the founders of the Country Music Association (CMA). In 1986 he co-founded the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA).

Wiseman was often referred to by a radio personalities as The Voice with a Heart. Other songs he recorded and became noted for are Shackles and Chains, I’ll Be All Smiles Tonight, Jimmy Brown the Newsboy, and Love Letters in the Sand.

More recently, in 2014, he released an album of songs inspired by his mother’s handwritten notebooks of songs she heard on the radio when Mac was a child: Songs From My Mother’s Hand.

Mac Wiseman was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honour in 1993. He also received a 2008 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States’ highest honour in the folk and traditional arts. In 2014 he was inducted into the Veteran Era category of the Country Music Hall of Fame, which is given to an artist who achieved national prominence more than 45 years ago.

Red Tail Ring To Play Mountain Pickers Assoc.

25 Feb, 19 by Greg McGrath Leave a Comment

Red Tail Ring feature Michigan-based artists Laurel Premo and Michael Beauchamp. They create intricate arrangements of original folk music and traditional ballads with banjo, fiddle, guitar, and their vocal harmonies.

The very best of the 21st century’s minimalist and highly original folk music… A peerless duo.” – American Roots UK.
Fresh off their fourth full-length studio release, Fall Away Blues, Premo and Beauchamp are re-imagining Americana music with pure soul – The Steel Wheels.

With special guests The Colvin Brothers It will be a beautiful night of harmonies and soulful playing.

When: Tuesday March 5th
Time: 7:30
Where: Ferntree Gully Bowling Club, Glenfern Rd, Ferntree Gully.
Cost: Entry $25/$22 and $20 for MPA Members –

For table bookings call 03 9753 5888

The Western Flyers Australian Dates including Live on Southern Style

14 Feb, 19 by Greg McGrath Leave a Comment

News from Jan Dale in Melbourne is that the Western Flyers will be performing live to air on Southern Style on Tuesday 26th February.

The Western Flyers are a multi award-winning Western Swing trio from Texas. This is their second visit to Australia. Everybody raved about them last time so it will be a special show.

The Western Flyers are one of the most exciting bands to glide on to the music scene in years. Their unique sound is a cross-section of the Great American Songbook: classic western swing, hot jazz & swing standards, vintage country & cowboy songs, and electrifying old-time fiddle tunes. The trio features arch-top guitar slinger Joey McKenzie, who brings his dynamic rhythm guitar style and smooth vocals to the band – along with Katie Glassman, a 3-time National Swing Fiddle Champion and vintage-style singer extraordinaire. The “Baron of the Bass,” Gavin Kelso, compliments the band in a mighty way with his incredible upright bass playing and baritone vocals. Dubbed The Biggest Little Band in the Land, folks often comment, “You guys sound bigger than you look.”

The Western Flyers have been honoured to receive recognition for their contributions to traditional American music. Last year started with a bang by being presented the coveted Ameripolitan Award for “Best Western Swing Group”. The Flyers’ were also honoured with the Western Music Association and the Academy of Western Artists Western Swing Album of the Year award for their debut album, Wild Blue Yonder. Katie was on cloud nine to be crowned Female Western Swing Vocalist of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists. Equally at ease on the concert stage, music festivals, and smaller performing arts venues, the Flyers’ appeal to a diverse cross-section of enthusiastic music fans young and old. Blending tradition with musical innovation,

The Western Flyers entertaining show is sure to astound the music fan in all of us.

I love The Western Flyers. They are a fearlessly dedicated band that swings hard. Joey, Katie and Gavin, in the words of Handsome Harry, “Lay it down where it stays down till they leave town”. Their music makes me smile. When I listen to them play I know that I am in the presence of modern masters in motion – Marty Stuart.

Together they perform with a brilliance and panache that will draw in any fans of traditional American string music.” – Bluegrass Today.

The most wonderful modern take on post-war Western Swing – Country Music People.

Somewhere, Bob Wills is smiling – No Depression.

Their Aust tour dates:

22 and 24 Feb – Tathra Hotel, NSW.
26Feb – Mountain Pickers Association, Ferntree Gully Bowls Club, Vic.
27Feb – Yinnar Pub, Vic
28 Feb – Valencia Creek, Vic.
1 March – Cobargo Folk Fest. NSW
5 March – Nerrigundah Agricultural Bureau, NSW
9 March – Railway Institute Hall, Thirroul, NSW
10 March – Petersham Bowls Club, Sydney

Jan Dale’s radio show, Southern Style, can also be streamed to your computer via the PBS website.

Southern Style with Jan Dale – PBS FM 106.7
Tuesdays 1:00pm to 3:00pm or online at www.pbsfm.org.au.

Flamekeeper: The Michael Cleveland Story

14 Feb, 19 by Greg McGrath Leave a Comment

Michael Cleveland Movie — L-R Cortlandt Ingram, John Presley, Michael Cleveland, Sam Bush, Ricky Skaggs, Bela Fleck. Photo: Peyton Hogue

Last night, the stirring biographical documentary, Flamekeeper: The Michael Cleveland Story, premiered at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The film tells the story of Michael Cleveland, an iconic and sought-after fiddle player who has overcome great personal hardship to become one of Bluegrass music’s most revered instrumentalists.

Michael Cleveland is the International Bluegrass Music Association’s 11-time, most-awarded, Fiddle Player of the Year, and he has won Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year six times. Cleveland also fronts the 5-time Instrumental Group of the Year, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, which he founded in 2006.

Director John Presley brings his expert eye and heart for storytelling to the project. The film, while visually engaging, was also designed with Cleveland himself in mind.

I learned that our visually impaired friends see the world in an entirely different way. One of my goals was to create a film that Michael would be able to experience and enjoy through sound alone – John Presley.

Years of commercial and short film work, along with his experience as a musician, led the director on a journey to uncover how Cleveland became the artist and person he is today.

I have felt deeply honoured to tell his inspirational story and present his talent to new audiences around the world – John Presley.

When I was first approached about the idea of a documentary film about me, I was definitely surprised, and it still seems so surreal,. For as long as I’ve been playing music professionally, I have made it a point to keep the focus on the music and not the fact that I am visually impaired. I decided that if I was going to have a career in music, I wanted to make it on my abilities as a musician and not the fact that I was blind. After I talked to John and took a few days to think it over and run it by my family and the rest of the Flamekeeper team, I realised that this could be an inspiration to some young kid somewhere with a dream that looks as impossible as it seemed to me when I was growing up and dreaming of a career in music – Michael Cleveland.

Flamekeeper features interviews with 14-time Grammy Award winner Bela Fleck and 21-time Grammy Award winner Vince Gill. along with such music notables as Sam Bush, Jens Kruger, Jeff White, the Bibelhauser Brothers and Andy Statman.

It’s wicked to see how much music he pulls out of a bow. He’s untouchable – Vince Gill.

The evening was hosted by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Peter Cooper and was attended by a who’s who of bluegrass icons including Fleck, Bush, Gill, Ricky Skaggs, The Whites, Jeff White, Becky Buller, and others.

Flamekeeper will be released globally to audiences online through Amazon and other streaming platforms on 1st March 2019. For more information visit FlamekeeperFilm.com.

Grammy Win for The Travellin’ McCourys

12 Feb, 19 by Greg McGrath Leave a Comment

Congratulations must surely to The Travelin’ McCourys on their Grammy win for Best Bluegrass Album, announced today in Los Angeles, California. The band’s eponymous debut album was released on 25th May of last year. After several decades of playing, touring and performing the Grammy award points to the band members’ work ethic and their innovative style of bluegrass which honours the genre’s tradition and drives it forward.

In the acceptance speech Rob McCoury thanked Del and Jean McCoury, saying “without them, none of this would have happened.” And it’s true; few, if any, have blazed a musical path for their children the way Del has. Taking the torch, the Travelin’ McCourys have proven that not only are they worthy; they’re comfortable blazing a trail of their own.

The McCoury brothers, Ronnie on mandolin and Rob on banjo, were born into the bluegrass tradition. Talk about a source abundant and pure; their father, Del, is among the most influential and successful musicians in the history of the genre. Years on the road with Dad in Del McCoury Band honed their knife-edge chops and encouraged the duo to imagine how traditional bluegrass could cut innovative pathways into 21st-century music.

With fiddler Jason Carter, bassist Alan Bartram, and latest recruit Cody Kilby on guitar, they assembled a group that could take what they had in their DNA, take what traditions they learned and heard, and push the music forward. In fact, the band became the only group to have each of its members recognised with an International Bluegrass Music Association Award for their instrument at least once. There were peers, too, that could see the McCourys’ brand of bluegrass as both historic and progressive. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, The Allman Brothers Band, improv-rock kings Phish, and jamband contemporary Keller Williams were just a few that formed a mutual admiration society with the ensemble. The members of Travelin’ McCourys who also share duties in Del McCoury Band have now won three Grammy awards including Del’s two previous wins for Best Bluegrass Album. This win brings Cody Kilby’s Grammy Awards total to five after four wins during his time in Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder.

The Travelin’ McCourys is a brilliantly executed set overflowing with inventive style, stellar musicianship, and, of course, plenty of burnin’ grass, the 14-song collection is a true culmination of their decades-long journey. From the headwaters of Bill Monroe and the waves of Jerry Garcia to a sound both rooted and revolutionary, soulful and transcending that belongs only to the Travelin’ McCourys.

The album definitely shows what we’ve evolved into as a band. And, it’s a pretty good representation of what’s happening with the whole genre. The old bluegrass material is something I love but it’s been done many times. We’re forging ahead with our own sound. That’s what you have to do to make it all work – Ronnie McCoury.

On Feb.13th, The Travelin’ McCourys will celebrate Del McCoury’s 80th birthday at the “Grand DEL Opry” alongside Marty Stuart, Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, Vince Gill, Old Crow Medicine Show, Dierks Bentley, and more. After the Opry, the band hits the road for a headlining tour including a number of The Grateful Ball dates (with Jeff Austin Band). Festival-wise, catch the band at Winter WonderGrass, DelFest, High Sierra Music Festival, ROMP, Rhythm & Roots, and more.

Listen to the Grammy winning album here.

For more information on The Travelin’ McCourys, please visit their website.

On tour:

February 13 – Nashville, TN – Grand DEL Opry
February 22 – Panama City Beach, FL – Bourbon, Beer, & Butts
February 23 – Huntsville, AL – Tangled String Studios (early & late show)
February 27 – Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room**
February 28 – Springfield, MO – Outland Ballroom**
March 1 – Louisville, KY – Zanzabar**
March 2 – Cincinnati, OH – Memorial Hall OTR**
March 3 – Ferndale, MI – Otus Supply
March 5 – Benton Harbor, MI – The Livery**
March 6 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom & Tavern**
March 7 – Bloomington, IN – The Bluebird Nightclub**
March 29-31 – Olympic Valley, CA – Winter Wondergrass

**with Jeff Austin Band; together presenting The Grateful Ball