Category Archives: Bluegrass

News Round Up: Terry Allen Discusses Influences

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  • Legendary Texas singer/songwriter Terry Allen talks to the Austin Chronicle’s Robert Faries about his colorful life that led to his skill as a storyteller and his  new solo play, Dugout III, written and directed by Allen playing at Austin’s State Theater.
  • The New York Times‘ Charles McGrath interviewed bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley before a recent performance at Carnegie Hall with Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers. My favorite line from the interview:  “It used to be said that when you heard a Ralph Stanley tune, you either wanted to get drunk or go to church and get saved.” Dr. Stanley’s autobiography, Man of Constant Sorrow: My Life and Times, will be released tomorrow.
new solo play, Dugout III, written and directed by Allen playing at Austin’s Sate Theater.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 9 Round Up

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100_0825The crowds were large  an estimated 750,000  – more than Coachella, Lollapalooza and All Points West combined – urbane, hippies, street buskers and hipsters all in Golden Gate Park and under mostly warm Indian Summer skies. The bill on all 6 stages (one more added this year) were all impressive and walking from stage to stage through the huge crowd to stave off any regrets of missing something can wear you out.

On top of the advertised bill there were some cool surprises – Robert Plant and Emmylou Harris made an appearance with Buddy Miller on Saturday morning. Steve Earle and Allison Moore joined Tom Morello (in his acoustic Nightwatchman persona) for a rousing version of Woody Guthrie’s This Land is your Land. John Prine joining Lyle Lovett onsatge for  a cover of Townes Van Zandt’s Loretta.  Emmylou Harris joined Gillian Welch and David Rawlings for a rendition of Didn’t Leave Nobody But The Baby from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack and then they were joined by Old Crow Medicine Show for a rousing cover of The Band’s The Weight. Emmylou Harris also received an  honorary doctorate of music from the Berklee College of Music at her close out the festival on Sunday night. Dr Harris performed at the very first HSB headliner back in 2001.

Highlights for me – Lyle Lovett, Hayes Carll, The Flatlanders, Rosie Flores, Guy Clark, Robert Earl Kee, Todd Snider, Rodney Crowell keeping Texas proud. Seeing Booker T with the mighty Drive By Truckers. Neko Case, Gillian Welch, Elizabeth Cook and Aimee Mann – four of my favorite female singers. A chilly day,  chili and corn bread lunch serenaded by Doc Watson and Earl Scruggs on the Banjo Stage. Dave Alvin dedicating a song to his recently deceased band mate Amy Ferris. The big one for me was meeting my hero Texas legend Billy Joe Shaver.

Disapointments – Turing around at the Elizabeth Cook Porch Stage performance and finding Steve Earle standing right behind me with a YANKEES CAP! C’mon dude, you’re killing me!

A tip of the Ranch Twang hat to banjo player, creator and benefactor of  Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Warren Hellman for picking up the tab for this extraordinary free event!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSftjNhWmhw[/youtube]

News Round Up: Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Begins

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  • The winners of the 20th annual International Bluegrass Music Awards went to: Dailey & Vincent : Entertainer of the Year and Vocal Group of the Year, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper : Instrumental Group of the Year, Dan Tyminski – Male Vocalist of the Year, Dale Ann Bradley – Female Vocalist of the Year, Wheels : Dan Tyminski, (artist/producer) Album of the Year, Don’t Throw Mama’s Flowers Away : Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass (artist) – Song of the Year (via BlueGrassJournal.com) See photos from the award show, held at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn (The Bluegrass Blog)
  • London-based Americana (Euro-Americana?) band The Dog Roses have a new EP, Just Another Saturday, scheduled for release next month. It is discribed as “foot tapping country-bluegrass mix with hints of celtic thrown in for good measure.” Download Let the Bottle Take the Heartache from the forthcoming EP: Let The Bottle Take The Heartache Away.mp3
  • Go pick up the new podcast from NineBullets.net featuring tracks from upcoming cds by Lucero,  Strawfoot and Micah Schnabel (Two Cow Garage) as well as new material from Drivin’ & Cryin’ and Chuck Ragan.
  • Sounds Country takes a look back at Jerry Jeff Walker’s 1975 release Ridin’ High
  • Hardly Strictly Bluegrass begins today and goea on until Sunday in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park Speedway Meadow. The 9th year of this free annual Americana and roots festival features 5 stages featuring John Prine, Lyle Lovett, Ricky Skaggs, Gillian Welch, Steve Earle, Billy Joe Shaver, Elizabeth Cook, Buddy Miller and many, many more. You can follow HSB on twitter. And you can follow Twang Nation tweets from the festival all weekend.

News Round Up: Lucero Releases New Videos ; RIP Amy Ferris

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  • I learned yesterday from a post on Twitter by Austin singer/songwriter Kelly Willis alerted me that Austin native fiddle player Amy Farris had been found dead at her residence in Los Angeles at the age of 40. Suicide is suspected, but an investigation is currently underway. Farris was a talented fiddle player and had recently been part of the group Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women. Her only solo release, Anyway, was produced by Alvin in 2003. Farris was scheduled to play Saturday with the Guilty Women at San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. As of this writing her name is still on the schedule.
  • Hear Rosanne Cash’s new release The List at NPR, including an iTunes exclusive cut featuring Neko Case, Satisfied Mind.
  • Miranda Lambert will appear on the Jimmy Fallon show tonight. Lambert also tweets that Jimmy Fallon is cute and sweet. Aww!
  • PopMatter’s Bob Proehl posts a nice piece on the legacy of Kris Kristoffersson.
  • Memphis, Tennessee-based Alt.country band Lucero commissioned a music video for each song on their upcoming record 1372 Overton Park– making 12 videos total. The level of sophistication of each fan-turned-videographer ranged from “some holding only handy-cams, others with years of training under their belt.” Ceck out the first two videos for What Are You Willing To Lose? and Goodbye Again.

News Round Up:WSM to Launch Live From The Loveless Cafe

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  • Tune in tomorrow night to catch Emmylou Harris and Vince Gill perform together Wednesday’s Jay Leno Show. The pair on the West Coast participating in a series of All For the Hall benefit shows. Proceeds from the all-start line up, which also includes Melissa Etheridge, Dwight Yoakam, Keith Urban, Jason Aldean, Faith Hill and Taylor Swift, will allow Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum to expand. (The Boot)
  • Dr. Ralph Stanley’s autobiography Man of Constant Sorrow: My Life and Times will be released on October 15 (BluegrassJournal.com)
  • The Americana brand continues to grow! Legendary radio station, WSM 650-AM, will launch a weekly Americana program called Music City Roots: Live From The Loveless Cafe. The on Oct. 14 debut show will feature  the legendary Emmylou Harris,  acclaimed duo Pam Rose and Mary Ann Kennedy, and emerging artists Annie Crane and Robin Ainger. Artists slated to performing in the coming months include Sam Bush, Radney Foster, John Cowan, Dexter Romweber, Dale Ann Bradley, Peter Bradley Adams, Mike Farris, Scott Miller and Webb Wilder. Each Wednesday evening broadcast will feature three to four artists in 30-minute segments, followed by a free-form “Loveless Jam” where all the artists and their bands will be invited to collaborate on the fly. WSM will air the show Wednesday nights from 7 – 9 p.m. live from the Loveless Barn in Nashville, TN. Ticket are on sale for performances.

News Round Up: Kris Kristofferson Cruises

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  • Chico California’s NewsReview.com features a brief interview with local resident Merle Haggard.
  • Whitney Self at the CMT.com blog details the story behind Kris Kristofferson’s most famous hit and its Italian cinematic motivation.See him perform this and more on Studio 330 Sessions.
  • More on Kristofferson – ABC’s Good Morning America’s Weekend Drive cruises around Nashville with the man as he reminisces about his long illustrious career. Kristofferson, 73, is releasing “Closer to the Bone,” his 24th album, this week.
  • The Bay Area’s own premier Southern Gothic band the Pine Box Boys’ upcoming album is entitled The Emancipated Head and will be released sometime next Spring.
  • The Tin Whisker offers a nice interview with neo-traditionalist J. B. Beverley. Beverley discusses his move from punk rock to honky-tonk.
  • The annual IBMA World of Bluegrass begings today in Nashville(9/28-10/4). The World of Bluegrass events includes the IBMA Business Conference,,the 20th Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards Show at the Ryman Auditorium and Bluegrass Fan Fest.
  • After seeing Amanda Shires performance at the Basement during the Americana Music Association conference and festival I have to say, I am smitten. The Native Texan’s newest release, West Cross Timbers, is one of the best releases I’ve heard this year. Music Fog has a clip of her and a guy that looks a lot like TV’s House (but who is really her music partner Rod Picott) doing I Kept Watch Like Doves (aka Murder Ballad) from the album.

News Round Up: Taylor Swift Attends Miranda Lambert’s Revolution

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  • Vince Vaughn is not only hilarious, and tall, but he loves country music. Or is it Americana music…hell I can’ keep up.
  • The Americana extravaganza that is Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is next weekend people. John Prine, Lyle Lovett, Boz Scaggs, Steve Earle, Ricky Scaggs, Gillian Welch, Booker T and the Drive By Truckers as his backing band, Mavis Staples, Emmylou Harris, Doc Watson, Aimee Mann and Little Feat. And it’s FREE!
  • Taylor Swift showed up at the Ryman last night to watch Texas’ own Miranda Lambert play her new release Revolution (I wonder if she has to pay Steve Earle royalties on that too?) That’s right Taylor, that’s how it’s done! During her performance Lambert knelt down and kissed the historic wooden stage of the hallowed Mother Church of Country Music. No mics where taken from any performers as far as I know…

News Round Up: Americana Gets Some Love

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  • You know Americana as a genre has arrived when not only do they have their own Grammy category (or is that the death knell?) but also the Americana Music Conference is written up in the Wall Street Journal, Paste Magazine and CMT.com. With great power…
  • When in Nashville I always find time to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The place displays and represents the historic roots of country music in a tasteful and engaging way that I never get tired of. Where else can you see Mother Maybelle Carter’s 1028 Gibson and Elvis’ Gold Cadillac? But the place seems to be at capacity for a genre that is still making history. Now it seems that there’s a possibility that the Hall could double its size in the near future.
  • San Francisco’s free (!) Americana and Roots festival, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, has published a down-loadable daily schedule, as well as a map of the Golden Gate Park festival grounds and artist’s bios.

News Round Up: Kanye and Swift Give MTV Some Press

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  • Scottish-Canadian country singer Johnny Reid was in the running for six awards, including Album of the Year for his latest release Dance With Me.The singer took home five trophies including Album, Songwriter, Video and Male Artist of the Year from the Canadian Country Music Awards. Dean Brody won Single of the Year for Brothers, Crystal Shawanda won Female Artist of the Year and Corb Lund won Roots Artist or Group of the Year
  • Son Volt’s Jay Farrar & Death Cab for Cutie’s Benjamin Gibbard are set to perform four special concerts to support their collaberation on the album One Fast Move Or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur.  Other surprise material will be performed at four concerts in October, underscoring the influential author’s enduring legacy 40 years after his death on October 21, 1969. The band features Jay Farrar (Son Volt), Benjamin Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie, Postal Service), Nick Harmer (Death Cab for Cutie), Mark Spencer (Son Volt) and Jon Wurster (Superchunk, Bob Mould, The Mountain Goats).

Tour dates:
10/23 – El Rey Theatre – Los Angeles, CA (on sale 9/16)
10/24 – Bimbo’s 365 Club – San Francisco, CA (on sale 9/16)
10/26 – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL (on sale 9/25)
10/28 – Webster Hall – New York, NY (on sale 9/1Cool

  • Billboard.com has a nice feature on the Avett Brothers and their upcoming major label debut I and Love and You.
  • After fuming with the multitudes on twitter about the whole Kanye West / Taylor Swift Female Video of the Year diss dust-up at the MTV Awards, I’m convinced the whole thing was staged for media controversy. Kanye seems to be willing to do this every time he needs ink. He shot his mouth off at the the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards in Denmark, when Touch The Sky lost out to Justice Vs Simian’s We Are Your Friends, Swift  has a repackaged Fearless coming out soon and more press couldn’t hurt, and MTV  gets press (and tweets) from any controversy. Remember the infamous 2003 Madonna/Britney Spears kiss?
  • Happy birthday to Bill Monroe is (98)!
  • Starting tomorrow I will be posting intermittently from the Americana Music Association conference and festival in Nashville. For more constant (and dubiously sober) posts check out my twitter profile.
Roots Artist or Group of the Year

The History of Emmylou Harris

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  • AOL’s Spinner has a nice feature on the lovely, but messy, honky-tonk riot-grrrls Those Darlins.
  • The Onion’s AV Club “head writer and hip-hop specialist”   Nathan Rabin continues his discovery of Country Music in his Nashville or Bust feature. The newest post is a nice historic summary of Americana chanteuse and Gram Parson protege Emmylou Harris. (via the 9513.com)
  • The always excellent Juli Thanki’s newest Torch & Twang column over at PopMatters.com tackles a subject near and dear to Ranch Twang’s heart – the history of Canadian artists in Country Music.
  • The legendary Ryman Auditorium will host Jim Lauderdale & Friends featuring Amy Grant, Vince Gill & The SteelDrivers. The performance will benefit Thanks USA. The concert is on Monday, November 9 at 7:30 pm and tickets on sale Friday, August 21 at 10 am ($49.50 & $39.50)
  • The Washington Post has a great feature on Loudon Wainwright III’s new release – “High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project.” Wainwright created the album to bring attention to Poole’s music and that he played a key role in the history of country music. on edit- NPR did a feature on the Poole tribute.