Hello, good folks,

We are a small alliance of friends and family who are about to launch what we believe will be an exciting new Web site for the Bluegrass world. We’re doing this because we all have a passion for not only the music itself, but for the real sense of community that we find in the Bluegrass industry.

As a brief introduction, I live in central Illinois and am a 40-year veteran of the newspaper industry, now working as a city editor of a small daily newspaper. Others in our group are my son, a Nashville, Tenn., resident; my stepson in Orlando, Fla.; and a friend of ours who lives in Kentucky. We are all true-blue Bluegrass nuts and avid festival-goers and shade-tree pickers.

With our Web site, we have a strong desire to reach out to literally everyone who shares the same love we have for Bluegrass music. By that, we have in our sights everyone from the consumer – the die-hard aficionado, the parking lot pickers, the festival goers and radio listeners – to the professional side of the music – the bands, of course, but also the instrument makers, the festival promoters and, of course, you.

We are taking small steps, but dream of growing leaps and bounds in the months ahead. We are launching this preliminary Web site to test the waters. Eventually we want to have a one-stop Bluegrass site that’s a compilation of information about new CDs, bands, festivals, the instrument scene, reviews of CDs, concerts and festivals, band schedules, etc. We are aiming for an interactive site where the Bluegrass community can gather and exchange thoughts and opinions, tell each other about jam session schedules … well, hopefully you get the “one-stop” idea we’re aiming for. Until then this is an attempt to get the ball rolling and spread the bluegrass lifestyle.

Consider this correspondence our invitation for you to be part of our venture. We are in need of any press releases about artists and performance schedules if you have those available. Tell us about upcoming projects and release dates. Please, use us. Even abuse us. We’ll try our best to be a mouth piece for you.

Please add us to your e-mail list on news releases and other publicity, and if you have any questions or concerns, send an e-mail, and we’ll certainly do our very best to answer your questions. Hoping to hear from you soon, hopefully with lots of material we can post on the World Wide Web for you.

Sincerely,

Dan Tackett – bluegrassjournal.com

press.release@bluegrassjournal.com

P.S. We also intend to review new CD releases on our Web site, so we invite you to send pre-release copies of your artists’ projects. We will gladly furnish you a snail-mail address if you express an interest in that aspect of our site.

Share This

Sugar Hill Records has two Bluegrass releases from longtime fan favorites due on shelves Aug. 14.

Here’s the scoop from the label’s brand new Web site:

Scenechronized, The Seldom Scene

After seven years the Seldom Scene is back, and like an old friend coming around for a visit after being gone too long, the Scene pulls up some chairs and starts telling stories, and the time between just melts away. From the first notes it’s like the band was never gone. The familiar warm harmonies and sparkling instrumental work are as strong as ever, signature sounds over the band’s 36-year career…

Boasting their typically eclectic mix of material, Scenchronized proves why The Seldom Scene are widely regarded as a driving force and major influence in contemporary bluegrass.

On The Road, Sam Bush

This first ever live concert DVD from Sam Bush and his crack band. Recorded at The Sierra Nevada brewery’s “Big Room” the performance showcases the energy and virtuosity that have made the Sam Bush Band a must-have at major festivals across the US and abroad.

The material draws from a wide range of crowd favorites including songs from his solo Sugar Hill work as well as from his early days with seminal acoustic revolutionaries New Grass Revival. Also included is the previously unrecorded John Hartford song “Back in the Goodle Days.” Bonus features include an interview with Bush, behind the scenes studio footage from the recording of 2006’s Laps in 7, and the music video for “River’s Gonna Run” featuring Emmylou Harris and Buddy Miller.

Share This

Just as my 87-year old mother likes to conjure up exciting memories of going to the mail box to find that her new 78-of Roy Acuff or Bob Wills she’d ordered from Sears had arrived, I long for the days of LPs and all those photos and liner notes you could digest at your leisure while your new album had arrived.

CDs and their fine print all too often have me hunting up a magnifying glass, but even with the power of the “extra eyes,” I sometimes find the tiny letters too difficult to read. Thankfully and thoughtfully, the name of the liner notes’ author on “Lefty’s Old Guitar” was in a type size I could read without any help. Open the first page of the CD cover and there it is, at the bottom right corner on Page 2: “Eddie Stubbs.” When WSM’s kingpin of all things bluegrass and old country has something to say, I listen. Or in this case, read. Read more

Share This