Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike nominated for 2007 IBMA’s
There’s plenty going on in the realm around Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike.
The whirlwind of events has to be topped by the band being nominated in the second round of the 2007 IBMA awards for Entertainers of the year. The leader of the band also picked up a nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year, and longtime band member Becky Buller was nominated for Fiddle Player of the Year.
Other Smith & Pike nuggets:
– The group has welcomed a new band member, versatile Brandon Bostic, who knows his way around guitar, mandolin, banjo and vocals. Bostic is from Pensacola, Fla.
– “The Rain,” a tune from Smith’s first all-gospel project, “Wash Away Your Troubles,” peaked on No. 2 on Bluegrass Now magazine’s Gospel Truths chart. Another song from the CD, the Louvin Brothers’ “Make Him A Soldier,” has been on Power Source magazine’s bluegrass chart for several months. That particular tune is currently at No. 6.
– Valerie and her band will be hosting the fifth annual Bell Buckle Music Cruise from Tampa, Fla., Jan. 19-24 on Carnival Cruise Lines’ Inspiration.
The cruise, sponsored by Bell Buckle Records and the Bell Buckle Café in Bell Buckle, Tenn., will also feature entertainment by the Kickin’ Grass Band, Smokey Greene, the Anita Fisher Band with Ray Deaton, the James King Band, Honi Deaton and Dream and Monroe Crossing.
The ship will head for the Grand Cayman Islands and Calica, Mexico.
Cruise details are available from bellbucklecruise.com or Bell Buckle Records,(931) 389-9694 or bellbuckle@cafes.net
1 comment“Little Mo’ McCoury” To Be Released August 21
Ronnie McCoury’s fondest childhood memories are ones he has of accompanying his father, the iconic Del McCoury, to bluegrass festivals, experiencing early on the way that music can bring parents and kids together. Now that he is a highly accomplished artist (and father) in his own right, Ronnie—joined by the Del McCoury Band has recorded an unprecedented album that will allow families everywhere to experience this quintessential American musical form. McCoury Music releases the first all-bluegrass album for kids and their parents, Little Mo’ McCoury, August 21 to stores nationwide.
It’s fitting that this album bound to bring families together comes from one of Americana’s first families. The McCoury legacy extends back 40 years to when Del was one of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys, up through the Del McCoury Band’s 2006 GRAMMY for Best Bluegrass Album. In addition to Ronnie and Del, Little Mo’ McCoury includes contributions from Ronnie’s brother Rob and Ronnie’s wife Allison, with whom he co-wrote “My Friend, My Guitar.” It’s a song Ronnie figures is a “good way to get kids to learn how to play a G-run.” Rob’s roles on the album are numerous: He helped with song choices, takes the lead on an interpretation of Earl Scruggs’ “Mama’s Blues,” and plays banjo throughout the recording. The band’s other members, fiddler Jason Carter and bass player Alan Bartram, are also featured.
Rural Rhythm Records Launches New Archive Series “Rural ROOTS Music”
Rural Rhythm Records is proud to announce they are launching the new Rural Roots Music Series that takes classic albums and tracks from the Rural Rhythm master library and reissues them with new liner notes by Country Music Historian and Grammy™ Award winner Colin Escott, additional artist photos, and re-mastered from the original master tapes by famed Hi-End audio engineer Steve Hoffman.
The first release in the series is a two-CD package titled, The Legendary J.E. Mainer & His Mountaineers - “40 Classics: Old-Time Mountain Music“ scheduled for release August 28, 2007. This 40th Anniversary 2-CD set comprises the first two albums that J.E. recorded for Rural Rhythm in 1967. It is a very accurate depiction of what you would have heard at a J.E. Mainer concert from the 1930’s until his death in 1971. There were some mountain ballads, vaudeville and minstrel songs, blues together with Celtic-rooted fiddle tunes. We’ll never know where he first heard most of these songs. He changed them and sometimes renamed them, but that was how music was handed down in the pre-download, pre-phonograph era. It was part of J.E.’s skill to make a song written hundreds of years ago sound much like one written within recent memory.
The second in the series, “24 Bluegrass Classics, Vintage 70’s“ by Bluegrass Legends Earl Taylor & Jim McCall with the Stoney Mountain Boys is scheduled for release September 25, 2007. Earl Taylor began his career in the 40’s and worked with other legends including Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Jimmy Martin and many more before embarking on a career that led him to become a pioneer of bluegrass music himself. Taylor and his band were so popular in the late 50’s, they hold the honor of being the first bluegrass band to perform at Carnegie Hall in 1959.
Jim McCall is the father of Rural Rhythm artist Dwight McCall who’s new album released this year, Never Say Never Again and current single Blue Eyed Boston Boy has received great reviews and very solid radio airplay.
Many more titles in this new archive series are scheduled for release in 2008 including classic albums by Vassar Clements, more titles by J.E. Mainer, Mac Martin, Raymond Fairchild, Tater Tate, Jim Eanes, Lee Moore and many more.
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