Tom T. Hall Sings Miss Dixie and Tom T.

WPLN, Nashville, Tenn.’s Public Radio Station, is airing at interview with Tom T. and Dixie Hall, generally regarded as the first couple of the bluegrass songwriting realm.

Tom T. Hall found great success in the mid-1960s and ’70s as a country songwriter and award-winning performer. With mainstream country far back in his past, he and his wife are now regarded as top composers in the bluegrass genre. His first new album in 10 years is all bluegrass with a heavyweight supporting cast. (Watch for a review coming soon on BluegrassJournal.com.)

WPLN’s Web site includes an MP3 of the interview as well as a transcript.

Share This

IIIrd Tyme Out

The 18th annual Fox Family Bluegrass Festival kicks off Thursday and runs through Sunday in Old Forge, N.Y.

Thursday’s lineup includes Off The Wall, the Nearly Brothers, Delaney Brothers Bluegrass, 3 Fox Drive, Sweet Cider and the Atkinson Family . On Friday’s concert bill are Miller’s Crossing, Delaney Brothers Bluegrass, Sarah Jarosz, The Gibson Brothers, 3 Fox Drive and the Atkinson Family.

IIIrd Tyme Out headlines Saturday’s playbill, which also includes Miller’s Crossing, Sarah Jarosz, 3 Fox Drive, Rambler’s Choice, Delaney Brothers Bluegrass, Lawson Peets with “Banjo Mania” and the All Festival Kazoo Band from the children’s activities area.

On stage Sunday are Rambler’s Choice, IIIrd Tyme Out, the McCarthy/Paisley Band, Sweet Cider and Delaney Brothers Bluegrass.

In addition, a full slate of children’s activities is scheduled for Friday and Saturday. One highlight is the Bill Monroe Jungle Breakfast at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Workshop stage topics include duet singing, the workings of a family band and banjo maintenance. IIIrd Tyme Out’s mandolin player Wayne Benson will present a workshop, as will his bandmate, banjo picker Steve Dilling. Junior Sisk, Timmy Massey and Sarah Jarosz will present a workshop on songwriting.

As a fund raiser to support the festival, $5 raffle tickets are being sold for an HD-28LSV Martin guitar, part of the Vintage Series and inspired by Tony Rice’s 1935 D-28.

More details are available at www.foxfamilybluegrass.com

Share This

Sugar Hill Records continues to expand its Americana Master Series with seven new CD releases. All sharing the sub-title, “Americana Master Series, The Best of the Sugar Hill Years,” the releases showcase the Lonesome River Band, Reckless Kelly, Peter Rowan, Doyle Lawson, the Nashville Bluegrass Band and Terry Allen.

Sugar Hill launched the series in March with CDs by James McMurtry, Jerry Douglas and Guy Clark.

“Researched and compiled from from the artist’s body of work on Sugar Hill Records, these tracks were culled from radio chart toppers, fan mail, downloads, and songs and tunes that are recurrent favorites at live performances,” according to a Sugar Hill publicist.

The new releases are already on store shelves. Information is available from http://www.sugarhillrecords.com/

Share This

Mike Compton

Friends of Bluegrass, an organization supporting bluegrass events in the Holly Springs, N.C., area, is sponsoring a mandolin workshop Aug. 26 featuring Mike Compton.

The class, limited to 15 to 18 participants, will be held at the Holly Springs Cultural Center. It will cost $75, with Friends of Bluegrass members being reimbursed $5.

The workshop is geared towards intermediate players with an interest in acquiring a more thorough understanding of how to reproduce the original bluegrass mandolin sound. All levels are welcome, however. Some knowledge of standard notation/tab will be helpful. Students are encouraged to come prepared to actively participate. The workshop is not intended as a lecture.

“Topics will include a brief bio of Bill Monroe, his influences and regional culture as it related to the development of the music,” according to a press release from the center.

“A visual reference to the work of Van Gogh will be introduced. The class will spend time working on right hand technique, various examples of tremolo, triplets, down strokes, slides and melody insinuation. Recorded examples to illustrate points may be included as deemed necessary. There will also be examples from the black mandolin culture.”

Born in Meridian, Mississippi in 1956, Compton started playing mandolin as a teenager. He moved to Nashville in 1977 and was eventually recruited by Pat Enright and Alan O’Bryant to help found the Nashville Bluegrass Band.

After a stint with the band, Compton joined the legendary John Hartford, recording a half-dozen albums with the Hartford String Band and touring extensively until Hartford’s death in 2001. He was one of the Soggy Bottom Boy on 2001’s Grammy Album Of The Year, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” In 2000, he rejoined the Nashville Bluegrass Band.

Information about the workshop is available at http://www.friendsofbluegrass.org. Inquiries can be addressed to questions@friendsofbluegrass.org.

Share This

Karl Shiflett and Big Country

Special Consensus

Marty Raybon and Full Circle

JD Crowe and long time fan Steve Mobley

Steve & Sue Mobley, good friends of the BluegrassJournal.com staff and Bean Blossom regulars, sent us these pictures they took during the 2007 Bean Blossom Bluegrass Fest back in June.

Thanks!!!!!!!

Share This