It’s been nearly 10 long years since the world has been blessed with a new recording from “The Storyteller,” Tom T. Hall.

Thankfully, with the release of “Tom T. Hall Sings Miss Dixie & Tom T.,” the wait is finally over. And that decade of silence evidently was worthwhile, as Miss Dixie Hall writes in the liner notes, claiming the new record is “…the crown
jewel of all Tom T. Hall recordings.”

Tom T. and Miss Dixie have always written songs centered around observations of the common man’s life, and this batch of tunes deals with many of the same types of examinations that immortalized characters like Clayton Delaney, The Hitchhiker, and Ravishing Ruby.

Compared to the production of the country hits Hall had in the 70s and 80s, the laid-back and stripped-down instrumentation provided by an all-acoustic (and all-star) band place Tom T.’s strong suits as a songwriter and storyteller squarely at the forefront. Hall’s vocal delivery on the entire album is right on the money with an honesty you only get from an artist who penned the material.

The CD’s supporting cast is among the best in the bluegrass industry. Let’s drop some names: Earl Scruggs, Don Rigsby, Wayne Benson, Mike Bub, Glen Duncan, The Isaacs, Terry Eldridge, Robert Bowlin, Tim White, Randy Kohrs, Kristin Scott Benson and Josh Williams. With those heavyweights, the listener might expect some fireworks, but the instrumental work throughout the CD is totally minus ego. That’s not to say there isn’t some great playing; it’s all over the thing. Bottom line, it’s an exercise of great musicians adding their own master’s touch to support some truly great songs.

This is a “must have” album containing material that will remain timeless. You’ll hear these tunes for many years on the stage and in campground jam sessions at bluegrass festivals everywhere.

Miss Dixie, in summing up the liner notes beckons Tom T., “let’s do a box set.” Let me second that motion and add an amendment: How about a boxed set and a promotional tour that stops in Bean Blossom, Indiana, next June.

by Travis Tackett

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The Steeldrivers

Nashville, Tennessee, that’s one tough town. Just ask any of the touring pros who’ve ever played a show there. Nashville folks tend to be a little bit spoiled when it comes to live music because they’re surrounded by some of the best in the world and they sometimes take it for granted. There are over one hundred and twenty live music venues scattered around the area, and those are just the ones that advertise! So when a new band has them lining up for a chance to squeeze into a packed club, those in the know start to take notice.

Now that the secret is out, its time for the rest of us to step up and get in line. The SteelDrivers are one of the freshest, most original new bands to emerge from the bluegrass melting pot in a long time. The music is old and new at the same time. It sounds familiar, invoking the time honored traditions that gave birth to this great musical form, simplicity, harmony, drive and power but with new melodies, new words, and a new commitment to keeping it real. Make no mistake: this is not newgrass - its new bluegrass, it’s five exciting musicians with over 100 combined years on the job coming together to form the SteelDrivers; and it looks like the future is in good hands.

The Steeldrivers are currently working on their debut CD that should be released in early 2008.

Richard Bailey - Banjo
Grammy nominated banjo player, Richard Bailey has recorded with such diverse artists as Al Green and George Jones. Featured in the book “Masters of the 5-String Banjo”, Richard has performed with Bill Monroe, Roland White, Vassar Clements, Loretta Lynn, Chet Akins, Larry Cordle, Laurie Lewis, Dale Ann Bradley and countless others. He has also recordedwith Kenny Rogers, Michael Martin Murphy, Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette and Ronnie Milsap and has played at Carnegie Hall and on Austin City Limits.

Mike Fleming - Bass/Vocals
Mike Fleming lays down the firm foundation and sings the baritone harmony to round out the SteelDriver’s sound. A versatile veteran, Mike has recorded with Holly Dunn, Joy Lynn White and with groundbreaking singer/songwriter David Olney. In addition to traveling the world during stints with Dunn and Kevin Welch, Mike has appeared on Austin City Limits, Nashville Now, Crook and Chase, and too many Grand Ole Opry shows and festivals to count!

Mike Henderson - Mandolin/Vocals
Mike Henderson is a veteran songwriter and award winning musician on the Nashville scene. He has recorded with such artist as Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris, Mark Knopfler, Albert King, Hank Williams, jr., Johnny Lang, Peter Rowan, Guy Clark, John Hiatt, Sting, Delbert McClinton, Bob Seger, Bo Diddley, Faith Hill, Lucinda Williams, Nitty Gritty Dirt band and many others. Mike’s songs have been recorded by a number of acts including the Dixie Chicks, Kenny Rogers, Daryl Worley, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Travis Tritt, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Solomon Burke, Marty Stuart, Gary Allan and Randy Travis.

Tammy Rogers - Fiddle/Vocals
Tammy Rogers has a life spent in music. Growing up in a family bluegrass band that also included banjo great Scott Vestal, Tammy brings a lifetime of instrumental and vocal experience to the SteelDrivers. No stranger to the studio, she has recorded with many top artists, among them: Neil Diamond, Wynonna, Rodney Crowell, Radney Foster, Bill Anderson, Iris Dement, Randy Scruggs, Patty Loveless, Buddy & Julie Miller, Jim Lauderdale and others. Tammy has toured the world with Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, Maria McKee and the Dead Reckoners. Her songs have been recorded by Terri Clarke and Frances Black.

Chris Stapleton - Guitar/Vocals
Chris Stapleton is a rising star on the Nashville scene. The Paintsville, Kentucky native whose powerful “sandpaper to silk” voice helps give the SteelDrivers their distinctive sound has recorded with Daryl Worley, Gary Allan, Lee Ann Womack, Trent Wilmon, James Otto and others. As a songwriter, his compositions have been covered by many popular artists including Tim McGraw, Brooks and Dunn, Julie Roberts, Daryl Worley, Trent Wilmon, Gary Allan, Patty Loveless, Brad Paisley, Trace Adkins, Lee Ann Womack, Montgomery Gentry, and the Lonesome River Band. In addition, Chris recently scored a number one single, “Your Man” by Josh Turner.

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Cast Iron Airplane

Buffalo and bluegrass?

That’s right — for the second year in a row at the Hidden Hill Nursery & Sculpture Garden, which describes itself as a unique mini-arboretum, sculpture gallery and unusual plant nursery in Utica, in Southern Indiana about 8 miles from Louisville.

It’s the business’s second annual Buffalo Bar-B-Que and Bluegrass Music Festival on Sept. 8 and 9. Concerts featuring regional bands are scheduled Saturday and open jamming with multiple stages will also run all weekend.

Hidden Hills Nursery

The event opens at 11 a.m. Saturday with a buffalo barbeque luncheon served until 2 p.m. It’s sponsored by the Kentucky Bison Co.

At noon, Miss C’s Kitchen & Pantry and Graf’s Produce will operate an open air market.

Saturday’s bands include Cast Iron Airplane from 2 to 4:30 p.m. and Relic from 5 to 8 p.m. At 5 p.m., chefs from area residents will prepare and serve a meal featuring local products. The dinner runs until 8 p.m.

Sunday activities start at noon with another buffalo barbeque luncheon and demonstrations and samples by area chefs. The open air market also runs from noon to 5 p.m.

Open jam sessions on Sunday run from noon to 5 p.m.

Area blacksmith Jeff Reindhart will be on hand both days giving demonstrations of his craft. Directions are on the nursery’s Web site www.hiddenhillnursery.com.

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Bluegrass, old-timey and traditional country music are at the forefront in the inaugural round of inductees into the new West Virginia Music Hall of Fame, which is located in the Cultural Center of the Capitol Complex in Charleston.Among the Hall’s first 10 inductees, announced earlier this month, are singer and songwriter Hazel Dickens, country singer and Grand Ole Opry member Little Jimmy Dickens and multi-talented performer Billy Ed Wheeler, all in the living category.

Posthumous inductees include pioneer female singer Molly O’Day and old-time fiddler Clark Kessinger.

Here’s a glimpse of the inductees from the bluegrass and country genres:

Hazel Dickens

Hazel Dickens

Combining elements of country and bluegrass, Dickens sings about the plight of non-unionized mineworkers and feminism. She formed a band with Mike Seeger (younger brother of folk legend Pete Seeger) and, over the next decade, was active in the folk/bluegrass movement in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. area. Her group, the Greenbriar Boys, toured with Joan Baez in the ’60s.

Dickens and Seeger’s wife Alice Gerrard researched feminist songs at the Library of Congress and incorporated them into their repertoire. In 1973, Dickens recorded four songs for the soundtrack to the Academy Award-winning documentary about coal mining, “Harlan County, USA.” Her three solo albums for Rounder include old-time country along with protest songs and songs in a more contemporary country style.

Little Jimmie Dickens

Little Jimmy Dickens

In 1949, Dickens became a permanent member of the Grand Ole Opry and signed with Columbia Records. He would go on to have hits in every decade from the ’40s to the ’70s. Dubbed the “King of the Novelty Song,” his tunes included “Take an Old Cold Tater and Wait,” “A-Sleeping’ at the Foot of the Bed,” “Out Behind the Barn” and the Top 10 hit, “May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose.”

In 1964 he was the first country artist to tour around the world. Dickens has been in the music business for more than half a century. He is in the Country Music Hall of Fame, has been a member of the Grand Old Opry since 1949 and still performs and hosts on the Opry on a regular basis.

Molly O’Day

O’Day helped redefine the role of the female country singer and was known for her impassioned performances. None other than Hank Williams taught her “Tramp on the Street,” which became her signature song. Many consider her to be the greatest female country singer who ever lived.

O’Day and her husband, guitarist Lynn Davis recorded for Columbia Records in the mid-1940s. After recovering from a nervous breakdown, O’Day Davis hosted a gospel radio program in Huntington.

Billy Ed Wheeler

Wheeler is an extremely successful songwriter who penned “The Reverend Mr. Black,” “Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back,” “Jackson,” “Coward of the County, “Coal Tattoo,” “Ain’t Going Home Soon” and “They Can’t Put It Back.” Elvis Presley had a hit with his “It’s Midnight” while Kenny Rogers hit No. 1 with Wheeler’s “Coward of the County.”

He’s also scored commercial success as a writer of plays, joke books, children’s books and a folk opera. He has been inducted in the Nashville Songwriters Foundation Hall of Fame, and among the stand-out items on his job resume are his days as a drama student at Yale University.

Clark Kessinger

Clark Kessinger

Kessinger was one of the greatest old time fiddlers who was still active in the early 1970s. As the Kessinger Brothers, Clark and his nephew Luches recorded more than 70 sides in the late 1920s. Clark remained an excellent fiddle player throughout his life and won many awards, including first prize as the World’s Champion Fiddler at the 47th annual Union Grove Old Time Fiddlers Convention. His recordings can be found at Rounder Records, County Sales, and many Smithsonian Institute Folkways projects.

Bluegrass icon and 2007 Grammy winner Tim O’Brien was at the state capitol to assist with the announcement of the inductees. A formal induction ceremony will be held in November.

Nominations from the general public for the 2008 inductions will begin next spring.

Web site: http://www.wvmusichalloffame.com

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