“Powered by a new album, Cherryholmes will be facing a touring schedule that takes the six-member family band to Japan for the Country Gold Festival, up and down the West Coast and back to the East for a flurry of dates, all before Christmas. While on the California leg of the tour, the band will tape a special for PBS, details of which are still being worked out.”Edward Morris - CMT.com

To read the rest of this interview head over to CMT.com

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The Steeldrivers

Burlington, MA - Nashville can be a funny town to break into musically - loads of talent, but the competition is killer and often the homegrown folks are overlooked and unsung. Not so for rhythm’n'bluegrass musicians The SteelDrivers. Highly regarded behind the scenes as songsmiths and session players - with innumerable hits, cuts and licks to their credits - this batch of seasoned pros has performed to sold out crowds from nearly their inception. On January 29, 2008 The SteelDrivers go national with the release of their self-titled Rounder Records album.

On their debut CD of all original material, The SteelDrivers’ back-country high lonesome collides with Delta soul and is one of the most refreshing sounds to emerge from Nashville in a long time. With no hype, just incredible talent, these 5 musicians have already established a name for themselves in a town that barely looks twice at a bunch of folks holding acoustic instruments. Stretching the boundaries of your typical bluegrass band, the rock/blues/soul vocals of guitarist Chris Stapleton put the high lonesome bluegrass sounds smack dab in the middle of town.

Nashville Bluegrass Band’s Roland White says the band is “The most exciting band to appear on the scene in a long, long time! Chris puts the Ray Charles to it”.

Other SteelDrivers include mandolinist/guitarist/vocalist Mike Henderson, fiddler/vocalist Tammy Rogers, banjo player Richard Bailey and bassist Mike Fleming.

Produced by Luke Wooten (Alison Krauss, Jim Lauderdale and Dierks Bentley), The SteelDrivers’ debut album does a great job of translating their impassioned live show onto disc all the while offering new takes on classic themes of redemption and loss, hope and home.

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Friday Oct. 12

Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press — 8:00-8:30

Saturday Oct. 13

Mike Snider — 6:30-7:00 & 9:30-10:00

Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press — 8:30-9:00

The Grand Ole Opry is broadcast live on WSM 650 AM radio and online at www.WSMonline.com. All listed times are central time.

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Winds of Winfield - Mike Sumner

Joe Sumner and his wife Bertha are salt-of-the-earth folks. Plain. Folksy. Friendly as can be. I met these good Hoosier folks at a bluegrass festival in Bean Blossom, Ind. This fall, during Uncle Pen Days, I had the pleasure of jamming with Joe and Bertha, he on his own hand-crafted banjo, Bertha on bass. Good folks, good musicians and quite humble people.

Humble, that is, until they start talking about their son, Mike. And the pride spilled over at Bean Blossom in September when they heard that Mike won the championship of the banjo competition at Winfield, Kan. They couldn’t stop beaming at their son’s accomplishments.

Here, Joe says, listen for yourself, as he crams a couple of CDs in my hands. One is “Winds of Winfield,” a solo project, and the other is “Radio Hill,” a CD by Sumner’s Michigan-based band, Detour.

After the Bean Blossom festival, my wife and I headed to the peaceful Ozark hills of Missouri to get Some R&R from the Bean Blossom festival and to return to some type of sane sleeping schedule. Honestly, I couldn’t keep these two CDs out of my player. Mike Sumner is quite the banjo picker and he has a more-than-adequate group of comrades in Detour.

First, “Winds of Windfield,” the title cut of Sumner’s solo project, but also a tune that appears on “Radio Hill.” The song is something I’d expect from Jens Krueger, a bit classical, a bit bluegrass, a lot just fantastic musicianship. Not only does Sumner lay down some intricate, classy licks, he’s joined by co-producer Andy Leftwich on mandolin and fiddle and Leftwich’s band mate in Ricky Skaggs’ Kentucky Thunder, Cody Kilby on guitar.

Randy Kohrs joins the CD’s lineup on resophonic guitar for three numbers and Bryn Davies fills out the ensemble on bass.

“Winds of Windfield” is a terrific picker’s CD. The song lineup includes some originals, the previously mentioned “Winds of Windfield,” the neat instrumental ballad, Imagine (yeah, an instrumental ballad — featuring banjo, no less), ‘Summer Sun” and “Destello.

Sumner also throws in some perennial favorites, “When You’re Smilin’,” “Theme Time,” “Alabama Jubilee,” “John Hardy,” “Charmaine” and “Little Rock Getaway.” The old standards get plenty of fresh treatments, via the imaginative work of Sumner and his band mates on this project.

Most notably for me, having spent some good, quality time with Joe and Bertha Sumner just a few short weeks ago, is “Cripple Creek Connection.” This cut features Mike Sumner’s mom and dad and his son, Kody Sumner, a young up-and-comer on banjo

Make no mistake, pickers will love “Winds of Windfield.” But so will non-pickers who are looking for some fresh sounds to add to their CD collection. This one’s a winner.

Radio Hill - Detour

And the same label applies to “Radio Hill,” a great CD that is only lacking in its liner notes — or lack thereof.

I’d love to tell you that Jeff Rose, Detour’s mandolin player and writer of many of the band’s songs, is also a terrific vocalist. But I can only assume that, since he isn’t given credit for being the lead vocalist on any certain song.

Nonetheless, Rose is a darn good songwriter and turns in eight of the CD’s 15 songs.

Detour definitely leans toward the newgrass side of things, but it also pays homage, and pays it well, to the traditional, with covers of “Sunny Side of the Mountain,” “Darlin’ Corey” and “John Hardy.”

Besides Rose’s fine mandolin work, the CD sparkles with Mike Sumner’s intricate banjo work and guitarist Scott Zylstra’s guitar work, which at times is about as off-the-wall and on-target as it comes. There isn’t a guitar break on the CD that didn’t make me take note. No, it’s not Doc Watson, Tony Rice or Kenny Smith, it’s more left of center than any of that. And, oh so tasteful.

I gather that Detour is a regional band that enjoys plenty of popularity in the Michigan area. But these four guys (Zak Bunce plays bass and adds vocals) are destined for wider popularity.

Both CDs are available on the BluegrassAhead label.

Information is available at www.detourbluegrass.com or mikesumner@charter.net.

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