Charlie Sizemore “Good News”

How’s this for a sales pitch from none other than Dr. Ralph Stanley:

“Charlie knows music and knows how to make it right. I would highly recommend this CD.”

That’s Charlie, as in Charlie Sizemore, and “this CD” is Sizemore’s new Rounder release, “Good News.” And, good news, it is, considering it’s been a five-year dry spell since his last recording project.

And, yes, the good Dr. Stanley knows about what he speaks. After all, Sizemore, at the tender age of 17, joined Stanley’s band to replace the then-departing Keith Whitley. He spent nine years with the Clinch Mountain Boys before heading on to start his own band and get a college education, which culminated in a law degree.

Sizemore tackles traditional and not-so-traditional sounds on “Good News,” while giving each track a real trademark Sizemore stamp, especially on the four new original tunes here, including the tongue-in-cheek “Alison’s Band,” which must have drawn some pretty hearty chuckles from Ms. Krauss, her bandmates and a wide circle of bluegrass insiders.

Charlie Sizemore photo by Señor McGuire

Alison Krauss isn’t the only one targeted for some good-natured fun on “Good News.” There’s also “Blame It on Vern,” a real hoot of a tribute to Vern Gosdin, known as country music’s “The Voice,” back not too many years ago when country music was … well, country. But that’s another story for another day.

Back to the current tale, Sizemore himself may deserve the title of The Voice in today’s bluegrass scene. He plays his smooth voice on “Good News” every bit as well as his highly capable pickers do their instruments on this CD. He glides Teflon-like high and then dips low, all with plenty of emotion to fit the tune at hand.

Living in flat, black-dirt Illinois all my life, the John Pennell/Harley Allen tune, “Devil on a Plow,” struck paydirt with me. Shades of Larry Cordle’s style of writing come through on this salute to a hard working dirt farmer.

“The Silver Bugle,” written by Sizemore and Tom T. and Dixie Hall, is a haunting telling of a Civil War legend rooted in Kentucky. The Hank Cochran/Craig Martin tear-jerker, “My Dying Day,” really draws on Sizemore’s ability to milk every drop of raw emotion from a lyric.

“Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart,” the Randy Travis hit, also is treated well by Sizemore and his band. The group includes Pennell playing bass, Danny Barnes on mandolin and other assorted utility chores, Matt DeSpain on resophonic guitars and Wayne Fields on banjo.

DeSpain gets his chance to shine vocally with the lead on “Hey Moon,” one of these feel-good, bouncy love tunes. Barnes also deserves a friendly nod for his contribution of the high harmony part on this fun song.

The CD is co-produced by Sizemore and Nashville ace Buddy Cannon, who has directed recorded projects by Kenny Chesney, George Jones, Reba McEntire and many others.

If there’s a lesson to be learned from “Good News,” it’s this: Sizemore, Rounder Records and other powers that be shouldn’t wait another five years before doing this again. Doing so would be bad news.

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The Fiddle Collection - Special Edition: Benny Martin

CMH Records this month released “The Fiddle Collection - Special Edition: Benny Martin,” an out-of-print album from 1977 that showcases Martin’s powerful, innovative fiddling.This, the first CD version of the classic fiddle album, includes bonus tracks featuring the late John Hartford, who had collaborated with Martin on some of his own classic off-the-wall albums.

The release has been re-mastered from the original studio tapes, according to CMH.

Included are classics such as “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” “The Fiddler’s Dream,” “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” “Lara’s Theme” and “Beautiful Dreamer.”

Round and robust Martin, who died in 2001, was known as “Big Tiger” or “Big Tige” among his bluegrass family, knicknames he garnered for his exuberant stage presence.

According to All Music Guide’s biography of the famous fiddler, Martin performed with many legends, including Bill Monroe, Hank Williams Sr., Roy Acuff, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, Don Reno and Tom T. Hall.

In 2005, the International Bluegrass Music Association posthumously indicted Martin into its Hall of Honor.

The Jim & Jesse Story: Special Edition

Also released this month by CMH is another album reissue of “The Jim & Jesse Story: Special Edition,” which gives a song-by-song look at the McReynolds’ brothers careers. It also has been digitally remastered and includes four bonus tracks from the original vinyl release.

Known for its “Pickin’ On …” series of CD tributes to popular artists of all genres, CMH also just released a similar project,entitled “The Gospel According to Hank Williams: The Bluegrass Gospel Tribute.”

Details about the new releases and CMH’s extensive bluegrass-oriented catalog can be found at www.cmhrecords.com

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Porter Wagoner

He had been admitted to an undisclosed Nashville-area hospital on Monday, Oct. 15 and it was announced he had lung cancer. Mr. Wagoner was released to hospice care on Friday, a Grand Ole Opry spokeswoman announced.

Wagoner’s contributions to country music are numerous. Marty Stuart, who produced this year’s much-heralded comeback album Wagonmaster, calls him “an American master and a cornerstone of our music.”

He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and a three-time Grammy winner whose hits included “A Satisfied Mind,” “Misery Loves Company” and “Green, Green Grass of Home.”

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John Sebastian and David Grisman, while recording their new CD of duets, ”Satisfied” © CSP Images

This one just might be a touch of magic. That’s a prediction made on pretty solid ground for a new CD by John Sebastian of Lovin’ Spoonful fame and Dawg music master David Grisman.

“Satisfied,” on the Acoustic Disk/Koch label, will be released Nov. 6.

Don’t think for a minute it’s a first crossing of paths between these two legends. According to advance publicity on the CD, “Their musical history dates back to college days at New York University circa 1963 when the Greenwich Village folk revival was in its heyday. They made their first recording together as members of the Even Dozen Jug Band with future luminaries Maria Muldaur, Stefan Grossman and others. The rest, of course is musical history. John Sebastian became lead singer and songwriter of one of America’s most popular bands - the Lovin’ Spoonful and David Grisman spearheaded an acoustic music revolution with his genre-defying “Dawg” music.”

Finally, after a 40-plus year hiatus, their paths crossed again at a benefit concert in Mill Valley, Calif. After this mutually enjoyable evening of spontaneous music, it became obvious that they would continue collaborating and the result is ‘Satisfied.’”

The CD is a collection of acoustic duets featuring traditional folk tunes, blues, classy instrumentals and originals by these two legendary masters.

Here’s the track list:

1. I’m Satisfied
2. Strings Of Your Heart
3. EMD
4. Deep Purple
5. John Henry
6. Walk Right Back
7. Passing Fantasy
8. Coffee Blues
9. Dawg’s Waltz
10. Lonely One In This Town
11. It’s Not Time Now
12. Harmandola Blues
13. Coconut Grove
14. Jug Band Waltz

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Roland White

Mandolin pickers in the Midwest may want to head to Bloomington, Ind., where Roland White will present a mandolin camp at the Grant Street Inn Bed & Breakfast on Dec. 7 and 8.The camp opens Friday evening with a pickin’ party and meet-and-greet session. A workshop will be given from 12:30 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, followed by another evening picking party.

Cost of the camp is $75, with prepaid registration required. The Grant Street Inn is offering attendees a special half-price rate of $69 plus tax per night for those who wish to lodge there.

Attendees are not required to stay at the inn, although it is highly encouraged to get the full experience. Those attending the camp but not staying at the inn are still encouraged to come to Friday’s informal gathering.

Workshop topics will include right- and left-hand technique, chord shapes and how they work together, playing breaks to songs, double stops, back-up, mandolin set-up, tremolo, acquiring speed, ensemble playing, and more, depending on the students’ preferences and needs.

White will spend some time with each student individually and provide chord diagrams and tablature handouts. The workshop is designed to be equally beneficial to players of all skill levels.

In his distinguished career in bluegrass, White has played in some of the most influential and popular groups in the genre’s history. He began playing professionally at the age of 14 after his family moved from their native Maine to Burbank, Calif.

He led his brothers in their first band, The Country Boys, later known as The Kentucky Colonels, was a member of Lester Flatt’s Nashville Grass, Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, the progressive bluegrass band Country Gazette, The Nashville Bluegrass Band, which won two Grammies, and The Roland White Band, which earned a 2003 Grammy nomination for the CD “Jelly on my Tofu”.

White is widely praised as a teacher, having taught mandolin and guitar privately and in workshops for many years. He loves to teach beginners and has boundless enthusiasm for the music, which rubs off those around him. He has published a critically and popularly acclaimed mandolin method, “Roland White’s Approach to Bluegrass Mandolin” and “Roland White’s Mandolin Christmas.”

Registration for the camp can be made by contacting Jim Richter at 812-825-5514 or at http://richterdigitalarts.net/RolandWhite.

Reservations for a room at the bed and breakfast can be made by calling (800) 328-4350. Callers should tell inn keepers they intend to attend the mandolin workshop, which will qualify them for the special half-price rate. Details about the inn are available at http://www.grantstreetinn.com

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