Archive for December, 2007
Dan Tackett’s Best CDs of 2007
Special Consensus - Trail of Aching HeartsSo, what’s my favorite bluegrass CDs of 2007? When that question was first asked of me, I thought, easy, no-brainer. It was wham, wham … and well, er, uh, mmmmm, I stammered. Gee, I dunno. I’m gonna have to think about that.
First, those two whams.
No, no, no! First the rules of this little exercise. Rule No. 1: I’m making up the rules as I go. Rule No. 2: There are no rules. Rule No. 3: Please refer back to rule No. 2.
Next, a preface is in order. I’m not a fanatical CD buyer. My dear friend Rickey Lamb, who is a regular contributor to BluegrassJournal.com, buys several CDs a month. Perhaps, a week. From many different genres, bluegrass included. That’s not me. I just can’t find the time to listen to that many CDs. I’ll go to a bluegrass festival, come home with 4 to 6 CDs, and spend the next month trying to digest them.
Only a tiny handful of CDs come out each year that have me slobbering to get my hands on them. One was Merle Haggard’s bluegrass CD that hit the stores in October. Another project I stewed and walked the floor over until it finally came out was IIIrd Tyme Out’s long-awaited DVD of a concert at the Mountain Arts Center in Kentucky. I waited for two years to get my hands on that DVD — and after I got it, waited a couple of months before watching it.
So, here’s the bottom line on my preface: I don’t go shopping for every CD that shows up on the charts. As a result, my Top 3 CDs of 2007 are gleaned from a very limited list. So, here goes:
Greg Cahill, the Special Consensus founder, and his band of very capable vocalists and instrumentalists, created a real masterpiece with “The Trail of Aching Hearts.”
No. 1, hands down is “The Trail of Aching Hearts” by Special Consensus.
No. 2 is “Lefty’s Old Guitar” by J.D. Crowe & The New South.
No. 3: I’m not saying yet, so keep reading. (And, also keep Rules. No. 1 and 2 in mind.)
Greg Cahill, the Special Consensus founder, and his band of very capable vocalists and instrumentalists, created a real masterpiece with “The Trail of Aching Hearts.” It runs the gamut of what bluegrass has become today. There’s the traditional “Branded Wherever I Go,” which is a Flatt & Scruggs tune. Add the classic country factor with Hank Snow’s “Down the Trail of Broken Hearts” and a great, but nearly forgotten Marty Robbins’ tune, “The Shoe Goes on the Other Foot Tonight.” And, yes, there’s the non-bluegrass tune from left field, in this case Irving Berlin’s classic “Blue Skies,” which has become a popular staple on the Special Consensus concert set list. Then, providing a shade of newgrass is “Ten Mile Tennessee,” a pretty little melody paying tribute to a place we all long for, where the living is pretty darned easy and where the world is best viewed from a rocking chair on a front porch on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Putting a little icing on this CD’s cake is the vocal work of mandolin player Ron Spears, who was a real standout in his tenure with Special Consensus. Spears, who recently joined David Parmley & Continental Divide, contributed two of his own songs to my favorite CD of the year.
It’s just difficult to put “The Trail of Aching Hearts” anyplace but at the top. And, it’s really nice to see that Cahill and his band have enjoyed a fair amount of success on the charts with the album.
JD Crowe & the New South - Lefty’s Old GuitarI also really enjoy hearing Rickey Wasson’s vocal work with J.D. Crowe’s New South. So much so, that admittedly may be a reason why “Lefty’s Old Guitar” lands at the No. 2 spot of my 2007 favorites.
When I originally reviewed this CD in summer, I took note that Crowe’s current edition of the New South has held the same lineup for the past few years. That, indeed, gives the band a rock-solid sound, both instrumentally and vocally, which usually features Wasson on lead vocal, mandolin player Dwight McCall on the high harmony and Crowe on the baritone part. It’s a winning combination.
The title cut refers to the late Lefty Frizzell’s guitar feeling a bit lonesome, unplayed and hanging in the Country Music Hall of Fame. It’s a poignant tribute to a country music legend who inspired many singers, among them Merle Haggard. So, it’s no surprise that a Haggard tune, “In My Next Life,” is one Rickey Wasson’s strongest vocal efforts on the CD.
Ronnie Stewart’s great fiddle work also adds plenty to the tracks. And, did I mention, J.D. Crowe continues to be a hard-driving, on-the-money banjo player? This Rounder release has also enjoyed plenty of chart success this past year — and deservingly so.
So, if you’ve stayed with me through all of the above, it’s time to exercise my privilege of having no rules. I have a tie for my No. 3 spot, shared by an album that came out in 2006, and a CD that hasn’t even hit the market and won’t be until early 2008.
Nothin’ Fancy - 7The 2006 effort is “#7″ by Nothin’ Fancy and the new, unreleased project is “Vincent & Dailey,” which will be released in late January. Here’s why I’m putting them both on my 2007 list: I never acquired “#7″ until this year, and I got my first advance listen to “Vincent & Dailey” earlier this month.
I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating: Nothin’ Fancy is one of bluegrass music’s most underrated bands. All of their CDs (this is the seventh) shine. The band’s concert appearances more than shine, they glow.
“#7″ has a great song lineup filled with new tunes, old tunes and standards, including one of my favorites, Charlie Waller’s “Two Little Boys.” Like my No. 1 and 2 picks, “#7″ also pays homage to classic country with the Tom T. Hall song, “I Washed My Face in the Morning Dew” and the old Johnny Rodriguez country hit, “Pass Me By.”
As with most of Nothin’ Fancy’s CDs, Chris Sexton’s fiddle work (and viola work, cello work, etc .) is a true work of art.
Dailey & Vincent“Dailey & Vincent” — that’s Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent — are set to release a CD that will become a classic. The instrumental work is many notches above adequate and the vocal work — well, it’s just out of sight. You can find my review of their debut CD on Rounder Records elsewhere on www.bluegrass journal.com.
Suffice it to say that what I heard on this advance copy made me temporarily forget some of the great bluegrass music that was released in 2007. Perhaps that’s another reason why this 2008 CD makes my 2007 list.
Meanwhile, I’m waiting for 2008 and a bunch of new, terrific bluegrass music that is out there, waiting to be released.
1 commentMerry Christmas from all of us at BluegrassJournal.com
All of us here at BluegrassJournal.com would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas this season and a Happy New Year.
We would like to thank all of our readers for stopping by and keeping up with the site as well as passing it on to your bluegrass friends. We’re very excited about the prospects and ideas we’ve got in the works for 2008. We’re hoping to have a dedicated and extensive festival section online around February or March. After the festival section is online and working we will begin work on a “performance schedule” section to keep tabs on all your favorite bluegrass bands where-abouts
Through out the month of December we’ve been publishing “favorite Christmas memories” from some of the greats in the business who were extremely gracious and found some time to send us there stories. Below is a list of all those stories and links to read them.
Donna Hughes
“That Christmas Eve, my first ever without my Dad, and the most painful thing ever, I went over to my parents house, and sat in their hammock. My Mom & Dad were almost married 35 years. When my Daddy died, it was 20 days shy of their 35th wedding anniversary. Just two years before, Alison Krauss wished them a Happy Anniversary at a sold out crowd in Greensboro, NC (since she had recorded one of my songs,) and my Daddy was the proudest Dad in the world.”
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Herb Pederson
“I had just come back from a road trip with Flatt & The Foggy Mt. Boys, and I got a call from Dean Webb, asking if I’d like to join The Dillards, after an audition with them out in L.A.
I was looking for a way back to California, and this seemed a perfect way to pay for it. Vern & Ray & I were scheduled to play The Ash Grove in L.A. right around then, so it all worked out great.”
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Greg Cahill
“We left Chicago in our van to play several shows in OH and PA. We encountered a pretty intense snow storm as we drove through IN and had to pull off the road for a while due to no visibility. Once we finally got back onto the highway, the van began losing power and we nursed it into an off-highway repair shop in OH. The mechanic was very friendly and dropped everything to look at our vehicle when we told him we were a touring bluegrass band and desperately needed to keep pushing on so we could make our show in Bethlehem, PA that evening.”
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Tom T. Hall
“One Christmas eve when I was nine years old, I lived with my parents and my eight brothers and sisters in the hills of Kentucky. This would have been 1945.
It had snowed five or six inches that day and we lived seven miles from town. My brother Quinton, who worked the factories up north was to come home for the holidays and had said he was bringing me something special.”
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Miss Dixie Hall
“Another delightful surprise came to Fox Hollow a couple Christmases ago when I opened up a small package which contained a mock up of a c.d. The accompanying note said “To Miss Dixie, this is good for a c.d. We’ll record in our studio; you choose the songs and the pickers. You produce and I’ll do songs we have written together. Local and Pal will handle (canine) security. We will call the project TOM T. SINGS MISS DIXIE & TOM T. Merry Christmas! Love, T.”
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Steve Gulley
“My father, Don, and I were booked to play a Christmas party along with the rest of the Pinnacle Boys in Knoxville, Tenn., back in the ’80s.That sounds pretty harmless right? Wrong!
When we got there, we found out we would be performing on a hay wagon out in the middle of this guy’s farm in below-freezing weather. Yes - outside! It was freezing cold with a dusting of snow on the ground.”
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Bobby Osborne
“l would like to share a Christmas story that has meant more to me than any other story I could ever think of,” he said. “The song ‘Rocky Top’ was released on Christmas Day of 1967 on then-Decca Records (later MCA) by The Osborne Brothers.
l could never ask for a better Christmas present than ‘Rocky Top.”
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Darrin Vincent
“I remember as a child waking up early, before dawn, knowing that Santa had come. We’d tear open the gifts and leave paper strewn all over the living room. Then we would all get dressed and head over to my grandparents’ house to have more Christmas. I remember having breakfast there. My Grandma Helen (Thompson) could really cook, and I loved her gravy and bacon.”
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Jamie Dailey
“My dad and I would put up hundreds of lights all over the hillside and around the plank fence that went around our five acres of land. When it got dark we lit up the house and land, and you could see traffic literally stopping on the bridge across the lake as they looked at our lights. After that we went inside to help my mother put up decorations.”
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Pedersen shares a holiday memory
Herb PedersonThis past year was a grand year for bluegrass. A couple of the peak shows I caught were Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen playing acoustic gigs in the Midwest. With pen in hand I pestered these two guys a few times to get an interview, which, incidentally, is shortly coming as an exclusive to this web site. Both men were happy to oblige me with wonderful stories. The history in music these gentlemen have had the last 40-some years is phenomenal.
Herb Pedersen has made music with Hillman in Desert Rose Band. He is a member of the Laurel Canyon Ramblers. He did a stint in the Dillards. He also played with Vern and Ray as well as the Pine Valley Boys. The albums he has played on are a who’s who in the music business: Linda Ronstadt, Gram Parsons, Sonny Landreth, John Prine, Jimmy Webb, Emmylou Harris, John Denver, Doc Watson…when do you want me to stop?
Herb, being the amiable guy he is, was invited by yours truly to send us a Christmas memory. He sent a fantastic one, especially on short notice. The following is the message I received for Herb.
“Hey Rickey! Happy Holidays to you and yours. “Well, ONE of my favorites is when I lived in Nashville back in the 60’s, I was about 23, and it was around Christmas time.
“I had just come back from a road trip with Flatt & The Foggy Mt. Boys, and I got a call from Dean Webb, asking if I’d like to join The Dillards, after an audition with them out in L.A.
“I was looking for a way back to California, and this seemed a perfect way to pay for it. Vern & Ray & I were scheduled to play The Ash Grove in L.A. right around then, so it all worked out great.
“I joined The Dillards in 1967, just before “Wheatstraw Suite” came out on Elektra. Merry Christmas to me. Boy oh boy!”
What a fantastic musician, a wonderful man and a great bluegrass Christmas memory!
No commentsCharlie Sizemore is Topping the Charts!
Charlie Sizemore photo by Señor McGuireBurlington, MA — Did you hear the good news? Good News is #1 on XM Radio’s Bluegrass Junction and the single “Alison’s Band” is the #1 single on Sirius Radio’s Count Down Yonder: Weekly Top 17 Songs of Sirius Bluegrass. Good News, Sizemore’s first studio album in five years, was released in August on Rounder Records and was produced by Sizemore and acclaimed country producer/songwriter Buddy Cannon (Kenny Chesney, George Jones, Reba McEntire). The L.A. Daily News calls Good News “…one of the year’s best bluegrass releases,” while CMT.com says, “…if you like easygoing bluegrass music with smart, clever lyrics, this one will make you feel pretty darn good.”
2008 Schedule
January
12 — Mountain Arts Center — Prestonburg, KY
24 — The Down Home — Johnson City, TN
25 — Blue Ridge Performing Arts Center — Hendersonville, NC
26 — Luckett’s Community Center — Lucketts, VA
February
15 — Bethlehem United Church of Christ — Maple Lake, MN
16 — Paul Bunyan Playhouse — Bedmidji, MN
17 — Armatage Elementary School — Minneapolis, MN
March
8 — Tawas United Methodist Church Family Center — Tawas City, MI
13 — Two Rivers High School — Two Rivers, WI
14 — American Legion Hall — Evanston, IL
15 — The Iron Post — Urbana, IL
April
3 — Red Light Café — Atlanta, GA
4-5 — Florida State Bluegrass Festival — Perry, FL
May
24 — Dr. Ralph Stanley’s Memorial Bluegrass Festival McClure, VA
“Alison’s Band,” Sizemore’s lighthearted hit single about yearning to be a member of Union Station, continues its ascent at #12 on Bluegrass Unlimited’s Top 30 Single Chart and #6 on Bluegrass Music Profile’s Top 20 Hot Singles while Good News is #3 on Bluegrass Unlimited’s National Bluegrass Top 15 Album Chart and #3 on Bluegrass Music Profile’s Top 10 Bluegrass CDs.
The Charlie Sizemore Band have announced their spring 2008 tour schedule (below). The Charlie Sizemore Band is Charlie Sizemore (lead vocals, guitar), Danny Barnes (mandolin, vocals), Matt DeSpain (Dobro), John Pennell (bass) and Wayne Fields (banjo).In addition to being one of bluegrass music’s most distinctive and expressive vocal stylists, Charlie Sizemore is also recognized as being one of its most literate and thoughtful songwriters, with impeccable taste in choosing lesser-known, under-appreciated, well-written tunes by other writers. Based in Nashville, where he runs a successful law practice, Sizemore has moved a long way from his roots in eastern Kentucky, on Puncheon Creek, in the state’s quintessentially Appalachian county, Magoffin. In other ways, however, he is as deeply close as ever, as connected to the sources of his musical inspiration as when he joined Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys at age seventeen, replacing the late Keith Whitley, for the next nine and a half years.
No commentsThe Grascals - In the studio & a new site launched
The Grascals photo by Joe HardwickNashville, Tenn. –The Grascals, IBMA’s reigning Entertainers of the Year, are taking advantage of some rare time off the road to begin recording new songs for their next Rounder release, coming in 2008.
“We’re having a great time in the studio; it’s been very relaxed,” said Grascals lead vocalist and guitarist Jamie Johnson. “We’ve been listening to songs since the last album came out, and we’re thrilled with what we found. We’ve been playing some of these songs on the road, and the crowds seem to love them.”
The group also launched a completely revamped version of their Web site, http://www.grascals.com/, featuring greater interactivity and quicker access to new photos, tour dates, the latest news, and audio files.
The year 2007 brought many career achievements and new experiences for The Grascals. They received two SPBGMA Bluegrass Awards-Bluegrass Band of the Year and Instrumental Group of the Year-and earned their first Dove Award nomination for Bluegrass Recorded Song of the Year for “Did You Forget God Today,” which they recorded with the Jordanaires. They performed at the first Stagecoach Festival in Indio, California, and participated in CMA Music Festival for the fourth straight year. The group watched Long List of Heartaches, their Grammy®-nominated 2006 release, top the Billboard Bluegrass Albums chart in September, shortly before winning their second consecutive IBMA Entertainer of the Year Award.
In August The Grascals locked in a sponsorship agreement with Mayberry’s Finest, a line of Southern-seasoned stews, chilis, vegetables and baking mixes inspired by The Andy Griffith Show. They wrote and recorded the Mayberry’s Finest jingle and have recorded radio and Web commercials for the product line, with television spots to follow. They travel to the shows on their Mayberry’s Finest tour in a Prevost XL2 bus wrapped with the brand’s logo. As part of their relationship with Mayberry’s Finest, the band performed at the Mayberry Days festival in Mt. Airy, North Carolina, and made their debut guest appearance on the nationally syndicated John Boy & Billy Big Show.
Throughout the year The Grascals continued to make regular guest appearances on the Grand Ole Opry and also made their first foray into late-night television, performing “Prodigal Son’s Prayer” with Dierks Bentley on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson in February. The song is on Bentley’s Long Trip Alone CD, which was recently nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Album. Finally, the band was honored to film a performance for the latest Gaither Homecoming DVD from Bill Gaither and friends, which will be released in the fall of 2008.
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