The Time Jumpers

Nashville, Tenn. — 650AM, WSM in Nashville, and its primo deejay Eddie Stubbs are holding a special contest for visitors of the radio station’s Web site, WSMOnline.com.

Web surfers will have the chance to win tickets to Stubb’s next show in his monthly “An Intimate Evening With …” series on March 6.

In the spotlight that night will be the Grammy-nominated The Time Jumpers, the 11-piece swing band that holds weekly show’s at Nashville’s famous Bluegrass Mecca, The Station Inn

The evening show takes place inside the newly expanded Museum Store at The Country Music Hall of Fame. Entries can be made at wsmonline.com/contests/contests1.shtml.

The Time Jumpers consists of some of Music City’s top-notch pickers and vocalists. Included are Kenny Sears (fiddle/vocal), Joe Spivey (fiddle), Aubrey Haynie (fiddle), Dennis Crouch (bass), Andy Reiss (guitar), Rick Vanaugh (drums), Jeff Taylor (accordion), Carolyn Martin (vocals), Dawn Sears (vocals), Paul Franklin (Steel Guitar) and “Ranger Doug” Green (rhythm guitarist/vocalist of “Riders in the Sky” fame).

John Hughey, a member of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame, had been a long-time member of the group until his unexpected death in November.

The band states its purpose on its Web site, www.thetimejumpers.com, “The Time Jumpers’ goal is to keep the spirit of Western swing and traditional country alive and well through the performance of timeless music – classic songs and brand new original works – imbued with our own unique creative energy.”

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Jerry Cole

Jerry Cole is Pine Mountain Railroad’s new guitar player.

Cole grew up in Sharps Chapel, Tenn., where he still resides. Jerry’s dad instilled a great bluegrass music heritage in him, having performed for years with the regionally well-known gospel bluegrass group, The Better Way Quartet.

According to Pine Mountain Railroad’s Web site, Cole “is an accomplished bassist but is playing lead and rhythm guitar for PMRR. He also contributes lead, tenor, and baritone vocals.”

The band is still beaming for having its version of “Beyond the Rain,” recorded with The Isaacs, named favorite bluegrass gospel song for 2007 by the Singing News’ Front Porch Fellowship, a bluegrass gospel program affiliated with SolidGospel.com.

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The Lonesome River Band is in the final stages of producing a new CD, according to founding member and banjo player Sammy Shelor.

The group recorded tracks from Feb. 4 to Feb 14 at Mountain Fever Studio in Willis, Va.

“Mark Hodges (producer and engineer for the studio) has been great to work with, and the CD is sounding great,” Shelor said on the band’s Web site,. “It is almost all new material with a couple of old favorites thrown in.”

Guitarist and lead singer Brandon Rickman wrote several tunes for the new project, Shelor said. It will also include songs written by Larry Cordle, Dee Gaskin, and Billy Yeates.

The CD will also mark the return of fiddler Mike Hartgrove with the group. Hartgrove had been playing with Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver and teaching fiddle.

“Mixing is going on now and we hope to be talking to record companies soon,” Shelor said.

The band’s Web site is www.lonesomeriverband.com

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The GrascalsDavid Davis and the Warrior River Boys

The Boston Bluegrass Union’s 32nd concert season continues on Saturday, March 15th with The Grascals along with David Davis and the Warrior River Boys at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, MA.

Tickets are $25 (BBU Members $22) and can be purchased online at www.bbu.org or by mailing a check (payable to the BBU) with a self-addressed stamped envelope to Boston Bluegrass Union, PO Box 650061, West Newton, MA 02465.

The National Heritage Museum is located at 33 Marrett Rd. (Route 2A), Lexington, MA 02421. Doors open at 6:30pm and concert begins at 7:30pm. Directions can be found at www.monh.org or call (781) 861-6559.

The Grascals exploded onto the bluegrass scene in 2005, and it took them just a few months to be awarded the IBMA 2005 Emerging Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for “Me John and Paul.” In 2006 they vaulted right to the top, winning the 2006 Entertainer of the Year, one of the most coveted awards in bluegrass. They repeated the feat once again, winning the 2007 Entertainer of the Year honors. With their latest Rounder release Long List of Heartaches they now have two best-selling CD’s, a recent Grammy nomination, and a huge legion of fans.

Directly linked to the origins of bluegrass, David Davis’ love of the music grew organically. Back in the ’30s his father and two uncles played and sung in the brother style traditions of early country music. Uncle Cleo joined Bill Monroe as the very first Blue Grass Boy in 1938.

Since 1988, Davis has fronted the Warrior River Boys, carrying the banner of traditional bluegrass music near and far. A review in Sing Out! Magazine stated, “An excellent instrumentalist in the Monroe style of mandolin, Davis is also among the most emotive, capable, and under-appreciated singers in bluegrass.” His latest release is Troubled Times on Rebel Records.

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Ricky Skaggs “Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass Tribute to 1946 and 1947″

Over the past several years, it would be difficult to read a Ricky Skaggs interview without him paying homage to “Mr. Monroe.” Yes, that would be Bill, as in the Father of Bluegrass music.

Now, Skaggs is immortalizing his love and great respect for Monroe — as well as bluegrass music in general — in a new CD, “Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947.”

It’s due for release on March 25 on the Skaggs Family Records label, but pre-orders at a special price and the prospects of obtaining a copy with Skaggs’ autograph are spelled out on the label’s Web site, SkaggsFamilyRecords.com.

The CD is Skaggs’ tribute to Bill Monroe’s first trail-blazing bluegrass band, which included a couple of guys by the name of Flatt and Scruggs, fiddler Chubby Wise and bass player Howard Watts. In the two-year span that Skaggs’ CD covers, Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys literally forged the foundation of the genre.

Skaggs’ own head-turning group of musicians, known collectively as Kentucky Thunder, are featured throughout the album. It also includes two former Bluegrass Boys — that fellow named Scruggs playing banjo on “Going Back to Old Kentucky” and Del McCoury on “The Old Crossroads.”

The CD package also includes a booklet with several vintage photographs.

Here’s the track lineup:

1. Going Back to Old Kentucky (with Earl Scruggs)
2. When You’re Lonely
3. Toy Heart
4. It’s Mighty Dark to Travel
5. Mother’s Only Sleeping
6. Bluegrass Breakdown
7. Little Cabin Home On the Hill
8. Mansions for Me
9. Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong
10. Why Did You Wander
11. Remember the Cross
12. The Old Crossroads (with Del McCoury)

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