Nashville, Tenn. — Sugar Hill Records is set to release two new titles as part of their Americana Master Series. Ricky Skaggs: Best of the Sugar Hill Years and Doc Watson: Best of the Sugar Hill Years will both hit the streets on July 8th, 2008. Researched and compiled from each artist’s body of work on the label, these tracks were culled from radio chart toppers, fan mail, downloads, and songs and tunes that are recurrent favorites at live performances.

Doc Watson

Doc Watson “Americana Master Series - Best of the Sugar Hill Years” (Sugar Hill Records)

Doc Watson has been an iconic influence on every acoustic guitar player that has come in his wake. A recipient of the National Heritage Award and the National Medal of Arts, Watson’s contribution to the American folk idiom is immeasurable. For the Americana Master Series, Watson’s Sugar Hill releases - which span over 40 years from 1960 through 2006 - were meticulously combed for the best representation of both the virtuosity that embodies his work, as well as its breadth.

From bluegrass selections that exemplify the flat-picking that has become Watson’s calling card to gospel and traditional tunes featuring his soulful vocals, the collection draws upon solo work as well as duets with son Merle and collaborations with Bryan Sutton and Marty Stuart. Also included are tunes featuring the guitarist on banjo and slide guitar, demonstrating the icon’s virtuosity and deep connection to Appalachian roots music.

Doc Watson: Best of the Sugar Hill Years Track listing:

1. Slidin Delta 2:00
2. My Dear Old Southern Home 2:22
3. Country Blues 3:24
4. You Must Come In At The Door 2:14
5. Greenville Trestle High 3:26
6. Bright Sunny South 2:34
7. Let The Church Roll On 2:55
8. My Little Woman, Youre So Sweet 2:19
9. Watson Blues 3:31
10. Wreck Of The Number Nine 2:51
11. Solid Gone 3:01
12. Whiskey Before Breakfast 2:53
13. What Does The Deep Sea Say 3:30
14. Your Lone Journey 2:45

Ricky Skaggs

Ricky Skaggs “Americana Master Series - Best of the Sugar Hill Years” (Sugar Hill Records)

By the time Ricky Skaggs launched his solo career on Sugar Hill in 1979, he’d already amassed a resume that most retirees would envy. He’d been a member of Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys and the legendary Country Gentlemen. He’d made vital recordings with his friend and collaborator Keith Whitley. He’d been in Emmylou Harris’s Hot Band, and he’d been part of the pioneering neo-bluegrass band Boone Creek, whose album One Way Track had in fact been Sugar Hill’s first release as a label.

For all he did to bring roots to country, this collection is basted in bluegrass, a hand-picked anthology of the hand-picked music of Skaggs in his early years. Classics like “I’ll Stay Around” and “Little Cabin Home On The Hill” from Sweet Temptation show an artist who had internalized the sound and tone of the founding fathers, while Tony Rice’s guitar solos introduce overtones of innovation. With the string of Grammy-winning discs since, he’s returned to the form and function of his Sugar Hill years. He’s always been ahead of the curve with yesterday’s sounds, and you can hear why in these cuts.

Ricky Skaggs: Best of the Sugar Hill Years Track Listing:

1. Daniel Prayed 2:14
2. Ill Stay Around 2:35
3. Bury Me Beneath The Weeping Willow 2:41
4. Little Cabin Home On The Hill 3:21
5. Drifting Too Far From The Shore 2:15
6. Little Community Church 2:37
7. Im Not Broke, But Im Badly Bent 2:14
8. Head Over Heels In Love With You 2:13
9. The Old Crossroads 2:42
10. No Mother Or Dad 2:40
11. If I Needed You 3:15
12. Where The Soul Of Man Never Dies 2:34
13. I Know What It Means To Be Lonesome 2:15

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The Grascals will premiere “Keep on Walkin’” today on XM 14 Bluegrass Junction with Kyle Cantrell.

Nashville, Tenn. — The Grascals will unleash their latest CD, Keep on Walkin’ today, July 1 on XM Satellite Radio Channel 14/Bluegrass Junction at 4:00 P.M. eastern time. Terry Eldredge, Terry Smith and Aaron McDaris of The Grascals will join Kyle Cantrell in the studio for the debut of their latest Rounder CD Keep on Walkin’ which will be released July 15. The program will also be re-aired in case you miss the premiere broadcast.

Full broadcast schedule:

• Tuesday, July 1 – 4:00 pm (world premiere)
• Friday, July 4 – 12:00 noon
• Sunday, July 6 - 10:00 am
• Wednesday, July 9 – 8:00 pm
• Friday, July 11 – 12:00 midnight (technically Saturday)
• Tuesday, July 15 – 9:00 am

** All times are Eastern**

Also, as reminder, if you preorder this CD by Monday, July 14 (which you can do by visiting www.Rounder.com, www.grascals.com, or www.myspace.com/thegrascals) you will be automatically entered to win a Takamine guitar. Keep On Walkin’ is also available in a limited-edition, vinyl pressing for any collectors or folks that just still love an album.

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The Chapmans hit bluegrass radio with a new single, “The Redwood Hill” this week.

Nashville, Tenn. — Bluegrass band The Chapmans return to radio this week with a brand new single. “The Redwood Hill” was written by singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. “When we were younger we used to listen to the Country Gentlemen do this song,” comments Jeremy Chapman. “We wanted to pay homage to their version with the solos and the arrangement, while putting The Chapmans’ harmonies and lead vocal ideas to it.”

The release of the single comes after a brief hiatus from radio. “We took some time off the road and out of the studio to allow our lead singer John to be at home for the birth of his first baby, Kylie Grace Chapman,” Chapman continues. The Chapmans found themselves eager to get back to recording and went into the studio recently to begin work on a new album. After much demand from fans, the band decided to release a new single. “We are still working on the album, and we’ll release it once we’ve determined which label we are going to align ourselves with.”

In the meantime, The Chapmans are offering the single as a Fan Exclusive Free download available at http://www.chap-tv.com/.

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Michigan

July 3-5 — Leslie Bluegrass Festival - Leslie, MI. Bluegrass artists scheduled to appear include: Luke McKight, Gary Brewer, Karl Shifflett & Big Country, Lorrain Jordan & Carolina Road, The Larkins, Melvin Goins, Cedar Creek Junction and more. Tickets at the gate are $15 (Thu) and $20 (Fri & Sat) or a weekend pass will set you back $50.

Missouri

July 3-5 — Starvy Creek Bluegrass Festival - Conway, MO. Artists scheduled to appear include: Bobby Osborne & the Rocky Top X-Press, Larry Stephensen Band, Audie Blaylock & Redline, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Lonesome Road, Bull Harman & Bulls Eye and more. Single Day tickets are priced at $10 (Thu) and $15 (Fri & Sat) and a weekend pass is available for $35.00. Children under 12 are free and ages 12-16 are half off with a paid adult.

Pennsylvannia
July 3-6 Out Among The Stars Bluegrass Festival, Benton, PA. Bluegrass artists scheduled to play include: Karl Shifflett & Big Country, Pine Mountain Railroad, The Doerful Family, Lonesome River Band, Chris Jones & The Nightdrivers, James King, Newfound Road and more. A weekend pass at the gate will cost $70 and single day tickets run from $10 - $25 depending on day. Primitive camping is included free with a weekend pass.

Tennessee
July 3 — Vince Gill & The Steeldrivers Bluegrass Night at The Ryman, Nashville, TN. Show starts at 7:30 P.M. www.ryman.com for ticket information

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Nashville, Tenn. — Two groundbreaking country music stars from the 1960s were welcomed into the Country Music Hall of Fame^® on June 29 in a three-hour ceremony filled with classic music and fond memories, as well as a few tears and loads of laughter.

Considered country music’s most prestigious night, the Country Music Hall^® of Fame and Museum’s Medallion Ceremony marked the official induction of Tom T. Hall and the Statler Brothers. They accepted their honors in the intimate setting of the Museum’s Ford Theater, in front of family members, close associates and fellow Hall of Fame members. They listened to poignant, sometimes hilarious stories about their lives and careers; they responded with heartfelt, humane, and often funny speeches that reflected their prodigious gifts as storytellers, humorists and big-hearted entertainers.

“A lot of my old pals and buddies are here tonight, and they asked me if I had prepared a speech,” Hall said after accepting his medallion from longtime friend and fellow Hall of Fame member Ralph Emery. “I said, ‘No, I don’t have to make a speech. I’m in the Country Music Hall of Fame!’ Why should I go to work?”

Similarly, Don Reid recalled the Statlers’ visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on the day of the public announcement of their inductions. “They took us into the Rotunda, and you walk in, and here are all of these plaques of all the people who have gone before us,” he said. “I’m standing there wide-eyed, and someone walks up behind me and says, ‘Don, here’s where the Statlers’ plaque will go.’ I thought I had seen it all in my life. But I felt like a little Amish boy who had wandered into a Circuit City.”

Joking aside, Tom T. Hall and the Statlers generously thanked those who helped them in their careers and took special care to address the importance of their wives, children and other family members.

Kyle Young, director of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, explained that Hall and the Statler Brothers join Emmylou Harris and the late Ernest V. “Pop” Stoneman as 2008 inductees. Harris and Stoneman were welcomed into the Hall of Fame during a ceremony on April 27.

“As a class, the 2008 Hall of Fame inductees represent a historical spectrum encompassing the earliest days of commercial country music recordings, the modern evolution of the country gospel quartet tradition, the arrival of more complex themes and social consciousness in country music songs, and the revival of a belief in the integrity of country music’s root forms that transcended the genre in a way that few others have matched,” Young said. “That’s a pretty complete spectrum. These artists have created a rich and enduring tapestry of music that will always recount the story of our homeland and its people over a period of almost 100 years.”

The night’s inductees shared small-town backgrounds and a commitment to songs about everyday American people that shattered country music stereotypes and formulas. Tom T. Hall’s literate tales, full of incisive detail and bold narrative gambits, helped change the content and construction of popular country songs. Such #1 hits as “A Week in a Country Jail,” “The Year That Clayton Delaney Died,” and “(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine”-as well as hits he wrote for others, including Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley P.T.A.” and Bobby Bare’s “Margie’s at the Lincoln Park Inn”-prodded Nashville into a new era. His sophisticated songwriting reflected his time’s changing values and rendered modern life from a fresh perspective.

The Statler Brothers-Harold Reid, Don Reid, Phil Balsley, the late Lew DeWitt, and his replacement, Jimmy Fortune-brought the four-part vocal harmonies of gospel quartets into the country music charts. Like Hall, their contemporary and Mercury Records labelmate, the Statlers also moved beyond conventional country music topics, as illustrated in the urban imagery of their debut 1965 hit, “Flowers on the Wall,” and in the warm, “Happy Days”-era nostalgia of “Do You Remember These?” and “The Class of ‘57.”

Those honoring Tom T. Hall with performances of his songs included Bobby Bare, who sang “How I Got to Memphis,” a Hall song he took to #3 on the Billboard charts in 1970; Heather Berry and Tony Mabe, a North Carolina folk-music duo who received a standing ovation for “Can You Hear Me Now,” a recent song written for them by Tom T. and his wife, Dixie Hall; and bluegrass singer Michelle Nixon, who offered a spirited “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” which she has recorded for an upcoming album.

“I probably know Tom T. Hall better than anybody except (his wife) Dixie,” Bare said. “We’ve been friends for over 45 years. That’s a long time.” Bare went on to say, “Tom T. is one of a kind. He writes songs and tells stories about people that have the uncanny ability to capture the spirit of people he is writing about. That doesn’t come by very often.”

Hall also performed, displaying his sly, laid-back, conversational style on “(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine,” which included soulful harmonica accompaniment by Jelly Roll Johnson.

Ralph Emery, one of Hall’s best and oldest friends, presented Hall with his medallion, continuing a tradition of the new member being welcomed personally by a member of the Hall of Fame. Emery spoke of his brotherly relationship with Hall and their shared love of golf. “He has never forgotten that whether playing or listening or recording music, it’s all about people,” Emery said. “Read or listen to his words, and you’ll soon learn that this complex man has a kind of integrity that is charming. It’s an openness that is unusual in a field of large egos and fragile feelings.”

During the Statler segment, Reba McEntire performed a rousing rendition of “Flowers on the Wall,” with Vince Gill joining in on harmony, a move that hadn’t been planned. New bluegrass upstarts Dailey & Vincent showed off their stunning harmony ability on “Do You Know You Are My Sunshine.” Another duo, Grandstaff, featured cousins Wil and Langdon Reid, sons of Harold and Don Reid, respectively; they performed “The Statler Brothers Song,” which they wrote for the quartet that made their fathers famous. “You all call yourselves the Statler Brothers for a reason, and we all call ourselves ‘ the Statler families’ for that very same reason,’” Wil said of the 21 offspring of the five members of the Statler Brothers.

McEntire, before her performance, recalled the important role the Statlers played in her career. “You guys probably saved my life, I want you to know that,” McEntire said. “I’d been singing in clubs, and my voice was just about to go, because the smoke was killing me. I finally said, ‘I’m not playing any more clubs,’ and I was told, ‘Well, your career is over, you might as well forget it’… It wasn’t a week or two later that you all called and asked me to open your show. You took me under your wing, you showed me how to be professional, to treat it like a business, and I’ll never forget it.”

Country and pop superstar Brenda Lee, who toured with the Statler Brothers for two years, presented the vocal group with their medallions. “I had more fun on that tour than I’ve ever had in my professional career,” she said. “I stood backstage and watched every show. … Like Reba said, they were some of the most professional people I have ever had the pleasure to work with. I thought I was disciplined, but I learned a lot from you guys.”

The four living Statler Brothers also performed, showing off their remarkable harmony work on “I’ll Go to My Grave Loving You,” which met with a thunderous standing ovation from the audience.

Backing the performers were music director John Hobbs on piano and the Medallion All-Star Band, featuring drummer Eddie Bayers, steel guitarist Paul Franklin, harmony singers Tania Hancheroff and Wes Hightower, guitarists Brent Mason and Biff Watson, bassist Michael Rhodes and fiddler Deanie Richardson.

Tom T. Hall
In honoring Hall, Young recounted Hall’s hardscrabble upbringing in the remote Kentucky mountain community of Olive Hill. His father, Rev. Virgil Hill, was a preacher and a worker at a nearby brick factory. His mother, Della Hill, stayed at home, where she died of cancer when her son Tom was 13.

By then, Tom Hall (the T. would come later, after signing a recording contract) knew he wanted to be a songwriter and had begun learning to play a borrowed guitar. He was mentored by a local picker he later commemorated in his hit “The Year That Clayton Delaney Died.”

While a freshman in high school, Hall’s beloved Uncle Prentiss accidentally shot Hall’s father. His father recovered after a long hospital stay, but both men’s spirits suffered psychologically from the tragic accident. A family friend who traveled the area screening Western films nights for small communities that didn’t have access to movie theaters gave Hall a job working the projector, and Hall would end the event playing bluegrass with local musicians. That led to Hall forming a bluegrass band, the Kentucky Travelers, which performed a 15-minute daily show on WMOR radio. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1957, and used his musical experience to become a performer on the Armed Forces Radio Network, where he sometimes sang original material.

After his discharge, Hall’s songs impressed Nashville music publisher Jimmy Key, who convinced Jimmy C. Newman to record Hall’s “D.J. for a Day” in 1963. Hall moved to Nashville on Jan. 1, 1964, and after a few more cuts, producer and record executive Jerry Kennedy persuaded Hall to record his own material. Kennedy signed Hall to Mercury Records in 1968.

The following year, Jeannie C. Riley made a big splash with Hall’s “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” and the song’s success added to Hall’s reputation. Hall’s own recordings soon marked ground as a distinctive songwriter with a lived-in voice and a rare ability to spin narratives that captured the inner lives and observations of small-town workers and ramblers.

“Tom successfully introduced themes, sensibilities and a social consciousness that modernized country music while embracing its origins and simplicity,” Young said. “In the late 1960s and 1970s, these songs helped to unite generations, cultures, and economic classes-and expanded the audience for country music.”

Elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1978, Hall began branching out beyond his role as a songwriter and recording artist. He has authored several books, including four novels and the autobiographical The Storyteller’s Nashville. He also hosted the syndicated TV series Pop! Goes the Country.

After the release of 1996’s Songs from Sopchoppy, Hall retired from public performance and “the big-time music business,” as he described it. He has continued to write bluegrass songs with his wife, Dixie Hall, and to produce albums for bluegrass artists at his home studio in Franklin, Tennessee. His most recent album is Tom T. Hall Sings Miss Dixie and Tom T.

The Statler Brothers
In honoring the Statlers, Young spoke of their roots in Staunton, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley, and of how the quartet remained rooted in their hometown throughout their lives and careers. Fans of gospel quartets, three of the four members-Phil Balsley, Lew DeWitt and Harold Reid-formed the Four Star Quartet in high school and had their first public performance in 1955. In 1961, Harold’s younger brother Don Reid replaced former member Joe McDorman.

After briefly changing their name to the Kingsmen, the quartet were invited to join the Johnny Cash tour as opening act, and at that point changed their name to the Statler Brothers. They’d spend eight years associated with Cash, who got them signed to Columbia Records and featured them on his ABC television series, The Johnny Cash Show. On Columbia, their first hit was the classic “Flowers on the Wall,” written by Lew DeWitt. The hit earned the group two 1965 Grammy Awards, for Best New Country & Western Artist and Best Contemporary Country Performance by a Group.

The Statler Brothers signed with Mercury Records in 1969, where producer and label executive Jerry Kennedy urged them to record their own songs. Their recordings led to several more awards, including a 1972 Grammy Award for “The Class of ‘57″ and nine CMA Vocal Group of the Year honors. On Mercury, they also introduced their comic alter-egos, Lester”Roadhog” Moran and His Cadillac Cowboys, and eventually issued an album of parody songs under the band’s name.

DeWitt, suffering from Crohn’s Disease, left the band in 1982. He recommended Jimmy Fortune as his replacement, and after an audition, Fortune got the job and began contributing hits of his own as a songwriter. Following DeWitt’s death in 1990, Fortune became a permanent member.

From 1991 to 1997, the Statler Brothers hosted a top-rated Nashville Network variety show. They continued to play concerts to sold-out audiences until their retirement in 2002. Harold and Don Reid recently co-authored a book, The Statler Brothers: Random Memories, which was published just before the quartet learned of their Hall of Fame induction.

The program began with Vince Gill, the president of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum board, performing the gospel classic “Rock of Ages” with his wife, Amy Grant, sharing lead vocals, and the Jordanaires on harmony vocals. The evening ended, as always, with new and old Hall of Fame members singing “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”

Among the Country Music Hall of Fame members present to welcome the newcomers were Harold Bradley, Little Jimmie Dickens, Ralph Emery, Jim Foglesong, Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Sonny James, Louis Nunley, Gordon Stoker and Ray Walker of the Jordanaires, Brenda Lee, Earl Scruggs and Jo Walker-Meador.

“Music is the shorthand of human emotion,” said veteran country music broadcaster and personality Emery when presenting fellow Hall of Fame member Tom T. Hall with his medallion. Emery implied that Hall mastered the shorthand like few others, a notion befitting both of the evening’s inductees.

The event was taped for future broadcast by the Great American Country cable network and on WSM-AM (650).

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