The Greencards this week released “Fascination,” their first CD on the Sugar Hill label.

Not exactly a born-and-bred Monroe disciple band, the trio includes two Australians and a Brit. Despite their global background, The Greencards have been consistent hitters on the Americana music charts. And they concede to having a passion for true bluegrass….

Read this and you’ll discover why the greater bluegrass community is considered pretty great by those who inhabit it.

Pinecastle Records this week released Ernie Thacker’s new CD, The Hangman, prompting several bluegrass deejays around the country into benevolent action. The deejays have approached the label with an offer to help raise funds to cover Thacker’s ongoing medical expenses related to a near-fatal car accident two years ago….

Although bluegrass fiddler and angelic vocalist Allison Krauss, with her duo partner Robert Plant, stole the show at Sunday night’s 51st annual Grammy awards show in Los Angeles, other bluegrass figures also emerged with hardware in hand.

The Krauss/Plant combo won in all five categories where they and their highly lauded CD, Raising Sand (Rounder), were nominated, including Record of the Year for “Please Read the Letter” and overall Album of the Year. This makes Rounder only the second independent label in Grammy^® history to win in these two categories….

Nashville, Tenn., — The Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum has released its official calendar for 2009.

The 2009 calendar features 12 colorful portraits of many of country music’s most popular artists: Kenny Chesney, Faith Hill, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, George Strait, Sugarland, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and Gretchen Wilson.

Sam Bush, Vince Gill, Dan Crary, Curtis Burch and other former members of the New Grass Revival and The Bluegrass Alliance – two of Bluegrass music’s most influential bands – participated in the successful launch of a major film and recording project at the 2008 International Bluegrass Music Association convention in Nashville, Tenn., last month.

The project, The Bluegrass Hotel, is based on an old Victorian mansion in Louisville, Ky., that was a key component of the bluegrass scene and the residence of major music artists during the Newgrass era of the 1970s.