1929 Martin 0-18 guitar in for restoration work.

Coming this Monday on BluegrassJournal.com

On Monday, April 7, Rickey Lamb brings us Part 1 of a multi-part feature story on the restoration of a 1929 Martin 0-18 guitar that belongs to his family. The history of the guitar crosses the path of Bill Monroe who once borrowed the guitar from Rickey’s Uncle Pete Hatton.

Marty Lanham of the Nashville Guitar Company is doing the restoration on the guitar and has been kind enough to help us document the restoration of this treasured instrument over the course of the next 2 to 3 months.

Charlie Sizemore Band coming to the Station Inn

Charlie Sizemore and company is scheduled to perform at the Station Inn in Nashville, Tenn. on Saturday April 12. The show will start at 9:00 PM and admission is $10.00.

A native of eastern Kentucky, Sizemore was hired at age 17 to take over for the departing Keith Whitley in Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys, with whom he stayed for nine years before leaving to start his own band and attend college. He graduated with honors from the University of Kentucky, and now maintains a successful law practice in addition to his musical endeavors. Over the past 20 years since leaving the employment of Ralph Stanley, Sizemore has garnered a devoted following among fans and performers alike. He’s appeared on two Grammy® nominated albums (Ralph Stanley’s Saturday Night & Sunday Morning and The Stanley Tradition: Tribute to a Bluegrass Legacy) and received a Dove award nomination (for a track from 2002’s The Story Is…The Songs of Tom T. Hall).

The Charlie Sizemore Band is Charlie Sizemore (lead vocals, guitar), Danny Barnes (mandolin, vocals), Matt DeSpain (Dobro), and John Pennell (bass).

Hot off the menu: This month on the WDVX Blue Plate Special

East Tennessee’s Own WDVX will host several great Bluegrass bands on the Blue Plate Special, an hour long program featuring bands playing live on air, during the month of Arpil. Locals are encouraged to be part of the WDVX studio audience weekdays at noon (Eastern Time) for free performances in downtown Knoxville, Tenn. at the WDVX studios and for those who can’t make it down for a show, listen live on-line.

The WDVX studios are located in the Knoxville Visitor’s Center at the corner of Gay Street and Summit Hill Avenue in downtown Knoxville, Tenn.

• Wed., April 9: Todd Steed and the Suns of Phere / The Gibson Brothers / Ben Soll
• Sat., April 12: at 3PM The Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thile
• Thu., April 17: Yu’uns / Carolina Chocolate Drop
• Fri., April 18: Biscuit Burners / Howling Brothers / Jason Rigenberg
• Fri., April 25: Dale Ann Bradley / Charlie Sizemore / Jennings and Keller/ Early Grace Band

Mountain Heart video available on YallWire.com

Yallwire.com has recently added the video for Mountain Hearts’ “Road That Never Ends” to it’s library of music video’s online. You’ll have to watch a short advertisement before the video starts but it gets to the good stuff pretty quick. “The Road That Never Ends” is the title cut from Mountain Heart’s latest release on Rural Rhythm Records.

Mountain Hearts current lineup features Josh Shilling, Jim Van Cleve, Clay Hess, Barry Abernathy, Aaron Ramsey and Jason Moore.

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The Charlie Sizemore Band on stage at the Iron Post in Urbana, IL. March 15, 2008. Sizemore (guitar), Matt Despain (resonator guitar), Danny Barnes (mandolin), John Pennell (bass) and Barry Crabtree (Banjo) sitting in.
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Charlie Sizemore Band

I’d never seen Charlie Sizemore perform previous to this past weekend when he and his very capable bandmates, known collectively as The Charlie Sizemore Band, showed up in the far-back 40 of my home in central Illinois.

I’d heard some of his material before, in particular the 1996 CD, “In My View,” and his latest Rounder release “Good News,” which came out last year. Many of the offerings on those two CDs were several shades on the plus side of darn good stuff. I was particularly mezmerized by “Keep Me from Blowing Away,” a Paul Craft song that’s on “In My View.” That particular song had been covered a few light years ago by Linda Ronstadt, and I’ve been captivated by the haunting melody, its chords and melancholy lyrics since my first introduction to it.

Last October, my son caught Sizemore and company at a Nashville, Tenn., showcase during the International Bluegrass Music Association convention. He called shortly after hearing that show and getting a few moments to chat with Sizemore with a fair amount of excitement in his voice. My son reminded me of a description I had used years ago to describe some CD or vocal undertaking on some CD. I had described that particular performance as one “bucket of guts,” meaning all the emotion in the world had been poured from that performer’s soul into his work. Ugly as it sounds, I meant “bucket of guts” to be a good thing, an off-the-wall compliment, if you will.

Regardless, that’s the term my son used after seeing The Charlie Sizemore Band during IBMA week: “He’s just one huge bucket of guts, dad.”

So, based on that description and my exposure to Sizemore through the two above-named CDs, I was anxious to hear this guy spill his bucket of guts at my feet. He didn’t disappoint.

Sizemore brought his band and show to the Iron Post in downtown Urbana, Ill., home of the University of Illinois. It’s also the hometown of John Pennell, Sizemore’s bassist and a highly decorated bluegrass and country songwriter — not to mention a charter member of Alison Krauss’s very first Union Station. (Krauss also calls the Champaign-Urbana area her home.)

The Iron Horse is probably considered roomy on any given night when locals provide the music from the small corner stage. On this particular night … mmmmh, the term “can of sardines” comes to mind. One of the bar’s employees told me that when Pennell is in town with a band, the place is always packed, as it was Saturday when patrons were lining the walls and even sitting on the floor IF they could find a spot to peer through the tables and sets of legs to catch a glimpse of the band.

I was lucky. We — that’s me and group of friends so close I call them all family — arrived early and latched on to two tables next to the bandstand. What I really mean to say is this: I was really lucky, because Charlie Sizemore and his band kept us very well entertained — from the last part of the sound check that we caught until the final banjo note of the encore, “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” had drifted through the small bar and out the door to dance in the wet snow that was falling on Race Street that runs in front of the venue.

Whatever, I walked away from the little campus-town bar Saturday night, not thinking “bucket of guts” at all. No, this guy’s got more polish than that. Perhaps, anatomically speaking, “heart and soul” would be more appropriate.

Sizemore ended his show with the oft-heard “I hope you all had a good a time as we did …” but then he added, “I really mean it. We really did have a good time here with you.”

And it showed. Sizemore was truly there FOR the audience, and he gave and gave and gave. He had us smiling, maybe even laughing, with tunes such as “I Want My Rib Back” and “The Less That I Drink.” He had the crowd from Alison Krauss’s hometown howling with his current hit, “Alison’s Band.” But then, he had us listening intently, with nary a smile on our faces, with the aforementioned “Keep Me From Blowing Away” and “The Silver Bugle,” a tune on the new CD about a Civil War skirmish in Kentucky and the legend that grew out of the battle. And, yes, he put goose bumps on the back of my neck with a particular soulful rendition of Tom T. Hall’s “Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine.”

Sizemore has fun on stage — with the audience and with his band. And good pickers they are — Pennell on solid bass, Danny Barnes on mandolin and occasionally clawhammer banjo, and Matt DeSpain on resophonic guitar. On this particular outing, the band’s regular banjo picker, an ailing Wayne Fields, was replaced by Barry Crabtree, one of the founding members of Wildfire. Crabtree’s agressive, driving style added just an extra ounce (pound?) of pizazz to the show.

I also sensed there was more than just “fun” involved with Sizemore’s performance. His day job as an attorney with his own practice would lead one to believe there’s a lot more intellect involved here than just some hay seed up strumming a guitar and bellowing out mountain tunes. Sizemore’s stage demeanor confirms that. I don’t know how many times I kept asking myself, as Sizemore seemed to have a lot of closed-eyed, silent moments on stage, “What’s really going through this guy’s mind? What’s so captivated his thoughts?”

Perhaps, it’s all part of the man’s mystique. Who knows, maybe he was simply tired. Whatever, I walked away from the little campus-town bar Saturday night, not thinking “bucket of guts” at all. No, this guy’s got more polish than that. Perhaps, anatomically speaking, “heart and soul” would be more appropriate.

Whatever, Sizemore and his band came pretty darn close to blowing me away.

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The Charlie Sizemore band on stage at the Iron Post in Urbana, IL. Saturday March 15. Photo by Rickey Lamb.

BluegrassJournal.com caught up with the Charlie Sizemore Band this past weekend in the heart of Illinois. He and his bandmates were working their way back to Tennessee after performing gigs in Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Keep watching BluegrassJournal.com early this week for our take on his performance, which incidentally, was given in Champaign-Urbana, home turf for Sizemore bassist and awarding-winning songwriter John Pennell.

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Charlie Sizemore photo by Señor McGuire

Charlie Sizemore may be sizzling on the bluegrass charts for the moment, but he must have ice cold blood running through his veins. Blame it on geography and his itinerary, not the singer’s mood.

Sizemore earlier this month participated in a 3-day Lonely Pines Concert Series, held in the upper stretches of Minnesota, including one gig in Bedmidji, generally regarded as the coldest spot in the continental United States.

The Upper Midwest will get more opportunities to see more of Sizemore and his band next month.

They will appear March 8 in Tawas City, Mich., as part of the Corsair Concert Series. His concert, to start at 8 p.m., will be held in the Tawas United Methodist Church Family Center.

Sizemore is back in the northlands the following week when he presents a 7:30 p.m. concert Thursday, March 13, at Two Rivers High School in Two Rivers, Wis.

The following day, Sizemore heads a bit farther south for an 8 p.m. show at the Evanston, Ill., American Legion Hall as part of the ongoing Bluegrass Legends Concert Series.

On Saturday March 15, Sizemore and band will perform in the heart of Illinois, at The Iron Post in Urbana, home of the University of Illinois. His show starts at 6 p.m.

Sizemore’s latest CD, meanwhile, continues to be much hotter than Bedmidji, Minn., ever dreamt about.
“Good News,” a Rounder Records release, remains at the top of Bluegrass Unlimited’s National Bluegrass Top 15 Album Chart this month and is spending its third month as No. 1 on XM Radio’s Bluegrass Junction Top 40 CDs.

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2007 has been a great year for bluegrass music and a bunch of great discs were released. I’ve consumed more music since we launched BluegrassJournal.com six months ago than I have in the last 2 years. Of all the CDs I’ve listened to this year, there’s a handful that continually find there way back to the CD player.

For my number one pick, I’ve got to go with “Gaining Wisdom” from Donna Hughes, released on Rounder Records.

I can’t seem to get enough of this disc. Hughes is one of the truly gifted talents in the business. “Gaining Wisdom” showcases Hughes’ considerable songwriting abilities that relate everyday observations of life’s trials and tribulations from a unique viewpoint that most anyone can relate to their own life in one way or another.

Hughes’ song-writing skills have a unique and endearing quality about them. On the surface, they can seem deceptively simple and down to earth with a casual listen, yet upon closer inspection they reveal a highly sophisticated and thought provoking commentary on life itself, with an inate ability to command the listener’s undivided attention, drawing one to reflect on the many different joys, sorrows and challenges faced in life.

An album like “Gaining Wisdom,” I suspect, would come to be considered a “landmark” album for many artists in the midst of a long and successful careers. For Hughes, a relatively unknown, to debut with a collection of songs and performances this impressive… it leaves me highly anticipating her next release.

In the number two spot “Lovin’ Pretty Women” from The Steep Canyon Rangers on Rebel Records is just a great album. From the songwriting to performances, “Lovin’ Pretty Women” hits all the bases. The Rangers’ music is firmly planted on the traditional side of the genre but the band brings an energy and vibe to their traditional sound that borrows from the “Newgrass” fork of the musical tree.

Having seen these guys back in September at the Franklin, Ky., Festival, The Steep Canyon Rangers can blow the doors off the barn and leave crowds beggin’ for more. I suspect a ton of great things to come from The Steep Canyon Rangers in the years to come.

The group’s banjo picker, Graham Sharp, had a hand in writing eight of the 12 cuts on the project and may very well be the Steep Canyon Ranger’s ace in the hole.

To the uninitiated, a top to bottom listen will leave the listener wondering if Monroe or some other luminary of the genre originally released these songs years ago. Sharp has a real gift for penning tunes that sound like instant classics.

The instrumental work on the disc showcases a group of musicians who have honed their craft from years of playing together on the road

Much like my Dad, Dan Tackett I couldn’t nail down a single CD for 3rd place so I’m going to have a tie here as well. My picks for third include two artist that hadn’t released albums in several years.

And the tie comes down to Tom T. Hall’s “Tom T Hall Sings Miss Dixie and Tom T.” on Blue Circle Records and Charlie Sizemore’s “Good News” on Rounder Records.

Tom T. Hall is as deserving of the title “National Treasure” as any I’ve heard it bestowed upon. He has a unique perspective on life and can tell stories unlike anyone.

“Tom T. Hal Sings Miss Dixie and Tom T.” was originally intended as a Christmas present for Miss Dixie, Hall’s significant other and songwriting partner. Lucky for all of us, this wonderful album was released on the Hall’s own Blue Circle Records.

Tom T. and Miss Dixie have always written songs centered around observations of the common man’s life, and this batch of tunes deals with many of the same types of examinations that immortalized characters like Clayton Delaney, The Hitchhiker, and Ravishing Ruby.

Compared to the production of the country hits Hall had in the ’70s and ’80s, the laid-back and stripped-down instrumentation provided by an all-acoustic (and all-star) band place Tom T.’s strong suits as a songwriter and storyteller squarely at the forefront. Hall’s vocal delivery on the entire album is right on the money with an honesty you only get from an artist who penned the material.

“Good News” from Charlie Sizemore on Rounder Records showcases Sizemore’s unequaled vocal delivery on a great batch of songs. From the down and out “Blame it on Vern”, the lighthearted “Alison’s Band” and “I’ve Fallen And I Can’t Get Up” to the haunting civil war story “The Silver Bugle”, “Good News” is a great album and a long overdue return of one of Bluegrass’ great vocal stylists.

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.

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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