Dan Paisley & Southern Grass will headline the Long Island Bluegrass Festival in Copiague, NY August 16.

Very self-described pure country boy Danny Paisley and his band Southern Grass are headed to the big city.

Paisley, whose new CD, “The Room Over Mine,” is earning high critical marks, and Southern Grass will headline the Long Island Bluegrass Festival from noon to 8 p.m. Aug. 16 at Tanner Park near the Great South Bay in Copiague, N.Y.

Sponsored by the Babylon Arts Council and the Town of Babylon, the festival will also include performances by Buddy Merriam & Back Roads, James Reams & the Barnstormers, Too Blue, Acoustic Electrix, Free Grass Union, Michael Daves and Blue Detour.

Now in its sixth year, the family-friendly festival will include workshop tents, plenty of opportunities for jamming, music and activities for children, crafts and a food court. Adult admission is $10, while children 12 and younger get in free.

Southern Grass, known for its hard-driven traditional bluegrass, includes band leader Paisley on guitar and lead and tenor vocals, his brother Michael Paisley on bass, T.J. Lundy on fiddle, Bobby Lundy on banjo and baritone vocals, and Donnie Eldreth on mandolin and harmony vocals.

Besides the critical acclaim the new CD is garnering, Paisley is featured on the current cover of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine.

Buddy Merriam & Back Roads play a mix of traditional favorites and original tunes. Merriam has played bluegrass music in the Northeast for more than 30 years. A friend and disciple of Bill Monroe, the “father of bluegrass,” the Long Island resident has toured nationally and internationally, has released five albums, and hosts “Blue Grass Time” Wednesday nights on local radio station WUSB 90.1 FM.

New York City-based James Reams & The Barnstormers has been performing its soulful, straight-up brand of old-school bluegrass since 1993. Fronted by southeastern Kentucky-bred Reams on guitar and lead vocals, the band performs traditional bluegrass with an old-time country edge and three-part harmonies.

Too Blue is a contemporary bluegrass quartet whose members hail from Connecticut and New York. Atlanta native Michael Daves is now based in Brooklyn and performs with guitar. Acoustic Electrix, Blue Detour and Free Grass Union are regional bluegrass groups.

More information on the Long Island Bluegrass Festival is available online at www.babylonarts.com or by calling (631) 587-3696

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Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass “The Room Over Mine” (Rounder) lands June 24.

Some things meet expectations — and that’s a good thing.

So it is with “The Room Over Mine,” the first Rounder Records CD for Dan Paisley and the Southern Grass. It has a street release date of June 24.

Carrying on a tradition started by his late father, Paisley is about as blue and grassy as it gets. He’s a mixture of high lonesome and low-down, moan-in-your-beer blues. And, the entire gamut is nicely displayed on this release.

Paisley played with his dad’s band, Bob Paisley and The Southern Grass, for several years before his dad’s passing in 2004. The senior Paisley had performed bluegrass for half a century, including 25 years leading his own band. Son Dan joined Southern Grass when he was only 15. So, it was a given — and a natural — that he carried the group’s torch after Bob Paisley’s death.

“The Room Over Mine” showcases perhaps one of the hardest-driving traditional bands wandering the festival circuit these days. There’s no holding back when Dan Paisley and his very capable band take to the stage — and that’s how this CD comes off. It’s in your face.

The CD contains a couple of cool, fun tunes –”I’m Leaving Detroit”and “Raising Cain in Texas,” the classic “The Convict and the Rose,” and hot instrumental licks all along the way (my favorite is “Sweet Potato Rag). It also has great renditions of a couple of nearly forgotten country ballads — Porter Wagoner’s hit, “I Thought I Heard You Calling My Name,” and a one-time winner for Jimmy Dickens’ “Another Bridge to Burn.” Maybe it’s just the incredible soulful vocal delivery, but these two ballads really won me over. And, it’s tough to take a pass on the old Marty Robbins tune, “At the End of a Long, Lonely Day.”

The lineup on the CD is essentially Paisley’s road band, including brother Michael on bass, brothers TJ Lundy on fiddle and Bob Lundy on banjo, and Donnie Eldreth on mandolin.

The Lundys and Paisleys share a long history of making music together. Their fathers played together for years, and the Paisley boys and Lundy boys performed together when they were youngsters.

Paisley doesn’t shift far away from the formula he’s uses on stage and in past projects. He evidentally believes there’s still room in today’s diverse bluegrass marketplace for the traditional sounds. Rounder Records apparently shares that belief — and we all benefit. “The Room Over Mine” is the real deal.

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Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass “The Room Over Mine” (Rounder) lands June 24.

Burlington, MA - The bluegrass world is excited about The Room Over Mine, the forthcoming Rounder album from bluegrass veterans Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass.

Raised to the strains of classic bluegrass, Danny Paisley and The Southern Grass learned the ropes first-hand as the sons (and eventually bandmates) of such beloved figures as Bob Paisley, Ted Lundy, and Donnie Eldreth. Honed over decades of playing festivals, honky-tonks, Legion halls, and everywhere in between, their sound proudly reflects the timeless bluegrass soul of their fathers - while imparting a razor’s edge intensity all their own. The Room Over Mine is due in stores June 24.

“This is so good I don’t know how to deal with it! Bluegrass music has been waiting for a record like this for a long, long time.” Alison Krauss

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Rounder Records will continue their onslaught of bluegrass CD releases with several projects set for release between now and July 19, 2008. Bluegrass All-Star group Longview, Sierra Hull, James King, the Dan Tyminski Band, Dan Paisley & Southern Grass, The Grascals and Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper will all see new projects hit the streets over the next 4 months. To listen to Samples from these upcoming records as well as others released on the Rounder label this year visit JukeBoxAlive.com.

Longview
Deep in the Mountains
Release Date: April 8, 2008
Six years have passed since the last recording from bluegrass supergroup Longview, and Deep in the Mountains marks their much-anticipated return. Original members James King, Don Rigsby, and Marshall Wilborn are now joined by J.D. Crowe, Ron Stewart, and Lou Reid, resulting in a potent new lineup with the chops, discipline, and heart required to make the bluegrass tradition come alive. From the first note to the last, Deep in the Mountains is a striking update of the band’s long-held goal: soulful old-school bluegrass with soaring lead singing and riveting three-part harmonies.

Sierra Hull
Secrets
Release Date: May 6, 2008
16-year old Sierra Hull is a rare talent: an artist who combines youthful intensity and energy with a sense of grace and maturity well beyond her years. Secrets, her national debut, features her fluidly, inventive mandolin playing and tender, wistful singing supported by a luminous cast of bluegrass masters. From full-on newgrass instrumentals to eloquent, heart-stopping ballads to playful modern bluegrass, Secrets heralds the arrival of a fresh, important new voice onto today’s bluegrass scene.

James King
Gardens in the Sky: The Bluegrass Gospel of James King
Release Date: May 20, 2008
James King is considered among the leading voices in traditional bluegrass, summoning timeless echoes of Appalachia with a voice that is equally urgent, yearning, and tender. For that reason, this project - his first entirely gospel collection - has been eagerly awaited by his public, whose frequent requests for such an album inspired its release. King’s interpretations of bluegrass gospel classics both vintage and modern are so uniquely suited to the powerful longing and commitment that underpins every note he sings. Gardens in the Sky combines favorites from the James King catalog with performances featured on albums by Paul Williams and Longview, King’s contributions to The Stanley Gospel Tradition CD, and six previously unreleased recordings.

Dan Tyminski Band
Wheels
Release Date: June 17, 2008
One of the most revered artists in bluegrass, Dan Tyminski, will release Wheels this June, Tyminski’s sophomore album as a solo artist and his first effort for Rounder. The thirteen time GrammyÒ Award winner has been enchanting Bluegrass enthusiasts for over fourteen years as the guitarist, lead and harmony vocalist for Alison Krauss and Union Station. His signature hard-edged vocal style is a favorite among critics and peers who have named Tyminski Best Male Vocalist at the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Awards three times. Rolling Stone called Tyminski “one of the genres biggest talents…” and went on to say that “Tyminski helps push bluegrass to the front line.”

Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass
The Room Over Mine
Release Date: June 24, 2008
Raised to the strains of classic bluegrass, Dan Paisley and the Southern Grass learned the ropes first-hand as the sons (and eventually bandmates) of such beloved figures as Bob Paisley, Ted Lundy, and Donnie Eldreth. Honed over decades of playing festivals, honky-tonks, Legion halls, and everywhere in between, their sound proudly reflects the timeless bluegrass soul of their fathers - while imparting a razor’s edge intensity all their own. Over the course of his apprenticeship, Danny Paisley’s singing has become proud, fierce, hard-driving, spontaneous, and unafraid to take risks, and when combined with the Southern Grass’s solid base in tradition, the result is a band and an album for the ages.

The Grascals
Keep On Walkin’
Release Date: July 15, 2008
The Grascals are among the most beloved new bluegrass bands of the past five years. Their rise was meteoric: their first album was released in 2005, and in that year they won both IBMA’s Song of the Year (”Me and John and Paul”) and Emerging Artist of the Year awards. In 2006 and 2007 they won the IBMA’s highest honor, Entertainer of the Year. Keep on Walkin’ is the band’s third album and includes a smart selection of classic, original, and modern songs, including songs made famous by Waylon Jennings (”Only Daddy That Will Walk the Line”) and Merle Haggard (”Today I Started Loving You Again”), along with the bluegrass standard “Rollin’ In My Sweet Baby’s Arms” and the gospel favorite “Farther Along.” It also includes two songs from the pen of country hitmaker Harley Allen and a guest appearance from Vince Gill, who sings lead and harmony on “Sad Wind Sighs.”

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper debut album!
Release Date: July 29, 2008
The new band founded by five-time IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year Michael Cleveland, Flamekeeper are determined to put their own unique stamp on high-energy traditional bluegrass, while respecting and honoring the contributions of the music’s forefathers. The band features Cleveland’s fiery, inventive fiddle playing supported by John Mark Batchelor (banjo), Jesse Brock (mandolin), and Marshall Wilborn (bass), with soulful lead vocals from guitarist Todd Rakestraw.

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