Click for the UK and
European
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Mandolin Melodies Museum Online: The first mandolin came to Japan in 1894.
In 1994, Mandolin Melodies Museum Director Hirokazu Nanya, master mandolinist,
celebrated the 100 year anniversary. Did you? In English, Italian, German
& Japanese, this fun website offers goodies from the museum in Nagoya,
Japan. Nice cuts of classical mandolin tunes, plus details about the museum,
including Italian food and drink. Our View: We think Mr. Nanya never heard
of Bill Monroe, but his website is very, very cool. Ya'll come by and visit,
now, ya hear? http://nagoya-jp.com/nanya/index_e.html
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Randall Hylton passes away. Martha Adcock
writes: "Dear Friends, I have some terrible, sad and shocking news to relate,
that of the sudden passing of our good buddy, old friend, fellow guitar picker
Randall Hylton. This morning (18th March) a brain aneurism took him from
us. We know nothing of final arrangements at present but will inform you
as we find out. Martha"
Randall had been in hospital in a critical condition for several days. We
are sure his family would appreciate your continued prayers during this
time. Obituary-1
Obit-2
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The Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines is a momma. Maines gave birth to a six
pound baby boy, Jackson Slade Pasdar, on Thursday in Austin, TX. Mom and
the baby chick are doing great. Maines isn't the only D-Chick looking forward
to the pitter patter of little feet. The word is that Emily Robison and hubby
Charlie are trying to conceive. Charlie told Countrystars "You spend the
first 30 years of your life trying not to have a kid, so it's a very odd
thing to actually be trying to have one!"
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Benny Martin 1928-2001, Fiddler Exra-ordinaire,
died 12th March Obituary-1
Obit-2
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The Country Music Association Awards Show will move to Wednesday, November
7 this year in an effort to boost ratings on the CBS TV network during the
fall "sweeps" period. The show, broadcast in October 2000, will be hosted
by bluegrasser Vince Gill and will cover a 13-month period due to the transition.
Before last year, the program was a September event. http://www.countrymusic.org
. The broadcast will originate from Nashville's Grand Ole Opry House.
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The March edition of Bill Littleton's philosophical Nashville KT
news-sheet thebridgeworks is
online
now for all to enjoy!
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Laurie Lewis writes "The long-awaited release of Charles Sawtelle's CD,
 Music
From Rancho DeVille, is finally upon us. The album is due in the stores
in mid-March, but is available from our web site http://www.laurielewis.com
beginning almost immediately. I have to say that I feel ever so much lighter
upon finishing this project. I think that it's something Charles would be
proud to
 have
his name on, and I am so happy to be able to put his music and spirit out
there in the world again. Those of you not lucky enough to have known him
will, I think, understand why he was so loved by those of us who did know
him. Acoustic Disc did a beautiful job on the packaging, and there are wonderful
photos and plenty to read." Photo: Charles with Tony Furtado.
Obituary-1
Obit-2
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Foggy Mountain Jam Fiddler Bruce Grunow, "Moose"
to his Strawberry friends, died February 23 surrounded by friends and family.
He worked on stage lighting and helped host Camp Decadence at the festival.
He grew up in Manteca and was also a member of the Alhambra Valley Band,
Highlife, Just Kidding, the Mad River Band, and other area bands. He was
46 years old. Bruce became ill about the time of the Strawberry Fall Festival
last year and was diagnosed with lymphoma, a cancer that had also killed
two and stricken another of Bruce's immediate family within the past four
years. He is survived by his daughter Morgan, age 8 (who has been given a
free lifetime pass to Strawberry in his honor), and by Morgan's mother Debbie
McCloud, his mother and his sister Elizabeth. There will be a memorial jam
at old Borgess Ranch on Mount Diablo in a few weeks. Memorial jam info: (650)
747-0783 or craigeddy@earthlink.net .
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John Fahey, 61, founder of the "Primitive Guitar"
performance school (a precursor to "New Age" music) and author of the book
"How Bluegrass Destroyed My Life," died after heart surgery in Salem, Oregon
on February 22. He was the owner of Takoma Records, launched the career of
his disciple Leo Kotte, and, during the 1960s in Los Angeles, was known to
perform with a tortoise that roamed the stage. His eclectic folk, rock, and
solo guitar career began during his childhood in the 1940s in Takoma Park,
Maryland, where he first heard bluegrass records and taught himself to play
the guitar. Difficulties with alcohol, drugs and divorce made him temporarily
homeless during the early 1980s, but he came back to record numerous albums
and resume touring in the 1990s.
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 Regular
NWBN conributor Larry Carlin
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has his first published story in a national magazine this month. The piece
is titled Bluegrass By The Bay, and it is in February's Bluegrass
Unlimited (with Dan Tyminski on the cover). Congratulations,
Larry! Larry has several quality articles in recent NWBN issues.
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has been covered in the Marin Independant Journal - see
article. Article about Larry's
Duo
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Berkeley banjo picker Bill
Evans (bevans@nativeandfine.com)
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is touring Japan February 10-25. The publicity push began on January 29
with a radio appearance by publicist Hisae Nishigauchi on a Kobe radio station,
complete with cuts from the Native & Fine CD.Info:
http://www.nativeandfine.com or Taisuke Nishiguachi's web site:
http://banjo2.shoin.ac.jp/~guachi/grass/EvansShoin/english.html
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 has
a new webpage: www.nativeandfine.com He says "It's still at tweaking
stage, but if you hunt around you'll discover five mp3 files. There's also
links to my traditional band, The Bluegrass
Intentions, with five mp3 files located on that site. I've also included
three free banjo tabs from my Rounder CD "Native and Fine" on the "Instruction"
page.
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has printed up a new batch of 'got banjo?' T-shirts after the great response
he received about this item at IBMA. They've available in black or white
in all sizes. write to bevans@nativeandfine.com for more details.
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In celebration of their 5th Year Anniversary, The Doobie Shea Essential
Sampler (DS-9001) has just been released. The Sampler presents highlights
from each of their previous twelve DSR releases, at a special low price of
$7.99 per CD. Meanwhile, back in the studio, Mountain Heart, Dale Ann Bradley
& Coon Creek, Rickie Simpkins, Craig Market and Ernie Thacker continue
to work on new 2001 releases.
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February 6, 2001, was officially Ralph Stanley Day in San Francisco, announced
the mayor Willie Brown. Ralph was a guest on NPR's "Morning Edition"
nationwide).
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The bluegrass and traditional gospel flavored
soundtrack to the Coen Brothers' new film
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? is the first album of this style to
hit the top five on the charts since Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will
The Circle Be Unbroken in 1972.
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Readers may be interested to know that Amazon.com are selling the "Oh
Brother, Where art thou?" soundtrack CD now at
http://www.internet-shoppers.com/amazon/obrother.html
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Ricky Skaggs' 21 year old son Andrew was admitted to hospital in Lexington,
Kentucky, January 30th and diagnosed with pneumonia. His condition was serious
but stable and he is expected to make a full recovery.
Ricky Skaggs Interview
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Archie Warnock has been busy recently and updated his web site to include
the full text of all of the reviews he's done for Bluegrass Unlimited over
the years, with their permission.
Check out www.awcubed.com/Reviews/ write to: warnock@awcubed.com
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New major band websites:
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After much anticipation, the Del McCoury Band is now online at
their new cyber-home www.DelMcCouryBand.com where you can check the tour
schedule, get the latest news and updates or ask the band a question on an
interactive comment page. It has great pictures and informative bios and
a catalog of all Del's recording projects.
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Skaggs Family Records have opened their newly designed website at
www.SkaggsFamilyRecords.com
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Q: What's the difference between BG and country?
A: With bluegrass you have more than twice the fun and get paid less than
half as much!
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Those leaning towards the "country-side" should visit www.roughstock.com
for the lyrics and chords to hundreds of country songs.
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Anyone wanting to slow down MP3 files without changing the pitch will
find this useful: There is a plug-in called Chronotron for the audio player
Winamp. Both can be downloaded from www.winamp.com for free. It is Chronotron
that performs the function. Also there is a plug-in called Loop Master Musicians
Tool that allow you to loop a selected section; look for it on the 5th page
or so of the DSP (digital signal processing)
/effectsplug in pages. When used in combination the software
is a very powerful practise aid that lets one loop around any selection of
an MP3 file at any speed at any pitch.
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Visit the new online Bluegrass Museum at www.bluegrassmuseum.com - it
is growing and is always open!
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Ralph Stanley is to have some black-top named for him: The Virginia General
Assembly has voted to re-name Route 652 in Southwest Virginia Ralph Stanley
Highway.
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Anyone interested in learning Irish and Scottish tunes will be interested
to learn that Alan Johnson's book, An Introduction to Celtic Tunes for
the Five String Banjo is complete and available for purchase it directly
from alanjohnson45@hotmail.com at $30 or from Acutab,
www.acutab.com/johnson.html
The book has 72 tunes arranged in melodic and single string
style and comes with a 60 minute CD. Every tune in the book is played on
the CD at a moderate tempo. alanjohnson45@hotmail.com
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Following on from the brief report in Dec NWBN on the Jim Mills tab book
for Bound to Ride, we hear that "The tabs are easy to read, accurate
and include a lot of the back-up. The book lacks the thorough notes and tips
that are found in the Acutab books but the music is there and it's very
good."
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Karl Shiflett & The Big Country Show newest CD In Full Colour
was released to radio stations recently and on sale from Jan 25th. It is
reported to be "Totally Incredible, especially banjo player Jake's song
Jakebrakes. If you like traditional, true heartfelt bluegrass, this
CD is a must have."
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Woodland Bluegrass Festival CD now on sale: Kathy Kallick, Red Dirt Bullies,
High Country, Past Due, Circle R Boys, and all your favourite 2000 Woodland
Festival Bands! Benefits the CBA. Info: dbianchi@nccn.net or buy a copy from
the CBA mechantile or the 5th String store in Sacramento.
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Dolly Parton is once again returning to her roots, having released a second
acoustic album, heavily laced with bluegrass rhythms titled Little
Sparrow as she prepares to mark the 42nd anniversary of her first appearance
at the Grand Ole Opry. Out January 23rd, the CD is a follow-up to her acclaimed
1999 recording The Grass is Blue. The CD has traditional songs such
as Seven Bridges Road, and the title track. She puts a country swing
spin on the Cole Porter classic, I Get A Kick Out of You. Dolly has
high hopes for Little Sparrow and says it has "more depth, breadth,
and soul than all of the other albums I have done."
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You can read an AP wire story promoting MerleFest if you visit
www.nandotimes.com/noframes/story/0,2107,500297402-500474209-503225659-0,00.html
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James King suffered a mild heart attack right after the new year. Apparently
he is progressing well.
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For those interested in things discographic, the Bluegrass Discography,
previously hosted at Memorial University of Newfoundland Library at:
http://sicbuddy.library.mun.ca:80/~charl8P9/BGdiscography/ , now passes one
on to a new site at iBiblio, the University of North Carolina's former Sunsite:
http://www.ibiblio.org/hillwilliam/BGdiscography/index.html
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Memorial is decommissioning the old Sun server that has hosted this data
for the past five years. The single, EP and LP listings are now all mounted
on iBiblio, along with label information (addresses, phone numbers, write to
and Web links) on recording companies specialising in old time and bluegrass
music. Reportedly the CDs and audio cassettes will show up when the searchable
interface goes up, probably sometime before summer.
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Gospel Music Award Nominees for the 2001 Dove awards:
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Bluegrass song: Are You Afraid to Die, Ira Louvin, Charlie Louvin,
Eddie Hill; Faith Like That,' Wayne Haun, Daryl Williams; I'll
Meet You on the Mountain, Mark Lowry, Bill and Gloria Gaither; Just
Another Hill,' Russell, James and Edd Easter; Miner's Prayer,
Dwight Yoakam.
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Bluegrass album: By Request/Greatest Hits, Easter Brothers; Empty
Fields, Lewis Phillips; Heart and Soul, Easter Brothers;
Inspirational Journey, Randy Travis; Just Over in Heaven, Doyle
Lawson & Quicksilver; Many Roads to Home, David Johnson; While
the Ages Roll On, Ralph Stanley.
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2001 USA INTERNATIONAL SONGWRITING COMPETITION
The world's leading international songwriting competition is currently accepting
entries. Win a $50,000 Grand Prize worth of cash, merchandise and exposure
(largest prize package in any annual songwriting competition).
Also, winners' songs will be featured on a nationally syndicated radio program
serving over 60 cities in the US and Canada! Judges include record labels
such as Warner/Reprise Records, SONY Music, Epic Records, Mars Music Records
and Peer Music.
For more information on this event's rules, regulations and entry forms visit
the competition website at: http://www.songwriting.net
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