• Bass player Dave Nicholson, Marske by the Sea in Cleveland, is recovering from a haemorrhage stroke which needed serious surgery. Happily he must be doing very well because only 3 weeks later he was playing his bass at the Guildtown festival, albeit sat in a chair....
• Original member, banjo picker Jason Burleson, has left Blue Highway to spend more time at home with his new wife Shelly and her daughter Shannon. Jason's last show was July 4. But the band is pleased to report that Tom Adams of Rockville, Maryland will be their new banjo player! Tom is a former two-time IBMA banjo player of the year, and has played with Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys, The Johnson Mountain Boys and The Lynn Morris Band. His first show was in Shinhopple, New York, July 17 and 18. Tom is back to performing full time after a layoff of several years owing to pressing family commitments.
• Mandolin player Phil Thomson has left Whitehouse Reunion due to family commitments. His place is being filled in the short term (and possibly longer term) by our own Eric Pollit  (photo, right) from Rochdale. First gig Leeds, Oct.
• Jack Hatfield’s new book/CD Old Time Gospel Banjo Solos is now available direct from Jack or Frets. (hatfield@tds.net or visit http://www.hatfieldmusic.com)
• Looking for tour venues and/or gigs in the UK:
  (a) Mandolinist Frank Wakefield, with Jim Moss. He's looking to tour here in 1999.
  (b) Matt Flinner, who's quite prepared to come over here with David Grier and Todd Phillips on the same basis.
  Details: Ian on 0161-740-2541
  (c) Dave Blood, of the Nashville group Mixt Company, writes “Our CD, Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Bluegrass, has been receiving airplay in England. We would love to tour in England and elsewhere. Write to mixtcmpny@aol.com
• Alison Krauss & Union Station’s CD So Long, So Wrong has been certified as a Gold Record after selling more than 500,000 copies. Replacement for Adam Steffy is resophonic guitar (Dobro) player Jerry Douglas.
• The organisation previously known as the BBMA Sore Fingers Week is now an independent, commercial organisation run on a profit/loss basis by Andrea Preston, with Mike Preston and John & Moira Wirtz. The name has been changed to Sore Fingers Summer Schools. SFSS are also assisting Ironbridge in setting up their workshops in partnership with Mal Salisbury, as well as taking over the Isle of Wight Folk Festival. Details: 01425-618286
• Jeremy Williams, of Lawrence, Kansas said, on the Internet: “I am a huge fan of bluegrass. My favourite types of bluegrass extends from Appalachian on, and I have a few questions: 1. What was the original name given to bluegrass in the British Isles? I know that Bluegrass originally came from the British Isles, with Irish settlers who settled in the Appalachians, and parts all over the south. Clogging, being a popular bluegrass-style dance, also originated in Ireland, but was brought over to the south by Irish settlers...” That will bring joy to the heart of Mike Preston - Ed.
• Any band fancying appearing in the 1998 Charlie Gainsford Memorial Concert in Surrey on 5th December should contact Mike Artes on 0181-262549.
• Pete Chaffer's situation with his mother means the demise of Northern Proud before it had chance to flourish. Tough. Meanwhile Eric Pollit and Ian Reynolds have had a couple of jams with Dave Pope to see if anything happens...
• John “JK” Keegan, Bill Hyde and Pete Simmons (three-quarters of the original Silver Hill String Band) are hard at work putting a set together as SilverHill. JK and Bill have been doing duo work too. Many of the songs are new JK compositions and real bluegrass is in the minority. Everything is DI’d. (except JK’s voice...)
• Jim Burnett has designed the “perfect” capo for banjo. Bill Hyde has been road testing a prototype. You could phone Jim on 01706-370828 for the low down...
• Discussions are on-going to establish a major festival of bluegrass and Americana in Rossendale. Ian Reynolds is in discussion with John Ashworth who owns The Rhythm Station in Rawtenstall. John has a lot of clout locally. We'll see...
• The Acme Band CD is not now expected until early 1999, says Ron Stevens.
• Geoff Stelling has produced a fabulous new instrument polish called Glyde-Cote. It is claimed to clean and seal the finish of any stringed instrument but, most importantly for string musicians, contains teflon which leaves a thin film of lubricant on the neck. No more sticky neck syndrome! Glyde-Cote contains no wax (no build-up), no silicone and no harsh abrasives (no damage to your finish). A growing number of major instrument builders are reported to be using and endorsing this product.
• Even if your budget doesn't stretch enough to cover the Bear Family boxed sets, the recent Rounder catalog lists several budget CD's that might be worth a listen. There are two by the Bluegrass Album Band (J.D. Crowe), namely The Songs of Bill Monroe and The Songs of Flatt & Scruggs. There is another compilation The Songs of the Stanley Brothers, by various artists including Jim & Jesse, Tony Furtado, and Dry Branch Fire Squad. Three other bluegrass compilations are also offered, Bluegrass Today: The Hits, Blue Ribbon Banjo, and Blue Ribbon Fiddle. All of these CD's are inexpensively priced.
• Regarding getting your timing right, someone said “Use a drum machine that is set up to play a kick beat on the 1st and 3rd beats and a rim click on the 2nd and 4th. It’s more fun than a metronome and gives that bluegrass feel to the beat.”
• Seen on the Internet: “....Or if you don’t want to buy the polishing compound... try tooth paste. This is an old furniture refinishers trick... the tooth paste has a very fine abrasive...” If you gotta pick, pick a winner!
• Columbia Records has a box set out, called "The Essential Bill Monroe", and in this box is a book and in this book is everything you ever wanted to know about Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, including a chronology of his life from day one and a sessionography, which is a list of all his Columbia recording sessions, who played in them and what they played. This is a must have for any Bluegrass collection. After all it was Bill Monroe who gave our music "Bluegrass"...... Info: Columbia Records, 666 5th Ave., POB 4455, NY, NY 10101-4455. or Dave Frets (see ads)
• Apparently Geoff Stellings 17-year patent on Stelling Tone Rings has expired, so there’s an opening for budding entrepreneurs....
• The Halshaw Music catalogue is now on-line for instant access to large amounts of information about banjos, bluegrass music, Irish music, etc.
• Sabine have brought out a new Digital Phrase Trainer. It records up to 30 seconds of music, then plays it back at one of three slow speeds, without changing the pitch. Unlike software programs, which are great, you can use this on the spot - at festivals, shows or jam sessions. Previous similar machines (e.g. Slo-Mo) were very expensive but this one is under $100.00. Details: Jack Hatfield’s website at http://www.hatfieldmusic.com
  or Frets Old & New (Fazakerly, Liverpool, UK)
• Gibson is moving into a new facility to consolidate production of all their acoustic instruments (banjos, Dobros, mandolins, etc.) Rumour has it that they are planning a separate shop to sell paraphernalia and providing factory tours. (Info: Rex Jones, Tokyo)
• Roy Rogers, “Cowboy”, died 6th July aged 86.
• Gibson is making a limited quantity of electric guitars from the wood from a 275-year-old tulip poplar tree that was downed by the tornado of April 16th, in Hermitage, Tennessee. Hermitage was the home of Andrew Jackson, the 7th USA President. The guitar, which will bear the name "Old Hickory" on the fretboard and inlays of Jackson and The Hermitage on the body, was unveiled at The Hermitage by Chet Atkins and Gibson officials. The first will go into the famous Smithsonian Institution (Washington). Proceeds from the sales will go to restore the many trees that were downed by the tornado.

Congratulations!

• Congratulations from NWBN to Ted and Kristin Silvermanon the birth of their first child Stuart Kaona (8lbs 15 oz, 19 inches). Sponsor Ted, who is our San Francisco correspondent. sends a symbolic virtual cigar to all who would wish one!
  Ted is a Sponsor and regular Columnist in NWBN
• Very best Bluegrass Wishes to Bill Forster (banjo: The Acme Band and Generation Gap) and his bride Pat. They were married on the 4th August at a small family wedding.

Commiserations

We send our love and thoughts to the people of Omagh, Northern Ireland, in general but especially to the Knotty Pine String Band, who played The Yorkshire Dales Festival last year. They also play at Dunmore East and may other festivals. The band members live in Omagh and, although they haven’t lost family, they’ve lost close friends. They are still in shock and in fact their wives and children were in town at the time of the bomb blast.

ACUTAB BANJO SEMINAR
I am especially pleased to announce the first AcuTab Banjo Seminar, to be held November 20-22 at the Marriott Hotel in Roanoke, VA. This three-day event will offer more than 20 hours of lecture, demonstration and discussion featuring some of the brightest lights in contemporary bluegrass banjo. Registration will be very limited to ensure that everyone has a chance to ask questions and feel a part of this event

The faculty includes:

• Terry Baucom - modern bluegrass pioneer, formerly of Boone Creek, Quicksilver, IIIrd Tyme Out and now Blue Ridge;
• Sammy Shelor - IBMA banjo player of the year for the past three years, currently with the Lonesome River Band
• Scott Vestal - the man behind Bluegrass '95, '96, '97 and '98, formerly with Quicksilver and Live Wire and currently with Continental Divide
• Steve Huber - the designer of the great new Vintage Flathead tone ring, Steve is also a terrific banjo player with his own CD, "Pullin' Time"
• Geoff Stelling - owner/operator of Stelling Banjo Works and a fine banjo picker to boot
• John Lawless - the AcuTab guy, John will be your host for this seminar

Tuition for all three days is $275 and only 50 registrants will be accepted. Find out more details on the web (see below)

Close out the bluegrass season with a high note! Click for final/press details

• AcuTab have finalised plans with Steve Dilling to do a book of his solos on the various IIIrd Tyme Out recordings. This will include the recently released Live at the Mac as well as their upcoming studio release set for early next year. I am hopeful of having the book ready to coincide with the release of this next album - probably in March '99.

• In the July issue I announced the new Scott Vestal banjo tab book in the works - it will contain tabs for all the solos from Bluegrass '95, '96 and '97. We will also have a mandolin book from those same albums which will be released at the same time - probably in September or October. It will be released prior to the IBMA trade show in October. We hope to have the Sonny Osborne book out for Christmas.
• I am delighted to announce that an AcuTab book for Tom Adams is in the works! We spoke this morning (Aug 13th) and it looks like a series of tab books will be produced over the next few years from his rich recording career. First up will be the transcriptions from the as-yet unrecorded Blue Highway album (on which Tom will appear) plus the tabs from the Johnson Mountain Boys fabulous album, Blue Diamond. Look for this book sometime next spring, depending on when the new Blue Highway project is released.
• I just received some copies of the two tab books that Tom Adams has published himself over the past ten years. They are produced on a more humble, unassuming scale than the AcuTab books but the material is of tremendous value to banjo pickers who are interested in studying the style of this great player. The two books are for Tom's great CD, Right Hand Man and Lynn Morris' Mama's Hand are $15.00 each
• Tell your mando pals - there will also be a Wayne Benson book from these three recordings sometime next year.
• The Tim Stafford (Blue Highway) Tab Book Vol 1 is now available. It features the Guitar solos for 23 songs recorded by Tim over the years. Included is Tim’s selection of his favourite solos from various projects. Tab, standard (dots) notation and lyrics are included.
• Annual IBMA Banjo Award predictions: We can have a bit of fun guessing who will selected by the IBMA voting members for Banjo Player of the Year. This Award is meant to recognize the artist for their efforts - both in recording and live appearance - over the past year.
  Here is this year's slate: J.D.Crowe, Rob McCoury, Earl Scruggs, Sammy Shelor, Scott Vestal. Pretty heady company, yes? Sammy has had quite a run. Can he hold on for an unprecedented 4th year? Will Earl be rewarded for his semi-unretirement? Only time will tell!

Final preparations are now being made for the AcuTab Banjo Seminar in late November. Since the event will involve a flurry of activity that weekend (11/20-22) we would like to request that media outlets wishing to obtain access at any time during the seminar make initial arrangements with us now.

Both print and broadcast media are welcome. Every effort will be made to arrange for media folks to spend a few minutes with the artists during breaks in the sessions. We can not allow for extensive recording but both TV and radio outlets are welcome to tape pieces of the various sessions for broadcast as a part of a feature.

The various artists and the organizers will also make themselves available prior to the seminar for phone or live interviews. We will have two capable and experienced photographers on hand throughout the weekend should you prefer to contact one of them to provide you with photos to run.

John Lawless, AcuTab Publications
P.O. Box 21061 Roanoke, VA 24018-0108   Write to John
001-540-776-6822 001-540-776-6827 (FAX)

Or contact Frets Old & New- Tel: 0151-525-2781

Updated 23rd Jan 1999