Grass Cuttings - News in Brief
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Recently-formed band Blackjack consists of Gary and Sherryl Payne, Pat Francis and Rod Jackson. They have been getting around, having appeared at Malvern, Yorkshire Dales, Didmarton and St Julian’s, Sevenoaks, as well as at numerous local gigs. Sherryl and Gary report “We recently took part in a bluegrass competition held in Vienna by SPBGMA (Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America). The competition was very stiff and judged entirely by Americans (no Americans were allowed to enter). It was held to promote bluegrass music in Europe. Ten prizes, 25 bands entered (five Czechs) and we came sixth. We were very pleased with that because, apart from anything else, the other instrumentalists were phenomenally good. Just thought you’d like to know!!” Write to Gary Bill Titley & Joff Lowson, of The Next Band, are going out as a duo called... Ben & Jerry Atrix!!! But Joff will be out of the country for a couple of months. The new address for the Northern California Bluegrass Society is: PO Box 390846, Mountain View, CA. 94039-0846 Shubb has a new capo out that appears to be worth investigating, though it’s not much different from the earlier model. It has a new clamp lever design and they’ve replaced the black “pin” with a roller. The new 1999 Bluegrass Calendar is available at http://www.janetdavismusic.com/specials.html Special Price $9.99 each. It features Sam Bush, Osborne Bros., Hot Rize, Tim O’Brien, Doc Watson, Nashville Bluegrass Band, Dan Crary, Doyle Lawson & Tony Rice, Grammy Winners, Jerry Douglas & more! Brandon H. writes “I just got a copy of David Grier’s Lone Soldier project. This record is out of this world. Craig Smith does some killer stuff on this album. I have heard his solo album and The Stanley Tradition album. This guy is a killer banjo player! Bnjerpckr@aol.com Pete Stanley is now teaching banjo at the University of Southampton. Details: the Music Department on 01703-593425. Someone said “If you grin while you pick folks’ll think it’s fun....” Russell Cooper has overhauled his Bluegrass in Scotland website and given it a dramatic new appearance. The site now includes pages for all the Scottish bands, each with photographs. Also there are photos of several Scots ‘Bluegrass Nuts’. Visit http://www.ednet.co.uk/~russell/ We reported (NWBN Sept., 1998) that “Tom Adams is back to performing full time after a layoff of several years owing to pressing family commitments.” We now learn the reason for the layoff: Since his wife passed away last year from stomach cancer, Tom is the single father of a three-year-old girl. He currently has a wonderful girl friend who loves his daughter and looks forward to taking care of her when he’s on the road picking banjo with Blue Highway. Scott Vestal will be producing a ‘black’ version of the Stealth banjo. The head will be black as will the tuning pegs, while the finish will be a clear black lacquer over the walnut. This is so that at a distance it may look solid glossy black but as one draws closer the grain will begin to appear. All the hardware will be triple plate gold. Just picture it.... For anyone who plays the mandolin or is interested in great mandolin playing check out Katsu’s latest book of tabs from AcuTab. You get a lot for your money with these tabs. The person who played them is the person who wrote them so you can be assured of their accuracy. Of course you will want to get Katsu’s album to go with the tabs. There are some outstanding players on the album including Ronnie McCoury (check out the twin mandolins on “Grass Valley”!) Even if you don’t play mandolin there is some really good banjo playing as well and its good practice for banjo players to play backup, etc. But a great album just to listen too as well! http://www.acutab.com/kat.html
Rex Jones, Tokyo.
(rex@ksw.nesic.nec.co.jp)
I can finally officially announce the release of our second Scott Vestal
book, our most comprehensive tab book to date. I am especially proud of this
book. It has been very difficult to complete but the finished product is
likely to be useful to banjo players at every skill level in all 3 finger
styles. It effectively captures so much of Scott’s musical personality
- far more successfully than his first AcuTab book, I think. Someone wrote “I have noticed that the new RB-75 ring produces a noticeably different/better tone than the standard Gibson tone rings. John has informed us that First Quality makes them. So why are several of us hearing something different? What’s different about the RB-75 ring? Geometry? Metallurgy? Both? The weight may be the biggest difference, though the alloy may also be different from the Kulesh rings that go in the other new Mastertones.” Well, JD. was quite insistent during the design stage that the banjo have a lighter ring. I wonder if Gibson will adopt the lighter ring philosophy overall? I felt the first good chill of the season here in the Blue Ridge, and that reminded me that it was time to remind *you* about our Tony Trischka Christmas book. The book is the tab companion to Tony’s Rounder album, Glory Shone Around, and contains tabs for a number of holiday favorites such as: Good King Wenceslas / Angels We Have Heard On High / O Come All Ye Faithful / Deck The Halls / Sleigh Ride / Auld Lang Syne / God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / Santa Claus Is Coming To Town / Silent Night / We Three Kings / O Little Town of Bethlehem
Some are simple arrangements which Tony created for his students; others
are more complicated, Trischka-esque treatments. More info on the web at:
http://www.acutab.com/trischkawords.html Scott Vestal will soon be offering an “electric” version of the Stealth. I hope to have more details soon. Scott Vestal says that they are just about finished with Bluegrass '99. The recording and mixing are done and he just has a little more sequencing to complete. Pinecastle is looking at an early spring release. The tunes this time out are: Little Darlin' Pal Of Mine / Monroe's Hornpipe / Lonesome Road Blues / Sugarfoot Rag / Red Haired Boy / Foggy Mountain Breakdown (E major, of course) / 2 Vestal originals / 1 Benson original / 1 Autry original I can't wait to hear this one. Check out Scott's new book with tabs from Bluegrass '95, '96 and '97: http://www.acutab.com/vestal2words.html
John Lawless, AcuTab Publications, Roanoke, USA acutab@roanoke.infi.nethttp://www.acutab.com P.O. Box 21061 Roanoke, VA 24018-0108 001-540-776-6822 001-540-776-6827 (FAX) Or contact Frets Old & New - Tel: 0151-525-2781Web page
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From John Lawless
(AcuTab)