New look for Toy Hearts newsletter

Thanks to Sophia Johnson of the Toy Hearts (UK) for the band's latest newsletter in a new, improved magazine-like format.

Two pages of text, photos, and graphics feature their July/August Kitchen Garden Cafe Summer Specials; past and future shows in their home city, Birmingham; their recent appearances at the Coastline Bluegrass Music Event and in Bluegrass Europe; and their new relief bass player. A Gig Guide on the third page lists the dates at present scheduled for the rest of 2009.

Read the Toy Hearts' July newsletter here.

Audie Blaylock & Redline in Europe, July 2009

The latest newsletter from Audie Blaylock & Redline (USA) looks forward to the band's tour in Europe this month. As announced on the EBB on 16 May, all tickets for their concert at the Turfschip in the Netherlands on 8 July were sold out nearly two months in advance.

Their remaining shows in Europe on this trip will be part of the Norsk Country Treff Festival (9-12 July 2009). The festival's programme notes on the band (in Norwegian) are here.

Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain in Europe

The July newsletter for Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain (USA) features the band's appearances at the 22nd Country Rendez-Vous Festival at Craponne sur Arzon, Haute-Loire, France (24-26 July) (see the EBB post of 4 June), and the La Roche Bluegrass Festival at La Roche-sur-Foron, Haute Savoie, France (29 July-2 August).

The band's schedule also includes a show at Geneva, Switzerland, on 29 July (details TBA).

Bluegrass festival at Abaliget, Hungary

Tölgyesi Péter, HuBMA and EBMA member reports:

Dear blog readers,

The 7th International Bluegrass and Acoustic Music Festival (as announced in this blog on 11 February 2009) organized by the Hungarian Bluegrass Music Association will be on 31st July - 2nd August on the open-air stage of Abaliget, Hungary.

Entry is free as always for this festival.

Bands appearing on stage this year are: Acoustic Trash (SK), Akusztikus Gitárkommandó (Gulyás Attila, Horváth Bálint, Nagy Gergely, Szőke Tamás), Another Ground, April, The Banjo Jumping Band, Bessenyei Csaba és Bornemissza Ádám, Dad Gave My Dog Away, Ellenberger Rita és Palásthy Zsolt, Folton Folk, HIBB, Ireg, Lemon Grass, Live Act Folk Project, Poa Pratensis, Pozitív Emlék, Reel Time, Revival Band, Simple English, Tenderfoot Blues Unit, ifj. Vitányi Iván Band, Yasya.

There's of course jamming going on till the morning on the lakeside with a local pub available all night.

If you like fishing, bring along your fishing gear too.

Web page of the Hungarian Bluegrass Music Association: www.hubma.hu

Web page with info and photos of previous years' festivals: www.vazze.hu

Detailed schedule for this year will be available on both sites soon.

Pictures show Hungarian bands Acousticure and Eastern Station at last year's Abaliget.

Nomination and prize for Roberto Dalla Vecchia

Guitarist Roberto Dalla Vecchia (Italy) reports:

I'm very happy to announce:

1. the Grateful album has received a nomination at this year's Just Plain Folks awards, for Best Instrumental Album. Just Plain Folks awards are the world's largest music awards with over 42,000 entries from 160 countries. You can find out more here.

2. my tune 'Sunflowers', from my new CD Unknown legends, won the Channel Prize for Instrumental Solo in June 2009, receiving the highest rank in OurStage's Instrumental Solo Channel!

See also Roberto's OurStage Fan Club page.

Peter Rowan in the UK, 12-19 November 2009

Peter Rowan (USA) recently toured in the Netherlands, playing eighteen venues with Tish Hinojosa. A repeat tour in October 2010 is under consideration. In the meantime Peter Rowan will be touring in the UK in November 2009, playing the following dates:

12, 13, 14 November: Thomas Fraser Memorial Festival, Utterabrake, Hamnavoe, Burra, Shetland ZE2 9LB

17 November: Roots Around the World, Chichester, Sussex, England; venue TBC; +44 (0)1243 789786/ 774641

18 November: Green Note, 106 Parkway, London NW1 7AN; +44 (0)20 7485 9899

19 November: Bournemouth Folk Club, venue: Centre Stage, Queens Road, Bournemouth BH2 6BE, England; +44 7811 369062

Contact Al Evers, Manager
A-Train Entertainment
401 Grand Avenue, Ste. 300, Oakland, CA 94610
tel. +1 510 893 4705; fax +1 510 893 4807
e-mail

New Acoustic Gallery news

The New Acoustic Gallery (NAG) in Solingen, Germany, now has the Tone-Gard™ (shown on left) in stock at €89.90 each. The Tone-Gard™ holds a mandolin away from the player's body to avoid damping vibrations, and is used by many prominent mandolinists, including David Grisman, Ricky Skaggs, John Reischman, and many others.

Oliver Waitze of the NAG will be one of the three distinguished instructors at the Bluegrass Workshop in the Bayerischen Musikakademie Hammelburg (7-9 August 2009), together with Jürgen Biller and Rupert Paulik. Further details can be found here or obtained from Peter Näder, Popularmusikbeauftragter des Bezirks Unterfranken, Bayerische Musikakademie, 97762 Hammelburg, Am Schlossberg: e-mail (readable with Javascript).

The NAG's 1st International Mandolin Festival will be held on 29-30 August, with jazz, swing, and classical music among the genres that will be featured.

Oliver Waitze's book Flatpicking guitar: master technique: (in English & German) is now published by Mel Bay Publications Inc. and available from Amazon.

More details on all these items from the NAG's July newsletter can be found on its website.

Music Contact news: update

Steep Canyon Rangers (USA)

Rainer Zellner of the Music Contact agency reports that the tour schedule for the Bluegrass Jamboree! Festival of Bluegrass and Americana 2009 (Steep Canyon Rangers (USA), Beverly Smith & Carl Jones (USA), the Toy Hearts (UK); MC: Roland Heinrich (D)) is at present as follows:

5 Dec. Franz K., 72762 Reutlingen
7 Dec. Kammerspiele, 91522 Ansbach
8 Dec. Haus der Kultur, 84478 Waldkraiburg, 20:00
9 Dec. Amerikahaus, 81675 München
10 Dec. Jagdhofkeller, 64285 Darmstadt
12 Dec. Reithalle, 77654 Offenburg, 20:00
13 Dec. Halle QuerFeld, CH-4053 Basel, 17:00
16 Dec. Fabrik, 20146 Hamburg
17 Dec. Lutherhaus, 49080 Osnabrück
18 Dec. Kulturfabrik Löseke, 31137 Hildesheim
19 Dec. Albert Einstein Forum, 41564 Kaarst (near Düsseldorf)
20 Dec. Kreuzkirche, 34119 Kassel, TBC

Rainer adds: 'We may be able to include shows outside of Germany and Switzerland in reasonable distances to the German borders. Please contact us if you have any offers for the open dates' - 5, 6, 11, 14, and 15 December.

Tours by the following US artists are being planned: the Infamous Stringdusters (January-February 2010); Uncle Earl (May 2010); the Wilders (October 2010); Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike (2010-May 2011)

Rainer Zellner
Music Contact Roots Music Booking and Production
e-mail

Radio playlists

Kabel 87.5 MHz - Omroep Venray - Ether 90.2 MHz:
Peelgrass playlist - 2522nd Country Programme, 28 June 2009
PeelGrass is now also broadcast on Huissentv (the Netherlands)

NeoRadio.nl:
NEO Country playlist, Tues. 15 Jan. 2008, 8.00-9.00 p.m.

Radio Vrolek, 107.7 MHz; local cable 105.5 MHz; Information TV-channel 2:
Country Music Round-up playlists, Tues. 19.00-20.00, Sat. 12.00-13.00

Radio Free FM Ulm, UKW 102.6:
Americana 281 playlist, Mon. 29 June 2009, midnight-02.18* (with Peter Cooper & Eric Brace from Nashville live in the studio)
Antistatic Country Time playlist, 25 May 2009, 20.00-22.00 (Zydeco Annie special)
* Programmes in this series are broadcast live on Radio Free FM and Countrymusic24.com and repeated the following day at 17:30-20.00 European Continental time on Countrymusic24.com.

Antistatic Country Time can be heard on Radio Free FM's live streaming Digital Audio Lounge.

Non-US bluegrass CD covers wanted for Blue Ridge Music Center

Ken Irwin of Rounder Records sends this message to the IBMA Members' e-mail discussion list:

The Blue Ridge Music Center is working on a permanent exhibit which will trace the history of the music of America through the Blue Ridge region. The contemporary perspective includes primarily bluegrass and old-time.

The design team has come up with the concept of a large three-dimensional cube which allows for the display of some thousand or more CD covers. Part of the story involves how the music has gone all over the world - both in terms of musicians from here traveling and musicians in various countries learning to play bluegrass and old-time.

They are looking for CD covers going back to the Bluegrass 45 on Rebel Records and everything since then. Unfortunately, they do not have the ability to display LPs.

They are interested in music of non-American bluegrass groups, preferably released in countries other than America.

If people wish to send items (just need the jacket) it would be to Blue Ridge Traditional Arts, P.O. Box 1010, Galax, VA 24333. The project will be the permanent exhibit for the Blue Ridge Music Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway outside Galax. Here is a bit of text from website.

The Blue Ridge Music Center celebrates the music and musicians of the Blue Ridge. Established by the U.S. Congress in 1985, the site includes an outdoor amphitheater and an indoor interpretive center used to highlight an important strand of American musical culture, which is still alive and thriving in the region. The site is operated through a partnership between the National Park Service and the National Council for the Traditional Arts. The permanent exhibit will open in summer 2010.

Street address:

Attn. Bill Kornrich
Blue Ridge Traditional Arts
Blue Ridge Music Center
700 Foothills Road
Galax, VA 24333

Women farmers - and a bluegrass connection

Lori Aratani's article 'A new crop of farmers' in the Washington Post of Sunday 28 June 2009 highlights a new generation of women farmers in Maryland and Virginia, USA.

Julie Stinar of Evensong Farm in Sharpsburg, Maryland, who formerly worked in the fashion business, is the first example given in the article and appears often in the accompanying photos. She is also the daughter of bluegrass bassist and IBMA Hall of Fame member Tom Gray, who played in Europe earlier this year as a member of JB's Band.

Dutch photo of Czech band for Japanese TV

The above photo of Bluegrass Cwrkot (CZ), taken by Jan de Mooy at the EWOB Festival 2008 in the Netherlands, is wanted for showing on the Japanese cable TV channel WOWOW.

The photo, which appeared on the Bluegrass Blog on 14 May 2008 and on the European Bluegrass Blog two days later, is now on the home page of Bluegrass Cwrkot's website. The band's performance at Voorthuizen that year won them the #1 Audience Popularity Award.

The photo was seen by the makers of an hour-long documentary TV programme on the Japanese/American band Kunimoto Takeharu and the Last Frontier, who want it to help explain to the viewing public what bluegrass music is. Emi Aiko of the production team says: 'Our program director liked the very liveliness of the picture very much.'

Congratulations to Jan de Mooy and Bluegrass Cwrkot on helping to strengthen the international ties of bluegrass music. The programme is scheduled for broadcasting throughout Japan from 10.00 a.m. on 5 July.

Bluegrass & MORE will continue

On 24 June writer and publicist Dee Hallett (UK) announced that she would be bringing to an end her regular e-newsletter Bluegrass & MORE in order to spend more time with her family.

For years, Bluegrass & MORE has presented on a weekly basis news on bluegrass, old-time, folk, and related music in Britain and Ireland, Continental Europe, and the US. The European Bluegrass Blog is among its innumerable beneficiaries. Dee has also been a mainstay of the magazines Country Music Roundup, Country Music Dance, and British Bluegrass News.

Today Dee issued her 'swan song' - the last Bluegrass & MORE compiled by herself. However, Bluegrass & MORE will continue to appear in its familiar form, thanks to the committee of the Scottish Bluegrass Association (SBA), who have offered to take on the editorial duties. Dee will act as a consultant and associate to the SBA till the transition is complete, but will not be involved in final editorial content.

Under the Data Protection Act, Dee cannot pass her mailing list on to the SBA. Anyone wishing to receive Bluegrass & MORE, therefore, should e-mail the SBA with 'ADD Bluegrass & MORE' in the subject line. The SBA are similarly bound by the Data Protection Act not to divulge details to any third parties.

All news intended to appear in Bluegrass & MORE should also be sent by e-mail to the SBA.

Hayseed Dixie in Europe, 17 July-29 Aug. 2009

Hayseed Dixie (USA) will be playing in western Europe during July and August 2009. Confirmed dates on the band's schedule include ten shows in England, Scotland, and Wales between 17 July and 10 August, followed by appearances at the Pukkelpop Festival, Hasselt, Belgium, on Saturday 22 August, and at Carrickfergus Castle, Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, a week later.

Bill Harrell, 1934-2009

Thanks to Lilly Pavlak for these photos of George William 'Bill' Harrell, taken at IBMA's World of Bluegrass 2008, when he received a Distinguished Achievement Award. The picture below shows him with his friend Larry Stephenson, a former member of Bill's band, the Virginians.

Bill Harrell suffered a stroke on Friday 12 June, and died at home on Wednesday 24 June. Viewing will be on Sunday evening, 28 June, from 6.00 to 8.00 p.m. at Chesapeake Christian Fellowship Church, Central Ave., Davidsonville, MD. The funeral will be at 10.00 a.m. on Monday at the same church. Condolences may be sent to 938 St George Barber Road, Davidsonville, MD 21035.

The original Bluegrass Blog's post of 19 June includes some fine footage of Bill Harrell, Don Reno, and the Tennessee Cutups on the Porter Wagoner show in 1968.

Bluegrass Europe #68

Bluegrass Europe is a bi-monthly magazine provided free to members of the EBMA in Europe and abroad. It is the first and only magazine dedicated to bluegrass music in Europe. Written in English, Bluegrass Europe is printed and bound with the German Bluegrass Bühne and the Dutch Strictly Country. The three journals appear together under one cover and are all included in EBMA membership. For a free sample, contact Paolo Dettwiler or visit the EBMA website.

Features in the June-July 2009 issue*

Bluegrass Europe #68: Become an EBMA member; EWOB 2009 winners; European bluegrass news (including reports from EBMA national representatives); EWOB 2009 report by EBMA chair; The essential Clarence White: bluegrass guitar leads, review by Kevin Lynch; The Toy Hearts: making it to the top (cover feature); EBMA's European bluegrass guide; concert & festival calendar

Strictly Country #230: Amy Gallatin & Roger Williams Band; Stroatklinkers in Bierum; Good Brothers in Wadway; The winners... EWOB 2009; Bluegrass & Country Festival Rotterdam; Bluegrassduinen; news, views, and reviews; new releases; Inlaw Sisters (cover feature); Columbia Series #95 - Freddie Hart; Country music originals; Bluegrass Unlimited national bluegrass survey; Johnny Cash tribute albums; Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival

Bluegrass Buehne #171: Festival & concert reports; Amy Gallatin & Stillwaters; Tex Morton, der australische Countrypionier; Termine; news and reviews; banjo tablature, 'Meiner kleiner gruener Kaktus' (arr. Renaud Martin)

Lilly of the West on YouTube

Following our post of 17 June, Lilly Drumeva of Bulgaria reports that five performances from the Budapest concert on 13 June have now been added to the thirty-eight already on her YouTube channel. The songs featured are 'Nelly Kane', 'Molly and Tenbrooks', 'How mountain girls can love', 'Can't you hear me calling', and 'Sto mi e milo'.

The new videos show Lilly (guitar, vocals) with Slovak musicians Lubos Yurkovic (guitar, vocals), Michal Barok (mandolin), Peter Szabados (resonator guitar), Richard Cifersky (banjo), and Anton Naroda (bass), as shown in the photo above.

The Sieker Band from the Austin area, originally from Germany

Thanks to Richard F. Thomson for this hint:

Followers of the early bluegrass scene in Europe, namely Germany, might enjoy reading this article.
Rolf and Beate Sieker are bluegrass music artists from Berlin, Germany now living near Austin. They met at a bluegrass festival in northern Germany in 1983 and have been playing music together ever since then.

photo: Evelyn Billington

Their deep love for bluegrass music inspired them move to the U.S. in 2000. Texas now is their home.

More to be read in the article [here]. Link to The Sieker Band Website

Bluegrass concert in the heart of Budapest

Thanks to Lilly Drumeva (Bulgaria), who reports:

A balmy evening in Budapest, Hungary, was the setting for a special bluegrass concert on Saturday 13 June 2009. For the first time, such a concert was organized by two countries – Slovakia and Bulgaria - and took place in a third one – Hungary! This shows how bluegrass music brings people together!

Beginning at 7.00 p.m., Lilly (guitar, vocals) and musicians from Slovakia - Lubos Yurkovic (guitar, vocals), Michal Barok (mandolin), Peter Szabados (Dobro), Richard Cifersky (banjo), and Anton Naroda (bass) - performed bluegrass, Bulgarian, and Slovak songs on a specially built stage in the garden of the Slovak cultural institute in Budapest. The multi-national audience included members of Hungarian bluegrass bands Acousticure and Another Ground.

Read Lilly's full report, with photos taken at the event, here.