An invitation from the EWOB Festival

Liz Meyer reports:

Dear Friends,

CONGRATULATIONS! Your brand-new EWOB Festival website has just been launched and it's online! You'll recognise the lovely artwork at the top, but the whole website is new, with lots of terrific new features.

Welcome to the European World of Bluegrass!

LISTEN TO THE MUSIC! You can hear clips from the 10 years of European World of Bluegrass double CD - all 48 tracks! Read review quotes, and find all the info you need in our Festival Info and FAQ pages. Visit our Photo Gallery and add your comments and info. Help us identify the people in the photos! Send us your favorite EWOB photos and stories. Become an EWOB Festival Volunteer - or Sponsor!


TALK TO US! We have lots of great ideas for the website, and we hope you'll e-mail us with your suggestions and requests. This website is for you! Let us know what you'd like to see. (And please let us know if anything doesn't work perfectly!) Sign our Guestbook!

TELL YOUR FRIENDS! It's time to visit www.ewob.eu, open the music player, and discover European bluegrass! Most of all, you'll want to join our EWOB mailing list to keep up with important EWOB news and info!

Visit the new EWOB Festival website now!

SPECIAL HOLIDAY OFFER!


In 2008, Strictly Country Records' beautiful double CD, 10 years of European World of Bluegrass, shot straight to #1 on the Folk Radio charts in the USA and Canada! The music world got its first taste of European bluegrass - and they love it!

Here's a special low price for a 2-hour bluegrass tour of Europe that you'll enjoy for years from the comfort of your easy chair. 10 years of EWOB is the perfect gift for anyone who enjoys bluegrass music - a banjo-laden ramble through such exotic lands as the Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Sweden, and Slovenia, along with some of your favorite American touring artists. (Hear audio clips, read CD info and review quotes on our new EWOB website!)

SPECIAL HOLIDAY OFFER: Until 1 January, buy one double CD (10 years of European World of Bluegrass) at regular price, and get 30% off + free shipping on each additional CD. This offer is good only by direct e-mail.

Listen to music now!

EUROPEAN WORLD OF BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL 2009 (21-22-23 May):

Band applications for the EWOB Festival 2009 are just closing (1 Dec.). Our Program Committee will be very busy listening to all the demos in the coming weeks! Bands selected to perform at EWOB 2009 will be contacted in late January, and we'll announce the program as soon as it is finalised.

Our thanks to the Thirsty Lizards for their terrific work on the website!

Discover European bluegrass! The adventure begins here.

Warm regards,
Liz Meyer

10 years of European World of Bluegrass (2-CD set):
'The language of Bluegrass transcends borders on this collection. For your introduction into the European World of Bluegrass, this is the place to start your world tour!' ~ Folkwax, USA

Radio playlists

Kabel 87.5 MHz - Omroep Venray - Ether 90.2 MHz:
Peelgrass playlist: 2433rd Country Programme, Sun. 30 Nov.
PeelGrass is now also broadcast on Huissentv (the Netherlands)

NeoRadio.nl:
NEO Country playlist, Tues. 15 Jan., 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 250 playlist, Mon. 24 Nov., midnight-02.22*
Antistatic Country Time playlist, Mon. 24 Nov. (Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike, Eberhard Finke)
* 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. Next Monday (24 November) the 250th 'Americana' will be broadcast!

Banjo Newsletter: 35 years of achievement

Nancy Nitchie and her son Donald accept the Distinguished Achievement Award, with Tony Trischka (left), who gave the introductory address.

The most important periodical for banjo players was founded by Hub Nitchie and his wife Nancy in 1973 as The Monthly Newsletter: The 5-String Banjo, renamed Banjo Newsletter in February 1974. After Hub passed away in October 1992, his son Donald took over as editor, with Nancy as business manager; later their other son, Spencer, joined her. Together they started work on the Maryland Banjo Academy in 1997.


Maryland Banjo Academy

At the IBMA's World of Bluegrass 2008 in Nashville, Banjo Newsletter received a Distinguished Achievement Award at the Special Awards Luncheon. Thanks to Lilly Pavlak for these photos. Lilly recalls:

Nancy and Hub are (were) about my oldest bluegrass friends. I met them at the Bean Blossom festival in 1976, and then again in Carlisle at the Banjo Jamboree in Canada later on. They brought me with their car back to New York for my flight to Europe.

At that time Spencer was a little boy. I can still remember Hub shawed his hair and used some kind of spray to color his head green, so he looked like the green cover of his magazine. Nancy and Donald are still my good friends.


Lilly Pavlak and Nancy Nitchie (with Strictly Country magazine) outside the IBMA trade show stand at World of Bluegrass 2008

Videos of European bluegrass wanted for US TV

Does your band or event have video footage which could be made available for airing in the USA?

A new channel - ZGrass, The Bluegrass Channel, LLC - will launch in March 2009, presenting 'all bluegrass, all day, all the time'. And its managing director, Harold Brown, is looking for all the video he can find from European bluegrass bands. Contact:

Harold Brown, Managing Director
The Bluegrass Channel, LLC
Telephone: +1-305-890-6843
e-mail

Thankful for Bluegrass 2008

The original Bluegrass Blog is celebrating Thanksgiving by running a poll among readers on the Bluegrass Recording of 2008 for which they're Most Thankful.

The list includes the G2 Bluegrass Band (Sweden), the only band listed from outside North America. However, to score points for the band, the name of a particular recording should also be given. The poll will remain open for another week.

EWOB website better than ever

Thanks to Liz Meyer for welcome news:

Congratulations! Your new EWOB website is online! Please let your friends know it's time to visit the site, and ask them to sign the Guestbook.

The new site looks good, works beautifully, and has music, slideshows, and information on all aspects of the Festival, past and present - you can sign up as a sponsor, a performer, a trade show exhibitor, an advertiser, or a volunteer helper; check the list of all the bands who have performed at Voorthuizen, or the list of all EWOB events throughout Europe this year; listen to tracks from the acclaimed 2-CD 10 years of EWOB compilation by Strictly Country Records; and much more.

The site has been designed and engineered by the Thirsty Lizards team (USA), who specialise in music-related sites - previous customers include the prestigious Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival. (As TSGWebPlus, they also handle business websites in general.)

Advertise in British Bluegrass News!

With new moves taking place within the British Bluegrass Music Association, as reported here on 11 November, Sherryl Payne, bass player with the UK band A Band Like Alice (whose new CD Down to the wire was released in autumn 2008), is now BBMA treasurer and in charge of advertising in British Bluegrass News.

Sherryl reports that BBN's advertising rates have been reduced - £40 is the cost for a full page, £30 for half a page, £20 for quarter page. If you want your festival, concert, recording, instruments, business, etc. to be publicised on the bluegrass scene in Britain, an ad in BBN is strongly recommended.

The next issue will be out before Christmas 2008, and deadline for copy is 1 December. Contact Sherryl by e-mail.

Tom Hanway signed to worldwide distribution deal

American bluegrass composer, banjoist, and guitarist Tom Hanway, now living in Ireland, has hit a major milestone by signing a worldwide distribution deal with Digital Revolution Entertainment for his three releases, originally on Joyous Gard Records. All music from Tom Hanway, Bucket of bees (13 tracks), Tom Hanway & Blue Horizon (15 tracks), and Tom Hanway & Vassar Clements, The Badbelly project (14 tracks) will be available as digital downloads in the following formats: (1) as entire albums, (2) a la carte - 42 songs, and (3) as ringtones. Amazon, Napster, Rhapsody, Lala, eMusic were the first to offer MP3 downloads (on 11/11/2008), with iTunes, Nokia, Liquid, MEdia Net, PassAlong, Puretracks, SNOCAP, SpiralFrog, and more online music stores to follow.

Tom Hanway, Bucket of bees, featuring Sam Bush, Vassar Clements, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, David Grier, and Tony Trischka, was recorded in New York City and Nashville, Tennessee, produced by Tony Trischka, Larry Cohen, and Tom Hanway. Tom Hanway & Blue Horizon, featuring Vassar Clements, Mark Schatz, and Roy Huskey, Jr., was recorded in Nashville, produced by Tom Hanway and engineered by Bil VornDick. Tom Hanway & Vassar Clements, The Badbelly project, featuring Larry Campbell and Lucy Kaplansky, was recorded in the Bronx, New York, co-produced by Lincoln Schleifer and Tom Hanway.

In Ireland and throughout the world, Tom Hanway’s three albums (42 songs) can now be purchased at this Amazon link, or visit Tom Hanway’s website and search under 'Music Stores'.

Moonshiner begins volume 26

Congratulations to the leading Japanese bluegrass magazine Moonshiner on beginning its twenty-sixth volume. And thanks to Saburo ('Sab') Watanabe Inoue for the above copy of the cover of the current issue: #301 (November 2008). It pays tribute to the IBMA by reproducing the image used in this year's World of Bluegrass and incorporating a Discover Bluegrass sticker.

The BBMA is back!

Richard F. Thompson reports:

Following the election of John Wirtz as the British Bluegrass Music Association's chairman at the AGM last April, the work has begun to raise the profile of the association and bring it back to the prominence it once had in the 1990s.

At the time the association was founded (in 1990), it was quite difficult for enthusiasts to find out what was going on. Plenty was happening but, apart from the efforts of Phill Morley, who founded British Bluegrass News, and later with assistance from Jan Jerrold and Richard F. Thompson, news tended to get around by word of mouth.

The BBMA changed all that. It experienced a honeymoon period before that little beast called the internet came along. Suddenly communication was easy and the more enlightened festival and gig promoters got websites going. The impact of the BBMA was dramatically reduced. The word on the street was: 'We don't need the BBMA now there's the Internet', and membership began to dwindle.

The internet is a great thing and the BBMA must embrace its power, but there are things the internet cannot do without an organisation behind it to ensure the information is useful, accurate, and well targeted. Good organisations are much more than suppliers of information: they can do many more things to support the activities of their members. In the past, the BBMA has provided grants and loans to allow bands to record CDs, it has sponsored young people to go to camps such as Sore Fingers Week, and it has underwritten gigs where promoters need financial support. However, the BBMA hasn't been very good at telling people about these things and, with low membership levels, has had limited funds available to improve its record. In recent years, the majority of the income from members has been used to produce the association magazine.

Six months into his tenure, Chairman Wirtz is pleased to report that the magazine has been redesigned and looks a lot more attractive. This has been achieved with a saving of 40 per cent on production costs – a real result! The magazine editorial team has also been increased from one to four people.

The next high-profile project is to redesign the website. The BBMA has never had a decent website and this is about to change. The new one will be simple, informative and designed to guide members to the right places to find information about bluegrass, be it about events and festivals or technical information about playing the music. The hope is to have the new site up and running by Christmas.

A new national area rep. coordinator has been appointed, and a greater number of regional representatives are being recruited to provide more comprehensive cover across the country.

There is a great deal of work to do behind the scenes to get the administration of the BBMA back on track. It has suffered from too few people trying to do everything, and that has meant the creative side and the ideas that would really benefit the members have suffered too.

In order to embark on creative projects, the BBMA needs to recruit enough people to run it. However, there are some great ideas floating about and just to give you a taste, here are some that have been discussed over the summer:

· A demo CD showcasing British bluegrass song writing.

· A programme for teaching music in schools using bluegrass and bluegrass instruments.

· A joint venture to set up instrumental teaching surgeries for all bluegrass instruments at the summer festivals.

· BBMA showcase concerts at festivals to promote new bands.

· A series of fact sheets downloadable from the BBMA website, with general advice for bands, promoters, and individuals.

The present committee members are really enthusiastic about these ideas and would be really happy if just one of these was to bear fruit during the next twelve months. It can be done, but not without you! More members are needed to increase the funds available to make these projects work.

In his first editorial in the current edition of British Bluegrass News, Wirtz promised change and he is pleased to say that the committee has started to deliver on that promise. He says: 'You may be one of those who didn't renew your membership because you were disillusioned. Well, it's time to come out of the depression and re-join, you will really make a difference and if you were one who never joined at all, it's time for a change of heart. If you are already a member, then why not go and recruit someone new?'

Richard F. Thompson
Feature Editor, British Bluegrass News
e-mail
Tel: +44 (0) 1543 252683

Trish Hockley
Membership Secretary
FREEPOST BBMA
Tel: +44 (0) 7889 607612
e-mail

EBMA on Facebook

Angelika Torrie, treasurer and webmistress of the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA), reports:

I just created a Facebook group for EBMA. Feel free to join and share. It's all new, so I have to feed it yet. At least it's a link into this new world.

Keep it pickin',

Angelika

Use this link to join.

Europe challenged on banjo speed record

In response to yesterday's mention of Johnny Butten (UK) as world's fastest banjo player, Erio Meili (originally of Switzerland, but now head of the Sao Paulo Bluegrass Music Association in Brazil and leader of the South American Bluegrass Network), reports:

Howdy folks,

Here comes our Southern challenge for a new record for world fastest banjo player, pre-qualified in the Livro da Guineia (Guineia Book) and hopefully running now for Guinness. Check it out on YouTube. The tune is 'Sunday', home-made and faster than Johnny Butten's 'Duelling banjos'. For our alternative duelling banjos spot, watch our 'Titanic deviation medley' here.

And only last week, all we had to worry about was that the world might be destroyed by the Large Hadron Collider...

Beppe Gambetta in Acoustic Guitar

The September 2008 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine includes a major interview by Scott Nygaard with Beppe Gambetta. While the main emphasis is on crosspicking technique, there is also a good deal about the influences of traditional Italian, Celtic, and gypsy music that Gambetta has brought into his style, and the importance of playing with depth and passion instead of being a 'human jukebox'.

This article can be read online, with video examples.

Craponne Festival, 24-26 July

Cadillac Sky (USA)


3 Fox Drive (USA)

Thanks to Friedrich Hog of Radio Free Ulm for these photos from the 22nd Festival Country Rendez-Vous at Craponne-sur-Arzon, in the Auvergne region of France, on 24-26 July.


Jiri Kralik & the Rowdy Rascals (CZ)

A full report (in German) by Friedrich can be read here.


Friedrich (left) and George Ducas

Johnny Butten's Solo CD now out

Johnny Butten with his Kel Kroydon banjo and certificate as Guinness world record holder for fastest banjo-player

Solo, the new solo CD by English multi-instrumentalist Johnny Butten, was announced at the beginning of July on the European Bluegrass Blog. It is now released and available on CD Baby. More info and sound samples are on the CD Baby page and on Johnny's MySpace site and website.

Update 10 August: Johnny Butten appeared on the 'Blue Plate Special' show on WDVX from Knoxville, TN, on 8 August. Full details are on the Bluegrass Blog.

Picking party with Barry & Holly Tashian

Barry & Holly Tashian

Thanks to Roger Ryan of the Country Music Association of Ireland for news of a half-hour video on PTV Ireland, shot in June during a picking party at the Nashville home of Barry & Holly Tashian.

The musicians there include Barry (vocal, guitar), Holly (vocal, guitar, bass), Roland White (mandolin, bass), and David Lege (guitar). In addition, Barry and Holly talk to Roger about their lives in music. Also present is Peter Wroblewski of Germany, president of the Country & Western Friends Koetz 1982 e.V..

Barry and Holly Tashian recently presented a three-day workshop on harmony singing at the Risør Bluegrassfestival, Norway (15-19 July). Roger Ryan took part in this year's IBMA Leadership Bluegrass course in Nashville.

Chocolate Drops, Krugers on WoodSongs TV

Thanks to Blue Highways TV for the news that the Carolina Chocolate Drops, the premier black old-time string band, and the Kruger Brothers, Switzerland's gift to the Carolinas, will be appearing on the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour TV show on Friday 25 July at 7:00 p.m. EST. The show will subsequently be viewable on the WoodSongs archive.

Bluegrass gospel radio stations

Tony Partigianoni of Gospel Grass Radio, an internet-only bluegrass gospel radio station in Louisiana, USA, writes:

We are a non-profit which does NOT require listeners to pay anything to listen. We don't even accept donations.

We thought some of your members would be interested in a Christian bluegrass station. To our knowledge, there is no other such station in the world except for a new station called Homemade Gospel, started recently by our friend Suzie Coleman.

If you have a newsletter, maybe you could mention our station and Suzie's station.

Gospel Grass Radio
Broadcaster: Tony Partigianoni, +1-337-401-0189; e-mail
Station Description: Playing pure, sanctified bluegrass music for the world

US bluegrass stars at Craponne Festival

Thanks to Friedrich Hog for the news that the many American artists appearing at the 21st Festival Country Rendez-Vous at Craponne-sur-Arzon, France (25-27 July) will include the contemporary bluegrass bands Cadillac Sky and Three Fox Drive, as well as the neo-hillbilly Big Smith.

As Friedrich will be at the Craponne festival, Peter Wroblewski will present the 'Americana' programme on Radio Free Ulm next Monday.

More from Flatpicking Guitar magazine

We've had some exciting new internet-based developments at Flatpicking Guitar Magazine in the past few months and we would greatly appreciate it if you could let your members/readers know about these new opportunities that are available to them.

Flatpicking Guitar Network:
Our new Flatpicking Network is a FREE on-line social network, like Facebook or MySpace, but just for flatpickers. On this site we post photos, mp3s, videos, blog news, flatpicking events, and our members can do the same on their very own individualised member home page! Members can also interact with other flatpickers, join various flatpicking interest groups, comment of various forum topics, access our podcasts, and much more. Check it out here.

Flatpickdigital.com Digital Download Site:
Flatpickdigital.com is our new digital download site where customers can sign up for a digital subscription to both the magazine and the audio CD, and they can also download all back issues and back-issue audio CDs. This option saves customers money, they get the magazine early, and it helps to save the environment by helping us greatly reduce our 'carbon footprint'! Check it out here.

Thanks,

Dan Miller
Editor and Publisher

See also the EBB post of 13 July.

Join Andrea Tarquini in Flatpicking Guitar Network

Andrea Tarquini of the Country Kitchen Revival Jamgrass Band of Milan, Italy, has a message for flatpicking guitarists in Europe:

Hey, guys, you should open an account here at Flatpicking Guitar Network that Dan Miller created. Let us see European presence.

You can accept Andrea's invitation through this link.

Flatpicking Guitar Network, set up by Flatpicking Guitar magazine, is dedicated to presenting all aspects of the art of flatpicking the acoustic guitar. It already has 1,024 members, and carries 586 photos, 145 music tracks, 29 videos, 50 discussions, 58 events, and 46 blog posts.

Lilly Drumeva: news

Lilly of the West showcase party (left to right): Yassen Vassilev (guitar), Ivan Penchev (fiddle), Lilly Drumeva (fiddle), Svoboda Bozduganova (bass), Lubos Novotny (dobro), Lubos Malina (tin whistle)

Lilly of the West performed on 25 June 2008 at the American embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria, invited by US ambassador John Beyrle for his farewell party. The event was attended by the Slovak ambassador, Miachal Kotman, and the director of the Czech Cultural centre in Sofia, Machael Pospisil. The band, with the lineup shown above, will appear on the Bohemian Bluegrass Festival in Pisek, Czech Republic, 25-27 July 2008, and will be on stage on Sunday 27 at 14.15.

For more news and photos (including Lilly with rock legend Mark Knopfler, now on tour with his acoustic band), click here.

Radio Free Ulm: 'Americana'

Friedrich Hog, whose 'Americana' two-hour radio show is broadcast from midnight every Monday on Radio Free Ulm, will present it as usual on 23 June. He is leaving the next day for Trnava, Slovakia, to attend the Dobrofest (26-28 June), so on 30 June Herbert Schildhammer will present the 'Americana' show, and Peter Wroblewski will present 'Country time' from 8.00 to 10.00 p.m.

Peter will include a report from the CMA Music Fest (Fan Fair) in Nashville, which he attended. Friedrich will be back to present 'Americana' on 7 July.

New Niall Toner Band CD

The new CD NTB3 from the Niall Toner Band (IRL) is out today, 14 June. The release was delayed by the inclusion of a video, shot at Athy Bluegrass 2007 by Kate Bradbury, and a bonus track, 'Nun's Island Reel', aka 'The Real Reel', an Irish-style tune composed by Niall in the early '90s, and now included in Grand Theft Auto IV, the biggest selling video game in history. The tune will soon be available worldwide as a ringtone - it already is in the USA.

NTB3 is available in all good record shops from today, and it and the two previous NTB CDs are also available on i-Tunes, via Amazon, from Bardis Music, or by post from the Niall Toner Band website. The band, which took part in the 2008 EWOB Festival, also has a MySpace site.

Sirius about European bluegrass

Liz Meyer reports:

Two of our recent houseguests were Nashville musicians who both host bluegrass programs on Sirius Satellite Radio, here for the European World of Bluegrass 2008. They told us that Sirius Bluegrass was programming a track every hour from the 10 years of European World of Bluegrass CD throughout the month of May. We'd like to say thanks to Sirius for that great airplay, and to Rounder for their generous community spirit, reflected by their mailing our 10 years of EWOB CD to bluegrass and Americana radio in the USA. This tremendous support means a lot to so many musicians.

10 years of European World of Bluegrass
(SCR-66/ 2-CD set)
America and Europe join hands.
48 BANDS ~ 15 LANDS
CDs available from CD Baby

'If Bill Monroe were alive he would be very proud of you' (Dan Crary)

Strictly Country Records/ Strictly Music
PO Box 628
2130 AP Hoofddorp
The Netherlands

Honours for Hermann Lammers Meyer

CMR Nashville Country News reports that Hermann Lammers Meyer, radio presenter and DJ for CMR Nashville for Germany, has just received two major awards from the European Country Music Association.

Hermann, who is a great supporter of bluegrass in the shows he presents on Twangtown USA, Countrymusic24.com, Radio Morningstar, and other stations, won the ECMA European Radio DJ of the Year award. As a performing and recording artist with eight albums to his credit, he received Top Album of the Year award with Yesterday once more in the annual ECMA awards for 2007. Full details and a list of the other winners are on the ECMA website.

Stringdusters in Europe on YouTube

Incidents from the current month-long tour of Europe by the multiple-award-winning Infamous Stringdusters (USA) are being recorded on video and posted on YouTube on behalf of the band. The fourth and latest instalment - including footage from Fredericia, Denmark, and Lievelde, the Netherlands - can be viewed on the Bluegrass Blog.

Photos from EWOB 2008 on the Bluegrass Blog

Photo by Jan de Mooy

The original Bluegrass Blog carries fourteen excellent photos taken by Jan de Mooy at the 11th European World of Bluegrass Festival in Voorthuizen, the Netherlands, on 1-3 May. They appear with Jan's captions giving full details of the performers shown. Above: Bluegrass Cwrkot (CZ), winners of the #1 Audience Popularity Award.

New website for Sons of Navarone

It's well worth a visit to the website of the Sons of Navarone from Belgium, which has been completely redesigned with a more classical look. It retains all its power to surprise: underwear (although not the underwear of band members) is on display.

'Country Music Round-up' on Radio Vrolek

Thanks to EBMA member Jan N. Evenhuis for news of his weekly radio program 'Country Music Round-up', which includes lots of bluegrass music.

The radio station - Radio Vrolek, in Nederlek (Lekkerkerk & Krimpen a.d. IJssel), the Netherlands - transmits on 107.7 MHz as well as on the local cable system 105.5 MHz, and as background music on the Information TV-channel 2. 'Country Music Round-up' is broadcast live from the studio on Tuesday night from 19.00 to 20.00, with a retransmission on Saturday from 12.00 to 13.00 LT.

Mostly on Thursday the playlist is published weekly, together with additional information, cover photos of used albums, and links to appropriate video-clips/websites of the musicians in Jan's weblog. Jan adds:

I sure hope the readers will like to go on a small bluegrass adventure / surprise every now and then, with unsuspected video-clips of sometimes 'Old Heroes of the Bluegrass' as well as stringbands, old timey, and acoustic country, sometimes with a taste of fine folk music. Hope they have lots of fun!

Kudos for Coastline Bluegrass Music Event

The Coastline Bluegrass Music Event has not only been nominated as 'Favourite Bluegrass Festival 2007' by UKBluegrass.com - it is now listed in The Guardian newspaper as being among their 'Top Ten Folk Festivals for 2008'! The Guardian article can be seen here.

The third Coastline Bluegrass Music Event takes place on 6-7-8 June 2008 at Plas Uchaf Farm, near Llandudno Junction, North Wales LL28 5PD, UK. This year's lineup has a strong international element with G2 (current #1 European Bluegrass Band) from Sweden, and the Sons of Navarone from Belgium. For further details, see the Event's MySpace site.

Nechville News: the Spanish connection

Nechville Musical Products reports that the spring issue of Nechville News is now available for download. Banjo tablatures by Lluís Gómez (SP) have been a regular feature of Nechville News for some time now, and in this issue the tab is of the Russ Barenberg tune 'Magic foot'.

Nechville are present, as always, at MerleFest this year (24-27 April 2008). Lluís Gómez and his Quartet will be appearing at the EWOB Festival at Voorthuizen, the Netherlands (1-3 May). A full list of shows by the Quartet is on their MySpace site.

Bluegrass on the air and on CD in Ireland

Niall Toner reports that NTB 3, the new CD by the Niall Toner Band, will be launched on Sunday 25 May over the national broadcasting station, at Studio One, RTE Radio Centre, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, Ireland, starting at 7.30 p.m. Niall says:

NTB3 is another collection of original material, and includes songs co-written with Barry and Holly Tashian and Peter Rowan. Ten songs and two instrumentals, as well as a video interview/documentary shot by Kate Bradbury at Athy 2007, with comprehensive sleeve notes explaining the background to all the tracks, and a beautiful sleeve design by bass-totin' graphic artist Kelvin Busher.

Sample tracks can be heard on the NTB MySpace page. At the launch, two programmes in Niall's 'Roots Freeway' series will be recorded in front of a live audience, with NTB as the house band, and special guests Prison Love, Bray Vista, and Carmel Sheerin & the Ravens (#1 European Bluegrass Band 2005). Admission on the night will be by ticket only; seats can be booked by e-mailing Roots Freeway or the show's producer, Aidan Butler. Niall adds:

RTE are also celebrating May as International Bluegrass Music Month by broadcasting a series of radio shows on Thursday nights during May, called 'The Bluegrass Sessions'. Among the artists featured will be Bela Fleck, Ricky Skaggs, the Punch Brothers, the Paperboys, Steve Kaufman, and Greg Cahill. These shows are hosted by Niall Toner and Sandy Harsch.

Also during May, each edition of 'Roots Freeway', which is broadcast on Tuesdays at 9.00 p.m., will contain a twenty-minute segment telling the story of bluegrass music, from its beginnings with Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs and the Stanley Brothers, right up to today's modern masters like Chris Thile, Tony Trischa, Pete Wernick, and Peter Rowan. These mini-documentaries are intended as an introduction to bluegrass music.

The Niall Toner Band can be heard live at the EWOB Festival in Voorthuizen, the Netherlands, on 1 May, and elsewhere in the Netherlands on 2 and 3 May.

Free Gibson Brothers tracks on the Bluegrass Blog

John Lawless of the Bluegrass Blog reports:

Thanks to the folks at Sugar Hill Records, the Bluegrass Blog is offering free downloads of two tracks from the Gibson Brothers' new CD, Iron & diamonds.

The title track is offered today (7 April) and 'Picker’s blues' will be offered tomorrow. There is no charge for the MP3 download to any registered user of the Bluegrass Blog. Registration is quick and free online.

Each free download will only be available for 24 hours. Just visit the Bluegrass Blog to get the free tunes from Sugar Hill and the Gibson Brothers.

10 years of EWOB on internet radio

Peter Thompson, who hosts the 'Bluegrass Signal' show for KALW radio in San Francisco, has prepared a tribute to European bluegrass for Bluegrass Country on WAMU 88.5, the station that has broadcast bluegrass in the Washington, DC, area for over forty years.

Peter has recorded a show made up of seventeen cuts from the new double-CD compilation on Strictly Country Records, 10 years of European World of Bluegrass (SCR-66).

His choice includes seven winners of the #1 European Bluegrass Band award, and comprises (in playing order) the Petr Brandejs Band, Monogram, Kreni, Relief, Fragment, Meantime, Four Wheel Drive, Nugget, Liz Meyer, Fifty Fingers, Red Wine, the Mideando String Quartet, Bononia Grass, Carmel Sheerin & the Ravens, the Stroatkliners, Footprints, and the Looping Brothers.

The show will be broadcast by Bluegrass Country on the five consecutive days ending on 1 May, the first day of the EWOB Festival. Times shown are US Eastern Standard Time; the 30 April broadcast is likely to be easiest for European listeners to hear:

Sun. 27 Apr. 10.00 p.m.
Mon. 28 Apr. 7.00 p.m.
Tues. 29 Apr. 1.00 a.m.
Wed. 30 Apr. 6.00 a.m.
Thurs. 1 May 8.00 p.m.

Peter will broadcast more cuts from 10 years of EWOB on KALW radio.

Country Gazette

Country Gazette magazine, which has promoted country music and bluegrass in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe for the past thirty-five years, will cease publication with the next issue. The owners and moving spirits of CG are Hans and Jannie van Dam, who will be retiring.

Award-winning US bluegrass writer and photographer Stephanie P. Ledgin, who is the elected Print Media/Education representative on the board of the IBMA, says:

Country Gazette was one of the first non-US magazines I recall absorbing as a bluegrass newbie in the mid-1970s and early 1980s. It goes without saying that it has been vital in establishing and furthering the worldwide presence of bluegrass and country music.

This latest folding of a print publication (no matter the reason) reinforces for me... that... it is critical that we pay attention to the very rapidly changing face of how media functions and delivers in the 21st century and how it impacts our music and dissemination of information... And I'll say in closing a very huge thanks to the van Dams for giving us Country Gazette for so many years, and I wish them all the best.

Vote for the Carrivick Sisters!

The European Bluegrass Blog carried news on 6 February of the success of the Carrivick Sisters on the BBC TV show 'Upstaged'. Having won their heats, they are due to compete in the final stages next week.

This success for bluegrass is more than just a UK matter, and international votes count in the final result. So - especially if you enjoyed the Sisters' set at the EWOB Festival 2007 - keep up with events at the show's website and support them with your votes.

Thanks to UKBluegrass.com for the news.

European Bluegrass Directory 2008/2009

Paolo Dettwiler, chairman of the EBMA, reports:

The EBMA is currently working on the next issue of the well known and widely used European Bluegrass Directory, the seventh, heavily updated edition for 2008/2009.

For the second time we will be giving the European Bluegrass Directory away for free in order to reach a lot more people; much like a phone directory. It will be officially presented on 1-3 May 2008 at EBMA’s EWOB Festival 2008 in Voorthuizen, the Netherlands.

That is why we are looking for advertisements – an ad makes sure you will be in the mind of bluegrass people in Europe and around the world for the next two years. Our prices are reasonable (and haven’t changed for over ten years):

full page – €150
half-page – €80
quarter page – €50

Our deadline is 5 April 2008 – the earlier the better. Even if you can’t or don’t want to have an ad, perhaps you can help us with finding new advertisers. Many thanks!

Paolo Dettwiler (e-mail)

Westport Festival now on MySpace

The second annual Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival in Westport, Co. Mayo, Ireland (27-9 June), has just established a MySpace site. Details shown at present include links to the websites of artists taking part, among whom are Four Wheel Drive (NL/D/B) and Woodbine, the host band for the Athy festival, Ireland's oldest annual bluegrass event.

There is also a link to the website of the Westport Inn Hotel, which is the main venue for the event, and offers package deals for the Festival weekend. For more details or ticket booking, contact Uri Kohen by e-mail or at 087 7570958.

Coastline Bluegrass Music Event, 6-8 June

The song 'Sleepy Hollow' by G2 Bluegrass Band from Sweden is the sound-track for a promotional DVD for the Third Coastline Bluegrass Music Event, which will be held at Plas Uchaf Farm, near Llandudno Junction, North Wales LL28 5PD, on 6-8 June.

The DVD shows the site and its picturesque setting looking over the Conwy estuary; photos of all members of bands taking part; and shots of the open mike stage, jam sessions, and other features of the festival. It proves that a DVD need not be an expensive technical miracle to be a completely effective promotional tool.

G2 (the current #1 European Bluegrass Band) are at the top of the bill for the Event, together with the Sons of Navarone (Belgium), Longway (Scotland), and two Appalachian dance teams, Mind the Step and Wicked Soles. The Event also has a MySpace site.

Bluegrass Europe #61

The next issue of Bluegrass Europe, the magazine of the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA), will be #61 (April-May 2008).

The editor, Paolo Dettwiler, who is also chair of the EBMA, wishes to remind everyone that the deadline for news items, concert dates, advertisements, and other material to appear in issue #61 is Sunday 16 March.

Issue #61 will include as title story 'Bluegrass in Norway', with an interview with Dagfinn Pedersen of the Norwegian Bluegrass Music Association; and 'Czech bluegrass history', by Lilly Pavlak. The EWOB Guide will also be issued with the magazine.

Bluegrass Europe
Paolo R. Dettwiler
Steinenweg 8
CH-4133 Pratteln
Switzerland
Phone: +41 61 821 83 63
Fax +41 61 821 83 64
e-mail

European bluegrass wanted for RBI airplay

Bob Mitchell of Louisville, KY, reports:

Radio Bluegrass International has given me a weekly two-hour bluegrass program. 'The Best of Bluegrass' will be broadcast from the International Bluegrass Museum website. The first internet broadcast will probably be in March or April.

I've recorded eight programs and played several tracks from your recordings of the EWOB Festival - I want to include more music from around the world. I'd be interested in receiving CDs for possible airplay. I can not promise each artist will be played, but I will give everyone equal consideration. Traditional bluegrass only, please. If you have any questions or suggestions, let me know. Best wishes from the United States,

Bob Mitchell
5800 Coach Gate Wynde (309D)
Louisville KY 40207
1-502-897-0256
e-mail

Europe in Bluegrass Now

In the March issue of Bluegrass Now magazine:

* the 'Band to Watch' column by Dave Higgs features Cages Bend of the Nashville area, with emphasis on the band's Cornish-born banjo-player and master mandolin-maker Sim Daley;

* the 'Aircheck' column by Larry Robinson features EBMA member Jaap C. de Gues, who has presented his 'Let there be Country' show every Wednesday over Origineel FM (105.5, 106.2) from Spijkenisse, the Netherlands, for the last seven years;

* the EWOB 2007 CD gets a very positive review; and

* there's a snippet (with photo) on how well Chris Stuart & Backcountry were received at the Dolder 2 club in Feuerthaler, Switzerland, on their recent tour.

New window display for 4WD

Four Wheel Drive (NL/D/B) have reorganised, rebuilt, and redecorated their MySpace site, which can be reached at this new address.

Jamie Dailey and Europe

The February issue of Bluegrass Now magazine includes an article by Jason Duke on the Dailey & Vincent band.

The article recounts that Jamie Dailey took part in a successful Young Leaders trip to Switzerland in 2003, and followed this with a trip to Germany in 2007 (reported in the Bluegrass Blog). Jason Duke adds:

He may well be the first bluegrass entertainer to ride a bicycle through a nudist colony. He is now pondering a Young Leaders trip to Spain, and a vacation in Greece, for his adventures in 2009. And, of course, his fingers are crossed for the possibility of a little international touring!

Niall Toner interviewed on IBMM's RBI

Mike Lawing of the International Bluegrass Music Museum at Owensboro, KY, reports that there will be a short interview at 8.30 a.m. Central US time tomorrow morning (Friday 8 February) with Niall Toner of Ireland, on the Museum's twenty-four-hour internet radio service, RBI (Radio Bluegrass International).

RBI has been a free service to listeners since the IBMM launched it in May 2007. As from Tuesday 8 January 2008, all Museum members have been assigned a password which allows access to the RBI stream as part of their memberships. Listeners who do not wish t