International Record Store Day: April 17

Saturday, April 17 is Independent Record Store Day ...all over the world!

The goal is to attract people to the "Indie" (independent) music retailers -- not the commercial chain stores. Since bluegrass music, and acoustic music in general, is primarily an indie genre you will be supporting the artists, labels and your local independent store.

Click on the title of this article and it will take you to a map of countries. Click on your country and a list of indie store retailers will appear.

There are free giveaways at participating stores, as well as exclusive giveaways (free downloads, etc) on the recordstoreday.com website.

If your local independent store doesn't have bluegrass or your favorite acoustic music genre on their shelves, this is your chance to ask them "Why not?" Perhaps you can introduce the owners/managers to an artist that their customers might enjoy?

As they wrote in their press release email, "No better time to get out to your local indie music store and show them some love!"

Jens Kruger, Kathy Mattea on new Si Kahn album

Strictly Country Records (NL) announce that Si Kahn's new CD Courage will be released this month as SCR-69. The album is produced by Jens Kruger, of the Kruger Brothers, who also plays all instruments. Backup vocals and liner notes are by Kathy Mattea. Pieter Groenveld of SCR says:

We are very proud of this new release. More details will soon be available.

A track from Courage can be heard through this link to the Utne Reader Music Sampler for March 2010.

Strictly Country and its artists on air

Thanks to Liz Meyer for news from the Folk & Bluegrass Radio Airplay Chart, which is now also the official chart for the Folk Alliance. The following facts come from the August 2009 chart, compiled by Richard Gillmann from FOLKDJ-L radio playlists, and based on 15,350 airplays from 140 different DJs.

Jonathan Edwards's album Rollin' along (produced by Liz for Strictly Country Records) is at #4 among top albums and songs for August 2009, while Liz's own THE STORM (SCR-59) is at #15 - no small achievement for an album released in 2005.

In the chart of top songs for August 2009 Jonathan Edwards's 'Red light, green light' from Rollin' along is at #18, and Edwards shares the #6 place among thirty-eight Top Artists of the Month with Catie Curtis, while Liz herself appears at #23. Strictly Country Records appears at #11 among the forty top labels for the month.

These lists are compiled and posted every month (since October 1997) to the official FOLKDJ-L website, where the archive of past Top Album lists is also available. An extended version is at Richard Gillman's personal website.

SCR and SCR

Yesterday the original Bluegrass Blog added a post entitled 'Steve Martin and SCR in LA'.

No, it doesn't mean that Strictly Country Records, major sponsors of the EWOB Festival, are opening up a new California operation; nor does it mean that Pieter Groenveld is at last taking his rightful place as a world-class comic actor.

'SCR' on the Bluegrass Blog stands for the Steep Canyon Rangers of North Carolina, who were on the cover of Bluegrass Europe #66 earlier this year, and will be part of the Bluegrass Jamboree travelling festival, organised by Rainer Zellner's Music Contact Agency, in December 2009. Read the whole story here.

G2's new album in progress

The original Bluegrass Blog reports that the G2 Bluegrass Band (Sweden) are halfway through the making of their next album, which is being recorded at Cosmos Studios, Stockholm. All songs on the album are original compositions by band members, including 'Conwy', written by guitarist and lead singer Christoffer Olsson about the location of the annual North Wales Bluegrass Festival.

More details can be found on the band's website and on the Bluegrass Blog, where there is a video made by G2 about working on their album. Coming shows by G2 in 2009 include the Jamboree at Strakonice (CZ) on 29-30 May.

Spring releases from Strictly Country

Strictly Country Records announce their spring releases: the new CD Rollin' along: live in Holland by Jonathan Edwards, with twenty tracks; and The storm by Liz Meyer, accompanied by Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Emmylou Harris, Stuart Duncan, Ron Block, Rob Ickes, Glen Duncan, Byron House, Kenny Malone, Mark Johnson, and Shad Cobb.

Both albums can be sampled on CD Baby. Please contact SCR by e-mail to buy direct from the label, or for DJ and press copies.


Strictly Country Records is a major supporter of the EWOB Festival.

Bluegrass from the West Country

Singer Charlie Boston, based in the West Country of England, reports:

Hi fellow European bluegrass fans!

Just thought I'd drop you a line to let you know that you can now buy individual downloads from my albums or order whole CDs through the Lara Music website. Even if you have no intention of buying anything, please do visit the site.

Also if you happen to be around Dorset or Somerset, please come along to one of the gigs. I was recently invited to join the well established bluegrass band Three Tuns O' Grass, and you can check out their gig schedule on their own website.

Keep music live!

Charlie Boston
Lara Natural Music
22A Ives Street
London
SW3 2ND
London: +44 (0)20 7584 3399
Dorset: +44 (0)1935 815 872
e-mail

SCR in BU

Strictly Country Records of the Netherlands has a full-page advertisement for its recent releases in the February 2009 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited, the world's premier print magazine for bluegrass music.

The ad, which can be seen here, features nine major SCR releases: the two-CD set 10 years of EWOB; Liz Meyer, THE STORM; Paul Craft, Too bad you're no good; Dan Paisley & the Southern Grass, Forty years of trouble; the Waller Brothers, The old photograph; Jonathan Edwards, Rollin' along; David Olney, Lenora; Si Kahn, Thanksgiving; and Chris Jones, Live in Holland 1985-2004.

Strictly Country Records also produces the series of CDs of the annual European World of Bluegrass.

Strictly Country Records
PO Box 628
2130 AP Hoofddorp
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 297-347 101
Fax: +31 297-347 488
e-mail

10 years of EWOB on air in US: latest!

Liz Meyer reports that Peter Thompson's 'Bluegrass Signal' radio show went out as a special last night (Saturday 9 August) from 6.30-8.00 p.m. on KALW in San Francisco (Pacific Daylight Time; 9:30-11 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time).

The special show was entitled 'A decade of Eurograss', and all selections were taken from the double album 10 years of European World of Bluegrass (Strictly Country Records, SCR-66), with the first hour being devoted to the European bands on the project, and the final half-hour to the Americans.

10 years of European World of Bluegrass continues to earn high praise from reviewers in the US. Dave Higgs of Bluegrass Breakdown on Nashville Public Radio writes:

Strictly Country's killer new compilation strikes a nice balance between European and North American acts and showcases some truly brilliant performances. It also serves as a wonderful introduction for many of us to some truly incredible European-based musicians. I, for one, am in awe of such groups as Blue Cartel, Jussi Syren, 4-Wheel Drive, and Monogram.

See also the European Bluegrass Blog post of 30 July.

10 years of EWOB on air in the US: update!

Liz Meyer reports that Larry Roberts, presenter of 'Down Home' on The Globe Radio, 91.1-FM, Goshen, Indiana, devoted the whole of his two-hour programme on Tuesday 29 July to the Strictly Country Records double CD 10 years of European World of Bluegrass, broadcast at 7.00-9.00 p.m. EST (1.00-3.00 a.m. Western Europe Time).

Peter Thompson of San Francisco, California, presenter of the 'Bluegrass Signal' show, will repeat his one-hour 10 years of European World of Bluegrass CD feature every day next week (3-8 August) on WAMU's Bluegrass Country radio, which can be heard here.

Full times of broadcast, quotes from reviews, and more details are in Liz's complete release, which can be read here.

10 years of EWOB on air in Virginia

Liz Meyer passes on news from Garry Morse, presenter of the Lost Music Saloon record show on WRIR in the USA. Garry's show on 21 July, broadcast at 5.00-7.00 p.m. EST (23:00-01:00 Continental time; 22:00-12.00 Britain and Ireland) consisted of thirty-one tracks, all by European artists. Twenty-two of them were taken from the 10 years of EWOB compilation on Strictly Country Records:

Fragment, 'Fields of gold' (Czech and Slovak Republics)
Kreni, 'Cool night' (Czech Republic)
Zbynek Buresz w/Chris Jones & the Czech Drivers, 'Blue yodel #4' (Czech Rep)
Rawhide, 'The typewriter' (Belgium)
Liz Meyer w/Nugget, 'I've got a feeling' (USA/Austria/Czech Republic)
Red Wine, 'Winter's come and gone' (Italy)
Footprints, 'Nazaj U Mesto' (Slovenia)
Blue Cartel, 'Sunrise' (Belgium)
Fifty Fingers, 'Blue lonesome wind' (Czech Republic)
Springfield, 'Paul and Silas' (France)
Bill Clifton & Pick Of the Crop, 'Little whitewashed chimney' (USA/Netherlands)
Roll's Boys, 'Rough edges' (Czech Republic)
Blueland, 'Simple life' (Slovak Republic)
Album, 'Right on the money' (Czech Republic)
4-Wheel Drive, 'All I have to do is dream' (Netherlands/Germany/Belgium)
Jussi Syren & the Groundbreakers, 'Life of a steel driving man' (Finland)
Downhill, 'Joe Hill' (Sweden)
Looping Brothers, 'New mandolin breakdown' (Germany)
Relief, 'Calm the storm' (Czech Republic)
Stroatklinkers, 'Zoltkamp' (Netherlands)
Monogram, 'Big spike hammer' (Czech Republic)
Meantime, 'Say that you are wrong' (Slovak Republic)

Other Lost Music Saloon playlists can be seen here. Liz recommends all European bands to send their CDs to

Garry Morse
Lost Music Saloon
PO Box 3913
Chester, VA 23831

EXTRA: 10 years of EWOB has hit #1 on Folk Radio in the USA this summer!

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

EWOB CDs get warm welcome

Liz Meyer of Stricly Country Records reports that Bob Mitchell, respected music critic and radio presenter in Louisville, KY, has given the new 2-CD set 10 years of European World of Bluegrass (SCR-66) a warm welcome: '... it is fabulous! You should feel very proud - you can be sure it will get a lot of air play.'

The CD European World of Bluegrass 2007 (SCR-65) has been reviewed in the new issue of Bluegrass Now magazine by David Dees, who concludes:

When someone begins to worry about the future of bluegrass, they should play this CD. And there are two very good reasons for American bluegrass bands to listen to this disc: 1) to discover some very good new songs, and 2) to hear how good their competition has become!

Read the full review here. Info on all the EWOB CDs is here. Liz sums up with reference to 10 years:

We finally have the perfect vehicle to show the world that European bands can play really great bluegrass!

10 Years of European World Of Bluegrass

Strictly Country Records are proud to announce the release of SCR-66, 10 years of European World of Bluegrass, produced by singer-songwriter Liz Meyer. With over two hours playing time, this two-CD compilation captures highlights from the first decade of the European World of Bluegrass (EWOB), recorded live at the annual EWOB Festival and other EWOB events. Complementing the ten prior EWOB CDs, it includes previously unreleased tracks, and all material has been specially remastered.

10 years of European World of Bluegrass features 48 bands from 15 countries, including the #1 European Bluegrass Bands and a selection of Europe’s finest, alongside 15 special guests from the USA and Canada. The full press release, including tributes by Jon Weisberger and Dan Crary, is here. Contact:

Strictly Country Records/Strictly Music
PO Box 628, 2130 AP Hoofddorp, the Netherlands
Tel: (from USA 011-)+31-297-347-101
Fax: (from USA 011-)+31-297-347-488
E-mail Pieter Groenveld, Liz Meyer

Rounder Europe news

New releases from Rounder Europe include Old Man Luedecke's Proof of love CD (Black Hen Music BHMCD 984), his third album and his first with a full band (banjo, guitars, bass, drums, fiddle). Rounder Europe says of the Nova Scotia singer: 'The songs remain, as always, powerful early folk-inspired offerings that continue to marry the warmth and complexity of Old Man Luedecke’s banjo interplay with the emotional lyricism that has won him a devoted following.'

Flatt & Scruggs, Paul Craft among nominees for Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

Pieter Groenveld of Strictly Country Records reports:

We are very proud to announce that Strictly Country Records artist Paul Craft is among the fifteen nominees for induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Paul is recognized here for his song 'Hank Williams, you wrote my life', performed by the late Moe Bandy.

Paul recorded his own version of this song on his Brother Jukebox CD (SCR-49) (produced by Liz Meyer) with such friends as Bekka Bramlett, Charlie Sizemore, Scott Vestal, Rob Ickes, a.o.

Other Paul Craft CDs produced by Liz Meyer on Strictly Country Records include Raised by the railroad line (SCR-52) with John Hartford’s Steam Powered Aero-Plane band, and Too bad you’re no good (SCR-62), with Del McCoury’s band.

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs are also nominated for induction in the Songwriter/Artist category, for their song 'Don't get above your raisin''.

For further details on Paul Craft's CDs and other SCR products, see the Strictly Country website or contact Pieter Groenveld, SCR Productions, PO Box 628, 2130 AP Hoofddorp, the Netherlands.
Tel. +31 (0)297 347 101; fax +31 (0)297 347 400; e-mail.