You are cordially invited to:

ACOUSTIC CARES FOR KIDS

CMA Week AcoustiCana Showcase
To benefit the I’ll Fly Away Foundation Scholarship Program

at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville
Nashville, TN

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

6:30 p.m.

Show is free to public – Donations accepted at the door

Come support the I’ll Fly Away Foundation Scholarship Program, enjoy great food in a fun atmosphere at Margaritaville Nashville, and be entertained by award winning and exciting talent! All for a great cause!

The lineup includes: Grammy and Award Winning songwriters, Cordle Jackson and Salley, Sony Music Artist The Rhett Walker Band, IBMA Momentum Band of the Year Monroeville, Atlanta GA favorites The Deadfields, Commedian Josh Phillips, and many more new up and coming acts!

Cordle, Jackson and Salley

Three of Nashville’s premiere songwriters, Lary Cordle, Carl Jackson and Jerry Salley, have written for names such as: Garth Brooks, Ricky Skaggs, George Strait, Patty Loveless, Alison Krauss, Diamond Rio, Gene Watson, Pam Tillis, The Osbourne Brothers, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Mel Tillis, George Jones, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Glen Campbell, Nancy Sinatra, Dolly Parton and a host of others. Now, as Cordle, Jackson and Salley, the trio offers the crowd a glimpse into their Grammy and industry award winning minds by performing and telling the behind the scenes stories of some of their greatest musical hits and original compositions.

Rhett Walker Band

This outspoken 25-year-old son of a preacher was born and raised around the South, his mellow yet animated voice a sure mix of Georgia and the Carolinas. In that drawl, he tells an intense wild oats story tempered by God’s grace, a testimony that fuels the deep-fried rock and deep- down worship on Rhett Walker Band’s debut, Sony/Provident/Essential Records recording, Come To The River.

Monroeville

Embracing a crossover sound between progressive bluegrass and acoustic country, the 2012 International Bluegrass Music Association’s Momentum Band of the Year, Monroeville, has caught the attention of music lovers on both sides of the track. Based out of the Smoky Mountains and Gatlinburg, TN, each member is multi-instrumental, and has been nominated for and or won awards from Dove, CCMA, IBMA, and or the GRAMMYS®. They have appeared at events such as Grey Fox, NASCAR, Rocky Grass, and devote much of their time with youth projects while on tour, appearing in front of already 12,000 kids in schools the first of 2013 alone. Their new project is slated to be released this summer.

The Deadfields

Americana/Folk-Rock group from Atlanta, GA, The Deadfields’ live show is full on, honest energy from start to finish. Whether performing to a packed house or just the lucky few that happen to discover the room, no matter, The Deadfields’ show is something you can’t forget.

The I’ll Fly Away Foundation was establlished for educating young people through musical expression while preserving our musical heritage and providing scholarships for those who wish to go to school for a career in the music industry. Click here for more information.

Presented by: Sheri Clark Agency, The AcoustiCana Journal and Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, Nashville

The three finalists in this competition were just announced yesterday, and Matt and Ross are among them! Here at the AcoustiCana Journal, we are especially excited to see these two brilliant young examples of acoustic American music become poised to take the tradition of fiddle and banjo around the world in this sure-to-be record setting adventure! Upon learning that they had placed in the top 3, they put together this video to announce it!

“Never has any duo of fiddle and banjo attempted to circumnavigate the earth in a week. Never has any duo of fiddle and banjo performed 7 original compositions at 7 wonders of the world in a week. Never has any duo of fiddle and banjo recorded those 7 songs at those 7 wonderful sites in one week…”

The AcoustiCana Journal got a chance to catch up with Ross for a few minutes and the main question on our minds was…is going to the 7 Wonders in 7 days to record 7 songs even physically possible?!? Ross’ answer was “Yes, totally possible. You start with Stonehenge and the Coliseum on day one, Pyramids on day two, Taj Mahal on day three, Great Wall on day four, Machu Picchu on day five but it’s actually day four because you cross the date line and get the day back, Easter Island on day 6 and an extra day for travel contingencies. Pow. Boom. Done.” So, as you can see…piece of cake! Is there anyone who wouldn’t want to see this happen?!  Surely not…

And thus we would like to encourage our readers to get out the vote and help these two make this into a reality!  Voting is open now and by going HERE you can vote for their video by clicking on the “grant worthy!” button under their video.  Let’s put a banjo on the Great Wall of China! And as Ross and Matt pointed out to us,

“To help out even more, you can vote every day and (tell) as many of your friends and family as possible. Who wouldn’t want to hear Seven Songs recorded at Seven Wonders of the World in Seven Days on Fiddle and Banjo?!?! Thank you all, stay adventurous!!”

LINKS
Stay Thirsty Grant • www.mostinterestingacademy.com
VOTE • Click “Grant Worthy” for SEVEN WONDERS
ChessBoxer FaceBook • www.facebook.com/ChessBoxerMusic
VOTE • Fiddle & Banjo + all 7 Wonders = awesomeness
ChessBoxer Twitter • www.twitter.com/chessboxermusic
VOTE • “I would love to see a banjo on the Great Pyramids at Giza!”
ChessBoxer ReverbNation • www.reverbnation.com/chessboxer

• INTRODUCE The AcoustiCana Journal to FaceBook FRIENDS by clicking on the "SHARE" button at • www.tinyurl.com/acj-like-share • and help them discover this emerging American acoustic musical genre with roots in Old-Time, Bluegrass, Country, Blues, & Americana, and the prodigious group of artists bringing it to the forefront of American Music & Culture today. Thank YOU!

Is this your first Christmas release?
This is my debut solo Christmas release. I toured and put out a holiday project with a regional act years ago, but this is the first for me.

Can you tell me why you decided to release a Christmas song this year?
First of all, I grew up playing piano and I always loved Christmas music. I’ve been playing solo gigs in casinos and hotels for a decade now, and during the holiday season I’ve always performed my own versions of the Christmas classics. I have a weakness for Ray Charles, Sinatra, and all the other crooners like that, and I love the jazzy, big band arrangements that you hear on most Christmas classics. So I’ve definitely been influenced by them when it comes to my versions of these songs.

The entire idea to release a single started as a simple Christmas wish or e-Card for my family back home in Virginia. I had some friends on Facebook and family members pushing me to perform my favorite Christmas song, video it, and upload it to YouTube. They wanted to have something to get them in the holiday spirit, and I wanted my young nephew and mom to hear me sing a Christmas tune for them even though we live 8 hours apart. One evening after working on some overdubs in my studio, I setup my little HD camera on a step ladder of all things and recorded myself singing and playing The Christmas Song. I only played it once and didn’t think much of it. The next afternoon, I uploaded it to YouTube and shared it on Facebook. Within an hour, it started to blow up. Hundreds of people shared the video, and it ended up getting several thousand views in just a day or two. So I simply asked the question online, “If I take the Pro Tools audio from this video and have it mixed, mastered, and rushed to iTunes as a holiday special digital download, would you guys be interested?” I think I had several hundred comments saying, “absolutely!” So the next night, we went for it. We put together a team and within a day, there was Christmas artwork ready, the audio was extremely beefed up, and it was available online! Technology is pretty incredible these days.

Do you plan on doing an entire Christmas album? Maybe next year?
I don’t have any plans yet but I would love to! I know exactly which songs I would record and what my arrangements would be. Maybe we’ll wait to see what kind of reaction we have to this single, and if it’s good we’ll go for an entire record!

Why did you chose this song as your Christmas release? What does this song mean to you?
The Christmas Song is simply one of my favorites. The chords and the melody are just perfect for each other. Everything about it is so tasty. When I think of Christmas songs, I think of this one first. I guess most of all, I love the fact that there are so many incredible band arrangements of this tune. I’ve pulled chord changes from several of my favorite versions and incorporated them into my own style. This song also is so strong on it’s own without a huge studio production. A singer can definitely deliver this one at a piano with no band supporting them and that’s one thing I truly love to do.

“These songs are some of the greatest pieces of all time and they have to be performed with respect and taste I think.”

What artists would you consider an influence on your regarding Christmas music?
Harry Connick Jr., Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Donny Hathaway, and sooooo many more. Basically, anyone that get’s inside of the song vocally and delivers strong emotion. These songs are some of the greatest pieces of all time and they have to be performed with respect and taste I think. I’m not sure if I accomplished that with my single but I sure as heck tried!

How did you record the song? I see in the video that you’re in your home studio with just a mic and a piano, but can you give any interesting insight into what went into the recording process?
Well I think the magic of this entire thing is the simplicity of it all. I literally planned to put together a simple recording for the family. I’m singing into an inexpensive vocal mic through an Avalon 737 preamp. I’m triggering a Steinway piano in the program Ivory II. Other than that, it’s completely live and unedited. One thing that is cool about this video and the final audio is how I monitored myself. Most of the time in the studio, you have to wear headphones to hear yourself. In a studio, there are so many amps, Leslie cabinets, guitars, drums, and live mics that you have to isolate things in other rooms and use headphones to be able to hear them. Otherwise, if, for instance, you had a huge speaker setup to hear the piano, everything coming from that speaker would simply bleed over into your vocal mic, guitar mic or whatever else was setup. Usually you wouldn’t want that; you want the isolation from instrument to instrument. As seen in the video you mentioned, I didn’t wear headphones. I actually played the piano and listened back to it through my studio monitors and sang acoustically. In my opinion, singing without headphones, really allows an artist to sing and hear as they naturally do. Although monitoring yourself through speakers with a live microphone recording can cause issues, in this case all that came out of the speakers was the piano so it’s much like recording a piano/vocal track with live piano and vocal mics bleeding into each other. The only downfall to recording this way without a click track or headphones or isolation is that there’s no way to fix anything performance-wise after the fact. There’s no moving audio or tuning vocals or anything really. You simply have what you have when you record tracks this way. So I guess the interesting insight to me is, I played and sang through this once without headphones, and what’s on this single is exactly what happened live.

If you have any other insights or thoughts you would like to share, just throw it out there!
Well the camera was sitting on a ladder because nothing else in the room was tall enough. I had also been having a lot of trouble that day out of sustain pedals. While playing and singing live, when I would push the pedal down, each one of them would squeak or make some kind of spring noise and those noises kept making their way into my vocal mic. So, I eventually freaked out on the pedals (3 of them) and went out to my gear van and used the very first sustain pedal I ever owned as a kid! It’s like 20 years old now.

I think we got the response out of this performance that we did because of the emotion and the way the vocal is used in the mix. When you don’t have drums, guitars, and a huge band cranking on a track, you can make the vocal feel like it’s right beside you. You can bring it right to the front in the mix. I used to LOVE hearing old Michael McDonald or Ray Charles recordings when they were mic’d this way. When you put headphones on and listen to their songs and you can literally feel them breathe…when you can hear the whistle from their nose in between vocal lines or a little grunt after they sing hard or hold a long note. Anyway, I love that intimacy and I think people respond to that type of performance, and that’s exactly what we tried to capture with this single. Lastly, I think this should be proof that you don’t need to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to have a successful project. It is and always has been about the performance itself.
 

Josh’s recording of The Christmas Song can be purchased and downloaded through iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and CD Baby.

Josh Shilling has also recently released his first solo album, Letting Go, which can be purchased digitally through iTunes or, if ordered directly from www.joshshilling.com, one will receive a personalized, autographed CD for no additional cost! Josh personally guarantees that each order will ship the next day, so this is a perfect gift idea for your music loving friends!

LINKS
FaceBook • www.facebook.com/joshshillingmusic
Twitter • www.twitter.com/Joshshilling
Store • www.joshshilling.com/music
WebSite • www.joshshilling.com

PURCHASE THE CHRISTMAS SONG AT:
iTunes: http://bit.ly/JoshShillingChristmas-iTunes
Amazon: http://bit.ly/JoshShillingChristmas-Amazon
Google Play: http://bit.ly/JoshShillingChristmas-Google
CDBaby: http://bit.ly/JoshShillingChristmas-CDBaby

PURCHASE LETTING GO AT:
WebSite (autographed copy): www.joshshilling.com/music
iTunes: www.itunes.apple.com/album/letting-go-ep
Amazon: www.amazon.com/Letting-Go
Google Play: www.play.google.com/Josh_Shilling_Letting_Go
CDBaby: www.cdbaby.com/cd/joshshilling

• INTRODUCE The AcoustiCana Journal to FaceBook FRIENDS by clicking on the "SHARE" button at • www.tinyurl.com/acj-like-share • and help them discover this emerging American acoustic musical genre with roots in Old-Time, Bluegrass, Country, Blues, & Americana, and the prodigious group of artists bringing it to the forefront of American Music & Culture today. Thank YOU!

Produced by Brian Ahern (Johnny Cash, George Jones, Roy Orbison), Old Yellow Moon is the first official collaboration from the duo since Crowell joined Harris’ Hot Band as guitarist and harmony singer in 1975. In addition to Harris and Crowell, the album features world-renowned musicians including Stuart Duncan, Vince Gill, and Bill Payne, as well as members of the original Hot Band.
Harris says of the collaboration, “I first heard Rodney on a demo tape in 1974 and knew immediately from his voice and lyrics he had the right stuff. We met soon after, becoming band-mates in the Hot Band and starting a friendship that has continued and grown over the years. I always hoped we would someday do this record, and now I can finally cross it off my bucket list!”

Crowell adds, “The record’s overall tone calls to mind that Southern California blend of country music and rock and roll pioneered by Linda Ronstadt, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons and, of course, Emmylou and The Hot Band.” Old Yellow Moon is the follow up to Harris’ acclaimed 2011 release, Hard Bargain, which debuted in the top 20 on the Billboard 200 chart. Associated Press called it “gorgeous” and said Harris’ “silvery soprano is in fine form,” while USA Today called it “exquisite…her unmistakable soprano, at once grainy and ethereal, still wraps itself around a lyric with an angel’s delicate warmth.”

“The record’s overall tone calls to mind that Southern California blend of country music and rock and roll pioneered by Linda Ronstadt, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons and, of course, Emmylou and The Hot Band.”

A 12-time Grammy winner and Billboard Century Award recipient, Harris’ contribution as a singer and songwriter spans 40 years. She has recorded more than 25 albums and has lent her talents to countless fellow artists’ recordings. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers’ works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including Gram Parsons, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Roy Orbison, The Band, Mark Knopfler, Guy Clark, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Little Feat, and Neil Young. In recognition of her remarkable career, Harris was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

Crowell is a multi-Grammy Award winner whose songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Norah Jones, Etta James and Grateful Dead among others. His 1988 breakthrough Diamonds and Dirt, generated five #1 singles and a Grammy Award for the song “After All This Time.” His critically acclaimed works The Houston Kid, Fate’s Right Hand, The Outsider and Sex and Gasoline were followed by the 2010 release of his memoir, Chinaberry Sidewalks. Earlier this year, Crowell released KIN: Songs by Mary Karr and Rodney Crowell. The album made its debut at #1 on the Americana and Country Rock album chart and spent 3 weeks at #1 on the Americana album chart. His honors also include an ASCAP Lifetime Achievement Award and membership of the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

LINKS
Emmylou Harris FaceBook • www.facebook.com/EmmylouHarris
Emmylou Harris MySpace • www.myspace.com/emmylouharris
Emmylou Harris YouTube • www.youtube.com/emmylouharris
Emmylou Harris WebSite • www.emmylouharris.com
Rodney Crowell FaceBook • www.facebook.com/RodneyCrowellOfficial
Rodney Crowell MySpace • www.myspace.com/rodneycrowellofficial
Rodney Crowell Twitter • www.twitter.com/RodneyJCrowell
Rodney Crowell YouTube • www.youtube.com/RodneyCrowellVEVO
Rodney Crowell WebSite • www.rodneycrowell.com

• INTRODUCE The AcoustiCana Journal to FaceBook FRIENDS by clicking on the "SHARE" button at • www.tinyurl.com/acj-like-share • and help them discover this emerging American acoustic musical genre with roots in Old-Time, Bluegrass, Country, Blues, & Americana, and the prodigious group of artists bringing it to the forefront of American Music & Culture today. Thank YOU!

Kneelindesign • Anthony Ladd began his company, Kneelindesign, over 10 years ago as a side job while working for another company doing CAD/Design work.  During that time he has created artwork for a variety of industries including vitamin, archery, insurance and music.  Having realized great enjoyment in doing such work, he made the decision to continue pursuing this direction to see where it would take him.

Anthony had started by working with stock photography when he first began doing graphic imaging.  He quickly found he was getting noticed for his photographic abilities and was approached by bluegrass singer Carrie Hassler to do her photo shoot and album artwork for a recording she was preparing to release on Rural Rhythm Records.  After completing the album cover design for Carrie, Rural Rhythm picked Anthony up as their lead designer for all album packaging produced by the label.  In addition to working with Rural Rhythm Records, he also continues to work with numerous indie artists and artists from other record labels.

“It has been such a cool experience so far!” – Anthony Ladd

Anthony is a man who clearly loves what he is doing and his dedication and passion is obvious not only in the quality of his work but also in the level of excitement with which he describes different encounters he has had with various musicians.  “One of the coolest moments has to be meeting Rodney Dillard. I met Rodney and his band in Mount Airy, NC and we did the shoot for his album ‘I Wish Life Was Like Mayberry.’ What a fun time that was. I created the artwork for that album with the emphasis being on having the look of the Andy Griffith Show without actually showing it. I have since done more photos and album packaging for Rodney. He is a tremendous artist. He and Beverly have become close friends of mine.”

“Another cool moment was doing the photo shoot for Marty Raybon. It rained like there was no tomorrow that day. We went and ate lunch while waiting to see if the weather would change as we watched a river flow down main street. We finally caught a small break and were able to get the cover shot for his album ‘Hand To the Plow’ in the edge of a field in the wet high grass.”

Anthony has also worked with numerous other artists, including the Lonesome River Band, Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out, Bobby Osborne, Bill Emerson, Lorraine Jordan, Cumberland River, The Roys, Mason Douglas and a host of others.



Anthony also started offering video work in 2011. Working with Penni McDaniel of Hope River Entertainment, he has started creating and publicizing EPKs and music videos. His video credits include an EPK for Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road, and EPK for the Lonesome River Band, and 2 music videos for the band Cumberland River.

“I try to give each artist artwork that is specific to them that will accent their music and style. I have created four album packages for Audie Blaylock and Redline. Each one being completely different from the others and made to fit the song collection in each album. Typically on the music shelves we see a photo with the artist’s name and the title of the album for the cover art. Seems to me if it is called cover ‘art’ it should be more than that. When I am getting paid to create something I consider that I should give my 100% to create something that is unique to that artist and the current album or promotional item.” – Anthony Ladd

LINKS
FaceBook • www.facebook.com/Kneelindesign
YouTube • www.youtube.com/user/kneelindesign
WebSite • www.kneelindesign.com

• INTRODUCE The AcoustiCana Journal to FaceBook FRIENDS by clicking on the "SHARE" button at • www.tinyurl.com/acj-like-share • and help them discover this emerging American acoustic musical genre with roots in Old-Time, Bluegrass, Country, Blues, & Americana, and the prodigious group of artists bringing it to the forefront of American Music & Culture today. Thank YOU!

The Acoustic Music Seminar is part of the Savannah Music Festival (SMF), and is only in its second year. The program was designed by Mike Marshall and Rob Gibson, SMF’s executive director, to give young up-and-coming string players the chance to learn from and play with some of the best acoustic musicians around, all of whom are playing at the festival. Because SMF is such a diverse festival, AMS participants learn from musicians in genres of music they might not be familiar with, in addition to those who are their heroes.

Last year, AMS participants had master classes with Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, Hindustani master tabla player Zakir Hussain, classical violinist Daniel Hope, and David Finckel (cellist for the Emerson String Quartet). Throughout the week they worked with Mike Marshall and Tony Trischka on their own compositions, which they performed in a showcase finale. 

“I enjoyed seeing what all the other students at AMS 2012 brought to the table, and collaborating with them offered it’s own kind of discovery. The faculty was legendary and left me with a lot to think about. I’m glad I went and that a new cast of students will get to have a similar experience next year.” – Paul Kowert

This year, they are accepting 16 talented string players up to age 22. AMS Director Mike Marshall and guitarist Julian Lage will be in residence the entire week (April 1-6), and the clinicians include Darol Anger, Jerry Douglas, David Grisman, Casey Driessen, Martin Taylor, Bruce Molsky, Rushad Eggleston, Daniel Hope, and more. Participants will not only have 6 days of instruction in playing, but also songwriting and and ensemble work as well as sessions on practical information for professional musicians, such as marketing oneself.

Clinicians

Mike Marshall, AMS Director, is one of the world’s most accomplished and versatile acoustic musicians, a masterful mandolinist whose playing is as imaginative and adventurous as it is technically thrilling. Able to swing gracefully in any musical style, he puts his stamp on everything he plays with an unusually potent blend intellect and emotion a combination of musical skill and instinct rare in the world of American vernacular instrumentalists. Throughout his career, Mr. Marshall has performed and recorded with some of the top acoustic string instrumentalists in the world, including jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli, fiddle virtuoso Mark O’Connor, five-string banjo phenom Bela Fleck, bassist and MacArthur Fellowship winner Edgar Meyer, and classical violinist Joshua Bell. He is also a former member of the David Grisman Quintet.

Julian Lage is a 24-year old guitarist/composer from Santa Rosa, California. Performing first at age six, Mr. Lage was a child prodigy. He was classically trained at the San Francisco Conservatory and has a degree from Berklee College of Music. Mr. Lage has performed with such renowned artists as Gary Burton, Mark O’Connor, Chris Potter, Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Werner, Toots Thielemans and David Grisman, among many others. He has performed at festivals and events worldwide, including the London Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, and San Francisco Jazz Festival.

An acoustic pioneer and innovator, David Grisman has forged a unique personal artistic path, skillfully combining elements of the great American music/art forms–jazz and bluegrass with many international flavors and sensibilities to create his own distinctive idiom–"Dawg" music (the nickname given him by Jerry Garcia.) In doing so, he’s inspired new generations of acoustic string musicians, while creating his own niche in contemporary music. His discography is filled with notables including Jerry Garcia, Stephane Grappelli, the Grateful Dead, John Hartford, Del McCoury, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, Earl Scruggs, James Taylor and Doc Watson. After recording for major and independent labels, David founded Acoustic Disc in 1990 and entered the most prolific period of his career, producing 67 critically acclaimed CDs (five of which were Grammy-nominated). In 2010 he launched AcousticOasis.com, the first download website devoted to acoustic music.

Jerry Douglas, described as "the Muhammad Ali of the Dobro" by James Taylor and "my favorite musician" by John Fogerty, began playing Dobro at the age of eight. At 17 years old Douglas joined the pioneering progressive-bluegrass band the Country Gentlemen in 1973, and two years later, he became a member of the seminal J.D. Crowe and the New South, which also included future solo stars Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice. In 1976, Douglas and Skaggs co-founded the now-legendary bluegrass combo Boone Creek. In the late ’80s, he formed the acoustic supergroup Strength in Numbers with Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Mark O’Connor, and joined Alison Krauss and Union Station as a permanent member in the late ’90s. As a solo artist, band member, collaborator and session musician, his distinctive playing graces over 2000 albums by artists as varied as Garth Brooks, Ray Charles, Elvis Costello, John Fogerty, Bill Frisell, Charlie Haden, Emmylou Harris, George Jones, Dolly Parton, Earl Scruggs, Phish, The Chieftains and Mumford & Sons as well as the eight-million-plus selling soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? and its spinoff live disc Down from the Mountain.

Violinist, fiddler, composer, producer and educator, Darol Anger is at home in a number of musical genres, some of which he helped to invent. With the jazz-oriented Turtle Island String Quartet, Anger developed and popularized new techniques for playing contemporary music styles on string instruments. The virtuosic "Chambergrass" groups Darol Anger’s Republic Of Strings, Psychograss, and the long-lived Anger-Marshall Duo feature his compositions and arrangements. His Grammy-nominated folk-jazz group Montreux was the original musical model for the New Adult Contemporary radio format. The David Grisman Quintet forged a new genre of acoustic string band music with Darol’s "fertile inventiveness, surprising touches and technical mastery" (Boston Herald) often in the forefront. He has recorded and produced scores of important recordings since 1977, is a MacDowell and UCross Fellow, and has received numerous composers’ residencies and grants. He is a featured soloist on dozens of recordings and motion picture soundtracks.

Martin Taylor is a multi-award winning guitarist and Acoustic Guitar magazine calls him ‘THE Acoustic Guitarist of his Generation’. His inimitable style has seen him recognized as the world’s foremost exponent of solo fingerstyle guitar playing. Taylor has invented and developed a way of playing the guitar that is admired, and often imitated, by guitarists all over the world. He has collaborated with artists including Jeff Beck, Tommy Emmanuel, Bill Wyman, Chet Atkins, David Grisman, Diane Schuur and Gary Burton. As one of the world’s most recognized online guitar teachers, his innovative online guitar school is subscribed to by guitarists in over 58 countries.

Bruce Molsky stands today as the premier old-time fiddler in the world, the defining virtuoso of Appalachia’s timeless folk music traditions. In addition to a prolific solo career, performing on fiddle, guitar, and banjo, Molsky frequently joins genre-busting supergroups, like the Grammy-nominated Fiddlers Four, and Mozaik, with Hungarian Nikola Parov, and Celtic giant Donal Lunny. He was on Nickel Creek‘s farewell tour, and performs in a trio with Scottish fiddler Aly Bain and Sweden’s great Ale Moller.

Five times winner of the ECHO Klassik Prize, British violinist Daniel Hope has performed as soloist with some of the world’s most distinguished orchestras, such as the Boston, Chicago and London Symphony Orchestras, Israel and Royal Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Orchestre National de France and NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, and with conductors such as Kurt Masur, Christian Thielemann and Sir Roger Norrington. He is the winner of the Classical Brit Award, and is four times Grammy nominated.

After releasing a small-press album called Nico and Rushad in 1999 (with fellow musician Nico Georis), Rushad Eggleston made his large-scale recording debut with his self-titled Compass Records release with Fiddlers 4 which was nominated for a 2002 Grammy, as well as with Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings, bringing him to national prominence. Eggleston has toured extensively with Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings, Fiddler’s 4, and the alternative folk/bluegrass group he helped found, Crooked Still. Crooked Still released two CD with Eggleston, one in 2004 and the second in 2006. Eggleston also released a more experimental album named "Playhouse of the Universe" July 10, 2006 with The Wild Band of Snee, as well as another of his goofier albums, Rushad Eggleston and The Butt Wizards.  Rushad currently performs with his band Tornado Rider.

Casey Driessen is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, where he studied with Matt Glaser. He has performed with Béla Fleck, Abigail Washburn, Steve Earle, Tim O’Brien, Darrell Scott, Jim Lauderdale, Lee Ann Womack, Mark Schatz, Chris Thile, Kenny Malone, and many more. His recording credits include sessions with Darol Anger, John Mayer, Jerry Douglas, Jamey Haddad, and Blue Merle, as well as the soundtrack for the Johnny Cash film Walk the Line. His first solo recording, 3D, was released in May 2006 on Sugar Hill Records and in 2007, the track Jerusalem Ridge received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance.

LINKS
FaceBook • www.facebook.com/smfacousticmusicseminar
Flyer • www.savannahmusicfestival.org/flyer.pdf
WebSite • www.savannahmusicfestival.org/acousticmusicseminar
Savannah Music Festival • www.savannahmusicfestival.org

• INTRODUCE The AcoustiCana Journal to FaceBook FRIENDS by clicking on the "SHARE" button at • www.tinyurl.com/acj-like-share • and help them discover this emerging American acoustic musical genre with roots in Old-Time, Bluegrass, Country, Blues, & Americana, and the prodigious group of artists bringing it to the forefront of American Music & Culture today. Thank YOU!

10 String Symphony • Although difficult to categorize, the music of 10 String Symphony is instantly recognizable as a blend of two distinct but equally vivacious musical voices.  Vocally, Rachel Baiman and Christian Sedelmyer lock in seamlessly, and their vocal duets often take center stage despite the fact that they are self-described fiddle players.  While their love of traditional fiddle music (Old-Time, Bluegrass, Scottish) is evident in their music, a diversity in taste and influence is equally apparent, and their original repertoire is complemented by songs by Townes van Zandt and Loudon Wainwright III. Decidedly contemporary in their musical approach, their debut album showcases Sedelmyer’s virtuosic improvisation and love of dissonance alongside Baiman’s old-time rhythm and emotional melodic sensibilities.

Their self-titled debut album, 10 String Symphony, was released on December 1, 2012. From the tracks we’ve heard so far here at the Journal, this album is definitely one to add to your collection.  The fiddle playing from both Sedelmyer and Baiman is beautiful, articulate, expressive, and their synchronicity is compelling.  Baiman’s clawhammer work is tastefully gentle as well, and Sedelmyer’s improvisational work is a wonderful balance of the traditional mountain music fused with contemporary harmonic and rhythmic influences that make for a great listen. Their vocals are equally impressive, capturing that far away feeling so loved in folk music, and when set against the texture of the 2 fiddles (or fiddle and banjo), it is easy to get lost in this record.

“The fiddle playing from both Sedelmyer and Baiman is beautiful, articulate, expressive, and their synchronicity is compelling.”

The two Nashville-based musicians are well established individually in the acoustic music world.  Sedelmyer, originally from Erie, Pennsylvania, moved to Nashville in 2008.  He has since performed and/or recorded with Peter Rowan, The Greencards, The Black Lillies, Nora Jane Struthers, The DanBerrys, Roustabout, and is most well known as a previously full-time member of acoustic pop group The Farewell Drifters.  Rachel Baiman grew up in the Chicago area and is a two-time Illinois state fiddle champion.   Since moving to Nashville, she has appeared with Kelsey Waldon, The Flea Marketeers, and on the Grand Old Opry with Mike Snyder.  Most recently, Rachel has toured with progressive folk quartet Belfry Fellows.  For both, the 10 String Symphony project creates broader responsibilities for their instrumental ideas, and brings their vocal work to the forefront.

10 String Symphony is an arena for mesmerizing acoustic innovation.   Harmony vocals, soulful lead-playing, original compositions, timeless songs, percussive back-up, and ripping fiddle-tunes are all in the mix for this not-to-be missed duo.

LINKS
FaceBook • www.facebook.com/10StringSymphony
Twitter • www.twitter.com/10ssymphony
Store • www.10stringsymphony.com/media
WebSite • www.10stringsymphony.com

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The 13 songs that compose Langhorne Slim & The Law’s new The Way We Move are road-tested, rollicking and very rock ‘n’ rolling tunes that the songwriter perfected with his loyal band, and come out of the kind of good times and bad experiences that songwriters of Langhorne’s lofty stature can turn into life-affirming rock ‘n’ roll. You could also call what Langhorne Slim does folk music, but then there’s his sly, charming and open-hearted feel for pop music—those summertime melodies that nudge you into a grin even when the song is about something bad.
For Langhorne Slim—Pennsylvania-born self-taught guitarist who moves to Brooklyn at 18, begins feeling out his place in a burgeoning punk-folk scene, wends his way to the West Coast, and finds himself celebrated from Newport to Portland as one of today’s most original singers and songwriters—The Way We Move represents the sound of a band devoted to living in the moment. Riding the success of his 2009 full-length Be Set Free, Langhorne went through some changes over the last three years—he lost his beloved grandfather, who is the subject of the new record’s moving “Song for Sid,” and moved on from a relationship that had lasted five years.

“I’m in a bit of a transitional period—currently, the road will be home. That’s just kind of my spirit, to be slightly restless.”

And there was the physical moving—the literal side of the record’s title. Pulling up stakes from his home of two years, Portland, Ore., Langhorne also has been touring non-stop with The Law. As he says, “I’m in a bit of a transitional period—currently, the road will be home. That’s just kind of my spirit, to be slightly restless.” Perfecting their rangy sound out on the endless grey ribbon, Langhorne and The Law— bassist Jeff Ratner, drummer Malachi DeLorenzo and banjo player and keyboardist David Moore—went down to rural Texas in the summer of 2011 to work on new material. With some 30 tunes to consider, the quartet soaked up the Lone Star sunshine and developed arrangements and approaches for Langhorne’s latest batch of songs.

Jeff Ratner had joined the group at the time of Be Set Free, and brought on multi-instrumentalist David Moore not long after. Moore and Ratner go way back, having moved to New York around the same time, and they’ve played together in what Jeff estimates are 15 bands. Langhorne’s association with Malachi is equally deep. As the group played together through tours with the Drive-By Truckers and the Avett Brothers, and made appearances at the Newport Folk Festival and Bonnaroo, their bond became ever stronger, their music more confident. This is what you hear on The Way We Move—forward motion meeting deep cohesion, all in the service of Langhorne’s amazing songs and compelling vocals.

“We wanted Langhorne’s songs to shine, and be as raw as the creatures that we are,” Jeff says of the recording process. The band set up in the Catskill, N.Y. Old Soul Studios, a 100-year-old Greek Revival house retooled for recording. With studio owner Kenny Siegal co-producing, Langhorne & The Law fearlessly ran through an astounding 26 songs in four days, with Langhorne putting finishing touches on new tunes as they recorded. Langhorne says it was an intimate affair in Old Soul, with Moore’s “banjo room” in a coatroom and the piano in the living room.
It comes through on The Way We Move—the live feel of the sessions, which found Langhorne singing along with the band on every track. “Singing with the band that way, it’s almost like I was performing on stage,” he says. Cutting everything live to tape gave the band exactly what they’d been looking for: a super-charged evocation of their raucous, friendly stage performances. Langhorne and Jeff value in music for its rawness, and it doesn’t matter whether that rawness—the insurgent spirit that unites The Clash and Charlie Poole—comes from in punk, country, soul or folk. Langhorne is a fan of Porter Wagoner, Jimmie Rodgers, Waylon Jennings, and early rock ‘n’ roll in general. But there’s nothing referential or detached about the music Langhorne & The Law make. Langhorne writes songs that are yearning, sad, happy, defeated and optimistic, with hints of ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll balladry.

“We all love Wu-Tang Clan as much as we love Bowie, or Brazilian psychedelic pop,” Langhorne says. On The Way We Move, David’s probing piano often provides focus for Langhorne’s tales of love and loss. “On the Attack” begins with a delicate, watercolor section that turns into an ingenious variation on a classic soul ballad—Solomon Burke meets punk blues in a smoky folk club. Langhorne addresses it to a current or past love. Similarly, “Past Lives” sports a piano introduction that gives way to a melancholy 6/8 ballad that perfectly supports lyrics about possible past lives and their interaction with the present.

It’s a spirited, inspired slice of real rock ‘n’ roll—exuberance meets hard-won experience in an explosive combination. David’s banjo and Malachi’s walloping drums add up to a new kind of folk music. The music drives, but there’s no loss of subtlety. And when the group lays into the garage-rocking “Fire,” with its funky electric piano and supremely callow lyrics about first kisses and the hot-burning passions of adolescence, it’s clear Langhorne is one of the great rock ‘n’ rollers of our or any time.

Road-tested as the band is, the new music also shows just how far Langhorne Slim has come as a singer. He croons, exults and sings the blues throughout The Way We Move. And there are his lyrics, which are about strange dreams featuring women who want him dead even as he desires them, the pressures of small-town life, ambition, and how much he appreciates his mother’s love and support. That’s all Langhorne and his life—his mother, he says, really was amazingly supportive of his ambitions to become a musician, as was the rest of his family.

It comes through as you listen to his virtuoso demonstration of a singing style that seems alive to every fleeting emotional shade of meaning. Langhorne puts you in mind of John Lennon’s singing from time to time—it’s nothing exact, and Slim doesn’t do much music that is very Lennon- or Beatle-esque, but it’s something in the timbre, and the openness of his vocals. It’s worth repeating here that Langhorne learned Nirvana songs as he began to explore the guitar and songwriting, and Kurt Cobain’s intense singing is another reference point.

It’s worth repeating here that Langhorne learned Nirvana songs as he began to explore the guitar and songwriting, and Kurt Cobain’s intense singing is another reference point.

But these guys don’t play the reference game, and like to keep it raw. The new record moves in ways that are fresh for Langhorne Slim & The Law, and demonstrates all the ways we can go forward while keeping an eye on the mirror.  They’re laying down the law.  It’s very American, and when Langhorne Slim contemplates whether or not he fits in to any narrow-cast definition of this country’s music, he replies with a perfect, laconic joke: “I think we fit in most places that would take us.”

LINKS
FaceBook • www.facebook.com/langhorneslim
Twitter • www.twitter.com/LanghorneSlim
Store • www.langhorneslim.spinshop.com
Reverbnation • www.reverbnation.com/langhorneslim
WebSite • www.langhorneslim.com
MySpace • www.myspace.com/langhorneslim
iTunes • www.itunes.apple.com/artist/langhorne-slim

• INTRODUCE The AcoustiCana Journal to FaceBook FRIENDS by clicking on the "SHARE" button at • www.tinyurl.com/acj-like-share • and help them discover this emerging American acoustic musical genre with roots in Old-Time, Bluegrass, Country, Blues, & Americana, and the prodigious group of artists bringing it to the forefront of American Music & Culture today. Thank YOU!

She’s also a blues singer, with a sultry purr of a voice that can make a man – or a woman, for that matter – repent, capitulate or just plain fall in love. A musician’s journey is all about evolution and Shannon Whitworth’s music is always changing. It’s made richer – and more astonishingly powerful – by every footfall.

Barrett Smith is a singer/songwriter who in his own words says “This is my favorite thing to do.  Play my original music in a great setting for a bunch of people who want to be inspired by a good show full of sincere, quality music-making.” In addition to working with Shannon Whitworth on this new release, he is currently working on a project called the Italian Music Trio (where he is joined by Mike Guggino and Nicky Sanders, of the Steep Canyon Rangers, on mandolin and fiddle respectively), aptly named because they play traditional Italian stringband music and sing in Italian.

“It sounds like an Olive Garden commercial, or maybe The Godfather.  It’s way, way cooler than an Olive Garden commercial, and not quite as cool as The Godfather.  I guess it’s not really fair to compare its coolness to The Godfather, because that’s like a cinematic masterpiece.  I love that movie.” – Barrett Smith

Shannon’s newest work, released today, November 20, 2012, is a duet album with Barrett Smith titled Bring It On Home, featuring the songs of Paul Simon to A.C. Jobim to Sam Cooke. The album also includes a host of wonderful musicians such as Mike Ashworth, Jeff Sipe (Phil Lesh and Friends, Aquarium Rescue Unit, Susan Tedeschi and Jimmy Herring), Jacob Rodriguez and Justin Ray (Michael Buble), Michael Libramento (Grace Potter and the Nocturnals), Nicky Sanders (Steep Canyon Rangers), Matt Smith, Nate Leath,  and Billy Jack Sinkovick. In celebration of the release they are offering a FREE DOWNLOAD of their version of Sam Cooke’s “Bring it on Home to Me” which can be found here.

“The songs on here definitely hit the mark and bring back many memories. The duo slays the opening cut, and in doing so, reveal a secret in doing a cover – sometimes it’s not about changing a song to reflect your personality, or ‘making it your own,’ it’s simply a case of letting the song  be front and center – which they do rather well here.” – Chuck Dauphin, Music News Nashville

LINKS
Shannon Whitworth FaceBook • www.facebook.com/ShannonWhitworthMusic
Shannon Whitworth Twitter • www.twitter.com/SWhitworthMusic
Shannon Whitworth Store • www.shannonwhitworth.net/store
Barrett Smith Store • www.barrettsmith.com/listenbuy
Shannon Whitworth WebSite • www.shannonwhitworth.net
Barrett Smith WebSite • www.barrettsmith.com
iTunes • www.itunes.apple.com/album/bring-it-on-home

• INTRODUCE The AcoustiCana Journal to FaceBook FRIENDS by clicking on the "SHARE" button at • www.tinyurl.com/acj-like-share • and help them discover this emerging American acoustic musical genre with roots in Old-Time, Bluegrass, Country, Blues, & Americana, and the prodigious group of artists bringing it to the forefront of American Music & Culture today. Thank YOU!

Blending bluegrass and hip-hop seems like an unlikely recipe for success, but don’t tell that to Rench, the mastermind behind the highly successful rap’n’grass project Gangstagrass. When he was going to grammar school, there were daily boom box battles. Black cowboys were cranking up their honky tonk country albums to compete with the hip hop blasting out of the systems of white kids who wanted to be playas. Others heard cacophony, but Rench opened his mind, threw down some cardboard, and started break dancing to Buck Owens.

That musical mash up made a lasting impression and sent Rench on a cross-country journey to play country-flavored hip-hop in dive bars. Along the way, he experienced a car crash, a campfire sing-along with a Sasquatch family and an encounter with a UFO crewmember that had the entire works of Funkadelic on his iPod. After settling in Brooklyn, he put together Rench Audio Studios and started recording MCs. Late at night, he’d combine their tracks with samples of bluegrass, blues, and electronic beats. The result was a genre-demolishing blitz called Rench Presents: Gangstagrass. It appeared on the Internet as a free download and people took notice. When the album garnered a positive mention on the influential blog BoingBoing.net, hundreds of thousands of downloads followed creating an intense underground buzz. FX licensed a Gangstagrass track to use on a commercial for their new western crime series, Justified, starring Timothy Olyphant. When FX asked Rench to write a theme song for Justified, he had bluegrass players lay down an original track with rapper T.O.N.E-z, the younger brother of early hip-hop legends Special K and T-La Roc. The result was “Long Hard Times To Come,” the song that opens every episode of the series. He used the musicians from “Long Hard Times” on the first Gangstagrass album, “Lightning On The Strings, Thunder On The Mic”.

FX licensed “Give It Up,” another Gangstagrass track with T.O.N.E-z, to promote the second season of Justified. That exposure boosted album sales, created tens of thousands of Gangstagrass facebook fans, and set the stage for Rappalachia. “This record is a shout out to Appalachia, the cradle of bluegrass culture,” Rench explains. “It’s rooted in the sounds of traditional mountain music and presents Gangstagrass as a band with independent existence, not just one sound tied to a TV show.
Rappalachia fortifies both the hip-hop and bluegrass sides of the Gangstagrass equation, taking the music to a whole new level of intense Urban Twang. The sound scrambles sample heavy rhythm tracks, and the verbal legerdemain of T.O.N.E-z, the legendary Kool Keith (Ultramagnetic MCs) and newcomers like Dolio the Sleuth and R-SON, with the fancy fretwork of Rench on guitar, along with fiddler Jason Cade, dobro champion Todd Livingston and banjo picker Ellery Marshall. Vocalist Brandi Hart from The Dixie Bee-Liners supplies her impressive vocal grit to the outing, and Jen Larson from Straight Drive offers up her pure bluegrass vocal chops as well. Kool Keith (Ultramagnetic MCs) shows off the style that made him legendary on “Western,” ripping cowboy rhymes to a bouncing beat, augmented by banjo and dobro pyrotechnics. “Shoot Dem,” featuring T.O.N.E-z, was released as a single on the night Justified debuts its third season. It suggests a hoedown at a Jamaican dance hall, with T.O.N.E-z laying down his usual tougher than tough flow over a big stomping beat. If Jimmie Rodgers could have rapped as well as he yodeled, he might have cut something like  “Gunslinging Rambler” which features rapping by R-SON. Rench fills in for Rodgers as R-SON spits out his heavy-duty ranch hand poetry. Brandi Hart sings lead on reinventions of Dock Boggs’ “Country Blues” and Libba Cotton’s “Honey Babe.” “Crossbow,” an instrumental, lets the pickers show off their smoking chops, against a beat that suggests the slap happy rhythms of hambone, an African style of body percussion that’s at the root of blues, bluegrass and hip-hop. The album also includes another instrumental track as a challenge to rappers that want to try their hand at flowing on some blistering acoustic bluegrass, inviting them to upload their vocal mixes and join in the Gangstagrass revolution.

“Kool Keith (Ultramagnetic MCs) shows off the style that made him legendary on ‘Western’, ripping cowboy rhymes to a bouncing beat, augmented by banjo and dobro pyrotechnics.”

“If you pay attention to the charts, you get an idea that there is black music and white music, but a lot of people have Hank Williams and Jay-Z on their MP3 players,” Rench says. “When you get right down to it, the message of most bluegrass and hip hop songs is similar: ‘I’m a badass, so don’t mess with me’ and ‘I have the blues and life is hard.’”

While the future is unwritten, it’s certain that Gangstagrass will go down in history as the pioneer of a sound that brought country and hip hop together and helped desegregate America’s music charts. “Right now, people treat rural and urban American music like they are matter and anti-matter,” Rench concludes. “I’m hoping a good dose of Gangstagrass will get people past the blue-state/red-state thing and make them comfortable with purple. I want to provide the soundtrack for a wave of cultural miscegenation that will let us all party together at last.”

“When you get right down to it, the message of most bluegrass and hip hop songs is similar: ‘I’m a badass, so don’t mess with me’ and ‘I have the blues and life is hard.” – Rench

LINKS
FaceBook • www.facebook.com/gangstagrass
Twitter • www.twitter.com/gangstagrass
Reverbnation • www.reverbnation.com/gangstagrass
YouTube • www.youtube.com/channel/gangstagrass
WebSite • www.gangstagrass.com
Store • www.gangstagrass.com/store
Rench Audio • www.renchaudio.com

• INTRODUCE The AcoustiCana Journal to FaceBook FRIENDS by clicking on the "SHARE" button at • www.tinyurl.com/acj-like-share • and help them discover this emerging American acoustic musical genre with roots in Old-Time, Bluegrass, Country, Blues, & Americana, and the prodigious group of artists bringing it to the forefront of American Music & Culture today. Thank YOU!