Sonny Osborne has mild stroke…

We learned that last Saturday, January 6th, banjo player great, Sonny Osborne suffered a mild stroke. His wife Judy says he’s doing fine and will be laid for a couple of weeks. He’s in rehab as his various health condition stabilize. We are all pulling for him and hope that all will work out for the best!

Bluegrass Jams Around the World

If you’re traveling or you just want to find out the jams in your neck of the woods, may we suggest our brand new website to help?

www.BluegrassMusicJams.com is now up and running, ready to help serve the bluegrass community at large.

Over 150 jams are now listed and many more are rolling in daily. You can add your own local jam to the listing or comment on the available jams to add interest and information to these jams. Rate and review them for other pickers.

We get so many requests from people traveling about for business or pleasure that would love to find some new people to pick and jam with, as well as people moving into an area, so two and two make a new bluegrass informational site! Please go and take a look! And PLEASE! If you know of a great jam, let us know. We can make this the premier website for jams throughout the world if we have your help!

www.BluegrassMusicJams.com

Showcase Artists Sought for IBMA 07

If you want to have your band considered for the IBMA 2007 national convention, you’ve got only until January 12th, 2007 to submit your applications now!

These showcases are designed to introduce the following to the bluegrass industry: Emerging talent capable and willing to broaden their market, established bands who have signficant changes in their act and artists who have signficiant, new recored product.

The board-appointed Talent Committee selection process is fair but subjective based on each applicant’s entertainment value, level of professionalism, potential appeal and quality of work. The selection process takes up to 3 months.

Any act wishing to showcase at the 2007 conference should submit the following to the IBMA by January 12, 2007:
Five complete promotional packages for each act making an application, complete contract information on the group and a $15 application fee. Groups who apply are not required to be IBMA members, however if invited to perform, there is an additional $150 showcase fee and must be or become IBMA members upon accepting the invitation.

Address for submission packages:
IBMA Talent Committee
2 Music Circle South, Ste. 100
Nashville, TN 37203
www.IBMA.org

Women Flatpickers!

If you missed it… Flatpicking Guitar Magazine ran a whole issue to flatpicking gals in bluegrass! Some great talents out there… and thier September/October 2006 issue is devoted to them all!

Pickers such as Alison Brown, Nina Gerber, Wanda Vick, Glenda Faye, Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull, Betsy Rome, Marcy Marxer, Gayla Drake Paul, Kathy Barwick, Barbara Galloway, Paige Anderson, Megan McCormick and Shirley Mauch Spanhanks.

Visit their website for more details and backissues!
www.Flatpick.com

New Website for Folk Jams

If you’re looking for acoustic music jams all over the country, please drop in and see this great new website.

www.folkjam.org

Easy to use, easy to publish your own accoustic music jams all across the nation! Check it out, nice website. (They do think bluegrass is in that folk grouping, so it’s good for us… just be aware that you need to look for the grass jams if you want JUST grass! (g)

Bluegrass Grammy Nominations

This just in! The blugerass nominations for best bluegrass album!

1 – Let ‘er Go Boys by Michael Cleveland
2 – Troubled Times by David Davis and the Warrior River Boys
3 – Pretty Green Hills by Dave Evans
4 – Red Letter Day by the Gibson Brothers
5 – Long List of Heartaches by the Grascals
6 – Ancient of Days by Harvest Wind
7 – A Hot Piece of Grass by Hayseed Dixie
8 – Bluegrass by Jim Lauderdale
9 – The Golden West by Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands
10 – New Day by Claire Lynch
11 – Wide Open by Mountain Heart
12 – Life in a Song by Newfound Road
13 – Sweet Virginia by No Speed Limit
14 – A Little Girl…A Big Four-Lane by Alecia Nugent
15 – Try a Little Kindness by Bobby Osborne and the Rocky Top X-Press
16 – Hillbilly Heartache by Don Rigsby and the Midnight Call
17 – Instrumentals by Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder
18 – The Right Road by Solid Ground
19 – Live at the Ryman by Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives
20 – 3-Five-N by Todd Taylor
21 – No Apologies by Jim VanCleve
22 – Celebrations of Life by Musicians Against Childhood Cancer – Various Artists
23 – All American Bluegrass Girl by Rhonda Vincent
24 – James Hemenway by Wild Hare

Northwest Bluegrass Group

If you’re looking for a group that is really into bluegrass and has a very active discussion group, then check out this egroup site online. You can sign up for free.

Visit: www.egroups.com/group/nwbluegrass

Grascals win IBMA Entertainer of the Year

The Grascals continue to ride an incredible wave of success taking home the coveted Entertainer of the Year award at the 17th Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards in Nashville on Thursday, September 28, 2006 at the Grand Ole Opry House.  Thier honors come only one year after the group took home the Emerging Artist of the Year trophy in 2005.

Other Award Winners included:

Male Vocalist – Tim O’Brien
Female Vocalist – Rhonda Vincent
Vocal Group – Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Instrumental Group – Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
Instrumental Album – Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper “Let ‘Er Go Boys”
Song of the Year – Look Down that Lonesome Road – Tim O’Brien
Emerging Artist  –  Steep Canyon Ramblers

Banjo Player – Jim Mills
Dobro Player – Rob Ikes
Guitar Player – Bryan Sutton
Mandolin Player – Adam Steffey
Bass Player – Missy Raines
Fiddle Player – Michael Cleveland

Hall of Honor Inductees – Sydney Nathan & The Lewis Family

You can learn more about the event at www.ibma.org

Curly Seckler releases New CD

Copper Creek Records is pleased to announce the release of the latest recording by bluegrass legend, Curly Seckler. Bluegrass, Don’t You Know is Seckler’s third release for the label. It features an all-star cast and strikes an artful balance between old songs and new. This CD will not be commercially offered, except for artist performance sales and available for promotional use.  However, it will be available as downloadable music through iTunes, E-Music and Rhapsody. You can learn more about the release at their website. www.CopperCreekRecords.com.

Curly Seckler was best known for his 12 year stint with Flatt & Scruggs. Here they are buying new suits in Knoxville, 1949.

Bgrass Announces New Project on the Obsorne Brothers’ Career

Bgrass, Inc. a nonprofit organization established to preserve and celebrate the bluegrass heritage of the Cincinnati/Dayton region, has just announced the completion of a two-hour radio special on the career of the Osborne Brothers. The radio special is titled “The Osborne Brothers: From Hyden to the Ryman,” and was produced at WNKU (public radio at Northern Kentucky University) and is offered without charge to commercial and noncommercial broadcasters worldwide.

If you are a broadcaster you can download the broadcast from a non-public website free of charge or you can recieve it on two CDs for a $3.00 duplication charge at World of Bluegrass or a $5.00 duplication and mailing charge. If you’re interested, you can download order forms and supporting materials by clicking HERE.