Playlist - 3/30/2014 - A Visit With Alex Leach

Hi Folks,

After a half-hour sports preemption we hit the airwaves running with some hold-on-tight bluegrass music.

Alex Leach
photo by Northern California BG Society

Alex Leach was the featured guest.  Alex not only is a bluegrass multi-instrumentalist who appears on multiple recordings with Larry Gillis and others, picks the banjo with Ralph Stanley II, and has his own solo recordings, but he has also been a bluegrass DJ at WDVX near Knoxville TN for over sixteen years!  Alex's birthday is Monday, March 31st (tomorrow as I write this) and he turns 25, so you can see his whole life has been consumed with bluegrass music.  He actually has more radio and performing experience than many folks over twice his age, including me.  Alex was gracious to share his story, his knowledge, and his music with us on Bluegrass Cafe, and we hope to have him back sometime soon.  Check out his excellent deep-catalog bluegrass show on WDVX.com via the internet most Tuesday evenings 7-10pm ET.

Elsewhere on the show we played newer music from Ralph & Ralph II, Jim Lauderdale, Dailey & Vincent, Special Consensus, Windy Hill, Larry Efaw & The Bluegrass Mountaineers, Feller & Hill, The Easter Brothers, and Rhonda Vincent.

The Heritage Corner produced a list of classic and deep catalog music we hope was worthy of a show featuring Alex Leach:  Don Stover's last vinyl LP, music from the re-release of Jim & Jesse's radio shows, Al Wood, Roy McMillan, Bill Hall and Northwind with Skip Gorman & Richard Starkey, Fred Pike, Johnson Mountain Boys, The Reno Brothers, The Stanley Brothers, The Wilson Brothers, J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers, The Bear Bridge Band, and Paul Williams & Scott Brannon.  (Today also happened to be Paul Williams' birthday.)


We hope you heard something you liked.

The sports folks tell us Bluegrass Cafe is completely preempted next Sunday 6 April, but the schedule changes frequently depending on weather and win/loss records, so we will let you know if that changes.  The next show after that will be Amy on 13 April.

Jim Beaver

Artist / Song / Album / Label

• Gillis Brothers / Train 45 / Freight Train Special Volume Two - Songs of America's Railroads / Wango
• Ralph Stanley & Ralph Stanley II / A Little At A Time / Side By Side / Rebel
• Jim Lauderdale / Hold On Honey Hold On / Old Time Angels / Sky Crunch
• Dave Adkins / Pike County Jail / Nothing To Lose / Mountain Fever
• Dailey & Vincent / Big River / Brothers of the Highway / Rounder
• Scott Brannon / Wreck Of The 1262 / Freight Train Special Volume One - Songs of America's Railroads / Wango
• Don Stover / My Blue Ridge Memories / My Blue Ridge Memories / White Oak
• Special Consensus with Claire Lynch / Wild Montana Skies / Country Boy: A Bluegrass Tribute To John Denver / Compass Records
• Alex Leach / Mountain Heartache / Mountain Heartache / Self-released

Interview with Alex Leach

• Alex Leach, Tom Isaacs, Larry Gillis / Jealous Lover / The Bucket List / Tinman
• Alex Leach / Locked Away From Your Heart / Mountain Heartache / Self-released
• Alex Leach / Born and Raised In Covington / Mountain Heartache / Self-released
• Larry Gillis / The Bottle / Swampgrass / Tinman
• Jim & Jesse & The Virginia Boys / There's More Pretty Girls Than One / Radio Shows / Rural Rhythm
• Al Wood / Mountain Man / Sing A Bluegrass Song / Rebel
• Roy McMillan / Up In The High Country / Up In The High Country / Rebel
• Travers Chandler & Avery County / Cotton Farmer / State Of Depression / Patuxent
• Shady Creek / Houses On The Farm / Back To The Roots / Self-released
• Bill Hall and Northwind Bluegrass / When I Miss Her Most Of All / In The Shadow Of The Pines / Old Homestead
• Fred Pike (bed) / Southern Rain / Fred Pike & The Flat Top Guitar / Revonah
• Fred Pike (bed) / Alabama Jubilee / Fred Pike & The Flat Top Guitar / Revonah
• Fred Pike (bed) / Black Mountain Rag / Fred Pike & The Flat Top Guitar / Revonah
• Fred Pike (bed) / Spanish Grass / Fred Pike & The Flat Top Guitar / Revonah
• Johnson Mountain Boys / I'm Still To Blame / Working Close / Rounder
• Windy Hill / You Cheated Three Times / Lonesome Garbage Man / Self-released
• The Reno Brothers / Charlotte Breakdown / Drawing From The Well / Webco
• Larry Efaw and the Bluegrass Mountaineers / Little Mountain Home / She Left Me Standing On a Mountain / Blue Circle Records
• The Wilson Brothers / Let Me Rest At The Top Of The Mountain / Lonesome Old Home / Crosscut
• The Easter Brothers / Let the Hallelujahs Roll / I'd Do It All Over Again / Pisgah
• Mickey Boles / Let My Feet Go Runnin' / Let My Feet Go Runnin' / Self-released
• The Stanley Brothers / Old Daniel Prayed / The Early Starday King Years 1958-1961 / Gusto
• The Bear Bridge Band / I Heard My Mother Call My Name In Prayer / One More Ride / Open Road
• Larry Gillis and the Hard Driving Bluegrass Band / Look Over Me Lord / Swampgrass / Tinman
• Paul Williams & Scott Brannon / This World Is Not My Home / Little Old Country Church House / Wango
• J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers / The Forks Of The Road / 20 Original King Recordings / Gusto
• Feller and Hill / He's Coming Back to Earth Again / Here Come Feller and Hill...Again! / Blue Circle Records
• Rhonda Vincent / When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder / Performs Songs From The House With The Red Light / Upper Management
• Fred Etheridge w. Nick Anderson & Mark Doyle / Walking In A Dream / Pickin' And Singin' / Self-released