In early December 2010, Country Music Hall of Famer Merle Haggard was recognized with Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C., and the big gala television show honoring Merle and four other performers (including Paul McCartney and Oprah Winfrey, as well as Broadway's Jerry Herman and choreographer, Bill T. Jones) aired shortly after Christmas. Even though the Hag really can't be considered a "Bluegrass singer," he has made a BG-flavored recording in recent years, and there is absolutely no doubt that he is probably the favorite country singer and songwriter of a whole lot of BG performers. All you really need to make that determination is to take a look at the number of Merle Haggard tunes (both songs he's written or songs he's performed) that have been recorded in the BG world through the years. The list is incredibly long, so we thought it might be a nice way to honor Merle by playing an hour's worth of tunes he wrote and/or sung. While we included no fewer than fifteen Haggard classics, we could have easily played several more. I liked it; I hope you did, too.
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Of course, the program is still called the BG Cafe, so playing a good bit of BG was on the agenda, too. We mixed in new music from folks like Edgar Loudermilk, Travers Chandler & Avery County, Bobby Osborne & the Rocky Top X-Press, Jimmy Gaudreau, the Grascals, and Charlie Sizemore, with older music from Rounder's "Early Days Of Bluegrass" recordings like the Shenandoah Valley Trio, the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, and Jerry & Sky.
We also featured a couple of tunes from a brand-new project from a band known as Cody Shuler & Pine Mountain Railroad. This new recording mixes the secular with gospel, and 10 of the 12 tunes on the project were written or co-written by Cody Shuler,. You can expect to hear plenty more from it in future weeks of the BG Cafe.
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And we couldn't let the show pass without acknowledging a tune that has been named the #1 Bluegrass song of 2010, as ranked according to Bluegrass Unlimited and the National Bluegrass Survey. The Gibson Brothers have had amazing success with their song, "Ring The Bell," and so, it has been named the top BG tune of 2010. Pretty good for a couple of New York farmboys. Incidentally, their "Farm Of Yesterday" is also ranked for the year...at #10. Congratulations to them!
I hope you'll be able to join me in the BG Cafe this coming Sunday (January 9th), as well, as the plan is to have a chat with Bluegrass promoter and former member of the Virginia Squires, Mark Newton, on the air. I'm also told that copies of the great "All-Star Jam" CD recorded live at the 2010 Graves Mountain Festival of Music will be given away, too. Sounds like fun to me...hope you feel the same!
Hope your first week of 2011 has been a great one, and we'll look for you again on Sunday beginning at 4PM...
Amy
REQUESTS ARE RED; MERLE HAGGARD MUSIC IS PURPLE.
- Mush Melon / Tim Martin / Bluegrass Fiddle / Patuxent Music
- Big City / Merle Haggard / The Bluegrass Sessions / McCoury Music
- I'm Bringing Home Good News / Darrell Webb Band / Bloodline / Rural Rhythm
- Today I Started Loving You Again / The Grascals / Keep On Walkin' / Rounder
- Fighting Side Of Me / Charlie Waller & the Country Gentlemen / Songs Of The American Spirit / Pinecastle
- Swinging Doors / Lost & Found / A Ride Through The Country / Rebel
- Huntsville / Blue Highway / Wind To The West / Rebel
- Red Bandana / Lonesome River Band / Still Learning / Rural Rhythm
- Holding Things Together / Southern Rail / On The Road From Appomattox / Railway Records
- Back To The Barrooms / J.D. Crowe & the New South / Come On Down To My World / Rounder
- Silver Wings / Spinney Brothers / Side By Side / Self-Produced
- Somewhere Between / Bob Paisley & the Southern Grass / Back To The Blue Ridge / Brandywine
- Old Man From The Mountain / BearTracks / Together 'Til The End / AMT Records
- I Must Be Somebody Else You've Known / Steep Canyon Rangers / Deep In The Shade / Rebel
- Mama Tried / Seldom Scene / SCENEchronized / Sugar Hill
- Katy Hill / Del McCoury Band / RockyGrass / Blue Planet
- Daddy Frank / Jim Mills with Paul Brewster / The Hide Head Blues / Sugar Hill
- Where Is My Little Cabin Home? / Kathy Kallick Band / Between The Hollow And The High-Rise / Live Oak Records
- Proud Mary / Bill Emerson & Cliff Waldron / The Best Of Emerson & Waldron / Rebel
- I'm Lonesome Without You / Stanley Brothers / Selected Sides, 1949-1953 / JSP Records
- Ring The Bell / Gibson Brothers / Ring The Bell / Compass Records
- Slowly Getting You Out Of The Way / Bluegrass Cardinals / Home Is Where The Heart Is / Sugar Hill
- Can't Live Life Here Without You / Edgar Loudermilk with Rhonda Vincent / single / Mountain Fever Records
- It Don't Mean A Thing / Claire Lynch / RockyGrass / Blue Planet
- Let Me Rest (At The End Of My Journey / Shenandoah Valley Trio / New Sounds Ramblin' Coast To Coast / Rounder
- You're Not A Drop In The Bucket / Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs / Selected Cuts, 1952-1955 / JSP Records
- Sparkling Brown Eyes / Jerry & Sky / New Sounds Ramblin' Coast To Coast / Rounder
- The Story Of The Lawson Family / Stanley Brothers / An Evening Long Ago / Columbia
- Lonesome, Sad And Blue / Lonesome Pine Fiddlers / Windy Mountain / Bear Family
- No Letter In The Mail / Jim & Jesse with Emmylou Harris / Songs From The Homeplace / Pinecastle
- Out In The Cold World / Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys / Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys, 1957-1958 / JSP Records
- Worried Blues / Doc Watson / Trouble In Mind / Sugar Hill
- Roane County Prison / Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys / Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys, 1957-1958 / JSP Records
- Flat Fork / Kentucky Colonels / Appalachian Swing! / Rounder
- The Court Of Love / Rhonda Vincent / Taken / Upper Management Music
- I'd Rather Live By The Side Of The Road / Country Gentlemen / Let The Light Shine Down / Rebel
- You Must Come In At The Door / Doc Watson / The Best Of The Sugar Hill Years / Sugar Hill
- Once More / Audie Blaylock & Redline with Russell Moore & Lou Reid / The All-Star Jam: Live At Graves Mountain / Rural Rhythm
- Cold Sheets Of Rain / Virginia Squires / The Best Of The Virginia Squires / Rebel
- I've Had A Time / White Mountain Bluegrass / Aragon Mill / Strictly Country
- Ribbon Of Darkness / Chris Jones & the Night Drivers / No One But You / Rebel
- Memory Of You / Balsam Range / Trains I Missed / Mountain Home
- Tee Tot Payne / Volume Five / Down In A Cell / Mountain Fever Records
- Southern Rail Road Line / Wayne Taylor & Appaloosa / Out In The Middle Of Nowhere / Self-Produced
- When Snow Falls On The Bluegrass / Cody Shuler & Pine Mountain Railroad / Cody Shuler & Pine Mountain Railroad / Steeltown Records
- Mountain Fever / Bobby Osborne & the Rocky Top X-Press with Russell Moore / Memories / Rural Rhythm
- Pain Of Lovin' You / The Grascals with Dolly Parton / The Grascals & Friends / Cracker Barrel
- Nobody Cares For Me / Travers Chandler & Avery County / State Of Depression / Patuxent Music
- Log Cabin In The Lane / The Boxcars / The Boxcars / Mountain Road
- Classic JAG / Jimmy Gaudreau / Pieces And Bits / Goose Creek Music
- Working Hard Ain't Hardly Working Anymore / Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice / Heartaches & Dreams / Rebel
- No Lawyers In Heaven / Charlie Sizemore / Rounder Records 2010 IBMA Sampler / Rounder
- Pretty Polly / Ralph Stanley with Patty Loveless / Clinch Mountain Country / Rebel
- Singing In The Family Circle / John Rossbach / Never Was Plugged! / Self-Produced
- Livin' On The Mountain / Del McCoury / Livin' On The Mountain / Rebel
- They Can Only Fill One Grave / Old Time Bluegrass Singers / Plastic Heart / Open Road
- Justified / Billy Boone Smith / Five Flat Rocks / Muddy Sunshine
- Angel At Your Side / Barry Scott / Look To The Light: Songs Of Faith From The Pen Of Rick Lang / Rural Rhythm Christian
- Way Down Deep In My Soul / Warrior River Boys / Sounds Like Home / Rounder
- Country Church / Pike Brothers & the Pine Hill Ranchers / The Pike Brothers & the Pine Hill Ranchers / Rebel
- When My Savior Welcomes Me / Cody Shuler & Pine Mountain Railroad / Cody Shuler & Pine Mountain Railroad / Steeltown Records
- I Want To Live Like Christ My Savior / Johnson Mountain Boys / Walls Of Time / Rounder
- Sweeping Through The Gate / Johnnie & Jack With Kitty Wells / Johnnie & Jack With Kitty Wells At KWKH / Bear Family
- Black Mountain Blues / Johnson Mountain Boys / Requests / Rounder
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