Monday, July 02, 2012

"Bluegrass Cafe" playlist - 7/1/2012

Today's BG Cafe started off with a bang -- literally.  Some pretty major thunderstorms passed through eastern CT right around 4PM, but it seems like they were pretty fast-moving through Storrs, so we had no worries about the station being knocked off the air today -- hooray!


Audie Blaylock on stage at Jenny Brook - 2012
Last weekend, I spent four days at the wonderful Jenny Brook Bluegrass Festival in Tunbridge, VT, so it was impossible for me not to come back and share a bit of music from a few of the performers I'd seen and heard there, such as traditional bands Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice, Audie Blaylock & Redline, the always-entertaining trio known as BearTracks, and the one-and-only J.D. Crowe & the New South.  Jenny Brook is a terrific festival -- one for you to put on your "must-attend" list for 2013 and beyond.


Another perennial act featured at Jenny Brook is the Gibson Brothers.  When the Gibsons were just starting out on their musical adventure, New England BG festivals were some of the first they played, and so, Eric and Leigh and the band have a HUGE following throughout New England.  A Jenny Brook audience of old friends likes to hear those earlier Gibson tunes, and that got me thinking that it might be fun to play a few songs today from various performers first (or very early) recordings, followed by something from the same performer's most recent recording project.  To that end, we had a bit of "Then & Now" music from the likes of the Gibson Brothers (tracks from 1994 and 2011), Lou Reid & Carolina (songs from 1993 and 2012), Blue Highway (1995 and 2011), the Spinney Brothers (1993 and 2012), and the Johnson Mountain Boys (a 1983 track and one from the new "Life Goes On" MACC recording featuring a modified version of the JMB in 2010).  


On Wednesday, we celebrate our Independence Day in the USA, and so, the music played on the radio on Sunday included a BG version of a John Philip Sousa march, a later version of a classic Country Gentlemen tune about independence, and a fun, more-or-less historically accurate song from the pen of Steve Martin and performed by Steve with the Steep Canyon Rangers which debuted in 2011.  While "Me And Paul Revere" is a song probably more appropriate to play around Patriots' Day in MA, it seems like it'll work for July 4th, too (and clearly, for an impromptu Memorial Day concert at Boston's Paul Revere House in 2012).   


Today, we also said goodbye to a lady who really was a front-row fixture at many, many BG events throughout New England for more than 30 years.  Along with her late husband, Ray, Alice Waters was, as her cap stated, a "#1 Bluegrass Fan."  She and Ray went to countless festivals and shows, sat on the front row, and cheered and applauded every single instrumental and vocal break of just about every band they ever saw -- especially the New England ones.  Alice died this weekend at the age of 90, and her obituary simply reads, "She was a fan of bluegrass music."  Several years ago, the Pine Hill Ramblers -- an eastern MA-based band -- wrote and performed a fun song in tribute to both Ray and Alice, appropriately titled, "Two Chairs For Ray And Alice."  How could we not pause for a moment and remember both Ray and Alice today?  Impossible.


While we had no brand new music to play today, we still shared newer music from projects by Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice, Audie Blaylock & Redline, the Lonesome River Band, the Special Consensus, Acoustic Blue, Roger & J.D. Williams, Travers Chandler & Avery County, Loafers' Glory, and Karl Shiflett & Big Country Show.


Hope everyone has a safe and happy July 4th holiday, and be sure to join Jim next Sunday for another edition of the BG Cafe.


Amy






  • Katy Hill / Del McCoury Band / RockyGrass / Blue Planet
  • Thunderclouds Of Love / Tony Rice / Plays And Sings Bluegrass / Rounder
  • Sad Prison Song / Hylo Brown / Lovesick And Sorrow / Starday
  • Old Slew Foot / BearTracks / Makin' Tracks / AMT Records
  • Just As Soon As I Get Over You / Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice / The Heart Of A Song /  Rebel
  • Too Often Left Alone / J.D. Crowe & the New South / Lefty's Old Guitar / Rounder
  • The Chair / Audie Blaylock & Redline / Hard Country / Rural Rhythm
  • The Old Man In The Shanty / Lonesome River Band / Chronology / Rural Rhythm
  • Northern Rail / The Expedition Show / The Expedition Show / Mountain Fever Records
  • Prillaman's Switch / Tim Martin / Bluegrass Fiddle / Patuxent Music
  • One Tear / Russ Carson with Brandon Rickman & Jeff Parker / Last Chance / Patuxent Music
  • The Court Of Love / Rhonda Vincent / Taken / Upper Management Music
  • Cruel Love / Reno Brothers / Drawing From The Well / Webco
  • Georgia Stomp / Jesse Brock / Kickin' Grass / Pinecastle
  • My False Sweetheart / Crowe & McLaughlin / Going Back / Rounder
  • Making Up Stories [1983] / Johnson Mountain Boys / Live At The Birchmere / Rounder
  • Goodbye To The Blues [2010] / Johnson Mountain Boys / Life Goes On / Rural Rhythm
  • Old Memory [1994] / Gibson Brothers Bluegrass Band / Underneath A Harvest Moon / Big Elm Records
  • Frozen In Time [2011] / Gibson Brothers / Help My Brother / Compass Records
  • It's A Long, Long Road [1995] / Blue Highway / Lonesome Pine / Rebel
  • If You've Got Something To Say [2011] / Blue Highway / Sounds Of Home / Rounder
  • Prisoner Of The Past [1993] / Lou Reid, Terry Baucom & Carolina / Carolina Blue / Webco
  • When The Love We Have Is Gone[2012] / Lou Reid & Carolina / Callin' Me Back Home / KMA Records
  • Tell Me Have You Come To Say Goodbye [1993] / Spinney Brothers & Close Company / Spinney Brothers & Close Company / Self-Produced
  • Memories [2012] / Spinney Brothers / Memories / Mountain Fever Records
  • Roll On Buddy, Roll On / Sam Bush with Del McCoury / Circles Around Me / Sugar Hill
  • Two Chairs For Ray And Alice / Pine Hill Ramblers / Two Chairs For Ray And Alice / Self-Produced
  • High, Low And Wide / Southern Rail / Glory Train / Pinecastle
  • Me And Paul Revere / Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers / *Single* / Rounder
  • Stars And Stripes Forever / John McEuen / String Wizards / Vanguard
  • New Freedom Bell / Charlie Waller & the Country Gentlemen / New Horizon / Rebel
  • Monroe / Special Consensus with Josh Williams & Chris Jones / Scratch Gravel Road / Compass Records
  • You Can't Make A Heel Tow The Mark / Acoustic Blue / Bein' Country / Self-Produced
  • Roger's Rag / Roger & J.D. Williams / Williams Squared / Happy Appy Records
  • Shame On You / Bear Bridge Band / Broken Hearts & Better Times / Open Road
  • Stumblin' Stones / Travers Chandler & Avery County / Pardon Me... / Mountain Fever Records
  • Peach Pickin' Time In Georgia / David Peterson / Live At WHUS, 5/8/2010 / no label
  • Just To Ease My Worried Mind / Loafers' Glory / Loafers' Glory / Arhoolie Records
  • Frog On A Lily Pad / Karl Shiflett & Big Country Show / Take Me Back / Pinecastle
  • Country Church / Pike Brothers & Pine Hill Ranchers / The Pike Brothers & the Pine Hill Ranchers / Rebel
  • Jordan / Stanley Brothers / All Blluegrass, All Gospel / Federal
  • God's Highway / Gillis Brothers / Ice Cold Stone / Hay Holler
  • I've Hit Everything In Life (But My Knees) / Shannon Slaughter / The Sideman Steps Out / Self-Produced
  • Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven / Alison Krauss & the Cox Family / I Know Who Holds Tomorrow / Rounder
  • Wicked Path Of Sin / Billy & Terry Smith / Bill Monroe Tribute / K-Tel Records
  • Walking In Jerusalem (Just Like John) / Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys / The King And The Father / MME
  • When Jesus Calls Me Home / BearTracks / Together 'Til The End / AMT Records
  • I'm On A Journey / Bear Bridge Band / One More Ride / Open Road
  • Black Mountain Blues / Johnson Mountain Boys / Requests / Rounder

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