When I was 16, my summers were filled with lifeguarding at the local pool and listening to dreadful boy bands. Sarah Jarosz (pronounced Juh-rose) is a 16-year-old from Wimberly, Texas, who spends her summers traveling from bluegrass festival to bluegrass festival, and has just signed a record deal with Sugar Hill Records, set for a 2009 release.
The first time I Googled "Coachella Festival," I was surprised to see we would be playing alongside Portishead. Only later did I realize we were playing the "Country Coachella," better known as Stagecoach Festival in Indio, Calif. And to be honest, I was happier because it meant I would get to see The Judds. This may surprise some of you, but as a kid, my brother and I would listen to those records every weekend. Looking at the line-up, everything else was secondary -- Earl Scruggs, Sam Bush, Riders in the Sky. Had any of them recorded "Grandpa"? Or "River Of Time"? I don't think so...
Merlefest is probably the world's largest Americana and roots music festival. I was at the very first Merle Watson Memorial Festival (as it was called in those days) 21 years ago. The first concert featured jams with Chet Atkins, Doc, Earl Scruggs, Mac Wiseman, Jim Shumate, Sam Bush, Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, Grandpa Jones, Marty Stuart, Newgrass Revival, John Hartford, Mark O'Connor and others inside the Walker Center and outside on a flatbed truck stage. I remember sitting on hay bales outside watching the whole thing go down. A few years later, I was playing Merlefest as a member of Alison Krauss and Union Station. One particular year was memorable because the mainstage show consisted of us and Ronnie Milsap, who just murdered the crowd with a solo guitar version of "Knoxville Girl."
Jessica Simpson may be moving into a $3.5 million home in Nashville, where she's planning a country album. Looks mighty nice from the air.
Randy Travis is heading to California for a William Shatner charity event. Wonder if he got a good deal on Priceline.com?
An American Idol finalist's dream duet is with her favorite male singer, Jason Aldean.
Two of Nashville's finest citizens, Emmylou Harris and mother, Eugenia, talk about pet adoption in this new public service announcement.
"Foggy Mountain Breakdown" is turning 50, so Gibson is building a new, limited edition Earl Scruggs banjo, with the first five signed by the man himself.
The singer Maura O'Connell once said that what country music and Irish music have in common is a passion for sentimentality. In other words, you can't have country music without a sense of loss and a lyric that will tear your heart in two. One listen to George Jones singing "My Wild Irish Rose" should leave you suitably teary. Every so often the classic sounds of Ireland will make it on a country record, though admittedly it is rare. The Dixie Chicks tipped their hats to the Emerald Isle on "Ready to Run," as well as "More Love," which was written by Tim O'Brien.
Tim O'Brien has made two fantastic records that explored his Irish roots: Two Journeys and The Crossing. Using a combination of Irish and American musicians, he finds a common ground that honors both American roots music and the change that Irish music would undergo once it came to the new World. A perfect example is "Cumberland Gap," as Irish fiddler Kevin Burke plays alongside banjo legend Earl Scruggs while Tim chops away on his mandolin. It sounds like a journey back in time.
Ireland also has its own array of country stars, such as T.R. Dallas, Big Tom, Philomena Begley and the enormously successful Daniel O'Donnell. Special mention should be made of Ray Lynam, a truly fantastic singer who also recorded in Nashville. While on a radio performance in Nashville, he sang a cover of "He Stopped Loving Her Today," and as soon as he went off air, the station phone rang -- it was George Jones himself calling in to say how much he loved Ray's singing and encouraging him to stay in Nashville. Due to prior commitments, Ray had to return home, but I often wander what might have happened had he stayed...
Come Monday morning, we should proudly wear the greenest item of clothing we can find, and celebrate the warm and welcoming qualities that Ireland embodies -- and of course the great music! I suppose the Guinness and Irish whiskey is optional, but I can assure you it's an option I'll be exercising gladly. Happy St. Patrick's Day!
My Country Christmas wish list for some needed presents for some special someones:
Is bluegrass music the new Branson, the last resort for aging country artists who can't get major record deals? It may look that way, but I think it's just as likely that these acts, finally freed of the usual commercial expectations, rejoice in singing the kind of songs they grew up with, ones that embody the string band sound and the rural images that were once common in mainstream country. Looking over such recent arrivals as Merle Haggard's The Bluegrass Sessions and Bill Anderson's Whisperin' Bluegrass, it occurs to me that country performers have long shown a fondness for this old-time style.In 1970, Dolly Parton and Lynn Anderson, both of whom would record bluegrass albums in the twilight of their careers, scored country hits with "Muleskinner Blues" and "Rocky Top," respectively. "Muleskinner" was a Bill Monroe evergreen by way of Jimmie Rodgers. Anderson's "Rocky Top," of course, covered the Osborne Brothers' 1968 dynamo.
Bluegrass took to the country (and pop) charts again in 1973 via Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell's galloping instrumental, "Dueling Banjos," the theme from Deliverance. At the height of his country prominence, Tom T. Hall recorded The Magnificent Music Machine, an entire album of bluegrass songs, most of them standards. The 1976 collection featured such guest pickers as Monroe, Jimmy Martin and J. D. Crowe. Six years later, Hall teamed with Earl Scruggs for The Storyteller & the Banjo Man. (Since his retirement from touring, Hall has devoted himself to bluegrass.) In 1978, Conway Twitty saluted bluegrass with "Boogie Grass Band," a tune written by Ronnie Reno, son of Bluegrass Hall of Famer Don Reno.
Throughout the ‘80s and 90s, Ricky Skaggs pumped a torrent of bluegrass into his country music. Travis Tritt enriched his 1991 album, It's All About to Change, with the Jimmy Skinner bluegrass classic, "Don't Give Your Heart to a Rambler." Steve Earle brought legions of new fans to bluegrass in 1999 when he recorded The Mountain with the Del McCoury Band. That same year, Parton crossed the musical border with The Grass Is Blue. Anderson and Janie Fricke both re-styled their country hits in 2004 on albums called, not surprisingly, The Bluegrass Sessions.
So the next time a country icon reaches for a banjo, try not to be too cynical. It could be that he really does like bluegrass. Couldn't it?
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