Led by Kentuckian and former Long Ryder Sid Griffin, The Coal Porters, are a stunningly unconventional five-piece bluegrass band from London. While they perform originals and traditional material alongside songs from Bob Dylan and Gram Parsons, their new release Durango defies the traditional boundaries of bluegrass music which is why they proudly call themselves “the world’s first Alt-Bluegrass band.”

Durango will be released in the U.S. on January 19 and in the UK on January 25, 2010. Durango is the 4th and by far the best album from the Coal Porters, and one of the choice musical highlights of the year. This highly anticipated follow up to 2007’s Turn The Water On, Boy! is a clear country mile step forward, evoking the sounds of a bluegrass Clash, or a Bill Monroe for the 21st century.

The Coal Porters recorded Durango in April 2009 at Ed Stasium’s (Ramones, Mick Jagger, Phil Spector, The Long Ryders and more) Kozy Tone Studio just outside of Durango. The entire album was cut ‘Basement Tapes’ style with the same authenticity of Dylan and The Band. Durango features two special guests: Tim O’Brien who plays a wild mandolin solo on “Roadkill Breakdown” and Peter Rowan who duets with Miss Frey on his own song “Moonlight Midnight.”

The Coal Porters "Durango" (Prima Records)

Formed nineteen years ago in Los Angeles The Coal Porters were originally an electric rock group centered around Sid Griffin – ex-Long Ryder who wrote the hit single “Looking For Lewis And Clark.” The multi-faceted musician is also an acclaimed music Journalist (Mojo, Rock ‘n’ Reel, The Guardian, Variety, NME, Melody Maker), Lifetime Achievement Award winner in Italy and proud author of “Million Dollar Bash: Bob Dylan, The Band & The Basement Tapes.” Sid is currently in the process of writing a new book on Bob Dylan.

When Sid Griffin moved to London in the 1990’s he hooked up with Scottish stand up comedian Neil Robert Herd and as a result of a crazy dare, they decided to play acoustic bluegrass versions of their material at a charity concert in London. They found their true calling and said goodbye to their electric set forever. In 2006 with this new line-up, The Coal Porters were re-invented as an exciting and dynamic bluegrass combo featuring: Carly Frey – fiddle and vocals; Dick Smith – diesel banjo and vocals; Sid Griffin vocals, mandolin, harmonica and autoharp; Andrew Stafford, bass & and Neil Robert Herd guitar and vocals. The Coal Porter’s have toured Europe and parts of the U.S., and have received four star reviews for their previous record, Turn the Water Oh Boy!. With their new album Durango, The Coal Porters will tour the U.S. in March 2010.

The album will be digitally available at Amazon and iTunes. The Coal Porters, solo Sid Griffin and Long Ryders back catalogs are digitally available there already! Durango will be distributed by Burnside Distribution in the U.S.

– From Hard Pressed Publicity

On November 16th, multiple-Grammy-winning composer and violinist Mark O’Connor will realize a long-held dream: Books I and II of the O’Connor Violin Method will be published. While touring the United States and composing orchestral and chamber music, O’Connor has educated thousands of young musicians at his summer string camps and at such notable institutions as UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, Curtis Institute of Music and Harvard, always focusing on what he calls “America’s classical music.”

O’Connor Violin Method Seminars in the U.S.:

• December 11-13 – Berklee College (Boston, MA)
• January 16-18 – George Washington University (Washington, DC)
• January 29-31 – University of Miami (Miami, FL)
• February 26-28 – UCLA (Los Angeles, CA)
• March 5-7 – Northwestern University (Chicago, IL)
• March 12-14 – The Egg Performing Arts Center (Albany, NY)
• April 16-18 – Cleveland Music Institute (Cleveland, OH)
• May 21-23 – Toledo Symphony (Toledo, OH)

The O’Connor Method includes some of the great folk songs, fiddle tunes and classic themes that have endured the country’s 400-year-old history of violin playing, representing all the Americas – Mexico, Canada and every region of the United States – and musical styles including classical, folk, Latin, jazz, rock and ragtime. O’Connor has chosen and arranged material that will help create the future classical violinist, folk fiddler, jazz musician – or all three.

Forty violin educators from around the U.S. attended the first teacher training at O’Connor’s New York String Camp this past summer. O’Connor just completed an O’Connor Violin Method Seminar at the University of Kentucky as part of an effort to bring the Method to colleges and universities nationwide. His next stop is Boston’s Berklee College of Music in December. See sidebar for the full 2009/2010 O’Connor Violin Method Seminar schedule.

“Getting kids to fall in love with learning to play music is the great concern,” O’Connor told the New Yorker recently. To do that, he’s included personal favorites such as 11 variations on “Boil ‘em Cabbage Down,” an African American hoedown that was the first piece he ever learned to play on the violin. The 58 pieces in the two volumes include folk melodies such as “Amazing Grace,” “Cielito Lindo” and “Buffalo Gals,” and American Classical tunes such as Copland’s “Hoedown,” two themes from Dvorak’s New World Symphony, and O’Connor’s own “Appalachia Waltz.”

The books contain guidance from O’Connor and short essays about topics including famous American fiddlers such as Thomas Jefferson and Davy Crockett, the history of Gypsies and Mariachi, and dances such as the minuet, the jig and the cakewalk. They also include the helpful “Fiddle Boy,” who gives reassuring, kid-friendly advice.

– From Shore Fire Media

The excitement (and hype) is building over the special events planned for next year at the Graves Mountain Festival of Music in Syria, Va.

The festival will host “Rural Rhythm’s 55-Year Celebration” with a commemorative live recording taking place on Friday, June 4, 2010, during the festival. The recording will become a 55-year anniversary CD that Rural Rhythm Records plans to release in October 2010.

Kyle Cantrell of Sirius-XM Radio’s popular “Bluegrass Junction” will serve as master of ceremonies for what’s shaping up to be an all-star gathering. Performances are already confirmed by The Lonesome River Band, Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain, Audie Blaylock & Redline, Lou Reid and Carolina and The Crowe Brothers.

Mark Newton is producing the event with Gene Daniel Sound overseeing the sound. Highlights will be broadcast on Sirius-XM “Bluegrass Junction” soon after the festival.

During the International Bluegrass Music Association’s recent World of Bluegrass in Nashville, Tenn., Rural Rhythm Records hosted a VIP Showcase that included a special preview of the upcoming Graves Mountain event. Carl Jackson, Mark Newton, Russell Moore, Lou Reid, Audie Blaylock, Carrie Hassler, Wayne Benson, Sammy Shelor, Mike Anglin and Mike Hartgrove performed Carl Jackson’s original song, “Graves Mountain Memories.”

The group will perform the song during the Rural Rhythm recorded event next June along with these other special shows:

• Crowe Brothers with Russell Moore, and Sammy Shelor
• Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain with Brandon Rickman
• Audie Blaylock & Redline with Carrie Hassler, Russell Moore and Lou Reid
• Graves Mountain Jam: Lou Reid and Carolina, Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, Lonesome River Band, Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain, Audie Blaylock & Redline, and The Crowe Brothers.
• “My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains” – Brandon Rickman, Crowe Brothers, Audie Blaylock, Mike Hartgrove, Wayne Benson, Steve Dilling and Edgar Loudermilk

Lou Reid & Carolina "My Own Set of Rules" (Rural Rhythm Records)

To say that Lou Reid and Carolina’s new CD is doing well might be an understatement. Entitled My Own Set of Rules and released on the Rural Rhythm label, the CD has reached the top of Bluegrass Music Profiles’ list of Top 10 Bluegrass albums.

It’s also sitting at No. 5 of Cashbox Magazine’s Top 25 Albums, No. 11 on Bluegrass Unlimited’s list and No. 32 on the Roots Music Bluegrass Report.

The single by Lou Reid and Carolina, “Amanda Lynn,” has reached No. 9 on the Bluegrass Music Profiles singles list and No. 20 on Bluegrass Unlimited’s singles chart.

The band will appear on Sirius-XM Bluegrass Junction’s Track by Track program with Kyle Cantrell at 11 a.m. eastern time on Wednesday, Nov. 18. The show will be rebroadcast at 9 p.m. EST Nov. 19 and at 11 a.m. EST on Sunday, Nov. 22.

Merlefest logo

Wilkesboro, N.C. — The box office will open for MerleFest 2010 ticket sales on Tuesday, November 10, at 2:00 p.m. EST. Ticket purchases can be made on the web at merlefest.org or by calling 1-800-343-7857. MerleFest 2010 will celebrate its 23rd year from April 29 – May 2, 2010.

With over 75 acts performing on 15 stages during the course of the event, MerleFest is an entertainment value. An early bird ticket discount is available through March 12, 2010. A complete list of confirmed performers is available on the Merlefest Website.

Fans aren’t the only ones excited about MerleFest. The Avett Brothers, performing on Sunday, May 2, said, “We have attended MerleFest, as fans and as performers, since 1994. There is not a finer or more welcoming music festival in the country. Those who make their way to Wilkes Community College for the event this year will find, as they would any year, a sincere and friendly place where the music is as colorful and beautiful as the North Carolina countryside that leads them there. MerleFest offers four days of absolute quality for the music-loving family. For us, in terms of performance, it is very much like coming home.”

Paul Barrere of Little Feat, performing on Friday, April 30, said, “What a great honor to be booked at MerleFest, the annual tribute to the music of Doc and Merle Watson. I’ve heard from our good friend Vince Herman that this is the festival to play, and stay, and just pick your brains out, so here’s hoping that we have a day off to meander about and jam with the best bluegrass pickers around.”

MerleFest was founded in 1988 in memory of Eddy Merle Watson as a fundraiser for Wilkes Community College and a celebration of “traditional plus” music. Scheduled for April 29 – May 2, 2010, the event is held on the campus of Wilkes Community college in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

– From Karen Byrd Public Relations

The ever-smiling Tony Shorter of Nothin’ Fancy wows the crowd with his charm and crooner voice Friday during this past weekend’s indoor bluegrass festival at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield, Ill. Other members of the group, two-time winners of SPBGMA’s Entertaining Group of the Year award, are, from left, Mike Andes on mandolin, Gary Farris on guitar, fiddler Chris Sexton in background and Mitchell Davis on banjo.

The McKinnon twins — Keith on guitar and Kevin on mandoln — fllank Carrie Hassler Friday at the Greater Downstate Bluegrass Festival in Springfield, Ill. Hassler and her band, Hard Rain, performed two shows during the weekend event. Big names, including Rhonda Vincent, Doyle Lawson, Nothin’ Fancy and Dailey & Vincent pulled in sizeable crowds for the festival, part of the Midwest Bluegrass lineup of festivals.

The Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival is still accepting votes in their “Last Banjo Standing” online battle-of-the-bands contest. Voting runs through November 15 with the winner announced from the top 5 vote getters at Noon on November 16. The winning band will receive $500 and a performance slot on stage during the festival which features Béla Fleck & the Flecktones and the Emmitt-Nershi Band among others.

Among a long list of bands shooting for the top slot are Asheville, North Carolina bluegrass band Dehlia Low. You may remember Anya Hinkle’s excellent series here on BluegrassJournal.com about the making of “Tellico” their latest CD. You can vote for Dehlia Low here.

If you missed the series from Dehlia Low’s Anya Hinkle you can catch all of it at the following links.

Dehlia Low "Tellico"

• Dehlia Low: The Making of “Tellico” – Part 1
• Dehlia Low: “Tellico” – Letting go and moving on – Part 3
• Dehlia Low “Tellico” – Letting go and moving on – Part 3
• Dehlia Low: the finishing touches on “Tellico” – Part 4 of 4

The Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival, slated for December 12, 2009 (11:00 am – Midnight) at the Congress Theatre in Chicago, IL., has several contests currently running including ticket giveaways, a signed guitar and even a free exhibitor package for vendors.

Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival Lineup

• Béla Fleck & the Flecktones
• Emmitt-Nershi Band
• Liberty Bluegrass Band
• Holy Ghost Tent Revival
• Dr. Dog
• Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater
• The Giving Tree Band
• Josh Phillips Folk Festival
• Van Ghost
• Majors Junction
• Chicago Farmer
• Jaik Willis
• Mike Mangione & The Band
• Tangleweed
• Environmental Encroachment
• Squeeze-bot
• GreenSugar
• How Far to Austin
• The Right Now
• Cobalt & the Hired Guns
• The Shams Band
• Goodbyehome
• The Junior League Band

Norbert Putnam

Nashville, Tenn., — Legendary bassist and producer Norbert Putnam will be honored at the Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum on Saturday, November 14, as part of the popular quarterly series Nashville Cats: A Celebration of Music City Musicians. The program, which will begin at 1:30 p.m. in the Museum’s Ford Theater, is included with Museum admission and free to Museum members.

Hosted by Bill Lloyd, the tribute to Putnam will include a brief performance and an in-depth, one-on-one interview highlighted by vintage recordings, photos and film clips from the Museum’s Frist Library and Archive. Immediately following the program, Norbert Putnam will sign autographs in the Museum Store.

After recording pop and R&B hits for Tommy Roe, the Tams and Arthur Alexander in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Norbert Putnam helped create classic country and pop records in Nashville for nearly three decades. His R&B-style bass lines can be heard on classic hits such as Joan Baez’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” Bobby Goldsboro’s “Honey,” Dave Loggins’ “Please Come to Boston,” Elvis Presley’s “Promised Land,” Linda Ronstadt’s “Long Long Time,” and Tony Joe White’s “Polk Salad Annie,” among others. In addition, Putnam is a successful producer (Joan Baez, Jimmy Buffett, Dan Fogelberg, Kris Kristofferson), publisher (Danor Music), and business owner (Quadrafonic Sound Studios, Bennett House, Georgetown Mastering).

Norbert Putnam was raised in the Muscle Shoals area of North Alabama. In the mid 1950s, a friend urged him to join a local group covering the songs of Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins, mainly because Putnam’s father (a bluegrass musician) owned an upright bass.

At age 19, Putnam dropped out of college and joined pianist David Briggs, drummer Jerry Carrigan and singer-songwriter Dan Penn in the group Dan Penn & the Pallbearers. The nucleus of the band, along with members of the local group the Fairlanes (which contained future producers Rick Hall and Billy Sherrill), helped lay the groundwork for the “Muscle Shoals sound,” which drew international attention and made the city a recording mecca for R&B, rock and pop artists throughout the ’60s and ’70s. Putnam played on R&B and pop hits by Arthur Alexander, Jimmy Hughes, Tommy Roe and the Tams.

Norbert Putnam moved to Nashville in 1965, along with much of the Muscle Shoals crew, and quickly became one of Nashville’s most in-demand session bassists, specializing in pop, rock and R&B-oriented material. By 1970, Putnam was playing on over 600 recording sessions a year. His work can be heard on a multitude of artists’ recordings, including the Beau Brummels, J.J. Cale, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Kenny Loggins, Henry Mancini, Manhattan Transfer, the Monkees, Roy Orbison, the Pointer Sisters and more.

In 1970, Norbert Putnam and David Briggs founded their own studio (Quadrafonic Sound Studios) and publishing company (Danor Music). Kris Kristofferson approached Putnam the same year about producing Joan Baez’s Blessed Are album, a job that Kristofferson had originally committed to do. The subsequent hit single, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” sold over a million copies and helped Putnam become one of Nashville’s premier producers. Artists who recorded with Norbert Putnam at the helm include Eric Anderson, Brewer & Shipley, Jimmy Buffett, Donovan and Dan Fogelberg.

In 1980, Putnam purchased a large Victorian home in nearby Franklin, Tennessee, and opened the Bennett House, which became another successful, in-demand recording studio. Shortly afterward, Georgetown Masters, a mastering facility Putnam founded with engineer Denny Purcell, became one of the nation’s top mastering facilities.

Norbert Putnam was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 1995. In 2003, Putnam designed studios for the new Delta Music Institute at Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss., where he served as director and taught producer-engineer studies for two years. Norbert Putnam currently maintains a song publishing and production company as well as serving on the Alabama Music Hall of Fame’s Board of Governors.

These programs are made possible, in part, by grants from the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission and by an agreement between the Tennessee Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum is operated by the Country Music Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964. The Museum’s mission is the preservation of the history of country and related vernacular music rooted in southern culture. With the same educational mission, the Foundation also operates CMF Records, the Museum’s Frist Library and Archive, CMF Press, Historic RCA Studio B, and Hatch Show Print.

More information about the Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum is available at CountryMusicHallofFame.com.

– From Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum

Nashville, Tenn., — Charlie Daniels has announced 2-time IBMA Entertainers of the Year, The Grascals and winner of the 2002 BMI ‘Songwriter of the Year’ Award, Brad Arnold, lead singer of the multi-platinum rock band, 3 Doors Down will join him on-stage at the 2009 Charlie Daniels Band & Friends Concert to benefit Christmas 4 Kids, (a Division of Christmas For Kids, Inc).

This concert is sponsored in part by 95.5 The Wolf, Bob Parks Realty (Sumner County Branch), and coach manufacturer, Prevost Car, Inc.

Joining The Charlie Daniels Band will be Gretchen Wilson, Phil Vassar, and Chris Young. The charity event raises money for the Christmas 4 Kids Organization.

Christmas 4 Kids has been in existence for over 25 years providing many special children each year with their very own shopping spree at the WalMart in Hendersonville. Each child receives $150.00 to spend on anything they want for Christmas. Additionally, each child is given a brand new Titan’s starter jacket.

Other annual fundraising events include The Bob Parks Realty (Sumner County Office) Auction to Benefit Christmas 4 Kids, which will be held on Tuesday, December 1st in Gallatin, TN. The Annual Tour Bus Show with the opportunity to meet many stars on their buses will take place on Monday, December 14th in Hendersonville, TN. For more information on any of the upcoming events, visit Christmas4Kids.org.

Charlie Daniels and Friends Charity Concert for Christmas 4 Kids

The Charlie Daniels Band, Chris Young, Gretchen Wilson & Phil Vassar, The Grascals and more.

Mon., Nov. 23 @ 7:00 PM at the Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN

Funds generated by the concert, auction, and the tour bus show are used to give children from 29 different schools, a total of more than 400 children, a day-long shopping excursion. The special day consists of a chauffeured trip from their school aboard an entertainer’s luxury tour bus, lunch, and a party hosted by Santa and Mrs. Claus at College Heights Baptist Church, and finally a trip to the Hendersonville, TN WalMart for shopping, Each child is accompanied by a volunteer who helps them with their holiday shopping.

Reserved Seating is available (only 50 seats left) $30.00 and are available through any Ticketmaster Outlet, or visiting ticketmaster.com or calling 1-800-745-3000

– From Webster PR