A Knockout Punch...

Much has been written and spoken about the genius of Chris Thile and after another close encounter last night at Alexandria's legendary listening room The Birchmere, it's only become clearer that the truth supports the hyperbole. I've seen Chris evolve from a full-faced tweener wowing Grisman and Schatz after hours at MerleFest to his perch now as one of the most creative composers and instrumental technicians in any genre and he's still under 30. His long and winding paddle down Nickel Creek ended last year leading to a Class V river of opportunity for exploring his mandolin virtuosity and his passion for taking the bluegrass template, the five main instruments and high lonesome harmony, to places previously unheard. Chris found four sympathetic sidemen who had the savvy and sensitivity to contribute mightily to his vision, Chris Eldridge, Greg Garrison, Noam Pickelny and Gabe Witcher and began with the How To Grow A Band. The quintet soon became the Tensions Mountain Boys who in March of last year premiered Thile's four-movement suite for string instruments and voices "Blind Leaving The Blind" at Carnegie Hall. Now, the same five guys are collectively The Punch Brothers, yet another name change reflecting their musical restlessness.

My favorite road companions and I braved I-95 on Memorial Day Friday and were rewarded with blissfully light traffic both up and back...can we thank four dollar-a-gallon gas? If you've never taken in a show at The Birch, it's a shining example of how a music venue should be run. A great admission system where you get a number when you arrive and then are called in that order when the music hall itself opens an hour or so before showtime. Big room, tables and chairs, cheerful and efficient food and beverage service, terrific house sound and enforced quiet during the performance. And and since we had to drive back to Richmond after the show, a 7:30 start and one long set meant we were done before 10, a beautiful thing.

The set list drew heavily from the group's s two ambitious albums and included a full performance of the challenging "Blind Leaving The Blind." They finished with the discordant "Punch Bowl" which ends in a startling 12-note chord sounding not unlike a piano being dropped from ten feet. Then mercifully they began their encore with an elegant take on Norman Blake's chestnut "Green Light On The Southern." It was a needed moment of peace and comfort. The bands rollicking ride on Monroe's "Molly & Tenbrooks" put the cap on as full and rich a musical experience as one could hope to have. Appreciative luminaries like Critter's proud pop Ben Eldridge along with past and present Scene mates John Starling and Ronnie Simpkins helped comprise the nearly full house which gave the Brothers lengthy standing o's.

A cool sidebar is that the younger Eldridge has this coming weekend off and will join the Seldom Scene for their two Friday sets at Graves Mountain this week. All that and Cadillac Sky too...I'm gonna be one happy camper. If you're coming to Virginia's sweetest bluegrass festival which runs Thursday through Saturday on the Rose River in Syria, you might want to make it up a day early for the bountiful seafood buffet on Wednesday night. Definitely worth the price of admission and helpful in expanding your capacity for the good eats to come. The Graves family will be celebrating four hundred years in Virginia this year and you can bet on lots of surprises.

An unfortunate development...we've just learned that Jim Lauderdale is facing surgery for polyps on his vocal cords and is having to cancel his appearance with the Waybacks on June 13th for the Music For Massey benefit at the Science Museum. We're all selfishly disappointed of course but more importantly feel just awful that Jim has to go through something like this especially now, on the heels of his Grammy and a full spring and summer of dates he's having to miss. Please join me in wishing him a speedy and thorough recovery...he's one of the good guys in this business. We're working on finding another friend for the Waybacks to play around with that night...stay tuned.

Hope you're enjoying this perfect holiday weekend weather...if summer could only stay like this. And do take some quiet time Monday to reflect on the sacrifice of all those fought and died for all of us. It's too easy to take it for granted, and we must not. God bless America.

TT

Packing it in...

This'll be a quickie compared to last week's MerleFest post mortem...just want to make you music lovers aware of enticing opportunities for the next few weeks. Sometimes I fall way short of posting everything worthy of your ear so it would be a good idea to check in regularly with Jon Baliles' excellent cultural calendar The Weekly Rant. Take a look and tell me there's nothing going on in town....what a difference a few years can make.

We've got something for you for the next four days in a row starting with Thursday (tonight) at Ashland Coffee & Tea whose big time springtime lineup continues with the great singer/songwriter Slaid Cleaves with our own multi-everything musician Charles Arthur opening.

Friday night marks the 12th annual Hoedown In the Garden at St. Joseph's Villa featuring the Lonesome River Band. This benefit starring our banjo hero Sammy Shelor from Meadows of Dan and the latest evolution of LRB started at Lewis Ginter way back when and has moved to the spacious grounds of the Villa on Brook Road. Tickets are $75 but include a tasty hot buffet and open bar so it's a good deal for all. Call Katie Chandler at 200-1617 to get yours.

Saturday raises some conflicts I'll leave to you to resolve. Starting at 3pm is the Richmond Rotary's City Slickers Bluegrass Festival with area fixtures Jackass Flats, Special Ed & The Short Bus and the man, the myth, Dr. Ralph Stanley & His Clinch Mountain Boys. The day long fest is outdoors at the Science Museum on West Broad and you can get tickets here.

If you finish up in time, you might still catch good pals Chris Fuller and Frank Coleman creatively filling an open date at AC&T. Or you could opt for equally good pals Malcolm Pulley, Danny Hughes, Richard Ward, Rusty Farmer and Jackie Frost at the Shady Grove Coffee House in Glen Allen. Tickets here.

Still with me? A wonderful and inspiring way to spend Mother's Day might be to take a road trip to the unlikely music venue of Fork Union Military Academy to hear the incomparable harmonies of The Isaacs. Best part is, since you'll have to burn a little gas to get there, the concert is FREE and starts at 4pm. If you've never witnessed this amazing family band, this would be a sure bet for Sunday. Get more info and directions here.

Back to Ashland for another visit with super singer John Cowan and his band on Thursday, the 15th and Asheville, NC's solid Steep Canyon Rangers the very next night. Former Wayback and fab fingerpicker Stevie Coyle does a house-style concert at the Positive Vibe Cafe on Forest Hill on Saturday the 17th. Later on, newgrass king Sam Bush heads back this way for a Friday Cheers appearance on Brown's Island on May 23rd. Hate to miss that one, but we've had tickets to see the Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thile at The Birchmere that same night for months now. I know you'll tell me what we missed.

Still to come...our yearly ride up the Old Blue Ridge Turnpike to Graves Mountain Lodge for the 16th annual Festival of Music May 29-31. Another great lineup not to mention late night jams in the campground and the cabin and the most comfortable comfort food to be found anywhere.

Finally a couple of mid-June happenings...a lucky Friday the 13th on the tracks at the Science Museum will mark the joyous return of the leaner, meaner Waybacks from San Fran along with the Grammy-winning Americana guru Jim Lauderdale. Tix at Plan 9 or online at TicketsToBuy. The next night E minor and I are looking forward to helping lead-friend George Turman and his merry minstrels put on the 10th Anniversary Among Friends Concert at AC&T. New tunes being rehearsed as we speak along with tasty previously-roasted chestnuts. It should be big fun.

And do tune in faithfully to Page Wilson's Out O' The Blue Radio Revue on WCVE-FM from 8 to 10 every Saturday night. He'll be previewing many of the shows mentioned here and many others. And soon we'll be bringing you the first of our JAMinc/In Your Ear Studio A concerts with John Cephas and Eliza Lynn recorded last Thursday. Stay tuned.

This tantalizing menu of music will only continue with your support. So go to some shows!
It's the least we can do...

Thanks Mom...and thank yours, even if she's not around. Where would we be?

TT

Your Lone Journey...

The 21st MerleFest has begun to fade into a wistful haze and as I now make an attempt to put a few appropriate reflections down I'm again daunted by the task of verbalizing what is and I hope always will be such a spiritual experience. Having missed but two of these celebrations of American music, I feel blessed to have witnessed so much, like the sweet intimate moment shared by festival host Doc Watson and the love of his life Rosa Lee after one of his many appearances over the weekend. Back in the early sixties they co-wrote "Your Lone Journey," a tender ballad about love and devotion and dying and reunion. The song's been covered by many including Emmylou Harris, Tim & Mollie O'Brien and most recently Alison Krauss & Robert Plant as "Your Long Journey." But when you listen to the words the authors' title is as it should be. It was a privilege to be able to tell Rosa Lee how much their song touches my heart. As do the four days spent in the Carolina foot hills sharing emotions set to music with loving care and intensity. Being part of the team behind the scenes at this complex and ambitious event that now attracts over 80,000 pilgrims to sleepy Wilkesboro every spring is one of my life's highlights. Thanks to Doc and B Townes, to Art Menius and Claire Armbruster, two who've moved on but whose legacy endures, to John Adair, Buck Parker, Maple Byrne, Cathy Caudle and my fellow Leeman and Cabin boy Sam Sanger, all of whom make my MerleFest experience richly rewarding. And of course there are the incredible artists from old favorites to new discoveries who inspire us and give so much of themselves.

The fine young Dobro player with the Infamous Stringdusters, Andy Hall on the far right, was pretty inspired himself during Thursday afternoon's opening set on the Watson Stage as he took a knee and proposed to lady love Janice Young. She said yes. Special stuff like that happens at MerleFest. But it's not always on stage. In room 419 at the Addison Inn, I spent the third hour of Friday morning soaking up one of the juiciest jam sessions imaginable made up of fellow Dusters Andy Falco and Jesse Cobb, former Duster and current Punch Brother Chris Eldridge, John Cowan's guitarist Jeff Autry and 9-time IBMA Dobro player of the year, Blue Highway's Rob Ickes. Just ripping it for their own amazement and a couple of us lucky bystanders. It gets no better. I don't have the time or frankly the energy to properly review this homecoming and the hundreds of artists who filled this year's four days so I'll post some photos with a few notes and hope to give you a feel for what happens here in hopes that you'll consider a first-hand look and listen April 23-26. 2009.

The day before MerleFest started, JAMinc took the fresh young Alaskan bluegrass band Bearfoot (playing Ashland Coffee & Tea that night) to Mary Munford Elementary here in town for an in-school performance and a very effective demonstration of what that upbeat bluegrass rhythm was all about. Here they are closing the Cabin Stage on Sunday afternoon.

Another Richmond connection: The Jerry Douglas Band played The National on Friday night (how was that anybody?) and helped close things out on a drizzly Sunday afternoon at MerleFest. Not real sure what to make of Jerry's lid but the set was superb as one would expect, especially when fiddler Luke Bulla's pristine voice took the Johnny Cash hit "Don't Take Your Guns To Town" to a whole new place. One of my top-three tunes the entire weekend.

Yet another Richmond link...John Cowan sat in with the Waybacks at lunchtime on Friday and both are headed our way. John and his band, now including former Richmonder Rebecca Hoggan's hubby John Frazier on mandolin and vocals are back at AC&T on May 15th. And James Nash (above), Warren Hood, Joe Kyle Jr. and Chuck Hamilton return for their fourth On Track For The Cure event for the Massey Cancer Center at the Science Museum on June 14th. See below for this year's special guest. And former Wayback Stevie Coyle does a house-style concert at the Positive Vibe Cafe on May 17th.

Oh yeah, the Wayback's special guest for this year's Richmond show is the hardest working man at MerleFest, Grammy winner Jim Lauderdale, seen here in the Cabin getting ready for one of his many appearances on many stages at the festival. That's Bryn Davies on bass and the aforementioned John Frazier. Jim not only oversaw and emceed the Chris Austin Songwriters' competition but performed with the Stringdusters, the Wilders and Dr. Ralph Stanley. He would surely be at least a nominee for MVP.

Three glamming jammers from the "Merle's Girls" set on Saturday evening that included Alison Brown, Sally Van Meter, Sierra Hull, Missy Raines and (above) Claire Lynch, Laurie Lewis and Rhonda Vincent.


Bela was in the house this year, but Flecktone-free and only on Sunday with his significant other Abigail Washburn and their worldly Sparrow Quartet featuring (left to right) Bela Fleck on banjo, Casey Driessen on violin, Abigail on clawhammer and Ben Sollee on cello. Chamber music for the new age.

A cool gene pool created a blonde, a brunette and a redhead who all swim in the deep end musically, who are all sisters and who sing, play and write some great new acoustic music. The three Lovell Sisters, from left Rebecca, Jessica and Megan have matured well since their first MerleFest last year as a group. Rebecca was also the first female to win the festival's mandolin competition in 2006. They are no novelty act.

And while we're talking sisters, The Waifs from Australia had been to MerleFest before but flew below my radar for some reason until this year when they became one of my two favorite new bands. Sibs Donna Simpson and Vikki Thorn above, along with Josh Cunningham, Ben Franz and David MacDonald bring the down-under to life with great songwriting, haunting harmonies and deeply layered arrangements. And wait until you hear Vikki coax the most profoundly mournful notes out of her harmonica on "Vermillion" from their new Compass cd sundirtwater. My other MF discovery this year was a band I was too enthralled with to take pictures of...Ollabelle. Featuring Levon Helm's daughter Amy, this mixed-gender quintet opened for The Band's iconic drummer on Saturday night and it was pure magic. More on them down the road. A new fan is born.

Saturday night was one of the strongest I can remember with Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder with Bruce Hornsby followed by the great Levon Helm who went way over time with nearly two hours of classics old and new including the plaintive "Anna Lee" from his Grammy-winning Dirt Farmer cd to the one we were all "Weighting" for. It was a thrill to see him having such an obviously great time alternating between drums and mandolin with a big fat horn section and B3 and even King Sammy Bush. Levon's richly raspy voice weathered a bout with throat cancer in the mid-90's. He survives and thrives and we're the lucky ones.

Just one more Richmond connection...the night before they closed down opening night on the Watson Stage, Old Crow Medicine Show (right) brought the house down at The National at 7th and Broad. Great energy, adoring fans and a strong finish to day one. Same kinda thing happened the next night as Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives put on a grade-A show only to be followed by the over-the-top Avett Brothers who seemed a bit more reined- in than I'd seen them lately. Maybe too much ketchup. But another huge finish for Friday night in America.

I'll finish up with two road warriors who closed down the Cabin Stage Friday night in their own inimitable style, Peter Rowan and Tony Rice. Pulling heavily from their wonderful collaboration album You Were There For Me and accompanied by Rickie Simpkins on mandolin and Mike Bub on bass, these beloved veterans cast their spell. To find that they still have it after forty-year careers is a joy and an inspiration. And thanks for Old Santa Fe, Pete.


So as the Sandy Feat sculptors finish up another of their perishable masterpieces, I'll back on out with some twinges of guilt for not even mentioning Tish Hinojosa, Kenny Ball and Kenny Sultan, Dirk Powell and Riley Bauguss, Ruthie Foster, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, David Holt, Dan Tyminski, Sunday morning gospel at Creekside with Doc and NBB, and at last, the return of our hero Tim O'Brien. MerleFest is a cultural and spiritual feast that challenges and rewards in a deeply moving way. Don't miss the next one.

Hope to see you this Thursday at In Your Ear Recording for what should be a fine pairing...a house-style concert presented by JAMinc and WCVE-FM featuring Piedmont blues master John Cephas and rising singer/songwriter from Asheville, Eliza Lynn. It'll be recorded for a later broadcast on Page Wilson's Out O' The Blue Radio Revue. Reservations on our JAMinc Website, but hurry.

Good night all....TT

Big Country...

This is what the John Paul Jones Arena looked like a few minutes after the Carrie Underwood/Keith Urban concert last Thursday in Charlottesville. D & I joined our daughter for a belated Christmas present to take in this big-time high-tech country pop extravaganza and I must say it was in impressive showcase for two talented stars who have reached a level in the music biz that affords them a dazzling level of staging and support. I'll confess that this remarkable excess of sound and lights is something I'm fascinated by...the perfectly synchronized efforts of a crew of 140 people who set this gear up, run it and tear it down in every arena they play just to make it all larger than life...a half dozen tractor trailers and dozen tour buses to move them all around...a live concert video production with mulitiple cameras including one flying over the floor like in the NFL. The technical coordination and wizardry just blows me away and even though acoustics and my unfamiliarity with Keith and Carrie's tunes made lyric comprehension difficult, I still enjoyed the scope and specatacle of it all. Keith Urban was a tireless and generous performer, welcoming three teens with a big sign on stage for multiple hugs and a lifetime memory to take home and after strolling out in the crowd playing his electric guitar, he proceeded to take it off, sign it with a Sharpie and give it to some random guy in the crowd...to keep! Looked like a nice Les Paul or something too. And he lingered long after the show pressing flesh and signing anything and everything. Both kids earned their money, and so did the team that puts in so much long before and long after the stars have done their thing. Big time.

We at JAMinc are very excited about our new venture with Page Wilson's venerable Out O' The Blue Radio Revue which will result in his airing many of our In Your Ear Studio A concerts on WCVE on Saturday nights. For the past couple of years we've staged over a dozen of these intimate performances lovingly captured by Carlos Chafin and the peerless gear at IYE. You can look forward to hearing edited sets by Dirk Hamilton (our most recent), John Cephas & Eliza Lynn (our next one on May 1st) and we hope many of our past shows featuring Peter Ostrouschko, Phil Wiggins, The Kruger Brothers, Bruce Molsky, Jake Armerding and many others. Page plans to air approximately one half hour of live recorded concert in each hour of his weekly program. We're jazzed to find such a perfect way to share these wonderful musical experiences with a wider audience and we'll let you know here and elsewhere when the first one will run. In the meantime, join us for the incomparable Piedmont blues man John Cephas and rising singer- songwriter Eliza Lynn, who's recently toured the British Isles with the likes of Nanci Griffith and Dougie MacLean. It should be memorable evening. Just visit the Website for more info and for reservations.

Kay and company at Ashland Coffee and Tea have a strong spring lineup set to go in our favorite listening room starting with a terrific bluegrass band from Alaska called Bearfoot on April 23rd, to be followed by Eliza Gilkyson, Jake Armerding, Brad Spivey & The Honky Tonk Experience, Slaid Cleaves w/Charles Arthur, John Cowan, Steep Canyon Rangers, Chatham County Line, Justin Townes Earle and the Biscuit Burners. That gets us into June, and that's not all. Check their calendar for the full roster.

Don't forget The National welcomes Old Crow Medicine Show on April 23rd and Jerry Douglas on April 25th. That'll give him plenty of time to make his Sunday afternoon set at MerleFest, which by the way starts a week from Thursday and for which we'll try to offer some running commentary. If you're going, look me up around the Cabin Stage, my home away from home for those four glorious April days every year for the past eighteen.

I don't remember a more beautiful blooming spring than the one we're in the middle of, but maybe I'm just more receptive to such things as the years fall away. Blessings to count...TT

The Cline Shrine...

If I ever find out that Patsy Cline somehow, somewhere was able to find out about or even hear our concert at the Virginia Historical Society last Friday night celebrating her life and her music, I'd like to ask her if she had a good time, hoping that she would be grateful to the talented people who put in a lot of time and effort bringing her songs to a new life. It was a gratifying experience for me to work with this amazing bunch of musicians who poured themselves into the project wholeheartedly and did themselves proud. First to Brad Spivey, Mike Lucas, Randy Cook, Mark Watts, Clark Ball and keyboard queen Lucy Kilpatrick, thanks for learning the songs so well. To Sara Arthur, Donna Meade Dean, Kelli Moss and Terri Simpson, our more-than-fabulous female vocalists, thanks for making some great old tunes new again. To the quintessential country gentleman George Hamilton IV, thanks for coming from Nashville to be part of this and for your warm and gentle words and songs during the show. To the number-one Texas Wildcat Jimmy Dean, bless you for all that you've done for so many over the years, including our audience held firmly in the palm of your hand through every verse and chorus of "Big Bad John." Incidentally and appropriately, Jimmy's big number-one hit peaked on the Billboard charts the very same month as Patsy's "Crazy," in October of 1961. Thanks to the mildest-mannered sound man I've had the pleasure of working with...Jan Williams of FCP Sound & Light in Lancaster. He's unflappable, has great gear and knows what to do with it and he makes it all look easy. And for those who weren't able to make the show, and especially for those of us who were, thanks to the legend, Bill McElroy of Slipped Disc for what I'm confident will be a perfectly-polished digital recording of the whole thing.

From Winchester, thanks to Prof. Warren Hofstra of Shenandoah University for coming up with the symposium in the first place, to John Lewis and Mark Foreman for the loan of the WINC mike flag, and to Linda Ross for trusting us with the elegant cream-colored leather jacket worn by Jessica Lang in the Patsy biopic Sweet Dreams. The Hatch Show Print poster by Nashville's Jim Sherraden was hand done, signed and numbered especially for this event.

Lastly and obviously, I'm indebted to the Virginia Historical Society and Pam Seay for giving me the chance to do something like this. Cynthia Moore, Paul Levengood, Jennifer Mason, Carol Anne Baker, Doris Delk and Keith Cox should all be given credit for helping extend the Society's horizons toward the less-explored fields of the performing arts, which comprise a colorful reflection of our Virginia culture. What's next?

I do want to offer up a "save the date" notice for Friday, June 13th when the eclectic and compelling string band The Waybacks head back to town for the fourth Music For Massey fundraiser for the Massey Cancer Center at VCU. This year they'll be sharing the bill with Americana singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale, who scored the bluegrass Grammy earlier this year. It'll be back on the tracks at the Science Museum of Virginia, and I'll let you know when tickets go on sale.

So now that I can part Patsy's company for a while, it's tax time which always seems to coincide with the delicate purple blooms of Virginia's redbud trees. Visually they're about my favorite part of spring and they prompt me to count my blessings, which can become less obvious while feeding the TurboTax questionniare. And there's the annual pilgrimmage to MerleFest in a few weeks....sweet.

TT

The Learning Curve...

(Terri Simpson, Mike Lucas and Randy Cook at Mike's studio last week)
Getting ready for this Patsy Cline tribute concert at the Virginia Historical Society this Friday night has been an adventure that I'd take nothing for. To get such dedicated and enthusiastic work out of our amazing musicians has been a true joy to witness and I just hope we'll have a big crowd to pay them off with our cheers and applause. Brad Spivey and his woodshedding honky tonkers with keyboard ringer Lucy Kilpatrick have spent their weekly rehearsals for the past two or three months learning this often tricky material, and the last two weeks' run-throughs with singers Kelli Moss, Sara Arthur and Terri Simpson have been a real thrill. I hesitate to say too much more, especially with Jimmy & Donna Dean coming to go over their stuff tonight, but if you're a fan of the the American classics made popular by Winchester's ambitious, courageous and pioneering girl singer, you need to be at VHS on the 4th. The concert caps a day long symposium entitled "Sweet Dreams...The Life and Times of Patsy Cline" You can do the whole day with lunch included or just the concert. Call 804.358-4901 for reservations.

Sadly we're up against extraordinary guitarist David Grier at Ashland Coffee and Tea and Hot Tuna's Jorma Kaukonen at the National, but as our musical options grow in this town, so do the frustrations that on any given night, chances are you're missing something good.

Just get out and hear some of this live music in town. Or check wonderful art galleries teeming with folks for First Friday along West Broad downtown. If you haven't been, you'll be blown away.

TT

Nationality...

We're still floating after a delectable double-header at The National down on Broad Street...Saturday night with the Del McCoury Band, and Tuesday night just past with American original Willie Nelson. Del and the boys did their usual fine job of crowd pleasing even though a goodly percentage of the six hundred plus on hand were in party patter mode and raised the conversational din to a distracting level. If there's a solution to this two-part audience dilemma...those who paid to listen to the music and those who could care less but paid their money just the same...I don't know what it is. It's obviously a bigger issue for those in the first camp and it will be a major point of contention going forward at stand-up venues like The National and Toad's Place. In a way, it's a lot like non-smokers having to suck in smokers' smoke...less dangerous maybe but an infringement nonetheless. Guess we listeners will cherish rooms like Ashland Coffee & Tea all the more.

That said, the atmosphere for the red-haired stranger was perfect. Full house in full party mode with Willie and his veteran band cranking out hit after hit with more animation and twinkle than we've seen from the grizzled icon in some time. He may have had a little boost from the camera crew there filming for an upcoming concert feature called Willie & Me. This was a big-league Hollywood-style production...three cameras shooting 35mm film... so it's cool that Richmond and our newest music hall will be so prominently featured. Willie spent what seemed like 20 minutes near the end of the 2-hour show at the front of the stage signing anything thrust his way, shaking hands and blowing kisses. It's still a thrill to be in the presence of such a mythic character who's had such a remarkable and durable career and see that he's actually real and not some figment of our imagination.

Hope to see lots of you at the Virginia Historical Society tomorrow (Thursday) night for our evening with the Country Gentlemen Reunion Band. Four guys who represent the full fifty-year span of this influential group will bring back the memories and premiere their new CD Adcock, Gaudreau, Waller & Gray. Again, it's an early start, 6pm and tickets will be available at the door. VHS' beautiful new auditorium is at 428 North Boulevard.

Friday night will be a tough call as AC&T plays host to Billy Ray Hatley and the Showdogs to debut their brand new project "Cryin' Shame" and Brad Spivey and his Honky Tonk Experience play a home game at Shenanigans. Don't make me make that call for you, but you really should catch one or the other. We had a terrific rehearsal at HTE guitarist Mike Lucas' place tonight to run-through some of the tunes they're doing for the Patsy Cline concert at VHS on April 4th. I'm really getting excited about it now and we're hoping concert-only tickets will be available the week of the show...it promises to be a memorable night.

Is it just me or did it always used to be this windy all the time? Especially outside of actual storms? Makes me nervous...TT

The Real Del...

The five-and-only Del McCoury Band returns to town to play The National on Saturday night and as a warm-up, I dug out an interview I did with Del before their Groovin' In The Garden show at Lewis Ginter back in the fall of 2004. Just click here, then download the mp3 and hear the former Blue Grass Boy reflect on what he learned from Bill Monroe, how he met Jerry Garcia when Jerry was David Grisman's banjo player, and what it's like on the road with sons Rob and Ronnie. And of course we hope to see you at the show...my first emcee gig at the beautiful new venue. TT (photo from Del's Website)

One on one...

Expectations were sky-high this past Wednesday when we made the easy run down I-85 to Chapel Hill to see old Friend Daniel Clarke with his new boss k.d. lang. We weren't prepared for one of our all-time top-five musical experiences ever, thanks to the singularly stunning expressive power of ms. lang's voice, the spot-on support of her band and the up-front seats we lucked into. Clad in basic black and barefooted, k.d. worked the entire stage and often came up to the very edge and made eye contact that was almost unsettling it was so personal. She accompanied herself on acoustic guitar for her lilting "Upstream" opener, did her obvious thrillers like Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and her own Grammy-winning "Constant Craving" and some amazing new tunes like "Jealous Dog" on which she accompanied herself on banjo to great effect. She even joked about taking up the five-string as kind of a "chick magnet." She joked about a lot of things and she was very good at it. Daniel on keyboards, Yamaha grand and accordion, was the epitome of taste and style, never overplaying...the same goes for his former fellow Mandy Moore bandmate Josh Grange on guitars and a weeping pedal steel, Brazilian lead guitarist Grecco Buratto, bassist Ian Walker and drummer Danny Frankel. A perfect sound system and elegant but subtle stage lighting portrayed these sensitive players perfectly and the 1400-plus crowd offered up a couple of standing o's even before the last tunes. It was especially sweet to have Daniel's mom, grandma and other family members in the audience, who were all lovingly greeted by k.d. and the band in a generously lengthy after-show meet & greet. So that sealed the deal. We were all blown away that one of the best singers on the planet, period, was also such a gracious, down-to-earth human being. The next closest gig is in Wilmington, Delaware on March 11th. It would be worth the trip. Period. We didn't hear about the unimaginably tragic and senseless shooting of UNC student body president Eve Carson until we got up the next morning...the most uplifting and the most devastating of events...same day, same place.


I do want to say how much a bunch of us enjoyed Moondi Klein and Jimmy Gaudreau at AC&T a week ago tonight. I even got emotional hearing some of those gorgeous Chesapeake ballads like "High Sierra" and "Morning Blues" again and especially Moondi's gut-wrenching take on Eric Bogle's "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda." It's an achingly beautiful piece about a maimed Aussie soldier in World War I, and it is powerful, especially in Moondi's sensitive hands. He recorded it with the Kruger Brothers on their first Carolina Scrapbook collection...you might want to find it.

It was two nights out in a row as Saturday found us catching Brad Spivey's second set with the fabulous Honky Tonk Experience playing a home game at Shenanigans. It was kind of work- related since BS&HTE is the house band for the upcoming Patsy Cline concert I'm putting together for the Virginia Historical Society. Nobody does real country music any better than these boys and they were gracious enough to take the assignment to learn a bunch of Patsy's hits and some others. We got to hear Kelli Moss (of MoDeBree) sit in with a couple winners, especially "I Fall To Pieces." Perfect. We've lined up some very talented locals for the show and some surprises as well...only catch is, it's part of a day-long Patsy Cline symposium and you have to pay for the whole thing if you want to see the concert. There may be some day-of-concert-only sales pending availability. If you're a real fan of Winchester's former Virginia Hensley, you might want to spend April 4th with us.

JAMinc is busy this spring, with a couple of partnerships and another InYourEar Studio event.
On March 19th we're co-sponsoring with the River City Blues Society, an appearance by renowned blues harmonica players Dennis Gruenling and Steve Guyger and other special guests. It'll be out on Quioccasin Road at Bleu Bistro and will showcase their Tribute to Little Walter CD paying homage to the first harmonica player to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The ceremony is at the Waldorf in NYC on Monday night , 40 years after Little Walter's death. So it's a timely tribute and all of us at JAMinc are happy to be part of this great show.

The very next night, March 20th, has JAMinc and the Virginia Historical Society presenting the Country Gentlemen Reunion Band in their beautiful new Robins Family Forum auditorium at 428 North Boulevard. The group is comprised with original Gents Eddie Adcock and Tom Gray, along with Jimmy Gaudreau and Charlie Waller's son Randy. This show will have an educational component telling the story of the group's impact on bluegrass during the evolutionary sixties and seventies. It promises to be an entertaining and informative evening, and it starts a little earlier than you're probably used to...6pm, so make your plans and get your tickets soon. Hearing Randy sing his dad's songs so lovingly while playing Charlie's old Martin herringbone will give you chills...I promise.

Down the road...don't forget the Del McCoury Band and Willie Nelson at the National (March 15th and March 18th respectively) oh, and if you hurry, tonight at the Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen...the incomparable Chris Smither.

And a lovely parting gift...check out this really well done interview with Chris Thile and a couple of his Punch Brothers from NPR's All Things Considered last week. The guys will play Charlottesville's Satellite Ballroom on April 11th and The Birchmere on May 23rd. The bar is now set so remarkably high...where do we go from here?

This is the shortest weekend of the year, so make the most of it...TT

Release the hounds...

We couldn't pass up the chance to be part of history tonight as a long-vacant vaudeville and movie house took its first breaths as Richmond's newest and most elaborate music hall. Having toured the place last summer when it was stripped back to the bare walls in painstaking restoration, it was stunning to see the TLC that brought The National back to its former grandeur with all the modern bells and whistles one could imagine. The Radiators had the honor of playing the first notes on opening night, a veteran band of guys my age playing solid New Orleans-style rock & roll. They of course ended up as the opening act for Dead disciples, the Dark Star Orchestra, bumped from last Friday's scheduled startup since things weren't quite properly permitted as far as the city fathers were concerned. There's still a lot of punch list stuff to complete at 7th and Broad but those who were part of the packed 1st night crowd were treated to elegant surroundings, a liquor license which eluded Toad's Place for a couple of its early months, a generous abundance of bars and restrooms making the place very user friendly and the excitement palpable. The VIP areas weren't quite ready and the adjacent corner restaurant will be a few months in opening but all in all, The National is good to go and whatever your musical tastes are, there's a new reason for heading downtown. We all owe a lot to Bill Reid, Brad Wells, Lorin Willis, David Peterson and their entire team for saving this diamond in the rough for all of us to enjoy. Check the schedule, pick a couple of acts you like and get your tickets. Let's make sure this labor of love stays around to be a part of Richmond's cultural frontline for years to come.



And I do need to mention our fine old time at the center of the universe Saturday night. We somehow missed the memo about it being prom night, but Old School Freight Train chugged in wearing non-matching formal wear that I might have worn at my prom back in the sixties. Once we adjusted to the new look, we settled in for a few old favorites including a hot take on Pete Frostic's Celtic-flavored "Mr. Parshif's Jig" and Randy Newman's haunting "Louisiana." The boys just finished a new cd which we got a good sampling of along with the tasteful percussion of the band's latest addition, Nick Falk. He played Jesse Harper's red American Tourister with respect and taste. Jesse's solo project is also due out this spring...look for an all-star release party you'll not want to miss.



And it's back to Ashland for Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein on Friday night...two guys too good to pass up. Trust me.



And I hope you'll forgive the less-than-ideal phone camera shots I post occasionally when I don't feel like (or am not allowed to use) my SLR. I figure sometimes at least something's better than nothing.



Thanks for the visit, as always...TT

A fond farewell....

No Depression magazine, which has been a beacon of light to all who follow and participate in what could be called alt-country or as Page would put it, American mongrel music, has announced its next issue will be its last. A victim of record labels' shrinking ad budgets, the publishers who have never been in it for the money in the first place are having to face the changing music industry realities and shut it down. They promise a continued Web presence, but it's not the same as having a brand new issue, full of familiar and fresh new faces as well, arrive in the mail every couple of months. You might want to order that last edition on their Website and maybe listen to a recent NPR interview with the founders. A lamentable sign of the times.

Hope to see a bunch of you tonight at AC&T for another snapshot of the ever-evolving Old School Freight Train. We haven't missed many of the band's semi-regular "homecoming" visits and this one will be especially poignant for D & me as daughter Em, who's been with us for just about every one, will be making her last trip south from Fredericksburg to meet us, as Mary Wash commencement is coming in May. Time is a runaway freight train...

Will we ever have a real snow again? Or frozen ponds to skate on? It seems winters in this part of the world are now only frosty memories...TT

Finding a way...

I've been working my learning curve to post audio here on the journal and I hope this first effort is successful. One of my favorite bands, King Wilkie is in what one could call reassessment phase these days after critical raves and the prestigious IBMA Emerging Artist award in the fall of 2004. I spoke with Reid Burgess and John McDonald in Nashville the day after they won.
Click here and it'll take you to the interview. If this works, we'll have more down the road...old and new. Let me know how it goes, or if I can streamline the process.
Thanks as always for your interest.
TT

Blown away...

It was one of those rare days when the normally placid James River was whipped into white caps as the cold front rolled in and the high winds ahead of an overdue return to winter temperatures threatened to knock out the power for Grammy night. I'll confess to being somewhat of a sucker for award shows, especially the big one for the music industry, despite its hype and self-indulgence. We even checked out the pre-show Webcast when they give out the trophies that don't make the prime-time cut...especially the bluegrass album Grammy. We were pulling for the Seldom Scene while kinda expecting Tony Trischka to win, when lo and behold Jim Lauderdale walked away with it for his album The Bluegrass Diaries. An emotional Lauderdale and producer/dobro man Randy Kohrs took the stage to accept...and Jim somehow forgot to say that he'll be joining the Waybacks here in Richmond for the annual Music For Massey benefit on June 13. So he had a few other things on his mind. We'll let you know when tickets go on sale for that one.

And how about former Old School Freight Train fiddler fatale Ann Marie Calhoun who was the hands-down winner of the national My Grammy Moment competition to play with Foo Fighters as the featured instrumentalist on the orchestral take on "The Pretender." Zeppelin's John Paul Jones led the symphonic contingent made up of the other young finalists in the voting. Sadly Ann Marie's playing wasn't really featured at all but she did get a good bit of camera time and another big boost to her already soaring career.

Old School makes its way back to Ashland Coffee & Tea on the 23rd of this month to be followed on the 29th by half of the dynamic Seldom Scene spinoff Chesapeake. That of course would be Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein who will reprise some of the old Chesapeake chesnuts and some nifty instrumentals as well. After hearing their upcoming Rebel Records release 2:10 Train, I must say it's great to have Moondi back where he belongs...on stage and on record sharing that one-of-a-kind voice. And Jimmy joins Randy Waller, Eddie Adcock and Tom Gray as the Country Gentlemen Reunion Band in a JAMinc/Virginia Historical Society presentation on March 20th. Details still coming together.



Also hope to see you in Ashland for a musical Valentine from the refreshingly eclectic retro trio The Wiyos. Former Richmonder Parrish Ellis along with Joe DeJarnette and Michael Farkas comprise this Brooklyn-based band that takes us back to the vaudeville, ragtime, hillbilly blues of the 20's and 30's with a thoroughly modern and energetic enthusiasm. I heard them at FloydFest for the first time last summer and have been looking forward to a second chance ever since. Get your squeeze a few chocolate coffee beans and join the fun this Thursday in the "Center of the Universe." These cats can swing!





We'd been hearing good things about The White Hawk Music Cafe in Goochland so we made our way across the river and west on Rt. 6 to the year-old venue run by musician Terry Hazelton. No beer, no smoking, just tasty sandwiches and some fine live music thanks to Good Natured Riot. I'd enjoyed Nick Harlow's banjo and Andy Burns' mando for years with the Slack Family but they're moonlighting with this acoustic quintet that includes lead vocalist Jeslyn Vaughan, vocalist/percussionist Summer Gentry and bassist John Dacey. These guys take the bluegrass ball and run with it, out into Gillian Welch territory and beyond. They did some well-crafted originals too, including a solid instrumental Andy wrote to vent his frustration at missing Sam Bush at Toad's Place last summer, thanks to a tardy wife. The tune's perfectly entitled "Bushwhacked." It's always fun to find a new band out there worth a listen...and a new music-based venue. They give lessons out there too.


And if you haven't heard, the Del McCoury Band plays the soon-to-open National Theater downtown on March 15th...book it.

(Full disclosure: all photos on this post except Lauderdale at MerleFest are from artists' Websites)

Back To School...

The veteran bandleader and mandolinist Doyle Lawson has been a professor of perfect harmony since he started his band Quicksilver back in 1979. He'd honed his skills and his ear during stints with Jimmy Martin, J. D. Crowe, the Country Gentlemen and the Bluegrass Album Band. Since then, Quicksilver has been a potent proving ground for some of bluegrass music's most gifted players and singers...names like Jim Mills, Scott Vestal, Jim Van Cleve, Barry Abernathy, Terry Baucom, Steve Gulley, and Russell Moore not to mention Barry Scott and Jamie Dailey who've left the group in the last year or so to do their own thing. (Can't wait to hear Dailey & Vincent!) Doyle and his ever-evolving cast have brought home the IBMA's Vocal Group of the Year honors consecutively since 2001. And if you think Jamie Dailey's departure might have robbed Doyle of his comic foil, wait 'til you get a load of Carl White. JAMinc is proud to bring DL&QS back to Richmond for the ninth consecutive year for bluegrass gospel at its inspired and entertaining best. See you at WEAG on Friday night. Come audit the class.

Speaking of gospel, Richmond's Rockin' Robbin Thompson (a fellow JAMinc board member) is getting all mellow and sensitive these days, having married off both his lovely daughters and having snagged a national Independent Music Award in the gospel category for his tune "Movin' On Down The Line." That's the same song that got him invited to Cambodia to help develop a campaign to combat human trafficking. That's the same Robbin Thompson who with In Your Ear partner Carlos Chafin is now composing music for PBS' iconic Sesame Street. Can we now anticipate Bert & Ernie singing "Sweet Virginia Breeze?" Not that there would be anything wrong with that. Anyway, you can catch Robbin rolling out his extensive repertoire Saturday at Ashland Coffee & Tea.

The other option would be to visit Bogart's, the venerable venue that's closing soon, to catch the Mills Family Band. I've been knocked out by young Samson Trinh's virtuosity and versatility since I first heard his amazing CD Very Strange Night produced during his last year in jazz studies at VCU. It features a number of Richmond's jazz standouts in large and small configurations, including his impressive Upper East Side Big Band. According to Doug Richards, "Samson Trinh and the Upper East Side Big Band's vibrant collective spirit captures the essence of the American jazz orchestra." High praise indeed from Richmond's master of jazz. Samson is trying a new sidestreet in his journey with the Mills Family, an acoustic string band featuring the vocals of Allyson Mills with Samson providing sax-based seasoning. You can check out a few of their live tracks on their MySpace page or you can get it first hand Saturday night in Bogart's good ol' smoky back room. While you can...

Early the next day, we might catch a glimpse of favorite son Daniel Clarke on keys with k.d. lang on CBS Sunday Morning sometime between 9 and 11am. Worth starting Super Sunday off with a song, eh?

And if you're looking for a classy Valentine's warmup this Thursday night, check out Richmond's newest and coolest (literally) nightspot Infuzion in Scott's Addition. Last week, my squeeze and I enjoyed some tasty tapas-style eats in the comfy lounge to the swingin' strings of Gypsy Roots, Thomas Wakefield's excellent homage to guitarist Django Reinhardt. And if it's open by then, put your coat back on and spend a little quality time in Infuzion's Ice Bar...a whole room made of ice from floor to ceiling just for sipping designer vodka. Is this town happening or what?

A heads up for March 20th: JAMinc and the Virginia Historical Society present the Country Gentlemen Reunion Band with Tom Gray, Eddie Adcock, Jimmy Gaudreau and Randy Waller in the Robins Family Forum, their new auditorium on The Boulevard. Watch this space for ticket info.

And a closing thanks to the fabulous Farr brothers for last weekend's most excellent comestibles and camaraderie on Gwynn's Island. If you've never tasted sandhill crane, the ribeye of the sky, you haven't lived. The music wasn't half-bad either.

Go Giants...TT

Without A Net...

At the risk of of exposing my somewhat shallow knowledge of classical music, I'll confess to being completely overwhelmed by Richmond Symphony music director Mark Russell Smith at tonight's "Unfinished Business" concert at First Baptist Church. He took us on an emotionally breathtaking ride through incomplete works by Schubert, Mozart and Bruckner...two full hours of some of the most dynamic and uplifting music I've ever heard and the conductor had no score. Some sixty gifted and well-rehearsed symphony musicians, all with their sheet music in front of them and their fearless leader with none. Is that unusual? If it's the norm, I don't want to know because I choose to stand in awe of someone who can keep the ebb and flow of music of that complexity, and all the parts that the various sections of the orchestra are playing at every turn, completely in his head. One normally thinks of a maestro conducting with the hand that holds the baton, but I found myself fascinated by Smith's other hand and its graceful ability to express the unspoken nuance and subtlety he was seeking from his charges at any given moment. To hear that many musicians playing in such inspired unity led by someone so utterly in command of his craft was thrilling. Mark Russell Smith departs for Minneapolis after this 50th anniversary season, leaving the Richmond Symphony a cultural treasure that has benefited immeasurably from his tenure. Don't miss a chance to experience music that soars beyond any burden of time or genre. Bravo Mark and Godspeed.

So we were waitlisted for tickets to see k.d. lang and her new keyboard guy, Richmond's own Daniel Clarke at UNC Chapel Hill on March 5th...waited a little too long, hoping I guess that the tour might come a little closer to home. But sometimes, procrastination can work in one's favor as about a week after being told it was sold out, I get a call from a nice kid at the box office saying he had a cancellation on a couple of tickets in the orchestra PIT...that's in front of what would normally be the closest seats in the house! So we lucked out big time. Daniel's just finished rehearsals today and will have a few days off before embarking on the big world tour. Catch him if you can.

I do want to make sure you know about our annual JAMinc gospel concert featuring the latest evolution of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. If you missed them at the National Folk Festival back in October, or if you've never experienced the powerful harmonies and showmanship of this award-winning group, please join us at the West End Assembly of God on Parham Road on Friday, February 1st. I promise it'll help you get 2008 off to a proper spiritual start. Click here for ticket info.

If you aren't committed to finishing up all the milk and bread you bought Friday to see you through this weekend's typically lame, what now passes for a snowstorm around here, you might want to show up at Legend Brewery tomorrow and see what all the Johnson Boys have been up to lately, musically and otherwise. Rusty, Slim, Harry, Tiny and Big Red will be holding forth and most likely what's left of a fifth starting around 6:30. They're big and they're boss...don't be scared.

TT

Front Page...

He's been our musical front man for so long now we may be in danger of taking him for granted. As a roving minstrel, radio host and tireless proponent of his beloved American mongrel music, Page Wilson has made our town a much richer place. From his salad days at Sam Miller's when the Slip was just getting started, to his triumphant Out O' The Blue Orchestral Revues with the Richmond Symphony, Page has put his mark on this town like few others. The good part is, he's still at it, from 8 to 10 every Saturday night on WCVE-FM (and streaming world-wide on the Web) from the Chickahominy Swamp and live on stage with Reckless Abandon. The bad part is, he's had some pretty serious medical issues over the past year that most don't know about since he's not a complainer. If you've had any healthcare dealings lately you know what a financial drain they can be. I hated to have to miss today's Party For Page at the Canal Club featuring a stable-full of our town's strongest musical horses. It was organized by bluesman Terry Garland to give Mr. Wilson a monetary leg up if you will and I hope folks turned out in numbers befitting the occasion. He's a Richmond original and if you missed the party like me and would like to send him a little token of your esteem, just put it in the mail to

P. O. Box 1117, Mechanicsville, VA 23111. Thanks Page...for everything.

Done...

The long holiday hustle has kept me away from this keyboard for a while and now that we're in our last few hours of 2007, I want to belatedly wish you and those you care about the best of the season. I hope you found some warm moments and made some special memories...and that you didn't completely burn out on Christmas music or on the endless plays of Dan Fogelberg's "Auld Lang Syne." I lament his passing too but I resent now being tired of a seasonal selection that I used to really like. The Christmas season is much like the other four seasons to me...we really look forward to them but by the time they're over, we're really ready for the next one.

My last post on December 11th encouraged you to take in Adrienne Young's appearance at Ashland Coffee and Tea on the 13th. If you did, I hope you share our appreciation for this earnest and engaging singer/songwriter/human being. Her passion for this planet and its life forces shines through her music in such a compelling way and the current edition of her band Little Sadie, a touch under-rehearsed but instinctively solid, made the evening feel like a living room jam session rather than a perfectly-polished performance...which was just right somehow. There were some strong individual contributions, including a couple of great original tunes from guitarist Landon Fishburne. Adrienne's lastest CD "Room To Grow" was just named a top-5 album from singer-songwriters in The Nashville Scene, no small feat given the level of competition out there. I think a lot more folks will be hearing about this former MerleFest songwriting winner in the coming year.

I'd have to say my musical highlight of this 12th month has been savoring a preview of Jesse Harper's upcoming solo project. Old School Freight Train is still very much a band, judging by their 2008 tour schedule but Jesse, with encouragement and support from an A-list group of players just couldn't help but try his wings on some new air. There are some new takes on OSFT favorites like "Run", "Porch Swing" and "Let Me Go" along with some powerful new ballads like "Falling" and "Old And Broken." Jesse's playing and vocal style keep getting more confident and sophisticated and the almost George Martin-like arrangements on many of the cuts bring a more pop approach to things. All dozen tunes are originals, save for the gospel standard "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" and Sam Cooke's moving "Nothing Can Change This Love." Regarding the supporting cast...familiar names include former and current bandmates Ann Marie Calhoun and Darrell Muller, along with Daniel Clarke, Curtis Fye, Robby Sinclair, Zack Hickman and Colin Killilea. Word is Daniel submitted a few tracks from this project to land his gig with k.d. lang. Not sure when this baby will hit the streets, but it will surely be worth the wait.


By the way, the closest stop to here (so far) of the k.d. lang/Danny C roadshow is March 5th at UNC's Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill. Word to the wise..don't wait if you think you might want tickets.

Bringing home the notion that advancing age speeds up the clock, it's a bit scary to me that I've been doing this journal for just about a year now and as hard as it is sometimes to sit down and get started on a post, I'm so very grateful that so many of you take the time to read it and even find value in it. I hereby resolve to more consistent and comprehensive in the coming year, which I hope holds more meaningful musical moments for us all. Have a blessed 2008, and thanks to all the musicians who've enriched my life in 2007...TT

The Godson

Another reminder that there's so much music out there and so little time. Sunday night we were among a sadly undersized crowd to witness a young man on the front edge of what should be a stellar career. His pedigree is enough to suffocate a lesser talent given that he's Steve Earle's son and the late Texas legend Townes Van Zandt was his godfather. So this wiry, way over six-foot-tall, twenty-something cowboy has something to prove and his 90-minute set at Barksdale's "Stretchin'" series offered all the proof any skeptic could want that Justin Townes Earle is the real deal.

Along with his sidekick Cory Yountes on mandolin and harmony vocals, Justin ran through a rich and varied set list of mostly original tunes that made me feel like I could've been in a time machine watching Hank Williams when he first started out of the gate. Fun, up tempo stuff like "Chitlin' Cookin' Time in Cheatham County" and achingly dark ballads like "Yuma" that told a haunting story of loneliness gone unchecked. Accompanying himself on guitar, occasional harmonica and a good helping of boot heel percussion, Earle the younger displayed a confidence and charisma that can't be faked and made believers of this appreciative audience, most of us hearing him for the first time. You can hear "Yuma" on his MySpace page, which is also the title of a six-song EP that he's selling until his full-length album "The Good Life" comes out on Bloodshot Records this coming spring. I for one, can't wait.

Thanks to BJ Kocen for sticking his neck out for the sake of good music and creating another wonderful listening space in town. And to Susan Greenbaum for her sweet opening set. I love surprises and Sunday provided a really good one.

TT

Critter...

So December's just arrived and we've already had a little teaser snowfall and even some havoc-wreaking black ice around central Virginia...very exciting for one who loves all that winter can bring. Reading the e-posts this week revealed a Grammy nomination for the durable and delightful Seldom Scene and their latest CD Scenechronicity. Congrats to all. I passed along high-fives to founding father Ben Eldridge and asked him what his prodigious progeny had been up to lately. He replied..."I can't keep up with that boy these days. He just got back two weeks ago from traveling around Europe with Uncle Earl for three weeks. He's going back to England on the 8th to go to a Zeppelin reunion concert. He's gotten to be pals with John Paul Jones, so he and Kristan will have backstage passes and all that kind of good stuff. This week he, along with Andy Falco and Josh Williams, are going around doing guitar concerts. They call them Guitarmageddon. He's heading to LA after he gets back from England to rehearse with the Punch Brothers for a few days and then back to the Burg for a week at home over Christmas - then on to Chicago for a new year's eve gig with the Punch boys.Whew! Oh to be young again."

So if you haven't heard, the Punch Brothers are the latest moniker for Chris Thile's string band and they'll be ringing in the new year in the Windy City. Both of the Chris boys seem to have the world by the tail these days. What a ride!

Here at home, it's a chance to hear both Steve Earle's sister Stacey (with Mark Stuart) at Ashland Coffee and Tea on Saturday night and Steve's son Justin Townes Earle at Barksdale's "Stretchin" concert series on Sunday. Both are more than worthy of your musical dollars.

And might I heartily recommend a new seasonal CD from the amazing singer-songwriter Mindy Smith. Some heart-rending new originals and some creative takes on old favorites. We can't get enough of Mindy.

Enjoy the last month of the year...TT

Mais oui!

I don't think I've ever been to a more elegant soiree in this town than the annual Bon Secours holiday celebration at the Virginia Museum Friday night. Since this is a music journal, I won't get into the amazing French-themed decor that transformed the Marble Hall, other than asking Natalie Easterly to take a bow for the unprecedented profusion of fresh flowers...I've never seen anything like it. But the piece de resistance was the stellar quintet of musicians who took their charge far beyond obligatory background and created a classy energy the room may have never felt before. Richmond treasure John Winn gathered the cream of Richmond's crop of seasoned players for the gig...Curtis Fye on bass, Brian Jones on drums, Adam Larrabee on guitar and Daniel Clarke on the grand piano. What a treat to hear these young lions playing their butts off despite the fact that most of the crowd was immersed in party chatter. Those of us who were drawn in to their musical corner, and the numbers grew as the hour grew later, were afforded some of the finest ensemble playing anywhere. John's a serious double threat of course, for when he's not squeezing the most out of his tenor and soprano saxophones, he's singing like a young and hip Mel Torme...it was simply sublime stuff. Old School Freight Train's Jesse Harper even crashed the party in the guise of a "critic" to soak up the ample inspiration these guys were serving up and rendered a soulful lead vocal on Stevie Wonder's "Superstition." Jesse's long-awaited solo project is due out early in 08 by the way. As I write this, the aforementioned Mr. Clarke is probably seated at his keyboard as the sole accompanist for one k d lang at a private function in the City of Angels. The Atlee boy is flying high indeed. A grateful tip of the beret to Bon Secours' CEO Peter Bernard who knows how to do things right. Tres bien!

The night before afforded us a much more intimate musical experience at In Your Ear's studio A as JAMinc welcomed Irish harmonica marvel Rick Epping back to town. With just his box of harps and accompanying himself on concertina, Rick cast his spell for the appreciative audience, skillfully weaving traditional jigs and reels together and sharing his softly evocative vocals. IYE partner Robbin Thompson joined Rick for a couple of numbers including one with Robbin playing his Chinese zhong ruan. If you don't know what that is, you should've been there. He even attracted veteran Richmond rocker and chief Offender Bruce Olsen to the show, who's recorded Rick in his northside studio in recent years. It's a real privilege to hear a musician of Rick's caliber in such a setting...JAMinc and IYE are working on a compilation CD so you can hear some of the remarkable performances we've witnessed over the past few years. And for a very well-written account of a singular life adventure, check out Robbin's Cambodia journal. Powerful and provocative.

A couple of strong entries ahead on Ashland Coffee & Tea's December calendar: incredible blues guitarist Kelly Joe Phelps on the 5th, Stacey Earle on the 8th and Adrienne Young on the 13th. All worthy of your ear and support of AC&T's continuing efforts to bring quality acoustic music to the area in a wonderful listening room setting. Not to nag, but if you want all this to continue, you just have to get out and go the the shows. There's no substitute for "live."

Enjoy your Sunday...and hats off the the Hokies!

TT