Remembering bluegrass great Jimmy Martin on his birthday

Thinking of Jimmy Martin on his birthday with some clips, recollections of Mike Bub and the 'King of Bluegrass' documentary. 

Frank Evans & Ben Plotnick duo @ Cameron House, July 1

Frank Evans & Ben Plotnick's Cameron House hoedown at 8 pm will get a jumpstart from Col Tom's Swingin' Doors at 6 pm. 

Watch bluegrass innovator Alice Gerrard live at Brooklyn Folk Fest '23

Check out Alice Gerrard's Brooklyn Folk Fest '23 performance along with a few informative interviews.  

Toronto's Tone Rangers launch their debut album @ Hugh's Room, Dec 5

The Tone Rangers string band recorded their much-anticipated Tone On The Ranger album live "off the floor" in just two days! 

Here's the scoop from Tone Ranger Andrew Collins...

Just over a year ago, Chris Quinn, Adam Shier, James McEleney and I got together in a barn, set up some recording gear, a bunch of cameras and recorded our first full album as the Tone Rangers. We recorded 9 tracks on that day, had a follow up half day session this summer to complete recording and we're now excited to announce the official release of our live off the floor album "Tone On The Ranger".  For those who have been following along, we've slowly been putting out singles and videos, so you have a sense of what's on the album.  If you're in the Toronto area, we invite you to celebrate our release on December 5 at the new Hugh's Room Live (296 Broadview Ave) at 8 pm.  Tickets are available right here.

Our new single Half Past Four is out now!  We learned this one from Ed Haley and while it's usually an old time fiddle tune, we've turned it into a bluegrass mandolin tune featuring our mandolin slinger Ace.  You can now stream this anywhere you usually stream music. Facebook friends can check out the footage of "Half Past Four" shot by Mitch Fillion right here. You can also view the Tone Rangers' version of Tom T. Hall's "That's How I Got To Memphis" featuring the smooth vocals of bassist James "Big Mac" McEleney over here. 

We have a few more singles to come, so stay tuned for more! Check out a couple of performances following the Tone Rangers' theme below. 

Dollar Bin Delights: The Osborne Brothers and Red Allen

Here's an overlooked bluegrass corker that Sonny & Bobby Osborne cut with their pal Red Allen for MGM in 1959.  

If Beyoncé's going country, Swamp Dogg had to go bluegrass!

Swamp Dogg is joined by Margo Price and Jenny Lewis on Blackgrass: From West Virginia To 125th St is out May 31.

Here's the scoop from Swamp Dogg...

"Not a lot of people talk about the true origins of bluegrass music, but it came from Black people. The banjo, the washtub, all that stuff started with African Americans. We were playing it before it even had a name. I’m trying to touch on every kind of music I grew up loving and listening to. This is my way of letting people know that I’m not just a soul singer or whatever they think I am. I’m so much more.

"I'm proud to announce Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St, my first record with Oh Boy Records that will be released on May 31. Check out the album’s first single and opening track 'Mess Under That Dress.'" 

Pre-order/save here: https://orcd.co/blackgrass. Have a listen below. 

Blackgrass: From West Virginia To 125th St 

 

Produced by Ryan Olson (Bon Iver, Poliça) and recorded with an all-star band including Noam Pikelny, Sierra Hull, Jerry Douglas, Chris Scruggs, Billy Contreras, and Kenny Vaughan, the collection is a riotous blend of past and present, mixing the sacred and the profane in typical Swamp Dogg fashion as it blurs the lines between folk, roots, country, blues, and soul. The tracklist is an eclectic one—brand new originals and vintage Swamp Dogg classics sit side by side with reimaginings of ’70s R&B hits and timeless ’50s pop tunes—but the performances here are thoroughly cohesive, filtering everything through a progressive Appalachian lens that nods to tradition without ever being bound by it. Special guests like Margo Price, Vernon Reid, Jenny Lewis, Justin Vernon, and The Cactus Blossoms all add to the excitement, but it’s ultimately the 81-year-old Swamp Dogg’s delivery—sly and playful and full of genuine joy and ache—that steals the show. The result is a record that’s as reverent as it is raunchy, a collection that challenges conventional notions of genre and race while at the same time celebrating the music that helped make Swamp Dogg the beloved iconoclast he’s known as today.

SIDE A

1. MESS UNDER THAT DRESS

2. UGLY MANS WIFE

3. CURTAINS ON THE WINDOW

4. HAVE A GOOD TIME

5. THE OTHER WOMAN

6. SONGS TO SING

SIDE B

7. COUNT THE DAYS

8. GOTTA HAVE MY BABY BACK

9. YOUR BEST FRIEND

10. THIS IS MY DREAM

11. RISE UP

12. MURDER BALLAD

R.I.P. guitarist Marc Roy

Sadly, talented guitarist/mandolinist Marc Roy – who made every band he played with sound better – has passed away far too soon.

Chris Quinn remembers Marc Roy

Many years ago, Dan Whiteley phoned me.  “Quinn!  You have to come to OVs right now!  There’s some kid tearing up a mandolin and you have to hear him play.”  I arrived at the last minutes of the third set.  

Sure enough, on the stage among the 5 over 50-year old musicians, there was a skinny 17 year old kid with a ball-cap and a huge blingy chain around his neck, playing a plugged in Washburn mandolin, and he was playing his third variation of Bill Cheatham at 180 beats a minute!  His playing was impeccable! Every note was a diamond! Clean, super creative, great note separation, and loud!!  The mandolin kid was Marc Roy. 

Dan and Marc and I became regular picking buddies; Marc and Dan bonded strongly as both worshipped Tony Rice as their guitar hero!  Marc was instantly adopted by the Toronto bluegrass scene.  Underage Mark would walk in, guitar in hand, with the band so that no security would stop him.  Soon, everyone knew about this young virtuoso.  He would go on to play with countless musicians and bands. He was also a caring musical mentor. 

Marc would play with anyone. He was often the best musician in the room, but he treated other musicians like they were the best musician in the room.   Marc‘s guitar playing lifted anybody that played with him. He made good bands sound great, and he gave songwriters the benefit of his musical taste when he backed them.  At the height of his powers, Marc was unmatched anywhere.   Also, Marc never had an unkind word for anyone. 

 

Marc had demons, and demons wreak havoc!  Marc did not always make the best decisions but anyone who knew him recognized his goodness.  Marc loved his friends and family and his friends and family loved him.   If you wanted to see Marc light up, you just had to ask him how Eva was.

I don’t know how many jobs I did with Marc!  Whenever we parted, Marc would say, “Love you, man.”  He meant it too. He said that to a lot of people.  He had a lot of love to give.

RIP Marc Roy 

Love ya, man.

Chris Quinn plays "Marcel's Farewell" on mandolin as a tribute to Marc Roy right here. Watch a few clips of Marc performing below. 

R.I.P. Jesse McReynolds, 1929-2023

Sadly, bluegrass singer/mandolinist Jesse McReynolds, of Jim & Jesse fame, has passed away at 93. He'll be greatly missed. 

LINKS

Bluegrass Today Jesse McReynolds passes

That time Bill Monroe showed Redd Volkaert how to play a Telecaster

Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass, playing an electric guitar? This is one you'll need to see to believe. 

R.I.P. bluegrass great J.D. Crowe, 1937-2021

Sadly, Kentucky-born banjo legend J.D. Crowe has passed away. He'll be greatly missed. 

Del McCoury & Billy Strings vs. Del McCoury & Bill Monroe

Five decades on, Del McCoury is still belting out bluegrass classics like he did in his days with Bill Monroe. 

Happy Birthday Bill Monroe!

Remembering the legendary Bill Monroe with some rare footage and the best ever version of Wayfaring Stranger. 

The Slocan Ramblers, Ivan Rosenberg CD release @ The Tranzac, Friday

The Slocan Ramblers will be supporting Ivan Rosenberg who's launching his CD, The Littlest Dobro at 8pm.

For tickets and information about the show, check out the Tranzac site.

Robert Earl Keen revisits his bluegrass roots

Although it's not widely known to the portion of Robert Earl Keen's following who like to shout along with brew raised on high to the "the party never ends" refrain during concert performances of The Road Goes On Forever, the Houston-born singer/songwriter got his start in music playing bluegrass. That's right, bluegrass.

So Keen's release of an album called Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Sessions is not nearly as unusual as it might initially appear, however, I can't confirm or deny any time spent in the hoosegow. Let's not be so quick to judge.

“I've had a lifelong love of bluegrass,” confesses Keen. “I've always had an affinity for music that I felt like you'd listen to in your living room. Music that felt real. My mom liked the old hillbilly music, and as a kid, I used to fall asleep listening to an 8-track tape of Jimmie Rodgers' greatest hits.
"When I was in 9th grade, one of my first dates was taking a girl to a bluegrass festival. That sounds crazy for someone in Texas. But I was fascinated with that music, even though it wasn't part of the gulf coast at all. When I started playing, my first guitar hero was Norman Blake. In college, I had a bluegrass band called the Front Porch Boys, went to fiddle contests, learned a jillion fiddle and old-timey songs. My whole education in music started with bluegrass.
“And that's partly where the album title comes from,” he continues. “I've been listening to it forever, I love it, and so I feel like I'm something of a happy prisoner of bluegrass."

You see, a completely reasonable explanation. And for anyone concerned about a 180-degree stylistic turn into the high lonesome sound, Keen's choice of collaborators and tune-selection should help clear up any misconceptions. The fact that his chosen singing partners are Lyle Lovett, Peter Rowan and Natalie Maines and not say, Ralph Stanley, James King and Del McCoury should confirm his agenda is more of a folk/traditional homage to the music he loves rather than a full-on bluegrass immersion. That said, it's a good bet that he's been enjoying the performances of McCoury and sons since he covers Richard Thompson's 1952 Vincent Black Lightning using a strikingly similar arrangement to the McCoury's show stopper.

As might be expected from the noted storyteller, Keen consistently chooses material built on a strong narrative component (The Old Home Place, Long Black Veil, Wayfaring Stranger, Poor Ellen Smith) rather than popular instrumentals which often rely on speed and flash to put across. While Keen is a competent guitar picker for a singer/songwriter who earns his living as an entertainer, he doesn't possess the sort of fleet-fingered skills commonly known as "bluegrass chops." So if he's going to tackle a tune associated with Bill Monroe as a nod to the late great patriarch of the form, it makes sense that he'd go for something like Footprints In The Snow rather than an end-to-end burner like Fire On The Mountain that would require a degree of string-bending virtuosity well beyond the reach of an entry level player. And wisely enough, Keen has bolstered his core band with a few ringers like Nickel Creek fiddler Sara Watkins, Greencards mandolinist Kym Warner and Bad Livers banjo boss Danny Barnes to ensure that everything sounds sufficiently bluegrassy – at least enough to impress his sizable college campus following.

Robert Earl Keen's Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Sessions is available now from Dualtone Records as a limited edition double LP on 180 gram gold vinyl with five extra songs (see track listing below) not available on the CD version.




Track List:

Side A:
1. Hot Corn, Cold Corn
2. 52 Vincent Black Lightning
3. Footprints in the Snow
4. 99 Years For One Dark Day (feat. Peter Rowan)
5. East Virginia Blues

Side B:
1. Poor Ellen Smith
2. Long Black Veil
3. This World Is Not My Home
4. T For Texas (feat. Lyle Lovett)

Side C:
1. Peter Rowan Intro
2. Walls Of Time
3. White Dove
4. Old Home Place
5. Twisted Laurel
6. Wayfaring Stranger (feat. Natalie Maines)

Side D: (five extra songs not available on the CD)
1.  Little Log Cabin Home On The Hill
2.  Dark As A Dungeon
3.  I'm Troubled, I'm Troubled
4.  14 Carat Mind
5.  Steam Powered Aeroplane

Ric's Boxing Week Blowout continues

RIC'S BOXING WEEK 

BLOWOUT 

50% OFF  
Vinyl, CDs, DVDs, Cassettes, etc.

Check out the insanely deep selection of rare records 
including: roots reggae, gospel boogie, outlaw country, classic rock, bluegrass, Eastern European progressive, old-school soul, hair metal, disco, R&B, surf, new wave, electronic, sunshine psych, spiritual jazz, calypso, goth,  spoken word, loner folk, comedy, hip hop, bossa nova, Maritimes fiddling, cumbia, classical guitar, Bollywood soundtracks, male/female vocals, salsa, big band, honky tonk, exotica, calypso, Spanish guitar, Jesus psych, banjo, pop, Canuck country, minimal synth and just about anything else you're after!   

   

1006 Queen East (near Pape)

Dec. 28 thru Dec. 30

9 am - 6 pm

Foggy Hogtown Boys behaving badly?

Toronto's unstoppable bluegrass force, the Foggy Hogtown Boys, have always been better known for their super-tight ensemble play than their sense of humour but don't be fooled by the clean-cut stage presentation and all that ridiculously proficient picking. Once the house lights come up and their stringed companions are put to bed, Chris Quinn, Andrew Collins, John Showman, Chris Coole and Max Heineman are inveterate cut-ups and it's about time folks outside the group's small circle of elbow-bending buddies knew it.   

For their new self-released Scotch & Sofa disc – which they'll be unveiling at their release party on Friday (June 11) at Hugh's Room (2261 Dundas West) –  the typically neat 'n' tidy Foggy Five decided to get down 'n' dirty for their high concept CD sleeve photo shoot with hilarious results. It all fits perfectly with their chosen repertoire for the album which delves into the tried and true themes of drinking, gambling, rambling and cheating. It's just the sort of stuff that once made for classic country songs way back in the days before Nashville's finest left the honky tonks for hot tubs. But then, these hombres have made a career out of being more country than country.  

The great thing about the Foggy Hogtown Boys is that while they remain deeply immersed in old-school bluegrass tradition, enough to still have their Bill Monroe moments on Scotch & Sofa along with nods to the Stanley Brothers and Flatt & Scruggs, they're anything but bound by it. Listen closely  and you'll also hear the influence of Jimmie Rodgers and maybe a little Papa Charlie Jackson too. Over the course of making five albums without interference from producers or labels, they've developed a uniquely Canuck approach to playing the bluegrass and old-time music they love which is somehow simultaneously both rootsier and more adventurous than what's currently being done by their similarly banjo-driven Southern counterparts.

Each virtuosic member continues to have numerous simultaneous side-projects on the go but that hasn't undermined what they do together as the Foggy Hogtown Boys. In fact, just the opposite is true as demonstrated by the broad range of song styles and structures on Scotch & Sofa which you simply won't encounter on contemporary bluegrass recordings. And if the sleeve images are any indication, they're still having a great time doing it.

Get In Line Brother at the Almonte Old Town Hall on Feb 6, 2010



  
LINKS
site http://foggyhogtownboys.com
myspace http://www.myspace.com/thefoggyhogtownboys
Hugh's Room http://www.hughsroom.com