Cracker Barrel Shares Behind-the-Scenes Insights

Exclusive CD nominated for "Best Graphic Design for a Recorded Project"

LEBANON, Tenn., Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Cracker Barrel Old Country Store ® -- There's more to planning the packaging of a new CD than you might imagine, and that's why the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) gives an award for "Best Graphic Design for a Recorded Project" each year. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is pleased and proud to be one of three nominees for this year's packaging award. Cracker Barrel was nominated for its exclusive offering, Dailey & Vincent Sing The Statler Brothers, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard magazine Top Bluegrass Chart in February 2010, and then spent nine weeks in the top position. The CD itself is nominated for "Album of the Year," and artists Dailey & Vincent, the reigning International Bluegrass Music Association two-time Entertainers of the Year, are also the lead 2010 IBMA award nominees, receiving ten nominations, including Entertainer of the Year and Vocal Group of the Year.
"When we first started planning the design of this album cover, we were not thinking about awards," said Cracker Barrel Marketing Manager Julie Craig, who managed all aspects of the packaging. "We wanted to focus on what the design elements were that would make people see how special this CD is," she added, pointing out that since the CD would be available only at Cracker Barrel locations, it had to fit in with the look and feel of an old country store while also complementing the authentic sounds of artists Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent. "I worked closely with the talented team at The Buntin Group to make sure that the art design would be as authentic, genuine and real as the music on the disc is," said Craig.
That attention to detail is what made the difference, according to Buntin Group Creative Director Tom Cocke, who said, "The challenge for any designer in Nashville is to come up with something original. Lots of CDs are designed in Nashville, so part of the process is to make sure it doesn't look like a cover that's been done before." Cocke says this project shows that good design supports the overall integrity of the artist and music.
Graphic Designer Devan Todd said that he wanted to keep the album art simple without too many flourishes or embellishments. "I've always liked the LPs from the 50s and the 60s and wanted to go with some monochromatic and muted colors because I thought that would work well with the style of the music and for Cracker Barrel," said Todd.
And, of course, the design has to communicate, according to Account Supervisor Becky Hensley. "With this project, we knew we had to quickly appeal to anyone looking at the packaging and its relationship with Cracker Barrel and with authentic bluegrass music. Cracker Barrel is known for its good country cookin', of course, but its exclusive music program is becoming more and more popular, in part because all the details point to authenticity," she said.
"We don't know whether we will win Best Graphic Design," said Cracker Barrel's Julie Craig, "but you know what? It may be a cliche, but it really is an honor to be nominated. Our team is thrilled!"
The International Bluegrass Music Association awards are September 30, 2010. Best of luck to artists Dailey & Vincent with their ten nominations!
About Cracker Barrel
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store provides a friendly home-away-from-home in its old country stores and restaurants. Guests are cared for like family while relaxing and enjoying real home-style food and shopping that's surprisingly unique, genuinely fun and reminiscent of America's country heritage…all at a fair price. The restaurant serves up delicious, home-style country food such as meatloaf and homemade chicken n' dumplins as well as its signature biscuits using an old family recipe. The authentic old country retail store is fun to shop and offers unique gifts and self-indulgences.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBRL) was established in 1969 in Lebanon, Tenn. and operates 595 company-owned locations in 41 states. Every Cracker Barrel unit is open seven days a week with hours Sunday through Thursday, 6 a.m. – 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 6 a.m. - 11 p.m. For more information, visit: CrackerBarrel.com

Hot Rize on Mountain Stage - Ticket Info

Hot Rize will be part of a Mountain Stage taping in Morgantown WV, November 7, ticket info is below.

November 7 at 7 pm


WVU Creative Arts Center - Morgantown, WV

Doors 6:30pm Show 7:00pm

Advance Tickets $15.00

At the Door $20.00

Available ONLY CAC Box Office,

304 293 SHOW


Tickets from Ticketmaster


Hot Rize
Red Knuckles & the Trailblazers
Stan Ridgway

Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys Converge In Kentucky

Owensboro, Ky., is home to the International Bluegrass Museum and the site of the Blue Grass Boys' musical reunion.

"It's just like you going to a family reunion. I mean, we're all in the same family," Guy Stevenson says. "We was all taught by the same teacher."


Stevenson played with the Blue Grass Boys in 1973. Over the years, there were countless incarnations of the group that backed up Bill Monroe's singing and mandolin-picking. Between its formation at the start of WWII and Monroe's death in 1996, about 175 Blue Grass Boys wore the band's signature Stetson hats. This summer, the International Bluegrass Museum's annual ROMP Festival hosted a reunion for 29 of them. Before ROMP, many of those had never shared a stage together.


Monroe's band included some of the best bluegrass pickers, but not everyone was well-known when they first joined the group. Some couldn't even really play the instruments they were hired to play. Scottie Baugus, for instance, was 29 when Monroe tapped him to sing and play guitar. He had never before worked as a professional musician.


Once he was hired, Baugus says things were stressful — the band hardly ever rehearsed. At his first show, he got to see the set list only 20 minutes before stepping on stage. Luckily, he already knew all the songs from Monroe's recordings. Fiddler Wayne Jerrolds joined the band in 1988; his first gig was the next night at the Grand Ole Opry.


"Man, I got in there about to have a heart attack, 'cause I always wanted to do it," Jerrolds says. "And I thought, 'This is my big chance and I'm gonna blow it; I'll freeze.' But I made it through it. I had to take about three Xanax, or I couldn't have made it, to tell you the truth."


The Father Of Bluegrass?

Some Blue Grass Boys are less... Full NPR story,

Traditional Ties, 09/12/10, Playlist

Traditional Ties special feature: The entire second hour will be a ROMP concert by Mac Martin & the Dixie Travelers recorded in Owensboro KY, this past June, when Mac was honored as one of the pioneers of Bluegrass Music.

Air Time

Artist Name

Song Title

Album Name

Label

Duration



10:00 PM

Kenny Baker

Jerusalem Ridge (Theme)

Plays Bill Monroe

County

2:00



10:03 PM

Balsam Range

Trains I Missed

Trains I Missed

Mountain Home

3:43



10:07 PM

Bartley Brothers

Hit the Road

Hir the Road

Rural Rhythm

2:12



10:10 PM

Gulley -Stafford

On a Day Like This

Dogwood Winter

Rural rhythm

2:43



10:13 PM

High Ground

A Gibson and a Beat Up Chevrolet

Bristol Station

High Ground

3:07



10:17 PM

Blue Moon Rising

Time to Be Moving On

Strange New World

Rural Rhythm

2:18



10:19 PM

Darren Beachley

Jenny

Take Off

Patuxent

4:59



10:24 PM

No One You Know

Looking for a Sign

Looking for a Sign

Mountain Fever

2:51



10:27 PM

Marty Stuart

Hard Working Man

Ghost Train

Sugar Hill

3:04



10:31 PM

Balasm Range

The Touch

Trains I Missed

Mountain Home

3:34



10:34 PM

Lou Reid

God's Front Porch

Sounds Like Heaven to Me

Rural Rhythm

3:00



10:37 PM

Lonesome River Band

Forty Days in the Desert

Still Learning

Rural Rhythm

4:20



10:41 PM

Larry Stephenson

You'll See Jesus

20 th Anniversary

Whysper Drean

3:00



10:45 PM

Box Cars

In God's Hands

Advance Single

Mountain Home

3:57



10:49 PM

Volume Five

Sailing On

Down In a Cell

Mountain Fever

3:25



10:52 PM

Gibson Brothers

Ring the Bell

Ring the Bell

Compass

3:46



10:56 PM

Dailey & Vincent

Hide Me Rock of Ages

Singing from the Heart

Rounder

2:39



11:00 PM

True Bluegrass

With Care from Someone (Theme)

True Bluegrass 1979

True Bluegrass

1:00



11:01 PM

Mac Martin

Live Concert

ROMP

ROMP

58:18







JOHN TROUT, WYEP FM, PITTSBURGH, PA. tties91@hotmail.com/

'TRADITIONAL TIES'- NEW RELEASE BLUEGRASS WITH FEATURES. 91.3 WYEP, http://www.wyep.org 10:00 PM Eastern Time (U.S.) Sundays. Streaming Audio

1608 JEFFERSON ST, LATROBE PA, 15650 -2940

'TRADITIONAL TIES' - 25 YEARS IN 2010



Link to Traditional Ties web pages:

http://wyep.org/traditionalties

Iowa man hopes to sell custom instruments

By JOSH NELSON


ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW HARTFORD, Iowa — Weekdays are spent on the road. Weekends are spent at home, usually in a small workshop in the basement.
The room is covered wall-to-wall with evidence of the trade — bodies, backs, bridges, pick guards — everything waiting to be assembled.
The shop is Steve Hinde’s escape.
“This is a nice place to come and relax,” he says.
Hinde, 49, has steadily carved out a name under the brand Hinde Custom Instruments. He’s one of just a few craftsmen in Iowa who make mandolins, though he has also built acoustic and electric guitars, a resonator guitar and a fiddle.
The work is equally hobby and business.
Across from his workbench are two finished mandolins and a mandola — a larger version of the mandolin. A nearby closet is cluttered with more instrument pieces and the first guitar he made eight years ago.

...Those lucky enough to get a custom guitar or mandolin appreciate the instruments.
“It was the first mandolin I ever saw that I was ever able to sit down and enjoy playing,” Rick Farris says.
He plays in the well-known bluegrass band Special Consensus.

Eddie Farris, Rick’s brother, also plays a Hinde guitar in bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs’ Kentucky Thunder band.

The Farris brothers met Hinde years ago at a bluegrass festival in Newton. Hinde later gave Rick Farris one of the first mandolins he made.More

Gibson Brothers nab four award nominations

By Suzanne Moore, The Press-Republican, Plattsburgh, N.Y.

Sept. 06--BRAINARDSVILLE -- Appropriately enough, the Gibson Brothers got the news via radio.
Somewhere on the road between Green Bay, Wis., and Gettysburg, Pa., the homegrown bluegrass band had Sirius XM tuned in to hear the final nominations for the 2010 International Bluegrass Association Awards.
They're among five nominees each for Album of the Year ("Ring the Bell"), Song of the Year (title track "Ring the Bell), Vocal Group of the Year and Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year.
"We had a van full of smiling faces," said Eric Gibson.
He and brother, Leigh, had had high hopes for the Chet O'Keefe gospel song they'd heard first in a barroom in Muncie, Ind.
"I just had to have it," Eric said. "I knew if we got a good recording of it, it would be a song that would really help our career."
He chuckled. "For once, I was right."
ANOTHER HIT
The trajectory of the band's most recent album and its title track might have given him a hint. In December 2009, they both hit No. 1 on the December 2009 Albums Chart of Bluegrass Unlimited's National Bluegrass Survey.
"Farm of Yesterday" from that CD, written by Eric and Leigh, made a slower but steady climb to reach No. 1 this month.
"It's been on the charts for 13 months -- that's not something you usually see," Eric said.
That song is one that's especially close to the brothers' hearts, as it puts to music cherished memories of growing up on the family farm in Ellenburg.
"I thought that song might be too personal to grab a bunch of people's attention," Eric said.
He was wrong about that.
"Everywhere we go, it's requested. And people come up after and tell us their stories.
"That's a reward in itself."
MAGAZINE COVER
It has been a good year, one of heavy touring for the bluegrass duo and the rest of the band: Mike Barber on bass, Clayton Campbell on fiddle and Joe Walsh on mandolin.


"I think the awards nominations are a direct result of the touring we've done the last couple of years," Eric said. "We've really hammered it."


In April, the Gibsons made the cover of Bluegrass Unlimited, an accomplishment also fueled by "Ring the Bell," for it was the band's fifth consecutive album to hit No. 1.
"It's richly deserved but still an astonishing achievement for a band that keeps such an even-keeled -- and humble -- attitude toward the music business," writes Chris Stuart in the cover story.


GERMAN GIG
In the spring, the Gibsons took their guitars, banjos, bass and mandolin to Oldenburg, Germany -- their first show across the pond. Full story.

Banjo Pioneer Still Pickin'

John Pirro, Staff Writer



NEWTOWN -- He's performed and recorded with musical giants ranging from Doc Watson and Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan and Guy Lombardo.


Several of his students went on to play with some of the best-known folk music groups of the 1950s and 1960s.


More than six decades after he first picked up the instrument, bluegrass banjo pioneer Roger Sprung, of Newtown, still displays the sense of humor that has made him an audience favorite at festivals and concerts where he continues to perform, along with the musicianship that twice during the 1970s earned him the title of "World Champion Five-String Banjo Player" in North Carolina and Virginia competitions.


Jazz and pop singer Kay Starr, who Sprung has also accompanied, used to say that the banjo was "a happy instrument," and Sprung, who last month celebrated his 80th birthday, is definitely a happy banjo player.

"I have a joke for everything," Sprung said.


Born and raised in Manhattan, Sprung, the son of a lawyer, started playing the piano at the age of seven, and developed a fondness for boogie woogie.


But that vanished in 1947, when his older brother took him to Washington Square Park to hear the folk musicians playing there.


"That was the end of the piano," he said.


He learned how to play the guitar, then the banjo, and within a few years, quit his job as a specifications writer for a radio tower company to devote full-time to playing and teaching music.


"I found out I could make twice as much money teaching music,' he said.


Among those who took lessons from Sprung were John Stewart of the Kingston Trio, Erik Darling of the Weavers and the Rooftop Singers, and Chad Mitchell of the Chad Mitchell Trio.

Beginning in 1950, Sprung began making yearly pilgrimages to the South, where he met with bluegrass musicians and developed the style that came to be known as progressive bluegrass. Full story.

An Afternoon with Beaver Creek

Darlene and I were privileged to send some time with old friends today. The Beaver Creek Band was appearing at the Westmoreland Fairgrounds, as part of the Arts & Crafts Colonial Festival.




I was great to renew our longstanding friendship of almost 30 years.



The will be playing there again tomorrow (Labor Day) with three early afternoon shows if you miss them as much as we do, you'll want to check them out.



The accompanying photo is not mine and is not from today, but it is the band as it is currently constituted.
 

Scott Pearson, Jim Metz, Rich Ord, Mary Ord, Randy Ord

New Music from Steve Gulley & Tim Stafford

By Keith Lawrence
Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer

STEVE GULLEY AND TIM STAFFORD, "Dogwood Winter," Rural Rhythm. 14 tracks.


Steve Gulley and Tim Stafford have been writing songs together for years. In 2008, their "Through The Window of A Train" was named song of the year by the International Bluegrass Music Association.


Both have made their marks separately as singers and musicians.


Gulley, a member of Grasstowne, honed his skills with Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver and Mountain Heart.


Stafford, a member of Blue Highway, worked in Dusty Miller and Alison Krauss & Union Station before helping launch Blue Highway in 1994.
But after years of writing together for other people, the two decided to record an album of 14 of their favorite songs.


It's not strictly a bluegrass album - there's a piano on "Nebraska Sky" and percussion on both "Nebraska Sky" and "Torches."


So call it "countrygrass" - a description that fits a lot of bluegrass albums these days.


It's definitely a singer-songwriter album with lots of well-crafted lyrics.


The title cut is about pioneers who find hard times and death "in the land of milk and honey where the dogwood blossoms bloom."


"Nebraska Sky" is a letter to a mother from her soldier son, which promises "someday soon, I'll be coming home to stay."

"Just Another Setting Sun" is about the death of gunfighter/gambler John Henry "Doc" Holliday as told by his common-law wife "Big Nose Kate" Elder.


"Sixteen Cents" tells the story of a dead hobo who has only 16 cents in his pockets.More.

Celebrity Concert with Sam Bush

As a part of the Tribute to Grandpa Jones weekend, the Ozark Folk Center is very proud to announce that Sam Bush will be headlining the evening performance on Friday, September 3, 2010.

Grammy Award winning multi-instrumentalist Sam Bush doesn't seem old enough to be a musical legend. And he's not. But he is. Alternately known as the King of Telluride and the King of Newgrass, Bush has been honored by the Americana Music Association and the International Bluegrass Music Association.

"It's overwhelming and humbling," Bush says of his lifetime achievement award from the AMA. "It goes along with the title cut of my new album, Circles Around Me, which basically says, how in the hell did we get this far? In my brain I'm still 17, but I look in the mirror and I'm 57."
But honors are not what drive him. "I didn't get into music to win awards," he says. "I'm just now starting to get somewhere. I love to play and the older I get the more I love it. And I love new things." Among those new things are the growing group of mandolin players that identify Bush as their musical role model in much the same way he idolized Bill Monroe and Jethro Burns. "If I've been cited as an influence, then I'm really flattered because I still have my influences that I look up to," Bush says. "I'm glad that I'm in there somewhere."
He's being humble, of course. Bush has helped to expand the horizons of bluegrass music; fusing it with jazz, rock, blues, funk and other styles. He's the co-founder of the genre-bending New Grass Revival and an in-demand musician who has played with everyone from Emmylou Harris and Bela Fleck to Charlie Haden, Lyle Lovett and Garth Brooks. And though Bush is best known for jaw-dropping skills on the mandolin, he is also a three time national junior fiddle champion and Grammy award winning vocalist.

"In the acoustic world, I've been pretty lucky to play with almost every one of my heroes. I've gotten to play with Bill Monroe, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, I've been to the mountain," says Bush with a smile.More

Milestones pile up for Kentucky banjo legend

Milestones pile up for Kentucky banjo legend

By Walter Tunis Contributing Music Writer



J.D. Crowe turned 73 last week, but he keeps a busy schedule with tour dates and his festival.

With a career that has run a full half-century, from 1950s work with Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys to the newest edition of his own band New South, it's safe to say that J.D. Crowe has seen and heard it all when it comes to bluegrass music.



"Oh yeah," said the Grammy-winning Lexington/Nicholasville banjo great. "I really have."



But as the bluegrass festival that bears his name prepares to celebrate its 10th edition this weekend, many milestones from Crowe's remarkable career are about to converge.



At the festival, he will host performances by longtime musical mates Doyle Lawson and Bobby Osborne. But there also will be sets by celebrated younger acts, notably The Grascals, that are redefining the string-music strategies of bluegrass in much the same way that Crowe did during the '70s.



Meanwhile, there is the matter of the present-day New South, which recently recruited two new members.



That's a pretty fair amount of time traveling for Crowe, who turned 73 last week.


"It just takes a while to get things like this rolling," Crowe said of his festival. "I've always said if you can hang on for five years, you're pretty good. We're up in attendance about 22 percent over the last two years. So we're real pleased with that, especially in this economy." Full story.



 









Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/09/02/1417594/milestones-pile-up-for-kentucky.html#ixzz0yPT9QenT

57th Annual Farmers & Threshermans Jubilee To Feature Bluegrass

The 57th annual New Centerville Rural & Volunteer Fire Company's Farmer's & Threshermans Jubilee will once again feature bluegrass music as part of their entertainment lineup.

Friday, September, 10th will feature Poverty Hollow on the main stage in Museum Hall. Performance times are: 7:00, 8:00 & 9:15 PM

Saturday, September, 11 features The Big River Boys who classify themselves as: "a country/bluegrass duo specializing in real down home, beer drinking, foot stompin', trailer rockin' country music." at 6:30, 7:30 & 9:00 PM.

Sunday will feature the Allegheny Drifters on the main stage at Museum Hall at 12:30, 2:00 & 3:00 PM.

The Victory Express will also perform Sunday at 3:00, 4:00 & 5:00 PM in the Threshing Area.

The Farmers & Threshermans Jubilee is located in New Centerville, PA on Route 281 just 9 miles from Somerset's exit 110 of the PA Turnpike.

Working steam engines, hit & miss engines, antique cider press, sawmill, flour mill, feed grinder and truck & tractor pulls are some of the other activities to enjoy over the 5 day event.

Visit the Jubilee website at: NCRVC

Andy Griffith, Doc Watson to enter hall of fame

By Joe Marusak

jmarusak@charlotteobserver.com

Posted: Wednesday, Sep. 01, 2010

KANNAPOLIS


Actor-gospel recording artist Andy Griffith, bluegrass great Doc Watson and country singer George Hamilton IV will be among 13 artists inducted into the N.C. Music Hall of Fame on Oct 7.


The ceremony will be at 7 p.m. in the David H. Murdock Core Laboratory Building at the North Carolina Research Campus.


Most of the inductees and/or their families are scheduled to attend, and several artists to be named will perform, Hall of Fame Chairman Bill Kopald said.


Inductees also include recording artist Maurice Williams, country artists Donna Fargo and Arthur Smith, bluegrass musician Curly Seckler, jazz pianist and composer Dr. Billy Taylor, gospel recording artist Shirley Caesar and composer, guitarist and soloist Don Schlitz .More.

/andy-griffith-doc-watson-to-enter.html#ixzz0yKmp0pLa

No Traditional Ties on 9/5

Traditional Ties, and all the other weekend programming on WYEP, will be preempted this coming weekend.

WYEP will be presenting the 913 top songs of the decade as voted by listeners. This will start Friday evening and continue through Labor Day,

We will return on 9/12 with a very special Traditional Ties, presenting Mac Martin and the Dixie Travelers, recorded at the International Bluegrass Music Museum's River of Music Party this past June. Special guest Curly Seckler will join Mac for two songs.

Mac, a Pittsburgh native was honored as a Bluegrass pioneer and  as one of the first generation Bluegrass Music artists. .This presentation will take the entire second hour of the show,

During the first hour single selections from several new releases will be presented, These releases will get our usuall feature or highlight treatment in a upcoming shows.

Please help to spread the word, and tune in at 91.3 FM Pittsburgh PA, of on Line at Http://wyep.org/
10:00pm  EDT

Frostburg State University Presents the 5th Annual Appalachian Festival September 17th & 18th

The FSU Appalachian Festival takes place on the Frostburg State University campus September 17th & 18th.

At its heart, Frostburg State University’s Appalachian Festival is a celebration of regionalism. It is a celebration of the region’s natural landscape, history, culture, food, musical and artistic traditions—all of those aspects that make this section of Appalachia unique. The cultural traditions demonstrated at the FSU Appalachian Festival are living traditions that continue to be practiced here. Many traditions have been passed down from one generation to the next for three generations or more. Despite the changes introduced through new technology, what remains stable in these artist expressions is their connection to community, culture, and place.

Through its music and dance performances, historical, cultural, and environmental presentations, hands-on traditional arts workshops, and numerous children’s activities, the FSU Appalachian Festival provides participants and attendees with an opportunity to share regional knowledge and become engaged in perpetuating long-standing traditions. Together, the exhibitions, discussions, workshops, lectures, and performances highlighted at the FSU Appalachian Festival provide Mountain Maryland and the contiguous region with a rich sense of place.

Music will be performed throughout the event on several stages. Mountain Therapy will perform Saturday at 1:20 PM and again at 4:40 PM on the Compton Stage at FSU. Additional performance information can be found here

Saturday to end with a Capstone Concert featuring David Holt and Laura Boosinger! Four-time Grammy Award winner David Holt is a musician, storyteller, historian, television host and entertainer, dedicated to performing and preserving traditional American music and stories. Holt plays ten acoustic instruments and has released numerous recordings of traditional mountain music and southern folktales.

Laura Boosinger, most known for her banjo playing, offers old-time mountain ballads, and has released four solo albums, along with one with George Shuffler. Her albums, including Most of All and Let Me Linger, feature traditional songs such as "Cannonball," "Peace Precious Peace" and "I'm S-A-V-E-D" and "Down in the Valley." Boosinger features a variety of traditional stringed instruments, including old-time banjo, guitar, Appalachian dulcimer and fingerstyle Autoharp.

To learn more, please check : www.frostburg.edu/events/afestival