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Blackwater
Bluegrass Spring Festival
The Blackwater Bluegrass Spring Festival organizers are
scheduling a great lineup for this years festival which
will be held
on May 16th and 17th. Mark your calendars now.
Marty Rabon, who is a favorite of Blackwater Bluegrass will
be performing in May.
Also signed up is Ray Benson and Clear Blue Sky. This band
has some of the strongest harmonies in Bluegrass today. Visit
Marty Raybon's website by clicking here.
Joining Marty on May 16th will be Clear Blue Sky and Iron
Horse. On Satruday May 17th will be Stan Nelson
& Hurricane Creek, Canaan's
Crossing, Foggy Hollow, CottonMouth
Creek and Crossing
the Gap.
Iron Horse
Muscle
Shoals, Alabama
Iron
Horse was formed in 2000 in the famous hit
recording capital of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s,
Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The band consists of four
members including Vance Henry, guitar, lead & tenor
vocals; Anthony Richardson, banjo, baritone & bass
vocals; Ricky Rogers, bassist, baritone & lead
vocals; and Tony Robertson, mandolin, lead & tenor
vocals. The bands roots go back to the late 1970’s,
when Tony Robertson and Ricky Rogers were charter
members of the popular local group, “The
Next in Line”. Through the years and after
involvement with several groups, the present band
was born as a result of the participation of Tony
Robertson, Vance Henry and Ricky Rogers in the
Jake Landers Band. In January 2003, Anthony was
asked to fill an opening for a banjo player and
the present Iron Horse configuration evolved. Iron
Horse creates much of its own music, with an innate
ability for cross-genre arrangements. Iron Horse
has one self-produced album, “Ridin’ Out
the Storm”, containing fourteen songs, with
ten previously un-released compositions, six of
which are Iron Horse-composed originals. “Ridin’ Out
the Storm” was released in December 2001.
Iron Horse was approached in January 2003 by Los
Angeles-based CMH Records to record a tribute album
to the heavy metal band, Metallica, which was released
in October 2003. Be sure to check on line or at
Wal-Mart Stores for the Iron Horse CD “Fade
to Bluegrass: The Bluegrass Tribute to Metallica”.
Also look for “Black & Bluegrass: The
Bluegrass Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, released in
March 2004 on CMH Records. Iron Horse has recorded
a third CMH project, a bluegrass tribute to Led
Zeppelin that was released in January 2005. Also,
a fourth project which is a Tribute to Modest Mouse.
Release date was November of 2004. To date Iron
Horse has recorded a total of seven projects for
CMH.
The
skill and ability of Iron Horse to transpose
metal to bluegrass while
maintaining the identity
of the originals is exceptional. The versatility
of Iron Horse is demonstrated by the more traditional
flavor of their first CD, “Ridin’ Out
the Storm”. This versatility enables Iron
Horse to perform such standards as “Rocky
Top” and “Man of Constant Sorrow” with
little effort, while entertaining “metal-heads” with
the familiarity of the compositions of metal and
pop icons – all on the same stage. |
Stan Nelson and Hurricane Creek
North
Alabama’s contribution to bluegrass
music over the years has been exceptional. From former “Bluegrass
Boys” Rual Yarbrough and Jake Landers, mandolin
virtuoso Hershel Sizemore, fiddling legend Al Lester
and the incomparable Claire Lynch, to modern day
country-star-turned-bluegrasser Marty Raybon, the
list goes on and on. In the spirit of these and other
artists from the Heart of Dixie, HURRICANE CREEK
has carved out a niche of their own. They are regarded
as one of the most entertaining bluegrass acts on
the scene today. Based in Decatur, Alabama, their
hard-driving stage presence, exceptional musicianship
and great original material have been wowing audiences
across the country for well over a decade. |
Beautiful
Weather for the Fall Festival 2007
The
fall Blackwater Bluegrass Festival enjoyed beautiful weather
again this year. The sky was blue as a robin's egg, to borrow
a line from Joan Baez. The mornings were cool but the sun came
out full by mid day and was warm. The crowd was a little thin
but that made it easy for folks to get up close and personal
with the artists. Bluegrass is the best music and bluegrass
artists are the musicians on the planet.
The festival lineup this fall was Alecia
Nugent, Iron
Horse, The Trinity Mountain Boys as
well as Stan Nelson
and Hurricane Creek, Crossing the Gap and Blue 32.
Alecia Nugent
is an artist on Rounder Records and her first work
is a stunning debut CD by one of the most powerful
new voices
in bluegrass.
Her
unadorned
yet
passionate
style and rare ability to make a song her own place
her among the finest bluegrass singers of today. Produced
by Grammy® nominated producer Carl Jackson and with musical
support from Rebecca Lynn Howard, Rhonda Vincent, Ron McCoury,
and Ben and Sonya Isaacs, Alecia Nugent is a bluegrass
album that is startling in both its purity and depth of
soul. "Alecia Nugent possesses one of the most honest,
refreshing, and believable voices I've heard in many years.
I truly believe she is destined for female vocalist and
album of the year awards." - Eddie Stubbs, WSM
Grand Ole Opry Announcer
You can visit Alecia's website at: http://www.alecianugent.com/
For pictures of the fall festival click here:
Friday Photos
Saturday Photos |
Iron
Horse
Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Iron Horse
was formed in 2000 in the famous hit recording capital of
the ‘60’s and ‘70’s,
Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The band consists of four members
including Vance Henry, guitar, lead & tenor vocals;
Anthony Richardson, banjo, baritone & bass vocals;
Ricky Rogers, bassist, baritone & lead vocals; and
Tony Robertson, mandolin, lead & tenor vocals. The
bands roots go back to the late 1970’s, when Tony
Robertson and Ricky Rogers were charter members of the
popular local group, “The Next in Line”. Through
the years and after involvement with several groups, the
present band was born as a result of the participation
of Tony Robertson, Vance Henry and Ricky Rogers in the
Jake Landers Band. In January 2003, Anthony was asked to
fill an opening for a banjo player and the present Iron
Horse configuration evolved. Iron Horse creates much of
its own music, with an innate ability for cross-genre arrangements.
Iron Horse has one self-produced album, “Ridin’ Out
the Storm”, containing fourteen songs, with ten previously
un-released compositions, six of which are Iron Horse-composed
originals. “Ridin’ Out the Storm” was
released in December 2001. Iron Horse was approached in
January 2003 by Los Angeles-based CMH Records to record
a tribute album to the heavy metal band, Metallica, which
was released in October 2003. Be sure to check on line
or at Wal-Mart Stores for the Iron Horse CD “Fade
to Bluegrass: The Bluegrass Tribute to Metallica”.
Also look for “Black & Bluegrass: The Bluegrass
Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, released in March 2004 on CMH
Records. Iron Horse has recorded a third CMH project, a
bluegrass tribute to Led Zeppelin that was released in
January 2005. Also, a fourth project which is a Tribute
to Modest Mouse. Release date was November of 2004. To
date Iron Horse has recorded a total of seven projects
for CMH.
The skill and ability of Iron Horse to transpose
metal to bluegrass while maintaining the identity of the
originals
is exceptional. The versatility of Iron Horse is demonstrated
by the more traditional flavor of their first CD, “Ridin’ Out
the Storm”. This versatility enables Iron Horse to
perform such standards as “Rocky Top” and “Man
of Constant Sorrow” with little effort, while entertaining “metal-heads” with
the familiarity of the compositions of metal and pop icons – all
on the same stage. |
The Trinity Mountain Boys
The Trinity Mountain Boys will be performing on Saturday
at the fall Blackwater Bluegrass Festival. Members of
the band include - Bradley Walker, Lead & Baritone
vocals; Ray Edwards, Banjo & Tenor Vocals;
Tim Terry, Mandolin & Lead Vocals; Kirk Terry, Rhythm
Guitar,
Scotty Terry, Upright Bass Jim Unger, Fiddle.
The Trinity Mountain Boys began in 1997 when the five original
members started singing and playing music together as a weekend
pastime. Today the band has a very distinctive sound ...
one of the best in bluegrass music today. |
Stan Nelson and Hurricane Creek
Stan
Nelson and Hurricane Creek will be performing at the Blackwater
Bluegrass Fall Festival in October. Hurricane Creek performed
at the festival in the spring of 2006 and they did an outstanding
job.
North Alabama’s contribution to bluegrass music over
the years has been exceptional. From former “Bluegrass
Boys” Rual Yarbrough and Jake Landers, mandolin virtuoso
Hershel Sizemore, fiddling legend Al Lester and the incomparable
Claire Lynch, to modern day country-star-turned-bluegrasser
Marty Raybon, the list goes on and on. In the spirit of these
and other artists from the Heart of Dixie, HURRICANE CREEK
has carved out a niche of their own. They are regarded as
one of the most entertaining bluegrass acts on the scene
today. Based in Decatur, Alabama, their hard-driving stage
presence, exceptional musicianship and great original material
have been wowing audiences across the country for well over
a decade. |
 
Bluegass Favorites Crossing the Gap and Blue 32 Bluegrass
to Play Fall Festival. Both bands will be performing along
with others on Saturday October 13th at the Blackwater Bluegrass
Festival. |
Blackwater
Bluegrass Spring Festival Enjoyed Great Weather.
The
Spring Blackwater Bluegrass festival held on May 18th &
19th 2007 had picture perfect weather. The temps did drop
down to the mid forties in the evenings but the daytime
temps were in the seventies with a light breeze out of the
west which made it a great weekend for bluegrass music.
Marty Raybon was the headliner for the spring festival and
he delighted the crowd with two strong sets of beautiful
music. This is Marty's second visit to the Blackwater Bluegrass
Festival.
Other groups playing at the festival were Clear Blue Sky
(the group formerly know as Out of the Blue", The Al
Wood Band, Dave Evans & Riverbend, Crossing the Gap,
and Speed's Mill bluegrass band.
To the left is Caleb who performed to the delight of the
crowd with Speed's Mill. Caleb played several songs including
The Tennessee Waltz.
Clear Blue Sky has always been very strong vocally but the
new name seems to have brought more focus and intensity.
One person in the crowd remarked after hearing the band
do an acapella version of the Gospel song Are You Afraid
to Die - "that made the hair on my arms stand up."
Lance Kenny, who is the host of Bama Bluegrass also did
an excellent job as always announcing the groups and keeping
the show on schedule. He is a huge supporter of bluegrass
music in general and in particular to groups from Alabama.
You can listen to Lance's program on Friday evenings on
Alabama Public Radio. Click the following link to get more
information. http://wual.publicbroadcasting.net/bluegrass.html
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