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

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

Fans Loved the Weather at the Spring Blackwater Bluegrass Festival
It was a fabulous weekend for bluegrass music at Blackwater Park this weekend. People lounged around on lawn chairs and feasted on BBQ, hot dogs and hamburgers. Another hit at the spring festival were the snow cones. More than a few kids (and some grown ups too) were walking around with strawberry colored teeth.
The sun came up warm with a nice breeze out of the west which made it perfect weather for a festival.



Click below for Photographs

Spring 2007 Friday

Spring 2007 Saturday

Saturday photos by Mitch Freeman

Click here for a great story in the Daily Mountain Eagle on Ray Benson of Clear Blue Sky

Click here for flyer of the Fall Festival