Java Brothers Raze Hillsville

The Java Brothers had a really good time playing at the Carroll County Ag Fair and played as good as we ever have. I'm listening to the tape now and want to go find the sound man and hug him. We sounded good on stage and that was good enough. I remember thinking (as I often do) with some wonder that, in fact, we do not suck. We are quite good. But now I have tape to prove it.

JBs live in Hillsville was really good and lots of fun.

And on top of that we made it back in time to catch the end of the Radford-Pulaski Bridge Battle game and the Bobcats made a real game of it.

Final score 19-7 Pulaski.

Thanks Ralph, Doug, Joe, and Wayne in no particular order.

Java Brothers in Hillsville, Friday

Hillsville is well known as the place to be, so I expect this is unnecessary, but in case you've recently had a head injury, I'll remind all that they should get down to Hillsville Friday evening for the Carroll County Agricultural Fair.

JBs are on from 6-8 playing their fuel-injected brand of bluegrass.

Be there!

Real Boss Jam at the Mill

Maybe it was cause it had been such a long time since all them JBs got together in one place, but the jam was indeed cookin' last night. The full complement of JBs, supplemented by new ace Cory and Banjo Jason Wheeler lending their talents, the jam ran through a whole stack of old favorites, and added some new ones like Sugar Coated Love and Used to Be from the dusty songbook we keep there. They sounded pretty fresh if you ask me.

Least that's how it seemed to me - I didn't get there till after 8.

Good Times at Nesselrod

Congratulations to everybody who made it out to the Hackensaw Boys/Patrick and Goorskey show at Nesselrod on the New last night. Thanks to Ian Fortier for putting the shows on. The earth mover was still present on the outer ring of the amphitheater which tells me that they're in this for at least the short term long haul and the shows will be back next year. I hope so. Maybe I'll even ask somebody who knows!

Saw lots of pals last night, and lots of families with lots of kids dancing around. Good times had by all as far as I could tell. The rain held off, Scott and Abe played the kind of music I love to hear - lots of brother duet stuff and fiddle tunes, the beer was available, and the sound was good. What more do you want in the NRV? Come on people!

Anyhoo, I was glad to see so many familiar faces supporting local music venues. Good job, folks!

Hackensaw Boys at Sunken Garden

This Sunday, august 23rd - check it out!
The fun, fun Hackensaw Boys will play some thrashy old-timey music, and opening up will be our pals, Side Door vets Scott Patrick and Abe Goorskey. Don't miss it.

The Hackensaw Boys
With: Patrick & Goorskey
Sunday, August 23, 2009 - 5:00pm
Sunken Garden Amphitheater at Nesselrod - Radford, VA
Buy Tickets
Tickets: $15 In Advance, $18 Day of Show
Ticket details here

Those of you in the know consider visiting my pad for some pre-show cocktails.

New Sam Bush Record!

That's big news for me, and it comes out on my birthday!

Circles Around Me, Bush's seventh solo album and sixth with Sugar Hill, will be released Oct. 20. The album is an aurally inspiring mix of bluegrass favorites and complementary new songs. "I don't know why, but it felt right at this moment in my life to go back and revisit some things that I've loved all my life, which is bluegrass and, unapologetically, newgrass," says Bush. "After all these years of experimenting --and there's experimentation on this record too --I've come full circle."
Produced by three-time Grammy winner Bush, the 14-song set includes appearances by Del McCoury, Edgar Meyer, Jerry Douglas and New Grass Revival co-founder Courtney Johnson (posthumously). The album also employs the phenomenal talent of Bush's band: Scott Vestal, Stephen Mougin, Byron House and Chris Brown.

Buy it! Buy it!

Aug 17th Jam

Not a bad little jam last night. Started off kinda slow but got better. We started with Jason, George, Nancy, Richard, Frankie, Kendall and myself. When we figured Doug was not coming, we gave Chris a quick call and he bailed us out with the bass. After he got there, we added Joe, a new guy on the guitar, Cory, and then PJ took a turn on the bass. Kendall took one too, in order to give Chris' finger a break.

We had a good crowd, some of which looked to be new to the jam. I left at 9pm to head to work, so I can't speak for the happenings after that. I know Tim was in the house, but don't know if he played any. We missed our fearless leader, Ralph, but muddled through in his absence. Hope we are at full strength next week.