Moccasin Gap LIVE! (and a preview of the new Freeman & Williams project for good measure!)

Regular listeners of LocalGrass Radio and most of  you who are regular readers of this blog already know that our favorite venue for great bluegrass is the Bellamy Hardware down in Surgoinsville, Tennessee. On a Saturday night last December, just a week before Christmas, we loaded up the Mo-Bile command unit and took a ride down highway 11w to see Moccasin Gap. It was one of the coldest nights of the season, but on the inside the potato soup, the cornbread and the music was sizzlin’ hot! The Moccasin Gap bluegrass band consists of Eric McMurray on banjo & fiddle, his wife Luanne McMurray on bass, John Malayter on mandolin and Daniel Housewright on guitar. These guys and gal have just released their latest CD project called, At Studio One. The band was inspired to record this album at the studios of WETS radio on the campus of East Tennessee State University. After appearing on “Studio One” a popluar Saturday afternoon show hosted by Dave Carter, they decided the acoustics in that studio would be a perfect fit for the project they had in mind. Visit their website for more information and while you’re there check out At Studio One. Order 3 or 4 copies. One for yourself and a couple for your friends! Moccasin Gap can also be found on Facebook! If you see them at a festival, show or venue in your area, check them out! We think you’ll like what you hear!

Also on this, the 51st edition of LocalGrass Radio, we’re going to preview Freeman & Williams, the latest release from Mountain Roads Recordings. As the MRR website puts it, “A new fresh sound from award-winning veteran performers, Jeanette Williams, Johnny Williams and Scott Freeman.” These guys are no strangers to the bluegrass world. Scott Freeman plays mandolin & fiddle and is a regular member of Pathway, who also record for MRR. Johnny Williams has his own MRR project called “Last Day Of Galax” and can be heard on several other offerings by Mountain Roads Recordings, such as music by Big Country Bluegrass and  the collaborations, Close Kin and Born Into Bluegrass. Johnny’s wife Jeanette is a fine singer with several great project of her own including her work with The Daughters Of Bluegrass. Johnny, Jeanette & Scott are all great songwriters as well as fine musicians and singers. Visit the Mountain Roads Recordings website and check out Freeman & Williams as well as all of their other great artists such as The Snyder Family, The VW Boys, Jim Lloyd, Rich In Tradition and MORE!

Be sure to tune in each & every Sunday night on 90.7 FM WEHC or catch us on localgrass.com as we stream around the world!  We play the best local bluegrass you’ve never heard!

The 50th Episode Of LGR!

Join us for the 50th episode of The LocalGrass Radio Show! On this edition we’re featuring an artist who was one of the first guests to ever join us via telephone on the, then brand new, LocalGrass Hotline. That was episode three. We were only children! Well, not exactly children, but the show sure was a baby!  If you’d like to go back in time and read our blog entry for that show, you have a couple of choices. You could scroll & click and scroll & click for several minutes or we’ve made it easy for you. Just click  HERE! The guest we’re speaking of is Paula Dellenback. The first time Paula was on the show, we played several cuts from her newly released CD, The Crooked Road and chatted with her about lots of things pertaining to her life and music. Back when show 3 hit the airwaves, Paula was searching for band members. Now she has those band members and together they make up, Paula Dellenback & Fox River. Back in 2011 Paula and the band played in Dobson, North Carolina at Shelton’s Vineyard. They were able to make a live recording of that concert and we’re happy to get the opportunity to share it with our worldwide radio audience! Be sure and visit Paula & Fox River at their website and be sure to check them out on Facebook at their fan site, Red Fox.

To round out the hour we’re going to play a few tunes by Republik Steele, a band who is fairly new to the bluegrass world. If you’re a regular listener, you’ve probably heard Republik Steele on the show before. They come from Elkhorn City, Kentucky and are currently working on their first studio project. They have a lot of good things in the works for the near future.

If you see Paula Dellenback & Fox River or Republik Steele somewhere out on the road, be sure and tell them you heard ‘em right here on LocalGrass Radio! Be sure to visit our website at LocalGrass.com and listen to us on 90.7 FM WECH or streaming online. We’re playing the best local bluegrass you’ve never heard!

Have you heard the Hurds?

The Hurd Family, that is! These guys (and gal) do an awesome job of entertaining with their great family harmony and fine musical abilities. We caught them last January (2011) at the Bellamy Hardware in Surgoinsville, Tennessee, and decided then and there that the next time we had an opportunity, we were gonna record them for LocalGrass Radio! That opportunity came exactly 1 year later, but we held true to our word, and we’ve got ‘em for you on the show this week! Their song selections are great, too! They reach back and find some you probably haven’t heard in a while. We usually supply links to our featured band’s website or their Facebook page, but unfortunately, The Hurd Family are not on the ‘lectric interweb. You know who IS on it? That’s exactly right! The LocalGrass Radio Show and our good friends & media parters at the Bellamy Hardware! Don’t forget to check out our podcast as well. We try to keep our last 10 or so interview shows posted. If you’re a fan of Apple’s iTunes store, you can also find us there! LocalGrass Radio. We’re not only taking local bluegrass off the porch & sending it around the world… we’re playing the best local bluegrass you’ve never heard!

Willie P. Richardson is on the PHONE!

This weeks edition of the show is a tad different from all the rest. Instead of featuring a local band, we’re welcoming a man who is known by millions for his hilarious phone pranks. The one & only Willie P. Richardson recently paid us a visit on the LocalGrass Hotline! We can’t wait to share this one with our radio audience! Willie tells us some great stories! Have you heard the one about his first phone prank? What about how he spent the money from his first royalty check? That’s just the beginning! Join us for this great edition with one of the funniest people on the planet and one of the nicest guys we know! We’ve thrown in a little bit of local music as always. We’re spinning a new song by The Sons Of Bluegrass, a group of young folks who come to us from East Tennessee State University, and also a little bit of pickin by Marvin Ashby & High Octane.  Marv and the guys come from Berkley Springs, WV. Click those links and pay these bands a visit, but for the most part, this edition is all about the comedy of our very special guest. Visit Willie P on his website at www.worldwidewillie.com. While you’re there, order a few CD’s, get Willie’s chili recipe, find out how to get Willie to conduct your wedding…… hang on a second, maybe you should just wait and hear him tell it himself! Don’t forget us on 90.7 WEHC this and every Sunday night at 8pm for the best local bluegrass you’ve never heard! We can also be heard around the world on the WEHC stream! If you missed the show on the radio, check out the podcast!  Please visit us at our very own website at  LocalGrass.com and remember, we’re taking local bluegrass off the porch and sending it around the world!

One Show, FOUR Bands!

That’s right, FOUR bands! We’re gonna start the show off with a couple of tunes from The StanleyTones, a Colorado based band that’s named for Ralph & Carter Stanley. Of course being named after a legendary bluegrass duo doesn’t necessarily mean they sound like them. These guys have a sound that’s all their own. Visit the StanleyTones at their website! The music we’re featuring comes from their 2009 CD called “Women Make Me Act Like A Fool“.

Next up is something we’ve never featured on our show. As our listeners already know, we’re media partners with the folks down at the Bellamy Hardware in Surgoinsville, TN. Those of you who have been fortunate enough to visit Bellamy Hardware on the 3rd Saturday night for their bluegrass shows already know that between the sets of the headlining act, there’s a half time show. There’s always several good musicians just hanging around, so Mayor Greer rounds up a few and they’ll get up for 30 minutes or so to give the other band a break. That means there’s no telling who will be a part of the half time band. Sometimes it’s led by none other than Mayor Greer himself. When that’s the case, Rosie Jones (The voice of Bluegrass At Bellamy) has aptly named them, “Johnny & His Jammers”.

Winding up the show we’re going to feature some cuts from a demo recording of a fairly new band to the bluegrass scene. These guys are known as Republik Steele. They come to us from Elkhorn City, Kentucky. Members of this band include David Adkins, Kenny O’Quinn, Danny Ray Stiltner, Matthew Cruby (Appalachian Trail/Synaptic Gap) and Wesley Wolfe, (Synaptic Gap). Wesley Wolfe also happens to be playing guitar with “Johnny & His Jammers”  on this very edition of LocalGrass Radio!

WE’RE BACK…. With Uncut Grass!

WHEW! November & December was mighty busy for us! Besides taking time out for all the holidays, (yes, we’ve had at least 3 since you heard a new show from us) we’ve been busy traveling around meeting with folks and taking care of business! The radio business ain’t just sunglasses & autographs, it’s also meetings & rental cars! As we stated in an earlier post, we’re working on some exciting things for 1304 Media Interests and for The LocalGrass Radio Show as well! We’re gonna be honest here and tell you that we can hardly wait to let the proverbial cat outta the bag, but we have no choice. Which means you need to continue tuning us in each Sunday night on 90.7 WEHC and keep following us on Twitter & Facebook!  We promise you’ll know the minute we’re at liberty to talk about it!  Now, on with the show!

On this, our first new edition of 2012, we’re featuring a great local band that we had the privilege to record down in Surgoinsville, Tennessee at Bellamy Hardware. These guys are from Southwest Virginia and are known as Uncut Grass. Our good friend Millard Edwards heads up Uncut Grass. Millard is a well known singer, musician and bluegrass deejay in Southwest Virginia. Besides appearances throughout the area with such bands as The Virginia Cross Ties, Hollow Ground & Uncut Grass, Millard has his very own bluegrass show! You can listen to him every Wednesday night from 6 until midnight on WAXM 93.5 in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. He’s a great guy and a great friend of us here at 1304 Media Interests. One special thing about this show by Uncut Grass is that this performance that we were fortunate enough to record for our show was the very last show this band had scheduled. Their plan was to hang it up after the show at Bellamy. This makes us wonder because, we were also at the last show for another of Millard’s bands, The Virginia Cross Ties, back in 2010….. Hmmmm…. we don’t THINK it’s us! Tune in Sunday night to hear more about it! We can be found on the FM dial at 90.7 WEHC each & every Sunday night at 8pm eastern time. To join us on Facebook & Twitter, order one of our LGR stickers, hear our podcast and a lot of other cool stuff, visit us at localgrass.com for links to all that & MORE!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We want to take this moment to wish each & every one of our listeners a very Merry Christmas! We’ll be back in January with new shows and some BIG news concerning The LocalGrass Radio Show! It’s looking like 2012 is going to be a really good year for us. We can’t wait to get it started! In the meantime, visit our website at localgrass.com. From the home page you’ll find links to us on Facebook, Twitter and a whole bunch of other cool things. So until we return in January, Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years from 1304 Media Interests & The Local Grass Radio Show!

Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin…..

With Thanksgiving behind us (we hope you all had a great one!) we’re getting the World Headquarters all gussied up for Christmas! Regular listeners of the show will notice we’ve been re-airing some older shows. Besides getting our halls all decked, we’re working on all kinds of projects. Some for the LocalGrass Radio Show, some are just business things we’ve been needing to address. Either way, please enjoy the encore shows during this Christmas season and be looking for some great new shows coming up in the new year! In the meantime, visit us on the ‘lectric interweb! You can find links to all our interweb offerings at LocalGrass.com! Things like links to us on Facebook, Twitter, our blog, our podcast and MORE! Speaking of our interweb offerings, here’s a little Christmas gift to you. The audio of our recent interview on Appalachia Speaks, a regional TV show with Jim Edwards & Cyndee Harr. We hope you enjoy the tables being turned on us for a change! We also hope ya’ll have the Merriest Christmas ever!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We want to wish each & every one of you a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! We’re mighty thankful for the opportunity to bring our radio audience great local bluegrass from across the country each & every week and want to thank each one of you for being there. You’re the reason we’re here! So enjoy the day with your family and please tune in this Sunday night for a great encore edition of LocalGrass Radio!

We’re takin’ a trip in the LocalGrass Time Machine!

 

For this week’s show we’ve dusted off one of the very first editions of LocalGrass Radio for your listening pleasure. Uncle Ted White of the North Carolina based Whitewater Bluegrass Company was the guest on our second show. When we re-air a show, normally we tend to choose the more recent ones, but lately we’ve been kicking around the idea of “repackaging” some of the earlier shows. That’s exactly what we’ve done here and this one is a true gem. These guys recently performed at the Carter Family Fold, which is not too far from the World Headquarters, so what better time than now to re-air this great visit with Uncle Ted White? Not only was this a great interview, but you can also hear how the LocalGrass team has changed over the course of time! Back when this interview was conducted, our beloved World Headquarters was just starting to take shape to become what it is today. Linda did most of the talking and Kenneth just said something every now & then. It’s amazing how things have changed! Some LocalGrass trivia to watch for is we had no tagline! This was before our slogan “Taking local bluegrass off the porch and sending it around the world” was born. Linda conducted this interview because it was before our LocalGrass HOTLINE was put in place, which came along on show #3. It’s truly a trip down memory lane for us. If you happened to catch this show way back when it first aired, we hope it will be for you too! Here’s the original blog post. As always, you can tune us in on 90.7 FM WEHC from Emory & Henry College in Emory, Virginia. We’re also streamed around the world via the ‘lectric interweb! To listen to the stream, visit us at LocalGrass.com and click the 90.7 logo! Even though we may not have said it way back on show #2, we were already “Taking local Bluegrass off the porch & sending it around the world”!