"In November & December 2011 I headed to China to tour the historic Silk Road that Marco Polo made famous centuries ago; the major trade route of the ancient world. Accompanied by the finest US musicians and humans you could meet, "The Village" toured from Hohhot to Urumqi, stopping to perform and collaborate all along the way with only the goal of building bridges and dissolving difference by communing in good music. Supported by the US Embassy and the Chinese International Center for Exchange, we performed extensively at schools, universities & theaters, and spontaneously on city walls and in town squares all across China's "Wild West". We also collaborated with amazing local musicians all along the route including Han Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, Hui and Uyghur musicians. With 12 videos (2 on National Geographic World Music), photo albums for every stop, and a map of our route along the Silk Road, we invite you to join us on the journey right here!"
The Birthplace of Country Music Alliance grassroots fundraising campaign, Friends of 1927, is simple. It’s 1,927 people giving $520 to raise $1 million to begin final construction on The Birthplace of Country Music Cultural Heritage Center. With less than $1 million of the $10.57 million project left to raise, the Friends of 1927 are key to achieving that goal.
The multi-award winning Oak Ridge Boys, will receive the 2012 James D. Vaughan Impact Award on Oct. 3 during a special ceremony at Dollywood at the Southern Gospel Music Association's (SGMA) annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Singing News Fan Awards.
We want to let everyone know that Mountain Fever Records will be releasing "The Heather Berry & Tony Mabe Show" self titled CD on Feb. 14th. Geoff Morris a distinguished DJ from Australia will be offering up the world premier of the record this coming Monday night on the WWB where he hosts a show every Monday night. Geoff has long been a huge fan of Heather Berry. As Geoff told me a couple weeks ago, "Heather is one 3 people that I could thoroughly enjoy listening to them just read a phone book". Someone from Mountain Fever will be in the chat room during the show giving away CDs among other things.
Nashville, TN (1.24.11) Michael Martin Murphey's album, Tall Grass & Cool Water, Cowboy Songs Volume 6 / Buckaroo Bluegrass 3 hit #1 this month on the Top 20 Western Music Albums Chart of the Western Music Association. Previously the album hit #4 on Billboard's Top 10 Bluegrass Album Chart.
Nashville, TN -- Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out continue to top the bluegrass radio charts with their hit new album Prime Tyme on Rural Rhythm Records. The album is #1 on the February 2012 Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine’s (BU) Top 15 Album chart along with their single, "If Your Heart Should Ever Roll This Way Again" also reaching #1 on the BU Top 30 Songs. Another popular song, "Pretty Little Girl From Galax" made its debut this month at #30 on the BU Top 30 Songs.
Berkeley, CA -- Singer/Songwriter duo Nell Robinson & Jim Nunally return to the Bay Area reinvigorated following a successful East Coast tour which culminated in a standing room only audience at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Selected as one of the top female vocalists of 2011, Nell Robinson teams up with award-winning guitarist Jim Nunally to headline SFBOT's "Duo Night" at St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church for an evening of music "at the intersection of bluegrass, Americana, country and folk."
Nashville, TN -- The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is opening a spotlight exhibit, Something in Red, in support of the American Heart Association and Go Red For Women®. The exhibition, which will feature red ensembles from several country stars, including Sara Evans, Naomi Judd and Lorrie Morgan, will open on February 3, 2012 (National Wear Red Day), and run through April 2012.
Saturday, January 28th, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia, will present a concert of bluegrass music by the Tyler Willaims Band. Admission to the concert is $7 for adults, $1 for children 6 to 11, under age 6 free. Tyler Williams grew up in Ohio and moved to Johnson City, Tennessee, to study bluegrass music. Ashley Davis is from Fayetteville, North Carolina. When the two of them met at the Galax Old Time Fiddlers Convention in 2007 it wasn't long before they teamed up to form a band.
Rural Rhythm is proud to announce the new single, "My Baby Thinks He's a Train" by Bill Emerson & Sweet Dixie. The song appears on the band's new album, The Touch of Time releasing January 31, 2012. This new tune is now available to radio via AirplayDirect.com and will also be included on Rural Rhythm's Fresh Cuts & Key Tracks radio sampler releasing next week./em
Marion, VA – Grand Ole Opry legend Bobby Osborne and his band the Rocky Top X-press will be in concert for a taping of Song of the Mountains on Saturday, February 4th at the historic Lincoln Theatre in Marion, Virginia.
Westminster, MD -- Common Ground on the Hill is excited to offer winter-spring Jam Classes with instructor Christopher James during the "school year." Classes will be on the McDaniel College campus in Westminster, MD, Monday evenings February 6t thru March 26th, 2012. The total cost for eight group lessons is only $160. These group classes are offered as a way to stay in good musical form and to get ready for the myriad of Tradition Weeks offerings at Common Ground on the Hill in July. Christopher James is a wonderful teacher. Participants will have fun learning to play good music with other folks.
/CMA/ Nashville, TN -- By Sarah Skates QR ("Quick Response") codes, the latest new media marketing method, are popping up everywhere from movie posters to album covers. Easily recognizable as black-and-white squares with black boxes in three of their corners, these powerful codes represent a step forward from the traditional barcode.
Nashville, TN (January 17, 2012) - Hot Bluegrass duo, The Roys, recently taped a PBS Special celebrating the music of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Lee and Elaine Roy joined Randy Travis, Ronnie Milsap and numerous other stars for the event, which raised the rafters of the Loveless Barn outside of Nashville last week. Check out great behind-the-scenes footage and hear the music of Charles "Pa" Ingalls at MTSU Helps Revive Great Old American Music with "Pa's Fiddle" Project - YouTube.
Nashville, TN -- Rural Rhythm Records is very proud to announce another new single release, "Dirt Road Heartache" by Grammy® award winning bluegrass-gospel artist, Marty Raybon. This bluegrass barn burner was written by Melissa Pierce and Jerry Salley and is the first single from the upcoming album, Southern Roots & Branches releasing April 10, 2012 on Rural Rhythm Records. "Marty Raybon on his game and at his best," said Terry Herd (Bluegrass Today & Bluegrass Radio Network).
Words from Abigail: 
The Birthplace of Country Music Alliance grassroots fundraising campaign, Friends of 1927, is simple. It’s 1,927 people giving $520 to raise $1 million to begin final construction on The Birthplace of Country Music Cultural Heritage Center. With less than $1 million of the $10.57 million project left to raise, the Friends of 1927 are key to achieving that goal.
The multi-award winning Oak Ridge Boys, will receive the 2012 James D. Vaughan Impact Award on Oct. 3 during a special ceremony at Dollywood at the Southern Gospel Music Association's (SGMA) annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Singing News Fan Awards.
We want to let everyone know that Mountain Fever Records will be releasing "The Heather Berry & Tony Mabe Show" self titled CD on Feb. 14th. Geoff Morris a distinguished DJ from Australia will be offering up the world premier of the record this coming Monday night on the WWB where he hosts a show every Monday night. Geoff has long been a huge fan of Heather Berry. As Geoff told me a couple weeks ago, "Heather is one 3 people that I could thoroughly enjoy listening to them just read a phone book". Someone from Mountain Fever will be in the chat room during the show giving away CDs among other things.
Nashville, TN (1.24.11) Michael Martin Murphey's album, Tall Grass & Cool Water, Cowboy Songs Volume 6 / Buckaroo Bluegrass 3 hit #1 this month on the Top 20 Western Music Albums Chart of the Western Music Association. Previously the album hit #4 on Billboard's Top 10 Bluegrass Album Chart.
Nashville, TN -- Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out continue to top the bluegrass radio charts with their hit new album Prime Tyme on Rural Rhythm Records. The album is #1 on the February 2012 Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine’s (BU) Top 15 Album chart along with their single, "If Your Heart Should Ever Roll This Way Again" also reaching #1 on the BU Top 30 Songs. Another popular song, "Pretty Little Girl From Galax" made its debut this month at #30 on the BU Top 30 Songs.
Berkeley, CA -- Singer/Songwriter duo Nell Robinson & Jim Nunally return to the Bay Area reinvigorated following a successful East Coast tour which culminated in a standing room only audience at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Selected as one of the top female vocalists of 2011, Nell Robinson teams up with award-winning guitarist Jim Nunally to headline SFBOT's "Duo Night" at St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church for an evening of music "at the intersection of bluegrass, Americana, country and folk."
Nashville, TN -- The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is opening a spotlight exhibit, Something in Red, in support of the American Heart Association and Go Red For Women®. The exhibition, which will feature red ensembles from several country stars, including Sara Evans, Naomi Judd and Lorrie Morgan, will open on February 3, 2012 (National Wear Red Day), and run through April 2012.
Saturday, January 28th, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia, will present a concert of bluegrass music by the Tyler Willaims Band. Admission to the concert is $7 for adults, $1 for children 6 to 11, under age 6 free. Tyler Williams grew up in Ohio and moved to Johnson City, Tennessee, to study bluegrass music. Ashley Davis is from Fayetteville, North Carolina. When the two of them met at the Galax Old Time Fiddlers Convention in 2007 it wasn't long before they teamed up to form a band.
Rural Rhythm is proud to announce the new single, "My Baby Thinks He's a Train" by Bill Emerson & Sweet Dixie. The song appears on the band's new album, The Touch of Time releasing January 31, 2012. This new tune is now available to radio via AirplayDirect.com and will also be included on Rural Rhythm's Fresh Cuts & Key Tracks radio sampler releasing next week./em
Marion, VA – Grand Ole Opry legend Bobby Osborne and his band the Rocky Top X-press will be in concert for a taping of Song of the Mountains on Saturday, February 4th at the historic Lincoln Theatre in Marion, Virginia.
Westminster, MD -- Common Ground on the Hill is excited to offer winter-spring Jam Classes with instructor Christopher James during the "school year." Classes will be on the McDaniel College campus in Westminster, MD, Monday evenings February 6t thru March 26th, 2012. The total cost for eight group lessons is only $160. These group classes are offered as a way to stay in good musical form and to get ready for the myriad of Tradition Weeks offerings at Common Ground on the Hill in July. Christopher James is a wonderful teacher. Participants will have fun learning to play good music with other folks.
/CMA/ Nashville, TN -- By Sarah Skates
Nashville, TN (January 17, 2012) - Hot Bluegrass duo, The Roys, recently taped a PBS Special celebrating the music of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Lee and Elaine Roy joined Randy Travis, Ronnie Milsap and numerous other stars for the event, which raised the rafters of the Loveless Barn outside of Nashville last week. Check out great behind-the-scenes footage and hear the music of Charles "Pa" Ingalls at MTSU Helps Revive Great Old American Music with "Pa's Fiddle" Project - YouTube.
Nashville, TN -- Rural Rhythm Records is very proud to announce another new single release, "Dirt Road Heartache" by Grammy® award winning bluegrass-gospel artist, Marty Raybon. This bluegrass barn burner was written by Melissa Pierce and Jerry Salley and is the first single from the upcoming album, Southern Roots & Branches releasing April 10, 2012 on Rural Rhythm Records. "Marty Raybon on his game and at his best," said Terry Herd (Bluegrass Today & Bluegrass Radio Network).