Musician's Friend - The Hub Features EPR Banjo Players!

The Hub, the online magazine for Musician's Friend, published a story that features musicians from each of the bands we represent. Written by April Bone and titled "From Hillbillies to Hipsters: The Brave New World of the Banjo." The article covers the discovery of the banjo, musicians who made it famous, and those who are carrying on the tradition while breaking down the "banjo barrier!" Featured banjoists in the article include Keith McKinnon (Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out), Glenn Gibson (Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper), Rick Spinney (The Spinney Brothers), Blake Williams and Joe Mullins (Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers). Read the complete article here.

New Music, New Videos, Packed Tour Schedules!

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper released their new CD, On Down the Line  on Compass Records and the outstanding reviews are pouring in! Check out what these reviewers have to say about this stellar project!

CMT Edge

Bluegrass Today

Country Standard Time

Our Musical Journey 

Hudson Valley Bluegrass

Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out continues to amaze audiences with new ways to present their music. Case in point, the award-winning band was recently joined on stage by Centerville, Ohio's Alternative Strings for a special concert combining bluegrass music with a string orchestra. The event took place at the Musicians Agains Childhood Cancer festival and was nothing short of spine-tingling! Thankfully, fellow blogger Ted Lehmann captured some of the incredible concert on video and has shared it with the world! Check out these amazing live performances: 

"Erase The Miles"

"Country Roads"

"Me & Dad"

The Spinney Brothers have released new music from their upcoming CD on Mountain Fever Records. The CD, titled Tried & True will be available on October 14th but the first single, "Gonna Catch A Train" is scoring big points with radio programmers and fans alike! Here's a sneak peek at the cover for the new record and a link to hear a clip of "Gonna Catch a Train!"

Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers have been promoting their latest single, "The Last Parade," which will be part of their new CD, Another Day From Life, due for release on Rebel Records on September 30th. All proceeds from the digital download of the song will be donated to the Patriot Guard Riders and you may download the song through iTunes or Amazon. JMRR have performed on the Grand Ole Opry several times and the Opry has featured a recent performance of "The Last Parade" on their YouTube channel. Check it out here.

Blake Williams will travel to Milan Michigan for the Milan Bluegrass Festival this month. He'll take on the master of ceremony duties for the entire week and will entertain audiences with his humor, history and stories from the road. Blake is on Facebook and Twitter and has been sharing never before seen photos and stories of his 40+ years playing professional bluegrass music. You can also hear Blake's banjo work on the latest single from Becky Buller - "Southern Flavor." Check out this "behind the scenes" video on the making of "Southern Flavor."





Upcoming Performances
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeper
Thursday, July 31st - WAMU's Bluegrass Country LIVE Radio Performance
Friday, August 1st - Pickin In Parsons - Parsons, WV
Saturday, August 2nd - PreddyFest - Franklinton, NC
Wednesday, August 6th - Music City Roots - Franklin, TN
Thursday, August 7th - Station Inn - Nashville, TN
Friday, August 8th - Jim Porter's - Louisville, KY

Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out
Saturday, August 2nd - Back 40 Bluegrass Festival - Curryville, MO
Friday, August 8th - Osborne Brothers Festival - Hyden, KY
Saturday, August 9th - MBOTMA Festival - Richmond, MN

The Spinney Brothers
Wednesday, July 30th - Pickin In Parsons - Parsons, WV
Thursday, July 31st - Bluegrass In The Hills - Hopedale, OH

Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers
Thursday, July 31st - Greene County Fair - Xenia, OH
Friday, August 1st - Back 40 Bluegrass Festival - Curryville, MO
Saturday, August 2nd - Mountain Top VFW Festival - Plaseant Hill, OH
Saturday, August 9th - MBOTMA Festival - Richmond, MN

Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out Headline Musicians Against Childhood Cancer Festival with Special Performance with Alternative Strings

Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out will headline the Musicians Against Childhood Cancer festival (MACC) on Friday, July 18th with a special concert that includes performances with Alternative Strings, an orchestra comprised of students grades 8-12 from the Centerville, Ohio school system.

 

The combination of top artists in bluegrass music and an orchestra of young students was the brainchild of music educator and Alternative Strings conductor, Doug Eyink, who began putting his students in performance situations with professional bluegrass artists just a few years ago. After seeing Alternative Strings perform, Darrel Adkins approached Eyink about presenting a special concert at the MACC festival each year. Eyink happily agreed and the rest is history. 

 

"The group this year is an equal mix of Centerville Alternative Strings and The School of Strings Junior Alternative Strings'" states Eyink. "About half of these kids have never had the opportunity to perform at the MACC or with a headliner band such as Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out. I am a life-long fan of Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out and I have so much respect for each of them as professional musicians. I have all of their recordings, so this opportunity to arrange music to perform with them is absolutely mind blowing and amazing!"

 

This special concert event will take place on Friday, July 18th at 10:00pm ET and will include several of Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out's most popular songs including "John & Mary," "My Angeline," and "Pretty Little Girl From Galax," among others. "We've never done anything like this before," explains IBMA's 5-Time Male vocalist, Russell Moore. "We're all really excited about the opportunity and, hopefully, the audience at the MACC festival will wrap their arms around it as well!

 

The Musicians Against Childhood Cancer festival will take place July 16th through 19th at Hoover Y-Park in Lockbourne, Ohio. In addition to the concert with Alternative Strings on Friday, July 18th, Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out will also perform on Wednesday, July 16th at 6:00pm. For more information on the MACC festival, visit www.bluegrassclassic.com. For more information on Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, visit www.iiirdtymeout.com. 

Videos, New Music, Feature Stories for EPR Artists!

We've had a full week of news from the East Public Relations camp and are beaming with excitement!

The Spinney Brothers have released a sneak peek to the first single from their upcoming CD, Tried and True, due for release in the fall. "Gonna Catch a Train" is the first single that will roll into radio stations on July 8th. Here's a sample track for you to enjoy: 

We announced a few months ago that Michael Cleveland & Flamkeeper have signed with Compass Records and we are thrilled to announce "Fiddlin' Joe" has been sent to radio stations as the first single from their upcoming CD, On Down the Line, due for release July 22nd. A special performance video has been posted to coincide with "Fiddlin' Joe."

The International Bluegrass Music Association has posted a recent "Backyard Bluegrass Sessions" video featuring Joe Mullins & Junior Sisk with their hit single, "Wild Mountain Honey," from their duet project on Rebel Records, Hall Of Fame Bluegrass! The song is currently #1 on Bluegrass Unlimited's Top 30 Songs chart for June and the CD, has spent 5 months on the National Bluegrass Survey Top 15 Albums chart and is currently #5! 

Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out were recently featured in the Gainesville Sun news in promotion of the band's performances in Florida this weekend. In the article, Russell Moore speaks of the allure of bluegrass music: “It was the natural acoustic tones of these instruments. It’s not the electrified, whole band with a great big set of drums that kind of take away from the subtleties of acoustic music. And it was just how approachable the musicians and singers were where I was growing up. You couldn’t get close to a country artist if you went to see them. But I could walk right up to a (bluegrass) band warming up, getting ready to go onstage, listen to what they were doing. And that was very intriguing.”

Read the entire article written by Bill Dean here. 

Catch A Show This Weekend!

The Spinney Brothers

June 20th - Bean Blossom, IN - Bill Monroe Bluegrass Festival

June 21st - Tottenham, Ontario, Canada - Tottenham Bluegrass Festival

June 22nd - Tottenham, Ontario, Canada - Tottenham Bluegrass Festival

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper

Friday, June 20th - Bean Blossom, IN - Bill Monroe Bluegrass Festival

Saturday, June 21st - Franklin, NC - Historic Cowee School Bluegrass Music Concert Series

Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers

Thursday, June 19th - Bean Blossom, IN - Bill Monroe Bluegrass Festival

Friday, June 20th - Charlotte, MI - Charlotte Bluegrass Festival

Saturday, June 21st - Ligonier, PA - Laurel Highlands Festival

Sunday, June 22nd - Cedarville, OH - Dewine Ice Cream Social

Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out

Saturday, June 21st - Winter Garden, FL - Garden Theater

Sunday, June 22nd - Gainesville, FL - Thomas Center

June News from The Spinney Brothers Includes New Music!

New Pictures, New Website, New Music - A Sneak Peek!

We've been hard at work finishing up our new CD forMountain Fever Records and of course that means as we're completing the recording process, new photos and a new website become the next focus. The photo above should serve as a sneak peek into what the new CD packaging will look like as well as an updated look on our website to be revealed later this year. Don't we look all slicked up and citified? Never fear, our hearts are still firmly planted in tradition and we hope that it shows with our new music. We've got songs written by Bill Castle, Pete Goble, Ed Hamilton, Edgar Loudermilk, Paula Breedlove and even a couple from us! We can't wait to share it with you and expect to have our first single hitting the airwaves on July 8th! What's that? You can't wait, either? Well, then…give "Gonna Catch A Train" (written by Ed Hamilton) a listen and let us know what you think. Listen Here!

Caught In The Act!

We love it when friends and fans capture us on stage via video and recently several folks have shared these videos with us. If you haven't caught one of our shows in person lately, check out these performances to get an idea of what we've been up to on the road. 

 

"I Want My Dog Back" - Silver Dollar City

 

"Grandpa's Way Of Life"

 

"Get Down On Your Knees And Pray"

Fan Photo Of The Month

This month's fan photo comes all the way from Buster Moore in North Carolina. Buster snapped this picture at the Central Virginia Bluegrass Festival in Amelia and had this to say: "I saw these guys in Amelia, VA for the first time and they were AMAZING!! Great show, presentation, interacted with the audience well, and just plain talented. Got to spend some time talking with them between sets and they were very cordial and friendly. I hope they come back next year. I'll wear my 'I Want My Dog Back' shirt with pride!" 
 
 If you've got a photo you'd like to share, please post it on the band's Facebook page and we just might choose it for a future "Fan Photo Of The Month!"

Current Charts!

We want to give a great big THANKS to all the DJs who have given our No Borders CD so much airplay and of course to the fans for making those requests. Currently, No Borders has been on Bluegrass Unlimited's Top 15 Albums chart 11 months and is sitting at #9 for the month of June. Additionally, "I Want My Dog Back" has been on the BU Top 30 Songs chart for 8 months and is this month's #8 song!

EPR Artists and the Latest News!

On The Charts!
The Spinney Brothers are still riding high with their latest CD, No Borders! The album has spent 11 months on the Bluegrass Unlimited Top 15 Albums chart and is sitting at #9 for the month of June. In addition, the tongue-in-cheek fan favorite, "I Want My Dog Back" climbed to #8 on the BU Top 30 Songs chart!

Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers have the #3 song on the Bluegrass Today Weekly Chart with their latest single "The Last Parade!" In addition, Joe is riding high on the charts with duet partner, Junior Sisk and their Hall Of Fame Bluegrass! CD. "No Doubt About" is #13 on this week's Bluegrass Today Chart while they've hit #1 for the month of June on Bluegrass Unlimited's Top 30 Songs chart with "Wild Mountain Honey!" The album is #5 on the BU Top 15 Albums chart for June.

Blake Williams was honored to join up with some former Blue Grass Boys for a new version of Bill Monroe's "Southern Flavor" on Becky Buller's new project. The single was released just a few weeks ago and made its debut on this week's Bluegrass Today Songs chart coming in at #17. Be sure to check out "Southern Flavor" and the new CD from Becky at her website.

New Music Coming Soon!
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper have new music hitting the airwaves this month! "Fiddlin' Joe" written by Mark "Brink" Brinkman will be the first single from an upcoming CD on Compass Records with the complete project titled On Down The Line expected to hit the streets on July 22nd!

The Spinney Brothers will also have new music later this year on Mountain Fever Records. The yet to be titled release should hit radio in August.

Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers will celebrate the release of Another Day From Life on Rebel Records in the fall. The projects first single, "The Last Parade" is receiving rave reviews and is available for download at iTunes and Amazon with 100% of the proceeds going to the Patriot Guard Riders, Inc.

In The News!
Blake Williams has been busy with his Master of Ceremonies duties recently and enjoyed a great week in Auburn, AL for the Bluegrass On The Plains Festival. You can catch him at other festivals this year including Milan, Michigan, Sparta, Tennessee and Wilmington, Ohio. To book Blake Williams at your event, contact him through his Facebook page or East Public Relations.

Speaking of Sparta, TN, the city's annual music event, Liberty Square: A Lester Flatt Celebration will take place on Saturday, October 11th. In addition to music by Balsam Range, Blake Williams, & Friends, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper and Darin & Brooke Aldridge, the city of Sparta will also make some special dedications in memory of Lester Flatt who would have been 100 years old on June 19th of this year. The event will also be a featured in an upcoming issue of Celebrations magazine. For more details, check out the event website at www.spartatn.com/lesterflatt or the Facebook page.

Shows This Weekend!
Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out:
Friday, June 13th - Lexington, KY - Festival Of The Bluegrass
Saturday, June 14th - Bean Blossom, IN - Bill Monroe Memorial Bluegrass Festival

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper: 
Friday, June 13th - Lexington, KY - Festival Of The Bluegrass
Saturday, June 14th - Elizabethtown, KY - Kentucky State Championship Old-Time Fiddlers Contest

Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers: 
Friday, June 13th - Lowville, NY - Tug Hill Bluegrass Festival
Saturday, June 14th - Lexington, KY - Festival Of The Bluegrass

Catch A Show This Weekend!

Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out

Friday - June 6th - Nashville, TN
CMA Music Festival
Durango/WMS Music Spot
3:30pm Performance
4:00pm Autograph Session

Saturday - June 7th - Elkton, KY
Goose On The Lake Music Festival
7:30pm Performance

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper

Saturday - June 7th - Greenfield, IL
Bluegrass On The Lake
Performances beginning at 1:00pm

Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers

Saturday - June 7th - Frenchburg, KY
Menifee Mountain Memories Festival