Duet Album From Alan Bibey and Wayne Benson Coming Soon

Alan Bibey (Grasstowne) and Wayne Benson (IIIrd Tyme Out) are working on a mandolin duet album for Pinecastle for release in early 2012. The album features mostly original music with one or two familiar tunes thrown in for good measure. The album will be about half dual-mandolin instrumentals and half with a full band including three to four vocal tunes. Planned guests include Wyatt Rice, Barry Bales, Ron Stewart, Russell Moore and Ronnie Bowman.

Since first hitting the scene in the early 1980’S, Alan Bibey has made a name for himself as one of the most creative and technically gifted mandolin players in bluegrass and acoustic music.
A stylist who turned heads as an original member of The New Quicksilver, IIIrd Tyme Out, BlueRidge and now Grasstowne his tasteful innovations and pristine execution earned him inclusion in The Young Mando Monsters project, Mel Bay’s Mandolin book ”The Greatest Mandolin Players Of The Twentieth Century” as well as The Bluegrass All-Stars Sugar Hill Records project. Alan has been awarded ”Mandolin Performer of the Year” for 2007, 2009 and 2010. His contributions to The Acutab Sessions: Knee Deep In Bluegrass helped the compilation to earn IBMA’s ”Instrumental Recording of the Year”. He has instruction books and videos/dvd’s available through AcuTab and Mel Bay. The solo recording ”In The Blue Room” was voted top Instrumental recording by County Sales. In 2004 Alan was nominated for a Grammy for the BlueRidge project ”Side By Side”. Last but not least, in early 2004 the Gibson Company put into production the Alan Bibey Signature Series line of mandolins, reaffirming his status as one of the most influential mandolin players in bluegrass and acoustic music history!
 
Wayne Benson is one of bluegrass music’s leading mandolinists and has established himself as a unique and gifted stylist. From Concord, NC, an area rich in bluegrass heritage, Benson first arrived on the scene as a teenager when Scott Vestal invited him to join Livewire. After three years and one album on Rounder Records, Wayne joined the well-known and critically acclaimed Third Tyme Out in December of 1992. After more than a decade with the Atlanta-based band, Wayne had solidified his niche among the most respected bluegrass mandolin players, being featured on the cover of Bluegrass Now, Mandolin Quarterly, and Bluegrass Unlimited, while also enjoying numerous IBMA awards and the SPBGMA Mandolin Player of the Year award, five consecutive years.
 
Wayne has an established relationship with Acutab Publications, releasing an instructional DVD in 2004 with over 2 hours of material, featuring facets of Wayne’s distinctive style and songs from his solo project. In addition to the DVD, Acutab offers an extensive tab book that includes Benson’s solos from the popular instrumental series on Pinecastle Records.