Giddyup Kitty to Play Benefit for Search and Rescue

Larimer County, Colorado Search and Rescue is holding a benefit concert at Performance Park in Estes Park on Saturday August 18^th at 6:30PM. The featured bluegrass band, Gittyup Kitty will be performing. 

Giddyup Kitty is a four-piece, high-energy, all-female bluegrass band from Longmont Colorado. The Denver Post says they are “the finest bluegrass you’ll find anywhere along the Front Range”.

Bluegrass Makes Big Impression On Folk DJs in 2011

The Annual Folk Alley "Best Of" the year list is out and it appears as if the year's bluegrass products made good representation for the genre.     Several, including Alison Krauss and Union Station, Steve Martin with The Steep Canyon Rangers made several lists from the various Disc Jockeys.    Below is a partial listing and excerpts of their comments. To read the full list click at the bottom of this post.

Host Barb Heller's end-of-the-year CD picks

Gibson Brothers Help My Brother Eric and Leigh Gibson have been singing together since they were kids, and playing bluegrass professionally since they were teens. I’ve always enjoyed their music, but – unlike many bands – the Gibsons continue to improve their singing, their writing, and their musical arrangements

Scenic Roots Uses Dulcimer for Unique Sound!

While we were in Nashville for the 2011 IBMA World of Bluegrass Conference, we were introduced by Carolyn and Daniel Routh of Nu-Blu to two delightful young ladies who perform as Scenic Roots.

Scenic Roots is a sister duo which combines old-time mountain melodies, bluegrass drive, Irish traditions, and down-home humor. They will take you on a scenic journey as they weave their many musical influences together to create a unique blend of roots music. You’ll feel like you’ve gone back in time to the days when folks gathered on front porches to play and sing together.

The ladies have provided us with a copy of their debut video which accompanies their new single released this fall.

Older sister Erin plays the mountain dulcimer and younger sister Amber, a former Kansas State Fiddle champion, plays fiddle and banjo.

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The two are currently touring in the Southeast United States where they are also working on a new album in the studio with Daniel Routh (Nu-Blu) and will head to the west in the summer of 2012.

To find out more about Scenic Roots, visit their website HERE!

DELLA MAE RELEASES TWO VIDEOS FROM NEWEST CD

Hey Hey Della Mae, the all-female bluegrass band we’ve been hearing so much about since last year’s World of Bluegrass Conference has just released two new videos from their latest CD, “I Built This Heart”.

“Jamie Dear” is the song they we were fortunate enough to get an advance copy of and featured the world-premier exclusive radio listening back in June to help the ladies with their Kickstarter® Fundraising campaign.

Enjoy and if you find yourself in Nashville next week or any other location where the ladies are playing, be sure to shake and howdy!

         

Celia Woodsmith, lead vocals and guitar
Kimber Ludiker, fiddle
Jenni Lyn Gardner, mandolin
Courtney Hartman, guitar and harmony vocals
Amanda Kowalski, bass

Filmed by: Greg Liszt in Brighton, MA on 8/22/11

Songs written by: Celia Woodsmith

heyheydellamae.com

Della Mae Pre-Release Albums Have Arrived

Della Mae, the all-female bluegrass group out of Boston announced to fans and especially those who committed to pre-orders of their new CD, "I Built This Heart", that the shipment has arrived.

The ladies launched a "Kickstarter Campaign" a month ago to help with financing the project and pre-orders were included in the numerous incentives for donations.  

There is just eleven more days to go before the end of their fundraising campaign.

The way it works is that they MUST meet or exceed their goal or they receive NONE of the contributions.

...THE PRE-RELEASE ALBUMS ARE HERE!!!  We have such incredible friends!  Thanks to everyone who has supported our Kickstarter campaign.  We are about $1,700 from reaching our goal! We're humbled by the amount of pre-orders we've had, and by friends giving more to help us start this journey with less debt!...

Donations of any amount from one dollar and up are accepted and in an update message posted on the Kickstarter page, the ladies say for $35 you can get a digital copy of the album immediately and a Life-Size Cardboard Cut-Out of the group to carry around with you.

The group is headed for the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival  (July 14-17, 2011 On the Walsh Farm, Oak Hill, NY) with their CD's, T-Shirts and crowd-thrilling performances.

Read Other Posts About Della Mae:

• Prescription Bluegrass Blog: Della Mae Reveals "Guests" on Upcoming CD
• Prescription Bluegrass Radio to Get Exclusive "Della Mae"
• Prescription Bluegrass Blog: Della Mae's Kimber Ludiker On The ...
• Prescription Bluegrass Blog: Preview Songs from the new Della Mae CD!
• Prescription Bluegrass Blog: Della Mae adds Celia Woodsmith to the ...
• Grand National Fiddle Champion Gets Creative to Obtain New Fiddle!

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Kickstarter

Della Mae Reveals "Guests" on Upcoming CD

Della Mae's first full-length CD "I Built This Heart" is becoming, if not already, a much anticipated and eagerly sought after CD.  

The ladies have been teasing fans for months with the concept of some "very special" guests artists appearing on the project.

Finally, they've revealed the names in a special promotional video created for their Kickstarter campaign. And the guests are....

Alison Brown: Banjo / Laurie Lewis: Vocal / Brittany Haas (Croooked Still): Fiddle / Emma Beaton (Joy Kills Sorrow): Vocals

~ SAMPLE SOME OF THE NEW SONGS HERE ~

The album will honor both Celia's father, and the life of the late Hazel Dickens, a pioneering woman in the world of bluegrass. All of the material on our new album has been written by women and features special guests Alison Brown on banjo, Laurie Lewis and Emma Beaton (Joy Kills Sorrow) on vocal harmonies, Brittany Haas (Crooked Still) on twin fiddles, and Courtney Hartman on guitar (who you'll see making guest appearances with us all summer)!

Powerhouse vocalist Celia Woodsmith, National Fiddle Champion Kimber Ludiker, impeccable mandolinist Jenni Lyn Gardner, and seasoned bassist Amanda Kowalski are in the studio with Nashville engineer Erick Jaskowiak and producer Austin Nevins of Josh Ritter & the Royal City Band.

Total cost of the project is estimated at $16 Grand and the ladies have until July 23rd to reach their goal.  The way the Kickstarter rules are set, if they don't reach the goal by that date, donors will not be obligated to pay their donation and the group will not receive any funding from the campaign.

Della Mae Website

Kickstarter page

Prescription Bluegrass Radio to Get Exclusive "Della Mae" First!

Della Mae has been going through some exciting changes in the last couple months. First and foremost, the ladies are in the middle of recording their first full-length album to be named "I Built this Heart". All the songs on the album are written and composed by women and the album will honor the lives of Celia's father, Frank Woods, along with the late Hazel Dickens, a Della Mae Idol and a pioneer in Bluegrass.

The group has promised to give Prescription Bluegrass Radio an "Exclusive First" to broadcast a song from the album.  "Jamie Dear", a song from the pen of the group's newest member - Celia Woodsmith will be the song radio listeners will hear. "Jamie Dear" is a rousing toe-tapper  about the guilt of a romantic breakup that Woodsmith says she wrote about four years ago however this is the first time the song has been recorded.  Prescription Bluegrass Radio is syndicated and fans will be able hear the song several times by tuning in to all of the various stations that carry the broadcast.  Click Here for times and locations.  The song will be included in the program that airs on affiliate stations beginning Saturday, June 11th.

Miss Woodsmith said the song is about a personal relationship however the name Jamie was borrowed because it fit so nicely with the song's rhythm.  She explains:

"I was also studying a lot about landscape natural history, and the chorus lyrics "Swamp's on fire and the Leatherleaf, is burning like the letters that you sent to me" was taken directly after I learned about a certain plant "leatherleaf" that grows in swamps and burns like crazy. Sometimes it will burn in the winter effectively lighting a whole swamp on fire in a most improbable way."

 Listen To "Jamie Dear" Click on the player . . . .

Celia Woodsmith, joined Della Mae just this year as rhythm guitarist and singer. She has been performing with the group since February (Joe Val bluegrass Festival) and has penned ten of the songs on the record. Della Mae has amicably parted ways with Banjo player Grace Van't Hof, who recently achieved her fundraising goal, and is currently in the process of recording an album of her own!

Della Mae is going in exciting new directions musically. Many of Woodsmith's songs have tastes of blues, folk, pop and country with very real and heartfelt lyrics. The strong bluegrass base of Fiddle player Kimber Ludiker, Mandolinist Jenni Lyn Garnder, Guitarist Courtney Hartman and Bass player Amanda Kowalski keep the tradition alive and kickin'. As if the album couldn’t get any better, the ladies say they are humbled by the appearance of several surprise guests on selected tracks- "we can’t wait to leak the names!"

"We are incredibly excited to see where “I Built this Heart” and a summer of amazing festivals will take us! We hope that this album will be one of many.  All of the material on our new album has been written by women and features special guests Alison Brown on banjo, Laurie Lewis and Emma Beaton (Joy Kills Sorrow) on vocal harmonies, Brittany Haas (Crooked Still) on twin fiddles, and Courtney Hartman on guitar (who you'll see making guest appearances with us all summer)! "

The record, due to be out in time for Greyfox and Rockygrass festivals in July is going to be exclusively available for pre-order on Kickstarter.com, a premier fundraising site. Check up on it for unique fundraiser gifts and up-to-date information.

One of the features of the Kickestarter campaign is that fans can click on a special "Ask A Question" Icon which will allow them to type a question about the group or the new album and get an answer direct from the group's award winning fiddle player, Kimber Ludiker

According to the group's calculations, total costs for the album will exceed $13,000.  In a statement the ladies posted on their Kickstarter page, they go beyond simply asking for donations.

"We need YOUR help to get this record out! We are so proud and excited about the material on "I Built This Heart", and can't wait to share it with all of you. We have an incredible amount of gratitude towards all of our fans, listeners, and supporters. You are an inspiration to keep writing, performing, and honing our craft. It is a humbling experience to be making this album WITH you, not just FOR you."

Donors can contribute any amount of money. The suggested amounts begin at $10.00 and range up to any amount however the ladies promise if some gracious soul wanted to donate $5,000 or more they would make a life-sized cut-out of the donor and take it with them everywhere they go in addition to other seriously exclusive options.  However much fun and shenanigans it may sound like, they say seriously, "...we already have a line on where to get the Cut-Out done."

The band is also working on a special promotional video for the new album that will be released hopefully within the next week and a special CD Release concert is planned with Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum for July 23rd at Club Passim  in Cambridge, MA  (Tickets and More Info Here)

Band Website
Facebook Page
Kickstarter