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Red White And Bluegrass Festival, Morganton, NC July 1-4

July 1st, 2008

First lets clear up something. I’m not a bluegrass fan. I can tolerate it in small doses occassionally. But to listen to it for extended periods of time gets my rubber bands in a knot. However, I am a fan of free community supported music celebrations featuring artists performing original music. (Organizers of Hickory’s Oktoberfest please take note.) Being the only festival of this type in the Unifour area, I’m going to be covering each day’s activities and music line up and showcase one artist from each of the four days.
So much for good intentions.

In it’s fifth year, the Red White And Bluegrass Festival is a four day event presented by the Morganton Parks & Recreation Department featuring free concerts, music vendors, instrument vendors, food, fireworks, and all the good things associated with a hometown fourth of July festival.

The lineup this year is pretty impressive with a good mix of local, regional, and national recording acts. While all of the bands feature pretty traditional bluegrass fare, some of the bands rise above the rest in their mastery of the art form. Here is the linup for Tuesday, July 1st:

Tuesday July 1st:

2:30pm Bruce Moody
3:30pm Strictly Clean And Decent
4:45pm Jeanette Williams Band
6:00pm Walkin’ Home
7:15pm Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice
8:30pm Grasstowne
9:45pm Larry Sparks & The Lonesome Ramblers

Apparently, not many bluegrass artisits have made the full fledged jump into online sales yet. That being said, mp3 samples are few and far between for most of these artisists. In some cases, a myspace link will have to suffice to satisfy your ears.

Grasstowne (playing tonight at 8:30pm, so hurry up and get ready!) is up first. Hailing from Knoxville, TN Grasstowne is a relatively new band comprised of three bluegrass veterans combined with two talented newcomers. 2008 saw the band receiving a SPBGMA award for album of the year for their debut effort, The Road Headin Home. Here is a clip of Grasstowne playing at the 2007 IBMA awards:

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Mr. K On Ocracoke Island

June 26th, 2008

Mr.K And The Famous are apparently spending the summer on the lovely North Carolina barrier island of Ocracoke. If you’re heading to the Outer Banks this weekend, catch the ferry over to Ocracoke (the only way in or out) and catch one of these shows:

Jun 28 2008 8:00P - Ocracoke Community Center Ocracoke, North Carolina
Jun 30 2008 7:00P - The Pelican Ocracoke, North Carolina
Jul 1 2008 7:00P - The Pelican Ocracoke, North Carolina
Jul 2 2008 7:00P - The Pelican Ocracoke, North Carolina
Aug 8 2008 7:00P - The Pelican Ocracoke, North Carolina
Aug 9 2008 10:00P - Mango Loco Ocracoke, North Carolina

The band has also been spending some time in the studio laying down some new versions of old songs and just some plain new songs. Hopefully this means their is a new album on the horizon (which will hopefully also be available online!). The addition of a new lead vocalist lends some soul to the bands sound. Have a listen:

Mr. K And The Famous - Bayless

Mr. K And The Famous - Hibou

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Summer 2008 Mixtape - Hip Hop To Honky Tonk And Back

June 24th, 2008

Once again, it’s time to clean out my backlog of songs that I liked but don’t really have time to do a full post about. These songs have absolutely nothing to do with summertime, so those looking for ”the” soundtrack for summer 2008 need look elsewhere. Those looking to curb their appetite for a hip-hopping, honky tonking good time, please see below. For everyone else, enjoy!

Oh yeah, alot of these songs came from payplay.fm whose “fresh tracks” rss feed has apparently went the way of the dodo. So now I’m having to listen to other music blogs (gasp!) to hear some new tunes.

The Dirty Guv’nahs - Get Together

Mello Mahem - Possible

This one keeps creeping to the top of my playlist.

Heybale - Honky Tonk Mood

Charlie & The Welfare - Cross The Line

Dry Land Fish - Carla

A really catchy tune that will have you reminiscing about that girlfriend.

Dylan Kight - Arcadia

Lots of good stuff out there from this talented guy.

Emily White - River of Forgetfulness

Enemies Of The Secret Hideout - Dating For Dummies

L.L. Cooper - Harvey Keitel