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Longtime sideman Clay Hess is out with his third solo project, due for wide release during IBMA later this month. Rain finds Hess in his most familiar role: scorching the guitar, on both lead and rhythm. Since first hitting the national bluegrass scene with Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder in 1999, flatpick fans have recognized [...]
We be spending most of today on The Bluegrass Blog mentioning some new CDs you may not be aware of, but to get the day started off right, here is some fine video of Sierra Hull & Highway 111 at the Minnesota Bluegrass & Old Time Music Association festival last Friday night (8/12). It was [...]
Jim Lauderdale is back with more of his Tex-Mex flavored, Buck Owens-inflected bluegrass on a new Sugar Hill CD, Reason And Rhyme, due June 21. Again he is paired with songwriting partner Robert Hunter and co-producer Randy Kohrs, who also adds vocals and resonator guitar. Scott Vestal is on banjo, Mike Compton on mandolin, Tim [...]
Clay Hess, guitarist and vocalist with Sierra Hull & Highway 111, is the latest bluegrass artist to take to Kickstarter for crowdsourcing of his new project, Rain. In this case, Clay is looking for his fans and friends to help raise the $3000 he estimates he will need to finish up his upcoming solo album. [...]
Sierra Hull has showed up on Bluegrass Today quite a bit this past few weeks. First there was news about a new banjo player for her touring group, Highway 111, and then there's her upcoming CD, Daybreak, due March 8 from Rounder. We posted the first half of our recent interview with the talented Miss [...]
We had a chance to catch up this morning with notorious flatpicker Clay Hess, guitarist with Sierra Hull & Highway 111. The band is off right now for the holidays, but will be back at it starting January 20 in New Castle, VA and DC's Kennedy Center on the 22nd. But Clay says he hasn't [...]
Also in the studio this month are The Bartley Bothers - Shayne and Rick. They have just finished tracking for their debut album with Rural Rhythm Records and will soon begin the mixing process. Shayne Bartley tells us that most of the material was written by his older brother Rick, with contributions from Shayne, Brink [...]
Clay Hess has been making waves as a guitarist since he first hit the scene in a big way with Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder in the 1990s. He has since had a memorable stint with Mountain Heart, and is currently touring with Sierra Hull. Rick Hayes Instruments, makers of dreadnaught guitars and F-5 mandolins, [...]
Randy Kohrs is in the process of finishing up a new acoustic CD. We don't have a title yet for the CD, but we're told an early fall release on Rural Rhythm Records is the plan. A single has just been sent to radio on the new Rural Rhythm Fresh Tracks CD. The title of [...]
There was another bluegrass wedding in Tennessee last month. Guitar gunslinger Clay Hess, currently working with Sierra Hull & Highway 111, married Samantha West on May 22 in Gatlinburg. They were engaged in mid-February and are living now in Ohio. Congratulations and best wishes to Clay and Samantha!
