BLUEGRASS & MORE...... e-magazine
24th Annual
GUILDTOWN BLUEGRASS MUSIC FESTIVAL
July 30th — August 2nd, 2010 - Featuring top International bands
CRAIG DUNCAN & FRIENDS (USA)
STARS OF THE NASHVILLE BLUEGRASS MUSIC SCENE HEADLINE AT GUILDTOWN, SCOTLAND
Based in the “bluegrass country” region around Nashville, Tennessee, Craig Duncan & Friends present an entertaining program of traditional Tennessee and authentic bluegrass music for audiences of all ages. The group, which features Duncan on fiddle and mandolin, Billy Smith and Kris Ballinger on guitars, Mark Barnett on banjo and Dale Ballinger on bass, is based on years of friendship and making music together in a variety of overlapping configurations.
Bandleader Craig Duncan, a member of the North American Fiddler’s Hall of Fame and Who’s Who in Music & Musicians, has been the featured instrumentalist on more than 70 albums with sales in excess of $5 million. His music has been heard on television shows like Malcolm in the Middle and The Oprah Winfrey Show, as well as on A&E, Biography, BET, PBS, History and other cable networks. He is recognized internationally as the author of instructional books for Mel Bay Publications.
Singer/guitarist Billy Smith carries the repertoire of most of the first generation bluegrass music pioneers around in his head and heart—the natural result of growing up onstage and performing with artists like the Father of Bluegrass Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt and Jimmy Martin. Billy’s mother, Hazel Smith is a well-known country music journalist and television cooking show host and his brother, Terry plays bass in the IBMA Entertainer of the Year band, The Grascals, but Billy himself is most known as an award-winning songwriter.
Smith’s compositions have been recorded by Bill Monroe, The Del McCoury Band, Dan Tyminski, The Osborne Brothers, The Lonesome River Band, IIIrd Tyme Out and The Lewis Family, among others—more than 80 cuts so far. The hit song, “Hobo Blues,” recorded by The Lonesome River Band on their Carrying the Tradition album (named Bluegrass Album of the Year in 2001), was Smith’s first major cut.
Banjo player Mark Barnett has been a regular part of the Nashville music scene since 1974, and he’s been performing in various bands with Billy Smith and Craig Duncan for nearly as long. Mark played 23 seasons at Opryland USA—most of the time leading his own show. He has recorded a number of albums and is currently featured on two recordings on the Benson label.
Another seasoned musician who seems to innately know how to deliver a song and entertain a crowd, Mark has played music all over the United States, including a performance at the White House in Washington, D.C. Overseas tours have taken Barnett’s music to fans in Canada, Europe and the Soviet Union.
Most fans will agree that a hard-driving five string banjo is the heartbeat of bluegrass music, and Mark Barnett knows how to deliver the complexly syncopated, breath-taking instrumental sound that epitomizes the genre. You’ve got to have a banjo to play traditional bluegrass, and Mark Barnett is one of the best. He’s also a gifted singer.
Kris and Dale Ballinger are a husband and wife team well known in the Nashville music community as members of The Cluster Pluckers, a band formed by chance in 1980 at a local picking party. They are fine singers (they could probably sing harmony to a fence post!).
Music lovers couldn’t ask for a better representation of bluegrass music than what Craig Duncan & Friends deliver. Their experience and expertise, combined with a genuine love for the type of traditional music they play, brings audiences to their feet with rousing waves of applause.
--Nancy Cardwell; Nashville, Tenn.
Special Projects Director, International Bluegrass Music Association
Freelance writer/columnist, Bluegrass Unlimited & Bluegrass Now
Bluegrass, Americana, Folk & Country - Listings, News, Views & Reviews
Issue 9, July / August - Published Bi-Monthly next deadline for editorial 1st September 2010
