BLUE HIGHWAY, “Some Day: The Fifteenth Anniversary Collection,” Rounder. 13 tracks.

If you’re a bluegrass fan and you get a gift card for Christmas from a store that sells music, you might want to hang onto it until Jan. 19, when Rounder Records releases a greatest hits collection for Blue Highway.

The band has been on the road since 1994, released eight albums and garnered a truck load of awards.

And Rounder is celebrating the band’s 15th anniversary with an album filled with 10 previously released tracks (including one from one of resophonic guitar player Rob Ickes’ solo albums) and three new tracks.

Band members wrote or co-wrote 11 tracks. The others are a traditional number — “Wondrous Love” — and Mark Knopfler’s “Marbletown,” a song about a graveyard. Both of those songs were nominated for Grammy awards.

Although the band’s career dates back to 1994, this collection dates from 2000, the beginning of Blue Highway’s Rounder years.

Tracks include “Through the Window of a Train,” the 2008 International Bluegrass Music Association song of the year; “The Seventh Angel,” with Alison Krauss; “Seven Sundays in a Row,” with Sonja Isaacs; “Sycamore Hollow,” a Civil War tale of love and revenge; “Wild Urge to Ramble” and “Still Climbing Mountains.”

The three new songs are “Cold and Lowdown Lonesome Blues,” “Bleeding for a Little Peace of Mind” (with Darrell Scott) and “Some Day,” a great a capella gospel tune.

If you haven’t already discovered Blue Highway, this is a good place to start.

If you have, you’ll probably want this album.

Can’t find it in stores? Try www.rounder.com.

Bluegrass music notes
By Keith Lawrence
Owensboro (Ky.) Messenger-Inquirer
(MCT)
Looking for music to buy for the bluegrass fans in your life? Here are my choices for the 10 best bluegrass albums of 2009.
10. DOYLE LAWSON & QUICKSILVER, “Lonely Street,” Rounder. 12 tracks.
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver have been named vocal group of the year by the International Bluegrass Music Association for an unprecedented seven years — because they are that good.
And “Lonely Street” is a very good example of the band at its best.

9. GRASSTOWNE, “The Other Side of Towne,” Pinecastle. 14 tracks.
Grasstowne burst on the bluegrass scene two years ago with “The Road Headin’ Home,” a strong debut album.
And “The Other Side of Towne” is a worthy successor to that album. One of the best you’ll hear this year.

8. ALECIA NUGENT, “Hillbilly Goddess,” Rounder. 11 tracks.
If “Hillbilly Goddess” had been made 40 years ago, it would have been a major country album. And Alecia Nugent would be a contender for the Country Music Association’s female vocalist of the year award.
But what they’d called country music 40 years ago is mostly found in bluegrass today.
It’s on the ballads that Nugent really shines. She can wring the lonesome out of any lyrics with a voice that was made for hurtin’ songs.

7. RUSSELL MOORE & IIIrd TYME OUT, “Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out,” Rural Rhythm. 12 tracks.
The past 18 years have seen the band pick up 50 industry awards, including seven consecutive trophies for International Bluegrass Music Association vocal group of the year.
This album should help the group pick up even more awards.

6. DAVID DAVIS & THE WARRIOR RIVER BOYS, “Two Dimes & A Nickel,” Rebel Records. 12 tracks
“Two Dimes & A Nickel” just might be the darkest bluegrass album of 2009.
It’s also one of the best.
There’s not much happiness in these dozen songs, but there’s some great picking and singing.
And Owen Saunders plays the lonesomest fiddle this side of a graveyard.

5. ERNIE THACKER, “The Hangman,” Pinecastle. 12 tracks.
 “The Hangman” is filled with powerfully told story songs: “This Drinkin’ Will Kill Me,” where a man faces the choices of drinking himself to death or dying of loneliness; “Friday Once Again,” where a divorced man waits for Friday to see his daughter; “The Ballad of Charlie Dill,” where a man shoots his friend over a woman; and a strong bluegrass version of “Sunday Morning Coming Down.”
But the album’s highlight is “Keith How Many,” a tribute to the late Keith Whitely, who died of alcohol poisoning 20 years ago. “How many young singers will fall, livin’ the song,” Thacker asks.

4. RHONDA VINCENT, “Destination Life,” 12 tracks. Rounder.
Since her return to bluegrass from the bright lights of country music nearly a decade ago, Rhonda Vincent has become the undisputed queen of the genre.
“Destination Life” continues her string of strong albums.

3. SAM BUSH, “Circles Around Me,” Sugar Hill. 14 tracks.
After years of experimenting with everything from jazz to rock to blues to funk and a whole lot more, Sam Bush has come home to bluegrass.
And “Circles Around Me” is easily the best album he’s produced in years — at least as far as bluegrass fans are concerned. And it’s easily one of the best bluegrass albums of the year.
A highlight: “The Ballad of Stringbean and Estelle” is a ballad about the 1973 murders of former Bill Monroe banjo player and Grand Ole Opry star David “Stringbean” Akeman and his wife Estelle.

2. DRY BRANCH FIRE SQUAD, “Echoes of the Mountains,” Rounder. 14 tracks.
Look in the dictionary under “mountain soul,” and you should find a picture of Ron Thomason, the band’s leader. Nobody can wring pathos out of a lyric like Thomason.
The music, and the emotions it evokes, are both raw. You could argue whether this is truly bluegrass. It is a mixture of bluegrass, country, western, gospel, folk and maybe a few more genres. But what it is is great music.

1. DAILEY & VINCENT, “Brothers From Different Mothers,” Rounder. 12 tracks.
“Brothers From Different Mothers” should be on every “Ten Best” list this year.
This is some of the best harmony singing — and some of the best Southern soul — you’ll hear this year.
Period.

JOE DIFFIE, “The Ultimate Collection,” Rounder. 20 tracks.
The bluegrass world has been hearing for months now that Joe Diffie, a country music headliner in the 1990s, is returning to his roots in bluegrass and cutting a new album for Rounder Records.

But this isn’t it.

This is essentially a greatest hits album with 20 of his top country songs re-recorded for a new label.

If you’re a Joe Diffie fan, it’s probably a collection you’ll want.

If you’re a bluegrass fan, you’ll have to wait a few more months.

Songs include “Home,” “If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets),” “Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die),” “John Deere Green” and 16 more hits.

Thirty years ago, when he was in college, Diffie and his band, Special Edition, cut three bluegrass albums and toured extensively at festivals in Oklahoma and Texas.

“With a deep respect for the pioneers of bluegrass and for the artists that continue to carry the torch today, Joe is excited to begin a new era in his career,” his Web site says.

“He’s found the perfect home for his upcoming bluegrass projects at Rounder Records, arguably the most well-respected bluegrass label in the business,” it adds.

So, hopefully soon, Diffie will make his bluegrass debut.

But if you were hoping this album would feature bluegrass versions of his country hits, you’re out of luck.

Can’t find it in stores? Try www.rounder.com.

THE DIXIE BEE-LINERS, “Susanville,” Pinecastle. 19 tracks.

Concept albums are rare in bluegrass. So the Dixie Bee-Liners’ “Susanville” is definitely worth checking out.

 The band says the album “peers into the cars and trucks in America’s cities and towns, bringing to life 19 breathtaking musical moments along America’s interstates and byways.”

Well, actually, there are only 15 songs on the album including two instrumentals of 36 and 28 seconds respectively. There’s also a yawn, an announcement that the trip is starting, a warning to turn back and an announcement that the trip is over.

 “It’s a soundtrack to a movie that plays in your mind,” mandolinist Buddy Woodward says on the band’s Web site. “Each song is a vignette about a different person in a different car or truck in a different highway in America, and they’re all headed either to or from Susanville.”

Susanville is a northern California city of 13,000 or so.

The Bee-Liners, a band born in New York City and now based in Virginia, is an eclectic group that writes its own material and isn’t adverse to having fun with bluegrass.

Instruments — in addition to mandolin, guitar, fiddle, banjo and bass — include toy piano, piccolo frog, bouzouki, cello, pedal steel, drums, mellotron, harpsichord, Hammond organ and piano.

At times, the album has the feel of ’60s psychedelic rock fused with bluegrass. It’s an interesting concept.

The first track, “Heavy,” finds a couple arguing. “Restless” is about a woman “trying to outrun this demon in my head.” “Road Hog” is about a truck on her bumper.

 Other songs include “Truck Stop Baby,” “Eighteen Wheels,” Trixie’s Diesel Stop Cafe,” “Lead Foot” and “Brake Lights.”

The songs work better as part of the whole concept than they do as individual material. But the title cut is a beautiful ballad that can stand on its own anywhere.

Brandi Hart and Buddy Woodward are the vocalists and writers. Bandmates include Rachel Renee Johnson, Jonathan Maness, Jeremy Darrow and Sam Morrow.

 Hart says “Susanville” is the “first of several bluegrass concept records we’ve been planning.” That’s something to look forward to.

Can’t find it in stores? Try www.dixiebeeliners.com.

SAM BUSH, “Circles Around Me,” Sugar Hill. 14 tracks.

After years of experimenting with everything from jazz to rock to blues to funk and a whole lot more, Sam Bush has come home to bluegrass.

And “Circles Around Me” is easily the best album he’s produced in years — at least as far as bluegrass fans are concerned. And it’s also easily one of the best bluegrass albums of the year.

At 57, Bush’s voice seems better than ever.

There are a lot of old songs on here.

Bush updated “Souvenir Bottles” and “Whisper My Name” — songs from his days with New Grass Revival.

He’s also reunited with Courtney Johnson, a bandmate from New Grass Revival who died in 1996, on “Apple Blossom.” The tune was recorded in 1976, but was never released. The tape was restored and new parts were added for this album.

Del McCoury duets with Bush on a couple of Bill Monroe songs — “Roll On  Buddy, Roll On” and “Midnight On The Stormy Deep.”

Also on the album are a couple of songs Bush enjoyed as a fan 40 years or more ago — “Diamond Joe” and “You Left Me Alone.”

But some of the best songs on the album are those that Bush wrote or co-wrote.

The title cut is a beautiful song about surviving life.

And “The Ballad of Stringbean and Estelle” is a ballad about the 1973 murders of former Bill Monroe banjo player and Grand Ole Opry star David “Stringbean” Akeman and his wife Estelle.
The killers found little to steal in the couple’s cabin, but 23 years later, $20,000 was discovered behind a brick in the chimney — too rotted to be of any value. One killer died in prison, the other is still incarcerated.

There’s not a bad cut on the entire album.

This is Sam Bush at his best.

Can’t find it in stores? Try www.sugarhillrecords.com.

CORINNE WEST, “The Promise,” Make Records. Nine tracks.

Corinne West is best described as an Americana artist. Her music is a blend of folk, rock, country and bluegrass.

She’s been on the road since she was 15, absorbing life in America. And it shows in her writing. She wrote eight of the nine tracks on the album.

Some of West’s previous albums contained songs that had strong bluegrass influences. But “The Promise” is mostly progressive folk.

Bluegrass fans will have to wait for the next album.

Can’t find it in stores? Try www.corinnewest.com.

SAM BUSH, “Circles Around Me,” Sugar Hill. 14 tracks.

After years of experimenting with everything from jazz to rock to blues to funk and a whole lot more, Sam Bush has come home to bluegrass.

And “Circles Around Me” is easily the best album he’s produced in years — at least as far as bluegrass fans are concerned. And it’s also easily one of the best bluegrass albums of the year.

At 57, Bush’s voice seems better than ever.

There are a lot of old songs on here.

Bush updated “Souvenir Bottles” and “Whisper My Name” — songs from his days with New Grass Revival.

He’s also reunited with Courtney Johnson, a bandmate from New Grass Revival who died in 1996, on “Apple Blossom.” The tune was recorded in 1976, but was never released. The tape was restored and new parts were added for this album.

Del McCoury duets with Bush on a couple of Bill Monroe songs — “Roll On  Buddy, Roll On” and “Midnight On The Stormy Deep.”

Also on the album are a couple of songs Bush enjoyed as a fan 40 years or more ago — “Diamond Joe” and “You Left Me Alone.”

But some of the best songs on the album are those that Bush wrote or co-wrote.

The title cut is a beautiful song about surviving life.

And “The Ballad of Stringbean and Estelle” is a ballad about the 1973 murders of former Bill Monroe banjo player and Grand Ole Opry star David “Stringbean” Akeman and his wife Estelle.
The killers found little to steal in the couple’s cabin, but 23 years later, $20,000 was discovered behind a brick in the chimney — too rotted to be of any value. One killer died in prison, the other is still incarcerated.

There’s not a bad cut on the entire album.

This is Sam Bush at his best.

Can’t find it in stores? Try www.sugarhillrecords.com.

CORINNE WEST, “The Promise,” Make Records. Nine tracks.

Corinne West is best described as an Americana artist. Her music is a blend of folk, rock, country and bluegrass.

She’s been on the road since she was 15, absorbing life in America. And it shows in her writing. She wrote eight of the nine tracks on the album.

Some of West’s previous albums contained songs that had strong bluegrass influences. But “The Promise” is mostly progressive folk.

Bluegrass fans will have to wait for the next album.

Can’t find it in stores? Try www.corinnewest.com.

RALPH STANLEY & THE CLINCH MOUNTAIN BOYS, “Can’t You Hear the Mountains Calling,” 12 tracks.

Ralph Stanley is an American legend now. At age 82, he’s been performing   bluegrass and mountain soul for 63 years and, if his career ended today, he would have left quite a legacy.
Stanley is still making music today, but Rounder Records has resurrected a little-known album from 1986 to give fans another chance to hear Stanley in his prime.

Charlie Sizemore, one of the better singers in bluegrass today, was the band’s 25-year-old lead singer. Junior Blankenship was on lead guitar; Curly Ray Cline, fiddle; and Jack Cooke, bass.

And Stanley, of course, was playing banjo.

The album was originally a cassette called “16 Years” on River Tracks Records. It was re-released as a CD on Cooper Creek Records in 1995. And now, 14 years later, it’s out again with a wider distribution.

A lot of bluegrass albums today are mixture of styles — bluegrass, country, gospel, rockabilly, jazz, Cajun and other influences.
But people searching for pure, unadulterated bluegrass need look no further than “Can’t You Hear the Mountains Calling.”

There’s a lot of uptempo heartache here — the broken lives of “When You Go Out Walking After Midnight,” the loss of a spouse after “16 Years” of marriage, watching the one you love with another man on “”With Whiskey and Wine.”

There’s a lot of joy too — the rousing “Cotton-Eyed Joe,” the hard-driving “Dickenson County Breakdown.”

This is Stanley and his band at or very near their prime. Fans will definitely want to check it out.

Can’t find it in stores? Try www.rounder.com.

STEEP CANYON RANGERS, “Deep in the Shade,” Rebel. 12 tracks.

These days, the North Carolina-based Steep Canyon Rangers is better known as Steve Martin’s backing band. Last month, the group launched a 15-city tour with Martin that included an appearance on ABC’s “The View.”

But the Rangers are far more than Martin’s backing band.

The 10-year-old group that formed after a stairwell jam session at the University of North Carolina was named emerging artist of the year by the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2006 and its last album — “Lovin’ Pretty Women” — was nominated for album of the year in 2008.

You don’t have to wonder if the music is really bluegrass when the Rangers take the stage.

The sound is definitely bluegrass, but don’t expect to recognize any of the songs. This is not a cover band, so don’t wait for the old standards.

Members Graham Sharp, Charles R. Humprhey III and Nicky Sanders wrote or co-wrote 10 of the 12 songs.

There’s a beautiful a capella version of Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter’s “Sylvie” and an uptempo version of Merle Haggard’s “I Must Be Somebody Else You’ve Known.” All the rest are band originals.

As the album’s publicity material says, “The age-old theme of heartbreak has never sounded as upbeat as when accompanied by driving banjo, sawing fiddle and ringing mandolin.”

“Have Mercy” sees a couple ending an affair to keep from hurting others. “I Thought That She Loved Me” is the classic tale of a city girl who did a country boy wrong. “Turn Up The Bottle” finds a man ready for a change after a hard life. And “There Ain’t No Easy Street” is an uptempo song about struggling to survive on the hard side of town in today’s economy.

Another strong album by a good band.

Can’t find it in stores? Try www.rebelrecords.com

Grasstowne. “The Other Side of Towne,” Pinecastle. 14 tracks.

Grasstowne burst on the bluegrass scene two years ago with “The Road Headin’ Home,” a strong debut album that sent a single — “Dixie Flyer” — to the top of Bluegrass Unlimited’s charts for three consecutive months.

The band was an instant super-group with Phil Leadbetter, one of the top resonator guitarists in bluegrass, who had spent years with J.D. Crowe’s New South and then Wildfire; Steve Gulley, who first made his mark with Doyle Lawson’s Quicksilver and then became a founding member of Mountain Heart; and Alan Bibey, who built his reputation with IIIrd Tyme Out and Blueridge.

But it’s been two years since the debut album. How does the band sound now?

About the same actually. When you start with veteran musicians at the top of their game, there’s not a lot of room for growth.

Gulley and Bibey are still honing their songwriting skills and each contributed three songs they wrote or co-wrote to the project.

Gulley’s songs are “Lifting Up The Cross,” a gospel number; “Somebody’s Gonna Let You Down,” an uptempo song about people not living up to expectations; and “Sorrow Ain’t Far Behind,” a song that gives all the instruments a good workout.

Bibey contributed “Pay Your Dues,” a song about the traveling life; “Tobaccoville Road,” an instrumental; and “The Day Hell Freezes Over,” a song with a sing-along chorus and some great harmony.

Gulley, who does George Jones almost as well as George Jones does, sings Jones’ classic “The Door” from 1974.

Melba Montgomery’s “Big, Big Heartaches,” an uptempo number, is the first single from the album. It was already at No. 20 on the September Bluegrass Unlimited charts.

Other cuts worth checking: “Laura Lie,” a cheatin’ song about the “daughter of the devil,” and “Salvation Of The Lord,” an a capella gospel quartet number that features Terry Baucom singing bass.

It’s a strong album.

Can’t find it in stores? Try www.grasstowne.com.

JEFF AND VIDA, “Selma Chalk,” Rosebank Records. 13 tracks.

Take a California girl who grew up in Germany and a New Jersey boy, put them together in New Orleans to form a band and what do you get?

I’m not really sure. But it’s good.

Jeff Burke and Vida Wakeman began performing their blend of bluegrass, alternative country, blues, rock, rockabilly, Cajun, folk and a few other things in New Orleans clubs in 1998.

They’ve toured nationally and internationally for the past 11 years and moved their base of operations to Nashville. And they’re ready for some wider recognition.

“Selma Chalk,” the latest album, was written entirely by Wakeman with assistance from Burke on four tracks and Pat Flory on one.

The title comes from a term for “an impurity found in the most fertile ground of the South,” the album says.

Wakeman’s lyrics are original, in some ways like a Southern poet. There’s a singer-songwriter feel to the album.

In “Alabama Sky,” she sings, “in that Alabama sky/there’s a falling star for each goodbye/and I just saw mine coming down/last night leaving town.”

In “Letter To My Love,” a woman has taken the blame for a murder committed by her lover. As her life nears its end, she sings, “It wasn’t the money that made me stay/It was not the world that led me astray/It was just to be near you near you everyday.”

The police tell her that they had a phone call, telling them where to find her and she laments, “Baby, was it you?”

 And in “Sharp As A Knife,” Wakeman sings, “my love for you is as sharp as a knife/cut me and bleed me and make me your wife/and if you don’t want me don’t throw me away/love without you is like hurt with out pain.”

Wakeman’s voice is unique. She doesn’t really sound like a bluegrass singer.

But “Little Sara” is definitely hard-charging bluegrass. “Sharp As A Knife” has bluegrass instrumentation. “Fire in the Water” and “Crush” also have a strong bluegrass presence.

While it’s not strictly a bluegrass album, “Selma Chalk” is definitely worth checking out.

Can’t find it in stores? Try www.jeffandvida.com.