ETTORE SALATI

This month's Artist in Spotlight is Ettore Salati from Italy. Ettore is a sought after session guitarist by many prog musicians not just in Italy but all around the world. He started playing piano at a very young age (mostly classical music) but when he became a teenager and discovered the world of Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Genesis and 70's rock in general, he was immediately fascinated by guitar... more

KAT EPPLE (Emerald Web)

KAT EPPLE, flautist and composer, is our interview guest this month. She has won 8 Emmy awards, was nominated for a Grammy and she has released 18 albums internationally. Most of you know her as the other half of the legendary ambient/new age duo EMERALD WEB. She has a very large collection (over 200) of flutes that she gathered from all around the world during her travels. Kat composes original New Age/Jazz/World/orchestral music and has produced film scores and television soundtracks for National Geographic, Nova, CNN, Carl Sagan, Another World, The Travel Channel, Turner Broadcasting System, History Channel, HGN, The Guiding Light, PBS, and NASA among others, and was Music Director for the feature-length film, Captiva Island. She also owns a record company and works on both sides of the music industry as a musician and as a business woman... more

New Grass Revival / On The Boulevard

New Grass Revival are one of the pioneers of progressive bluegrass. Formed in 1971 by Sam Bush (mandolin/vocals), Curtis Burch (guitar), Ebo Walker (bass) and Courtney Johnson (banjo), they immediately got the attention from the industry both in a good and bad way. First of all, they were often told that their music was not bluegrass, and they knew it wasn’t “bluegrass” in its traditional sense, and it wasn’t what they were trying to achieve anyways. They were blending rock, soul and blues rhythms with the traditional bluegrass music. They were not wearing suites, but instead they had a more casual style along with long hair... more

Special Ed and the Shortbus

Special Ed and the Shortbus is a bubbling fountain of virtuosic insanity. Seeing them play is like watching a high-speed train about to jump the tracks. Unstoppable energy matched with technical mastery, outlandish humor and fully engaging entertainment, the Shortbus is a sight to be hold.

Jug band, Bluegrass, Old-Timey, String Band, Vaudevillian, call it what you will, it's just American music (except when it's Eastern European). The primary objective is to play the music that they would like to hear, using two banjos, two guitars, a mandolin, a fiddle, a trap set, a doghouse bass, many kazoos, and a whole host of other toys.

Special Ed and the Shortbus have been playing music since the Spring of 2002. Based in Richmond, VA, they have traveled far and wide through the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, New England and Midwest. As they've been playing, the music has moved in many directions as their individual characters have come together and morphed each other's playing. They have gained a reputation both near and far for high energy and sometimes bizarre live acts, stream of consciousness stage banter and a tight looseness that only comes from years of performing and practice.

While striving to push traditional music into new and unusual positions, Special Ed and the Shortbus has also gained notoriety as solid executioners of various traditional styles – winning individual instrument competitions at a variety of fiddler’s conventions – including a recent 1st Place Bluegrass Fiddle at the 72nd Galax Fiddlers Convention and 4th Place Mandolin at the 2007 Tazewell County Fiddlers Convention - and performing for folklife festivals and workshops. Whether playing bluegrass, old-time, ragtime, klezmer, or some bizarre hybrid excavated from the depths of their brains, the ultimate goals of Special Ed & the Shortbus are entertainment and creation.

The band released 3 albums over the years. The first one was more like straight ahead bluegrass, it is called "Special Ed and the Shortbus Bluegrass Band". Their second release is "Downhill From Here", a switch in style and lyrics, as the band calls it, their foray into the dirty side.

The latest release came only two months ago, and it is the bands best so far. "Ground Beef Patrol". The band seems to still be reveling the dirty side with bold lyrics, which give them a punkster attitude with the newgrass stamp on it. Trouser Gravy (the CD sheet describes it as "The name says it all...Banjo Banjo Banjo!") and Dirty Baby (a song for the ladies)have real interesting lyrics in that sense. Another surprise on the CD is a traditional Hungarian folk dance song Czardas, a must to hear.

The band is formed by 5 talented musicians: Josh Bearman (mandolin, banjo, bass, jawharp and vocals); Ben Belcher (banjo, bass, vocals); Jake Sellers (battery and percussion); Aaron Lewis (fiddle, vocals); "Special" Ed Brogan (guitar, vocals).

The band is in the midst of their 6th annual Halloween Musicals - this year it is a two part play:
Episode 1: The Birth of The Zombie Stringband
Episode 2: The Trials of the Zombie Stringband in the Seven Layers of Musical Hell
This play features video/puppets/song/dance/and plentyvof brain eating.

Their fiddler Aaron Lewis, won 1st prize bluegrass fiddle at the Galax Old Time Fiddlers Convention in 2007.

For more information about the band you can visit their website at: Specialedshortbus.com. They also have a great myspace page with songs you can listen to and purchase, and it is at: myspace.com/specialedandtheshortbus. All three of their albums can be purchased on CD BABY.

Special Ed and the Shortbus also recently won the Southeastern Independent Music World Series put on by Discmakers and Billboard MagazineDiscmakers.com