Colin Hay serenades Ellen Degeneres

Colin Hay surprised Ellen Degeneres for her birthday last week. Watch the video below!

New Matt Flinner Trio Album, Susan Greenbaum Out Jan 31st

Jan. 31, 2012 - Compass Records releases new albums from Matt Flinner Trio, Susan Greenbaum.

Out today on Compass Records, the Matt Flinner Trio’s new album Winter Harvest and Susan Greenbaum’s This Life are now available for purchase from Compass, iTunes, and Amazon.

Matt Flinner Trio - Winter Harvest

Read an exclusive interview with Uprooted Music Review and No Depression, here.

"As he is one of the hottest mandolin players on the scene today, it would be easy to focus on Flinner’s fleet fingered delivery, but this is a true collective effort. Ross Martin (acoustic guitar) and Eric Thorin (acoustic bass) play virtually equal roles as songwriting contributors and performers. The roles of lead, rhythm and melody are shared and interchanged liberally, making it impossible for ears to pick a true leader. Since these songs weren’t noodled on for long, they sound fresh, with a certain degree of complexity that didn’t have time to get too complex." - All About Jazz

" The music is guaranteed to be fresh and invigorating – with new tunes constantly taking shape, there is no way Flinner, Martin, and Thorin can get stale, and the spontaneity and zeal of these new songs is very much alive on Winter Harvest.  Bluegrass, folk, jazz, and international flavors blend splendidly.  Highlights include the disc opener, “Raji’s Romp,” the somber “Bitterroot,” and the easily whimsical “The Stumbling Bro.”" - Honest Tune

Susan Greenbaum - This Life

Susan Greenbaum is one of the most intelligent and literate songwriters to emerge in recent years. Insightful lyrics coupled with her powerful yet nimble vocals make hers a voice poised for national attention.

On THIS LIFE, her first nationally distributed release, Susan delivers a set of 12 catchy originals as striking for their lyric depth and smart turns of phrase as their harmonic sophistication. Stand out tracks include the certain-to-be-covered “Big”, the emotionally-charged “This Life”, a letter in song to her brother whose untimely passing inspired her career change, and “Here I Go”, an uplifting gospel song featuring the Nashville-based gospel quartet, The Settles Connection. Throughout the album, Susan is accompanied by some of Nashville’s finest players including guitarist George Marinelli (Bonnie Raitt), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Mark T Jordon (piano) and bassists Alison Prestwood (Shawn Colvin) and Todd Phillips (Joan Baez).

Noam Pikelny Banjo Giveaway Winner Announced

Darby Y. is the winner of the Noam Pikelny Beat The Devil and Carry A Rail Deering banjo giveaway contest!

Congratulations!

Gibson Brothers, Dale Ann Bradley Take Big Awards at IBMAs

COMPASS RECORDS CONGRATULATES INTERNATIONAL BLUEGRASS MUSIC AWARD WINNERS

Gibson Brothers Take Home Two Big Trophies–Album and Vocal Group of the Year AndDale Ann BradleyLands 4th Award as Female Vocalist of the Year on Heels of
Release of Somewhere South of Crazy.
 
September 30, 2011, Nashville: The Gibson Brothers swept up two of the biggest awards at last night’s 22nd annual International Bluegrass Awards at the Ryman Auditorium, taking home “Album of the Year,” and “Vocal Group of the Year.” The Compass Records duo, Eric and Leigh Gibson, received seven nominations for Help My Brother released in February to chart topping and critical success, establishing them as one of bluegrass’ hottest acts.
 
"If you keep showing up good things can happen. We’re lifers, we don’t have a plan B and this is what we do and we feel very fortunate to be doing this for quite awhile now. This is validation for staying in it and not giving out," says Eric Gibson of the wins.
   
Dale Ann Bradley collected her fourth “Female Vocalist of the Year" award.   Bradley just released Somewhere South of Crazy, praised by The Sunday edition of The New York Times with, “One of the most delicate female vocalists in bluegrass…the highlight is ‘Come Home Good Boy’, and affecting, quietly enraged song about sending a child off to war.” The song is now a music video and  will be featured on both CMT.com and GAC.com.
 
Co-founded in 1994 by musicians Alison Brown and Garry West, Compass is a new breed of roots-music label: eclectic, sophisticated, and artist-friendly. Called “one of the greatest independent labels of the last decade” by Billboard Magazine, Compass Records has provided a thriving haven of creativity for artists and a reliable beacon of quality for music fans.

Noam Pikelny Listening Party on Banjo Hangout

BanjoHangout.org is hosting an exclusive release day listening party today, October 25th for Noam Pikelny’s brand new album Beat The Devil and Carry A Rail. Click the album image to stream to the complete album today only and order your copy.