Casey's instructional DVD Blackberry Blossom and Other Banjo Favorites (formerly titled "Melodic Banjo") has been re-released (just in time for Christmas!). It teaches the jam favorite "Blackberry Blossom" (that should have been quite obvious from the title). Other tunes included are "Roanoke," "Turkey in the Straw," "Big Panther Creek Waltz" (a Casey original found on her Real Women Drive Trucks CD), and "Katy Hill."

It took way longer than we would have liked, but Monroe Approved Chris's amazing solo release is now available. Completely coincidentally the Monroe Style Mandolin video he did for the Murphy Method has just been released on DVD. That's a nice listen and learn package right there.

The September issue of Bluegrass Unlimited features an excellent review of Get Along Girl, along with an article on the Steep Canyon Rangers written by Casey. The new CD is selling well at personal appearances. We also got a wonderful review from Flatpicking Guitar magazine in the July/August issue, which features our own Tyler Grant on the cover.

For at least a year Chris has been working on his first solo release, a mandolin CD entitled "Monroe Approved." It is finally finished and we should have them to sell in about a month. It is an excellent project with some amazing mandolin playing. It features several Monroe tunes including a couple that Monroe never recorded. The title track is a medley of three tunes cunningly assembled with some words from Monroe himself. Produced by Chris and Butch Baldassari, musicians include Casey Henry, Red Henry, Ronnie McCoury, Jason Carter, Mike Bub, Robert Bowlin, Alan O'Bryant, Charlie Cushman, Roland White, and more.

We were searching for a guitar player to do some of our summer gigs, since Tyler is tied up far more often that we'd like him to be playing with Drew Emmitt, and who should present himself but Michael McLain of the McLain Family, Claire Lynch and the Front Porch String Band, the Jim Hurst Band, and lately of his own band with his wife Jennifer. We couldn't have imagined a person who we love more. You'll see him at most of our gigs this year. And speaking of people we love--Marshall Wilborn (of the Lynn Morris Band, Seneca Rocks, and Longview) will be playing with us in August in Luray, Winchester, and Gettysburg. We're really looking forward to getting to play with these excellent musicians!

Please excuse the excessive exclaimation marks, but our new CDs arrived via UPS yesterday and we are truly very excited. Get Along Girl turned out better than we could have hoped and we're eager to let everyone hear our new music. You can sample the songs, and order the CD, from our merchandise page. We hope to have a CD release party at some point, but we're having trouble pinning down a date. We'll let everyone know as soon as we get details. In the meantime, the first show where the CD will be for sale is the Apple Blossom Bluegrass Festival in Winchester, VA on May 7th. Please let us know what you think of the CD. (We just noticed that it is a year, almost to the day from when our demo CD became available. Weird...)

We are hard at work on our first full-length CD, "Get Along Girl," which should be released on Arrandem Records at the beginning of May. We finished up recording at Ben Surratt's Rec Room studio on February 22nd and we start mixing there on March 13th. It will have thirteen songs, eight of which are originals. In addition to Casey on banjo and Chris on mandolin, we have Tyler Grant on guitar, the incomprable Missy Raines on bass, and special guest Shad Cobb on fiddle. Early listener reactions are positive. We'll have some samples up as soon as we get it mixed.

The Two-Stringers are busy making plans for IBMA. We will be at the Murphy Method booth all week (Booth #50 in the Convention Center) and we're looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting lots of new ones. We have one performance scheduled on Tuesday night at 1:15 am at the Bronzewound Showcase, and one on Saturday at noon down in the Green Hills area of town, on the corner of Hillsboro Pike and Richard Jones Rd. Casey will be performing as Lily May Ledford on the Old-time Opry Variety Show on the Fan Fest Saturday night. It's the only time you'll see her in a gingham dress with ribbons in her hair!

Saturday, July 23rd saw the Two-Stringers at an old log cabin in Clarksville, Tenn., taping the Southern Kitchens cooking show with host Mark Weakley. This episode is called "Bluegrass and Black Iron" and featured some excellent barbecue, white beans with shrimp, and tomato pie. The band played four songs: Goin' Back to Old Virginia, Boxcar Door, Gallatin, and especially appropriate for a cooking show: Fried Chicken, written by Murphy Henry. The show will air on WKAG, channel 3, in western Tennessee and Kentucky. If you see it, drop us a line and let us know how you liked it!

This CD has five songs: “Two Hands on the Wheel,” by Nancy Pate (sung by Casey); “Boxcar Door,” by Chris Henry (sung by himself); “Going Back to Old Virginia,” by David McLaughlin (a duet by Casey and Chris); “Sound I Hear,” by Sally Jones (a truly lonesome number sung by Casey); and “Gallatin” a fast as blazes instrumental by Chris. At just $5 this is a great deal!