Joe Ross Releases All-Original Bluegrass & Americana Album Project, "Festival Time Again"
A new album entitled, "Festival Time Again," has been recently released by Oregon musician Joe Ross. The 12-track album (on the Zephyr Records label) features all original songs written by Ross during the past three decades. The title cut, capturing the energy and spirit of bluegrass festivals, was featured on Volume 82 of "Prime Cuts of Bluegrass," an industry sampler sent to over 500 DJs and media reps around the world.
Gracie Muldoon of worldwidebluegrass.com, offers, "Joe's a truly inspired writer. His pieces are interesting, entertaining, enjoyable. Joe gets an A for this album." A multi-instrumentalist, Joe Ross plays guitar, mandolin, hammered dulcimer, upright bass, and keys on the project. Vocals and harmonies are handled by Joe Ross and Randy Kohrs, while noted traditional bluegrass stalwart James King makes a cameo lead vocal appearance on the song "My Home in Old Virginia."
Among the 16 artists working with Ross on the "Festival Time Again" project are autoharp virtuoso Bryan Bowers, Arkansas fiddle champion Tim Crouch, Japanese koto master Mitsuki Dazai, award-winning banjo-player and fiddler Ron Stewart, Nashville-based banjo wizard Scott Vestal, and U.S. National mandolin champion Radim Zenkl.
In his liner notes, Bill Jolliff of Newberg, OR. explains, "Northwest bluegrass has a strong traditional strand. There's also easy comfort with new approaches, eclectic material, and wildly different influences. Joe Ross' writing - and this project that so beautifully showcases that prolific talent—typifies the unique, wildly varied bluegrass from the Northwest….Given Joe's place at the center of Northwestern bluegrass, it's little wonder that the common thread of his writing is its variety. The influences show."
Ross admits that the set is quite eclectic and draws inspiration from bluegrass, Celtic, folk, gospel and even gypsyjazz music. "Most of the songs have solid traditional bluegrass foundations. To me, that sound is so stimulating. Other songs take some risks as I like to push a few envelopes with my music. I hope that the bluegrass community won't terribly mind a few numbers with hammered dulcimer, pennywhistle, autoharp or Japanese koto in the mix. My goal was simply to write, arrange and present each song in the most heartfelt way possible. What a treat it's been to work with the James King Band and some of my favorite bluegrass musicians of all time like Ronnie Stewart, Tim Crouch, Randy Kohrs, and Scott Vestal."
Born in Virginia but raised a "military brat" in Japan, Joe heard his first strains of bluegrass on the Far East Network as a teenager. During the late-60s, he played electronic organ overseas in professional rock and soul bands. Ross formed his first bluegrass band, The High Mountain Ramblers, while attending the University of Oregon in the 1970s. Over the years, he's also played and recorded with Sagegrass and Cold Thunder.
With over 1,200 published feature stories and reviews during the past three decades, Joe Ross may be best known as a music journalist. He is a "Top 500" reviewer on Amazon.com, but his songwriting and musical talents have also garnered numerous awards. Joe currently "edu-tains" with his interactive, fast-paced "Roots of Bluegrass" solo show that traces the evolution of the music and demonstrates multiple instruments. He also performs with The Celtic Tradition, and he fronts The Joe Ross Band (with Beth McNamara, Jerry Ashford, Peter Schwimmer, Guy Stone, and Oregon state dobro champion Al Brinkerhoff).
Ross' six highly-acclaimed albums span various genres from bluegrass to Celtic, children's music to Americana. "Festival Time Again" marks his first all-original project, and he is already planning future releases in 2007 and 2008 to showcase more of his own songs. Ross is on the Northwest on Tour juried artist roster and frequently performs shows and festivals throughout the region. Songs from "Festival Time Again" are being presented throughout the West at numerous CD release events this summer and fall. A full appearance schedule for The Joe Ross Band is on-line at: http://oregonbluegrass.org/Bands/joeross.htm
Described as "indefatigable and wry-witted," Joe Ross moderates a 900-member listserv called the Nwbluegrass Yahoogroup. Famous bluegrass songwriter Pete Goble of Michigan notes, "Joe writes and sings great songs. His stories put pictures in my mind. His bluegrass songs have that good drive."
After hearing the new album, Barry Willis, author of America's Music: Bluegrass adds, "The terrific musicians' imaginations flourish... it's a delightful, enjoyable project worthy of any serious tunesmith. You'll like this part of Joe's heart."
"Festival Time Again" (Zephyr-0429) is receiving worldwide distribution. Music stores can order the CD from the Super D One-Stop distribution catalog. "Festival Time Again" is currently available for purchase on the internet at CDBABY and Amazon, where sound clips and reviews are also available.
"Will Joe Ross' songs gain such a life of their own?," asks reviewer Bill Jolliff. "I'm certain of it. I like to imagine, sometime in 2106, some old-timey space child loading her banjo and cooler in the back of a hydrogen-powered jet, heading out into the stratosphere, whistling those old standards from an album of a century before, Festival Time Again. And I like to imagine you whistling them, too."
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