Bloggy Goodness: Bluegrass Underground

With most of the HT Staff being based in the Northeast we have often gushed about the amazing experience of attending a Midnight Ramble at Levon Helm’s barn. Well we’re not the only part of the country that has a special spot to attend a concert, as those in and around McMinnville, Tennessee can justly boast about the awesomeness of Bluegrass Underground, a regular series of concerts that take place at the Volcano Room in Cumberland Caverns. The shows, which take place in a cave 333 feet below ground, have featured a mix of contemporary and legendary performers, from Ralph Stanley to Jessica Lee Mayfield to Ricky Skaggs. Now these unique concerts can be seen in your living room, thanks to the fine folks at PBS. The show, whose first season is currently airing, has already been picked up for a second season, which will begin taping early next year, with the likes of Del McCoury Band, The Civil Wars and Vince Gill already lined up to perform.

To get a sense of just how amazingly unique these shows are check out Jennifer Kirk’s photo gallery from one of these very shows that featured Those Darlins and Charlie Louvin.

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Finally, in early September, after news broke about Jack White’s collaboration with the Insane Clown Posse, Scotty B put together a B List that featured ten oddball musical pairings. Well it’s looking like we may have to revisit that list in the near in future and make some additions, as yesterday came word of another out of left field collaboration, as it was revealed that Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood had teamed up with rapper MF Doom on a track called Retarded Fren. The song features the semi-mysterious MC rapping over some very Radiohead-eque beats and is the first track for Lex Records‘ 10th anniversary compilation Complex, give it a listen at Pitchfork.com.