Earls Of Leicester To Record Live Album At Country Music Hall Of Fame

Grammy and multiple IBMA winner Earls Of Leicester will record their new, third album at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville on February 24 and 25. 



The sextet under the aegis of Dobro master Jerry Douglas pays homage to one of the most influential acts in Bluegrass history, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs (hence the name Earls of Leicester) and their group the Foggy Mountain Boys. It was original Dobro player, Josh Graves, who made Douglas pick up the instrument and start playing it. Being one of the most respected instrumentalists, Douglas always wanted to celebrate the history and the songbook of Flatt & Scruggs and found in fiddler Johnny Warren,  whose dad was a Foggy Mountain Boy, bassist Barry Bales from Alison Krauss' band, current IBMA banjo player of the year Charlie Cushman, mandolist Jeff White, who replaced original "Earl"  Tim O'Brien and singer and guitarist Shawn Camp five other kindred spirits to offer songs originally recorded by Flatt & Scruggs.



A self-titled, Grammy-winning, "debut" album was released in fall of 2014, followed by "RATTLE AND ROAR" two years later and their new live album is scheduled to be later this year. Understandably, Jerry Douglas is quite excited about the new project:



“This two night stand in the CMA Theater at the Country Music Hall of Fame is a celebration for the Earls of Leicester – as exciting as when Flatt and Scruggs played Vanderbilt University and Carnegie Hall rolled into one,”

said Douglas, referencing the two live albums Flatt and Scruggs cut in 1964 and 1963 respectively. He also hinted at what people may expect during the recordings, which will also be videotaped:

 “We will be debuting songs new to our repertoire and rolling out a few surprises as we videotape and record the culmination of five years of work in our mission to re-educate, and in many cases, reveal this body of work for the first time.”



The Earls of Leicester will also tour select cities before the recording session at the Hall of Fame. So I can certainly imagine that certain new songs will be played and "rehearsed" during these live gigs.



The Earls of Leicester On Tour

2/15 Carolina Theatre Durham, NC

2/17 Rodeheaver Boys Ranch (Palatka Bluegrass Festival), Palatka, FL

2/19 Capitol Theatre Clearwater, FL

2/20 City Winery Atlanta, GA

2/22 Lexington Opera House, Lexington, KY

2/24 Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville, TN

2/25 Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville, TN



"The Train That Carried My Girl From Town" from "RATTLE AND ROAR"





Sources: Press Release, Earls of Leicester (FB),

Give Me Flowers - How A Bluegrass Song Became A Yodeling Tune - Gib Mir Blueme

Polo Hofer (l) and Hanery Amman (r) - Friends and Composers

On July 22nd, 72-year old Swiss Rockstar Polo Hofer passed away. Often credited as being the first (or one of the first) artists to use the Swiss-German dialect in Rock music, in his case the German of Bern or Bernese, he became larger than life, actually a national treasure.

A composition he co-wrote with his former neighbor, Hanery Amman called "Alperose" (Rose of the Alps) was voted to be the ultimate Swiss song and is now taught to grade school children more than three decades after its original release. His music simply became the bedrock of Swiss dialect music to come.
Polo, who used his boy scout name, whose real name was Urs Alfred, constantly reinvented himself, from his first commercially successful band Rumpelstilz to Schmetterding which was replaced by Schmetterband. Then the Alpinistos were in charge and finally, he recorded solo albums and guest artist projects. But what was always common through all the years was a huge love of music from the American South: Roots, Blues, Rock, Singer/Songwriters, Country - he especially loved the melting pot of what the Texas capital, Austin used to be and loved singers like Delbert McClinton and Lucinda Williams. Songs like Little Feat's "Missing You" (Paul Barrere) became "I Vermisse Di," Bruce Springsteen's "Jersey Girl," penned by Tom Waits got adapted into "Meitschi Vom Wissebueehl."

 So after his passing, friends were sending me obits, links to TV specials, and even to one of his films he starred in. Well, this morning I had "Gib Mir Blueme" in my Inbox, in a version where Polo sings it together with TV host and Schlager-Singer Nik Hartmann, while being accompanied by the Swiss TV orchestra, SF Husmusig recorded in Grindelwald in July of 2010.


The song and its theme sounded awfully familiar and sure enough, it's an old bluegrass or bluegrass-gospel composition "Give Me Flowers, While I'm Living," originally recorded by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs in 1957. Written by their wives, Gladys Stacey (Flatt) and Louise Certain (Scruggs) together with Elvin Bigger (known as a former member of the Four Virginians in the 1920s), Flatt & Scruggs recorded it for different albums, so I'm not completely sure, which version the one below is.

Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs


Knowing that Polo wasn't that much a bluegrass fan per se, I started wondering where he may have heard this song, there was a missing link. And sure enough, I found it, on the Amazing Rhythm Aces' fifth album "How the Hell Do You Spell Rhythum?" released in 1980.

Amazin' Rhythm Aces


Polo recorded his first version of "Gib Mir Blueme" for a live album that was released in 1993, and nine years later a studio version with Schmetterband for his album "Xangischxung" (Bernese for "Singing Is Healthy"). I assume that the resophonic guitar (dobro) part was played by my former English teacher Martin Diem on this recording.

Polo Hofer & Schmetterband


So let's forward from 2002, when Polo recorded his studio version, to the live TV show on top of the page, eight years later. Done in the TV show in Swiss Volksmusik style, even though not in its purest forms, Yodel club Wiesenberg from the state of Nidwalden, saw potential in the composition and recorded the tune acapella for their 2012 album "Bluämäpracht." The clip below shows the Jodlerklub Wiesenberg performing the song for another TV show.

And that's how a bluegrass song became a yodeling tune.