4-22-08:

 At last the CD is being manufactured. I decided not to do an update until after I got finished with the copyright process as I was afraid Jerry, the webmaster, would have to censor me. All I will say is those fellars sure do make it hard to give them money. Several weeks of delays.

 On to more important things.  We are planning a release concert for the CD which also serves as an opportunity to throw another benefit for Sheena Rachell, Yank’s granddaughter, who has a rare lung disease. I wasn’t going to do a CD release thing but Mark Szobody from the Indiana Historical Society was nice enough to offer the use of the Indiana History Center for a concert and benefit. The concert takes place outdoors on the canal in downtown Indy. The history center is at 450 W. Ohio. The date is Sunday June 8^th and the music starts at 3pm and goes to 7:30 ish. Tickets are $12 that day or $10 in advance by calling 317-232-1882. You can sit and hear the concert for free on the lawn/hillside on the east side of the canal.

 Andra Faye, who is from Indy and was mentored by Yank, will perform. Andra is a great mandolin player and part of "Sapphire, The Uppity Blues Women" a top notch award winning blues band . Andra has been nominated for a Handy award (the blues equivalent to the Grammy) for playing mando. Check out Andra at www.uppityblueswomen.com  , www.andrafaye.com

 Rich DelGrosso will also perform. Rich is originally from Detroit. Yank would go to Detroit on occasion to perform, driving from Indianapolis, and was well-known there.  Rich is also a great mando player and a world famous music teacher. Rich is an editor for Blues Revue, the #1 blues magazine in the U.S., writes a monthly music instruction column for the magazine, and is a regular columnist in Mandolin Magazine.

  Rich will be putting on a blues mandolin workshop on the morning of the 8^th from 11-2pm. This will take place at the Indiana History Center. Those attending the workshop will also, if they wish, have the chance to play onstage. Rich will bring the attendees out on stage to play a tune around 3:30pm. This three hour workshop is only $50. Check out Rich at www.mandolinblues.com. Rich also has a bit on Youtube showing a workshop band performing on stage at another event which gives attendees an idea of what to expect. http://youtube.com/watch?v=i768rMm_Lx0

 To sign up for the workshop or to get info contact Mark Kurkowski at Frank’s Violins 317-251-5950 or www.franksviolins.com and email Mark from there.

 Finally, another very cool deal is the 4^th annual Midwest Mandolin Festival.

By chance this festival takes place here in Indianapolis on Saturday June 7^th  and admission is free!! Both Andra and Rich will perform at this all acoustic event.  A full day of mandolin on stage with a bunch of jamming around the picnic tables. Some mando builders will be there showing off their stuff as well. Check out the Mandofest at www.mandolindy.com

03-04-08

  Dear God, I finally have the Yank Tribute “master copy” and we are done with the music. Another last minute track from Jim Richter on mando with Gordon Bonham on vocals and guitar. They recorded Brownsville Blues, the Sleepy John Estes tune. Yank played on the original recording of this number. I think I read in a Ry Cooder interview that Ry went to visit Estes and if you turn right on the Brownsville Road, as the lyrics of the song tell you to do, the road ends up in a field. There was a little shotgun house in the field which is where Estes lived, blind and by himself. The house has since been moved into Brownsville and is on display there.

  Check out Jim’s website at www.richterdigitalarts.net. As Jim says he is “a small independent design house specializing in graphic, web, and video design for the musician.” Jim works with folks like Mike Compton, David Grier, and Butch Robbins, as well as regional bluesman, Gordon Bonham.

Also check out Jim at www.jimrichter.com. Jim and Gordon have a DVD for sale there. Gordon is at www.gordonbonham.com. Jim played a Kimble Mandolin and it sounds great. It really jumps out of the recording. Check out Will Kimble at www.kimblemandolins.com. I met Will at the Midwest Mandolin Fest last year. He had a nice display of mandolins for sale and to play.

  Lowell Levinger played mandolin on Peter Rowan’s www.peterrowan.com track and Lowell has a wonderful website at www.vintageinstruments.com. Some great instruments for sale here. Lowell was the guitar/keyboard player for the “Youngbloods” a Folk/Rock band from the late 60’s and 70’s. There is a great picture of Lowell holding some kind of large mandolin family instrument here on our website.

  On a sad note… May Nell Rachell Smith passed away and was buried last Monday. May Nell was Yank’s youngest child and Sheena’s mother. May Nell sang lead on the gospel tune “Freedom” which is on the Yank Tribute CD.

02-07-08:

  We had a very successful benefit for Sheena Rachell on January 27th.         I think it raised her spirits and we also raised $1,406. Way too many people to thank but special thanks to Mugshots, Steve Robbins, Jan Kline, and Stereo Bob. We also had a “special limited edition” of the Tribute CD for sale.

  Right after the Sheena benefit we got a “last minute” addition to the project, a track from Peter Rowan!! One of my all time musical heroes.   Peter on vocals and guitar and Lonnie Levinger on National Steelbody Mandolin doing “Sitting On Top of the World”. This will put the release date back a couple of weeks but well worth it. Thanks to Peter and Lonnie.

12-27-07

  Well, we are finally finishing up this 2.5 years + project.  All the music has been recorded, mixed, and mastered. We have nineteen tracks in all.  We have also finished the eight page booklet that will go with the CD.  I hope to have the CD for sale in the next 3-4 weeks. I think it has turned out pretty good and I would like to think that Yank would dig it. Thanks go out to everybody who has helped on this project. I hope we all manage to pick up a little positive Karma from this.

  All along the profits for this project were to go to Yank’s family. Unfortunately, we now have a more focused reason for doing the Tribute. Yank’s granddaughter, Sheena, who played bass for Yank, carried him around, handled his business, and is executor of his estate has just been diagnosed with a very rare form of Vasculitis called Wegener’s Granulomatosis. Sheena is in dire need of financial help and we are also throwing a benefit for her on Sunday, January 27th, starting at 3pm at a club here in Indianapolis called Mugshots.  Come out if you can and stay tuned for release of the project!!

9-30-07

  Sorry it’s been a while since the last update. Progress has continued on the Tribute as all the music recorded locally here in Indianapolis has been finished and mixed and all the tracks are in from everyone else. We are beginning to put the project together and hope to have it available by late fall of this year. I think we will end up with almost 20 tunes once all is said and done. My favorite tune at the moment is Texas Tony, a Yank number recorded by Tim O’Brien along with David Grier and Jake Hopping. Also the tune by J.L. Mahjun of Paris, France is also an exceptional one. Check out J.L. at www.youtube.com, search for "mahjun". A video shoot is also planned in early October. We will record performances of Wadie Green and Moonshine Whiskey for play on youtube and such. I had a great time playing the local Penrod Festival and we did a Tribute to Yank with Alan Stratyner on harp, Bill Bailey on percussion, and the mighty Mario Joven on guitar (check out the Yank home page for an audio sample recorded live at Penrod). The performance went out live on the radio from the WFYI 90.1 FM Blues Stage, and was broadcast nationwide! Large thanks to Matt Socey of WFYI. Check out Matt’s blues program every Saturday night on 90.1 FM at 10pm, “The Blues House Party”, streaming audio available at wfyi.org.

6-29-07

  Sad to say, Butch Baldassari won’t be able to provide us with a track, due to his recent illness. Butch is a marvelous musician and we wish Butch all the best. If you would like to help Butch please visit www.mandolincafe.com.

We have, however, received a track from Mike Seeger www.seegerinfo.com  who performed Deep Elam Blues on a 5-course mando (bandurria). Tracks as well from Stanley Smith, a long time friend of Yank Rachell. Stanley ran the Hummingbird here in Indianapolis. Stanley wrote a tune that includes Yank entitiled “Bluesy Little Thing”.  Orville Johnson has also provided a tune. Orville recorded a Yank tune called “Let Me Tangle in Your Potato Vines”. This song is one of my favorite Yank numbers. You can check out Orville at www.orvillejohnson.com.

  Here in Indianapolis we have completed recording the music for our tunes and have started mixing. So many tracks so little time… We have also started a record label for the project called Yanksville Records.  An Al Stone idea and a take off of the Motown studio, Hitsville.

  Had a great time at this year’s Third Annual Midwest Mandolin Festival, on June 2^nd. Check these folks out at www.mandolindy.com

4-17-07

  Well, we have finished up “My Mind Got Bad” and Karen Irwin does a great job on the vocals with Scott Ballantine on acoustic guitar. Sheena Rachell, Yank’s granddaughter, did her vocals for “Lake Michigan Blues”.

Another session for “Katy” this week. Al Stone and I have had large fun working on this project and we are also looking forward to finishing it up so we can work on my Christmas album (Ok just kiddin’).

3-03-07

 We are closing in on the finish of recording the Yank Rachell Tribute.

Mixing and all the rest gets started then. Vocals by Jerome “Schoolboy” Mills, Karen Irwin, Yank’s granddaughter Sheena, and a few mandolin parts are all that remain.

  We also have some wonderful news in that Ronnie McCoury has also joined us in doing a number for the Tribute. Ronnie is the son of Bluegrass Boy Del McCoury and an exceptional mandolin player. Certainly, one of the world’s finest. I’m looking forward to hearing Ronnie playing a Yank tune. 

1-29-07

  Some huge news! Mike Seeger www.seegerinfo.com has offered to do a tune for the recording. Truly an American Music Icon.  Bert Deivert is also doing a tune for us.  A number entitled It Seems Like A Dream recorded in 1941 for the Bluebird label.  Check out Bert at www.deivert.com.

  I was also directed recently to www.myspace.com/yankrachell. Very cool. If you ever feel like emailing Yank, this is the place to do it.

  We’ve been making some good progress on the Tribute lately. Guy Vreeman put B3 on She Caught the Katy, My Mind Got Bad, And Lake Michigan Blues. Jim Lynch did a great job playing guitar on Lake Michigan. Some killer slide on the slow minor blues tune. Jerome Mills and Wes Beam of the Jerome Mills Blues Band   www.myspace.com/jeromemillsbluesband were in to work on Moonshine Whiskey. Jerome got the vocals done and Wes played some wonderful harp. Scott Ballantine has also done the guitar work on Moonshine Whiskey. Another half dozen sessions and we will actually be done recording the music! We’ll be taking 2-3 weeks off though as our recording engineer is touring out west filling in on bass for The Gateway Trio www.gatewaytrio.com.

1-04-07

  First a big thank you to Jerry Chapman our webmaster and a fine mandolinist as well as a founding member of the Mandolin Society of Central Indiana.  Thanks to the Mandolin Society for hosting the Yank web-site.

Check out Jerry and all the rest at www.mandolindy.com.

  Work continues on the Tribute recording. I recently spoke with Mike Compton about the tracks he is doing for us.  We have also started on “Lake Michigan Blues” a great Yank tune that will be sung by his granddaughter Shenna Rachell.  Allen Stratyner has put the Harp on “Wadie Green” making it complete. Thanks to Dave Clawson, drummer extraordinaire, who put the Funk to “She Caught The Katy”

Scott Ballantine (guitar) and Karen Irwin (vocals) have come up with a great kick-off for the tune. Finally, check out the new pic we have of Yank taken under the St. Louis Arch during a Folk Festival (at the bottom of the page that loads). The picture is taken by Curtis Buckhannon, a wonderful mandolin player who has contributed a track to our project.

11-09-06

We got Andra Faye’s track the other day and it sounds great!

Andra is from Indianapolis and Yank was her mentor. Andra plays in the popular blues band Saffire - The Uppity Blues Women www.uppityblueswomen.com.  The tune Andra chose is “My Baby’s Gone” a wonderful Yank tune with good lyrics. Andra sings, plays mandolin, and dubs in some upright Bass. Andra captured Yank’s “feel” on this tune and I know he would really like her version.

  Wadie Green is almost completed with just the Harp left to record. We also have started recording “My Mind Got Bad” a Yank tune from 1938 with Karen Irwin on vocals and “Moonshine Whiskey” with Jerome Mills on Bass and Vocals. Scott Ballantine played Guitar and Craig “Redman” Smith on Drums on both numbers. We’ve also started to arrange our version of “She Caught The Katy” with help from Scott Ballantine.

4-18-06

The Yank project has been stalled a bit while the studio computer got defragged and Al Stone, our engineer, recovered from severe Bronchitis.

We’re back on track and with three more sessions we will have the music for the first five tunes completed. Those tunes are Wadie Green, Divin’ Duck, Depression Blues, Roll Me Over, and a beautiful acapella rendition of the old Gospel tune “Freedom” sung by Yank’s daughters Willa B., Maynell, and granddaughter Sheena.

The Mandolin Society of Central Indiana (MSCI) has asked me to put together a band to do some Yank tunes at their festival June 3-4 www.mandolindy.com.  Helping me out are Tim “Drummerman” Duffy (usually Tim is called “Duff” but since Yank referred to him as Drummerman I couldn’t help myself), Jose Joven (bass), Allen Stratyner (harp), and Steve Brown (guitar) and myself on Mandolin. Come and see/hear us if you can.  Right-click here to download a flyer you can print and post to help promote the festival.