The timing just worked out. Monroe Crossing is on two new cds in the month of November!

The first to be released was "The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass." It is a VocalEssence release on Clarion Records which features Monroe Crossing as orchestra and our own Lisa Fuglie as soloist. This ain't unnecessarily bluegrass... It's more classical choral music with a bluegrass band, but if you want to hear the outer edges of bluegrass interpretation, this is it.

The second disc is solidly Bluegrass. "Live From Silver Dollar City" captures 17 songs, all requests, from our four days at Branson MO's Silver Dollar City. It includes some of Matt's emcee work to feel like a live show. Now you can take us with you.

Both discs, and our other seven, are available at our website: http://www.monroecrossing.com/store.html

Wow! 2007! It's been a busy five months since Benji Flaming rejoined us here at Monroe Crossing.

He joined right before the Bluegrass Cruise with Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike. We had a great cruise and are looking forward to doing it again, this time to the Grand Cayman Islands and Calica, Mexico. We take off on Jan 19 for 5 days of bluegrass on the blue waters. You can check the Monroe Crossing website for more details.

Also, "The World Beloved, A Bluegrass Mass" has really taken off. What is that you ask? Well, composer Carol Barnett and librettist Marisha Chamberlain found a happy place between the worlds of bluegrass and classical music and we are honored to be the bluegrass portion of it. There is more information about the mass here.

Since these performances, we've recorded our 8th disc; "The World Beloved, A Bluegrass Mass" with Vocalessence at Studio M in St Paul MN. Additional performances are rolling in, in fact, we are in Cincinatti OH performing the Mass with Dale Warland as I write this.

Just so you don't think we're drifting too far from the bluegrass shores, we've just been selected to showcase at the IBMA World of Bluegrass event in Nashville, October 1 -4. We are the California Bluegrass Association's Emerging Artist of the Year and will be playing their Father's Day Festival in Grass Valley CA. We leave real soon for an air conditioned theater at Silver Dollar City's Bluegrass and B-B-Q event.

In fact, there are so many great festivals that I can't list them all here. Please visit our schedule at http://www.monroecrossing.com/schedule.html and see where we are. We have a cool feature, you put in your zip code and we'll tell you how far away we are.

One last thing, Lisa and I have been on a tear writing new material for our second disc with Benji and 9th disc overall. Look for it in the fall, maybe right before IBMA.

That's all for now.
Mark

We are proud to announce that after 6 years and three banjo players, Monroe Crossing has come full circle with the return of fellow founding member Benji Flaming on the banjo. Now 24 and ready to take on the rigor of road--life, this multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist will be sharing his gifts with us again. We are truly thankful that we've had another "Crossing" of paths. We're sure you'll appreciate it as well.

"Into The Fire" is Monroe Crossing's seventh disc over all and second Gospel disc. 15 songs featuring: "Into The Fire (Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego)", "He Did Rise", and "Get Thee Behind Me." With Art, Lisa, Mark, Matt and Jason Ericsson on banjo.

The tracks are: Into The Fire - The Touch of God's Hand - Just a Closer Walk with Thee - One Life - A Mother's Last Words to Her Daughter - The Old Cross Roads - Oak Grove Church - He Did Rise - Orphan Girl - Satan's Jeweled Crown - Who's That Knockin' At My Door - Standing In the Need of Prayer - The Far Side Banks of Jordan - Shut Up In the Mines at Coal Creek - Get Thee Behind Me

It is available from http://www.monroecrossing.com

Lisa Fuglie and Mark Anderson, both of Monroe Crossing, were lucky enough to be selected as alternatives for the IBMA Songwriter Showcase this year! Lisa sent in "Green Mossy Ground" which is in our playlist, Mark sent in "The Happy Holidays" which we'll add to the playlist closer to Christmas. All of Monroe Crossing's recordings can be heard at http://www.monroecrossing.com/store.html

It's a great honor to have two members of the band selected as IBMA Songwriter Showcase alternatives. There were 71 songwriters. 10 were picked to showcase and 6 alternatives were selected in case one of the ten can't make it.

We will be bringing a songwriter sampler ot IBMA which will include songs by not just Mark and Lisa, but Art Blackburn, Matt Thompson and Jason Ericsson as well.

StageSessions went well. We got one song on the show and it will air Sunday April 26,2006 on MPR's news and information system at 6:00 pm. I believe there will be other airings as well. I'll try and watch for them.

We've had three audtions for the banjo slot so far. There are a few more to go. The fate of the banjo is in good hands with all these fine players running around. We're going to have a tough call when all is said and done.

This weekend we play two shows; one for a bible conference in Wisconsin and a concert at one of the oldest churchs in the state. At the concert we will have two openers; a guitar student of Art's open and a vocal trio with piano.

After this weekend we have a weekend off. We'll make a decision about a new banjo picker probably mid-next week and work them in for the week at Branson. (Jeff is really chomping at the bit to get back south. He's found a job and is looking for a home. We're working as fast as we can buddy.) Twenty shows in five days should get the new guy (yes, guy. We didn't have any women audition) in sync for the summer.

In other new news. We are doing a bluegrass cruise. You can get more information at http://www.monroecrossing.com/bluegrasscruise.html

It looks like we are going to perform with one of the best choirs in the country, VocalEssence. You here them on Prairie Home Companion a lot. It's a large (32 voice) professional choir. They have commissioned a "Bluegrass Mass" and it looks like we get to be the bluegrass. It's a great honor and we're really looking forward to it.

Details for all this stuff are available from our schedule page at http://www.monroecrossing.com/schedule.html

Thanks for reading.

Easter Sunday went really well. The Woodlake Luth. choir did an excellent job on Anne's adaptation of the Hallelujah chorus. We did our part too I guess. We did three services and among the songs we played were "Two Men A-Prayin'", "The Rain", "Christ Was Born In Bethlehem", "Wayfaring Stranger", "He Did Rise", "Amazing Grace", "How Great Thou Art", "I Love to Tell the Story".

Special thanks to all the folks who came to Woodlake on Sunday. It's a honor to have people leave their normal church and join us, especially on Easter.

This week is going to be busy. We only have two dates but we also have a banjo picker flying in from West Virginia for a Tuesday night audition.

Saturday we have two songs on Stage Sessions, a National Public Radio show that's taped at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Sunday morning we have another early call at Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Maple Grove.

This Easter Sunday we are playing three services at Woodlake Lutheran Church
7525 Oliver Avenue South, Richfield MN. Tom, the choir directory, has arranged Handel's Hallelujah Chorus for Bluegrass Band! We ran through it with the choir on Wednesday night and it went really well. Another in our string of unusual activities for a bluegrass band.