In the 1970s during the punk versus disco wars, there was also a revolution going on. Even though it was somewhat of an underground one and garnered not much attention outside certain circles, it nonetheless moved a mountain. The mountain […]
John Cowan has been on bluegrass fans’ radar since he first joined the ground-breaking New Grass Revival on bass and singing lead tenor, in 1974. Cowan’s command of the vocals in that group came much to founding member and bluegrass […]
There’s almost a sense of culture shock moving from IBMA week in Raleigh, North Carolina, to the Tennessee Fall Homecoming in Norris, Tennessee, about 30 miles north of Knoxville. IBMA provided an eye- and ear-popping musical feast. There, cutting edge bands explored […]
As we head into IBMA week in Raleigh, I’m thinking about where we’ve come from and where we’re headed. My guide for the past few days has been a wonderful book recommended in a column a few weeks ago by […]
Memory is a strange and wonderful artifact. When I was a teacher, students who were seniors referred to school habits as traditions, though much of what they referred to this way had just been initiated when they were in middle school. Family […]
Last week, I was shocked and deeply disappointed to read — first in a Facebook post, then in Bluegrass Today — the daily online news source for the bluegrass community, that WAMU’s BluegrassCountry.org, would be leaving us on Dec. 31 unless a new owner […]
I’ve known Brad Hunt for many years and he always seems happy and usually has an amusing story to share. I always remember and love that he accepted an Americana Music Award for Sonny Landreth, walking to the podium in […]
Bluegrass songs often seem to lie in a realm of nostalgic haze, the memories of days gone by. Somehow we yearn for a day somewhere in the past where things were better, life was simpler, people treated each other with respect […]
When you attend a bluegrass event, whether it’s a concert, festival, or local picking party, you never know who you might meet. Most people don’t care who you are or what you do for a living. What they do care about […]
There’s a song by country-rock band Alabama with the lyric, “If you’re gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band.” But I find that governing clause a little too narrow. In almost any genre of music, that most cranky […]
