Compass Records has today announced that bluegrass fiddle phenom Michael Cleveland has signed with the label. He and his band, Flamekeeper, will start work later this year on a new project, expected for a 2014 release. Michael sees this as a good move in his [...]
Chris Davis, who has been playing mandolin with Junior Sisk & Rambler’s Choice, has made his exit. Anyone close to a bluegrass musician knows the difficulties that job can bring, with the long drives and time away from family, and Chris decided that staying closer [...]
Gruhn Guitars opened for business in their new location on Saturday (6/15), across town from their long time home on Broadway in downtown Nashville. What is now an international destination for lovers of fine fretted stringed instruments started far more humbly on 4th Avenue in 1970, [...]
This is the fourth in a fun new series in which we ask bluegrass music personalities, some famous, some not so well known, about some of their interests as well as about the music that they love. Today we join Kathy Kallick, a leading light in [...]
Australian country and bluegrass artist Kristy Cox has signed with Pisgah Ridge for promotional assistance on her next album, set to be recorded later this year in Nashville with Jerry Salley producing. Salley had produced her two previous projects, released in Australia in 2010 and [...]
Compass Records has today announced that bluegrass fiddle phenom Michael Cleveland has signed with the label. He and his band, Flamekeeper, will start work later this year on a new project, expected for a 2014 release. Michael sees this as a good move in his [...]
Chris Davis, who has been playing mandolin with Junior Sisk & Rambler’s Choice, has made his exit. Anyone close to a bluegrass musician knows the difficulties that job can bring, with the long drives and time away from family, and Chris decided that staying closer [...]
Australian country and bluegrass artist Kristy Cox has signed with Pisgah Ridge for promotional assistance on her next album, set to be recorded later this year in Nashville with Jerry Salley producing. Salley had produced her two previous projects, released in Australia in 2010 and [...]
Folk/bluegrass rockers Mumford & Sons have been forced to cancel their performance at Telluride Bluegrass Festival on June 20 while bass player Ted Dwane recovers from brain surgery. They had already cancelled their show appearance at Bonnaroo after the 28-year-old was hospitalized after “feeling unwell for a few [...]
Producer Stephen Mougin is working in the studio with The Rigneys for their next album this week. Being a harsh taskmaster, he has also prevailed upon the band members (Mom, Dad, and two sons) to record some of their impressions during the process. This fifth installment of their tracking [...]
Gruhn Guitars opened for business in their new location on Saturday (6/15), across town from their long time home on Broadway in downtown Nashville. What is now an international destination for lovers of fine fretted stringed instruments started far more humbly on 4th Avenue in 1970, [...]
This is the fourth in a fun new series in which we ask bluegrass music personalities, some famous, some not so well known, about some of their interests as well as about the music that they love. Today we join Kathy Kallick, a leading light in [...]
Much of the bluegrass and acoustic world was shocked to learn earlier this week about singer/songwriter David Via being attacked and injured prior to a show last weekend in South Carolina. From what we can determine, the attack was random and not necessarily directed at [...]
The VW Boys have been fixtures at festivals throughout the southern US for many years. Mixing comedy, magic and bluegrass has been their theme, along with “possum songs.” Their biggest number over the years has consistently been Five Pounds Of Possum, and at one point [...]
We have learned that Curly Seckler, the legendary bluegrass singer and songwriter, suffered a mini-stroke on May 19. At 93, he is the sole surviving member of the Foggy Mountain Boys and has continued to perform sporadically to this point. According to his agent… “Seckler [...]
The still very busy blogger Richard Hawkins reports that WoodSongs Old Time Radio Hour will be visiting Dublin, Eire, this summer. The popular American radio and TV program, presented by folksinger Michael Johnathon, will be taping a double broadcast at the National Convention Centre in Dublin [...]
Compass has provided this sneak peek at their upcoming album from The Bankesters, who signed with the label in April. It’s the band’s first experience in the recording studio, as their first four projects were recorded in their home. This time, they are working in [...]
Last year we dedicated a good many pixels to a film project called Generation Bluegrass. It was the brainchild of Corey Smith, an 18 year old filmmaker and bluegrass guitarist. His idea was to highlight some of the stellar young musicians about to break out [...]
For the past few weeks, a song from Aubrey Haynie’s 2000 Sugar Hill album, A Man Must Carry On, has been featured as the musical bed for a Subaru commercial airing on national television in the US. The song is a Haynie original, Happy Go Lucky, [...]
Here’s our Special Bluegrass Correspondent with a report from the 42nd Annual Bluegrass and Old Time Fiddlers Convention held June 7-8 in Mt. Airy, NC.
We’d like to introduce David Smith, who will be providing on-site coverage during the Telluride Bluegrass festival next weekend in Colorado. He will join Jason Lombard who will be photographing the event for us. I’m thrilled to be joining the Bluegrass Today team for the [...]
Evans Media Source, a radio, entertainment and event promotion company run by grassers Ernie and Debbie Evans, will henceforth be hosting the annual Sertoma Youth Ranch Spring Bluegrass Festival in Brooksville, FL. The 2014 event, held March 27-30, will be the 28th year for the [...]
Here is another gallery of photos taken by Estill Robinson during last weekend’s 2013 Festival of the Bluegrass in Lexington, KY.
Here is a gallery of images that Lexington, KY photographer Estill Robinson shot during this past weekend’s Festival of the Bluegrass. This first batch captures Masters Of Bluegrass on stage, a supergroup that includes Del McCoury, Bobby Osborne, J.D. Crowe, Bobby Hicks and Jerry McCoury. [...]
Recently we discussed bluegrass urban legends, but it has since come to my attention that we have a lot bigger things to worry about, and no, I’m not talking about the worrisome deflation of banjo strap prices due to cheap imported straps flooding the market. [...]
We’ve all been the recipient of urban legends or scams at one time, forwarded to us by email. In one of my early posts here, I passed along one in which an African prince had a Lloyd Loar and a pre-war herringbone he wanted to [...]
Last week we attempted to blame bluegrass music’s violent side on one man: Little Willie, the Scapegoat, we’ll call him. It works as a theory too, because without all the girlfriendicide (the technical term) committed by Willie, bluegrass songs would be dominated by sad love [...]
A Bluegrass Junction listener—we’ll call her “Laura” (because that was her name)—emailed me recently, pointing out that there are an awful lot of bluegrass songs in which women are murdered. After much thought and reflection, I gave her this subtly nuanced answer: “Yes.” I’ve never [...]
Is it “Mon-ROE” or “MUN-roe”? Is how we pronounce bluegrass names important? It probably is, yet it’s not always as simple as it might seem. Do we pronounce people’s names the way they would pronounce them themselves, or do we just say those names the [...]
Southwest Virginia’s Big Country Bluegrass continues to remind us what hard-core traditional bluegrass sounds like with their new CD Memories of the Past, scheduled for release next week. It is axiomatic that Memories of the Past (Rebel REB-CD 1848) should have some great old songs [...]
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At a time when so much of the energy in and around bluegrass seems to be centered on envelope-pushing and stylistic redefinitions, it is refreshing to find a young band dedicated to writing and recording in the old time way. Even if you enjoy and [...]
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Producer Stephen Mougin is working in the studio with The Rigneys for their next album this week. Being a harsh taskmaster, he has also prevailed upon the band members (Mom, Dad, and two sons) to record some of their impressions during the process. This fifth installment of their tracking [...]
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Daddy Killed the Calf was written by Shannon Slaughter (with a little bit of help from Mike Bentley and Dale Felts). A recording of this song can be found on the latest self-released CD from Shannon and Heather Slaughter & County Clare One More Road. [...]
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The release late last month of When We Fall from Rebecca Frazier was a welcome one for fans who hadn’t heard her on record for the past ten years. The Virginia native was very visible in the first decade of the century, living in Colorado, [...]
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Bud’s Collective at DC Bluegrass Fest
Here we have David Morris’ final interview from the DC Bluegrass Festival, this time with Buddy Dunlap and Bud’s Collective.
Here is David Morris’ interview with Danny and Ryan Paisley at the DC Bluegrass Festival this past weekend. Once again, thanks to Eric Tapp for technical assistance. The video is presented in B&W owing to the poor lighting in the hotel pool area where we [...]
Here is David Morris’ interview with Larry Sparks, shot this past weekend at the DC Bluegrass Festival. As with yesterday’s Frank Solivan video, we are grateful to Eric Tapp for technical assistance.
Here is David Morris’ interview with Frank Solivan at the DC Bluegrass Festival this past weekend.
Junior Williams, banjo player with Newtown and legitimate funny guy, has agreed to send us occasional iPhone videos. Here he is with John Cowan, who is doing some touring with his own band during a break in his schedule with The Doobie Brothers.
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