Author: David Morris

  • The Boxcars roll along

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    Here’s some discouraging news for any bands hoping for a turn in the spotlight during the 2012 IBMA awards show. The Boxcars, early favorites in a number of categories this year, are heading back to the studio next month and

  • Bluegrasscountry.org passes a milestone

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    With a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the help of many volunteers who digitized tracks from CDs and vinyl, Dick Cassidy put WAMU Radio’s bluegrasscountry.org on the Internet in 2001. There were no hosts and

  • Former Flamekeepers move on

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    Tom Adams, Jesse Brock and Marshall Wilborn, fresh from their falling out with Michael Cleveland, are forming a new band and hope to hit the studio this summer. The band doesn't have a name, has no gigs lined up and still

  • Dr. Tom Bibey’s newest challenge

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    When Tom Bibey’s CD of mandolin duets with Darin Aldridge comes out, pay special attention to the opening track, Amazing Grace. It won’t have the polish of a studio recording, but it will have more than enough raw emotion and

  • Michael Cleveland and the Fill-Ins

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    The schedule said Mike Cleveland and Flamekeeper. The ear, though, heard something else. And the eyes kept searching for familiar faces on the main stage at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival. In an ironic twist of fate, the band’s first appearance

  • J.D. Crowe is back!

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    Just before he kicked off You Can Have Her on Friday afternoon, J.D. Crowe had a moment of doubt: "Can I really do this?" But as the banjo rang loud and clear, he knew. The band knew. And the fans knew.

  • A report from Gettysburg

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    High gas prices and a chilly misty, rain didn’t seem to put much of a damper on Friday’s festivities at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival. Here are some tidbits I picked up while wandering around, listening and catching up with some

  • Louisa Branscomb picks up the pieces

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    After a tornado tore through her north Georgia farm in late April, it’s no surprise songwriter Louisa Branscomb turned to music to help her cope. What did come as a surprise, she realized, is that she had already written the

  • Hazel Dickens – An Appreciation

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    Sometime soon, the powers that be at IBMA will sit down to determine who to add to the Bluegrass Hall of Fame. Hazel Dickens’ name will come up. It always does. And the usual arguments will come up, too. They

  • Hazel Dickens passes

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    Hazel Dickens, a musical pioneer who paved the way for female bluegrass artists like Alison Krauss, Rhonda Vincent and Claire Lynch, died today at 75. Dickens had been in ill health throughout the winter and was not able to be on