• Phil Leadbetter Makes The Next Move

    Imagine turning 49 years old, being diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer, and wondering if you’ll live long enough to start getting AARP pitches in the mail a year later. Imagine, as a professional musician, being told by your doctor

  • Cardwell Out as IBMA Executive Director

    Nancy Cardwell, who oversaw the move of IBMA’s World of Bluegrass conference and festival from Nashville to Raleigh and was executive director as the organization returned to solid financial footing after multiple years of red ink, is being replaced. IBMA Chair

  • IBMA pro membership numbers remain flat

    Coming to Raleigh was a good financial decision for IBMA, but not all of the news has been good. Revenues are up, hand-in-hand with attendance at the end of week music festival. And the association's overall membership numbers have grown significantly

  • Bela Fleck sees the Light

    If it’s time for IBMA’s World of Bluegrass, it must be time for another keynote address by a “name” player who has bluegrass in his background but has moved on to other genres. It’s been the organization’s M.O. for the

  • The Earls of Leicester, New Bluegrass Royalty

    If you stumbled here through a Google search for information about British bluebloods, you landed in the wrong place. But if you’re looking for bluegrass royalty, here it is. Musically, the Earls of Leicester, some of the best pickers of this

  • Sake Of The Sound – Front Country

    Do yourself a favor. No matter what you think of jam bands, Americana and other genres that reside at the edges of traditional bluegrass or beyond, swallow your preconceptions and listen to four songs from Sake of the Sound, the

  • Kelly Green battles rare vocal condition

    Four years ago, just before her 40th birthday, Kelly’s voice gave out near the end of a weekly gig with her band, Acoustic Endeavors. She’d being singing for years and had sore throats and other vocal issues over the years, so

  • Ron Murphy passes

    Ron Murphy, whose rock-solid bass playing anchored the Cincinnati-area band Muddy River for many years, died this morning, one day short of his 67th birthday.Ron's kidneys failed in June and he was diagnosed with melanoma. Despite treatment, the cancer spread

  • A Wrong That Must Be Righted

    Another year, and Hazel Dickens is still not a member of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. This is a slight that must be righted. But here’s the cold, hard truth. It’s possible that she never makes the cut. This year’s inductees,