Miscellaneous bluegrass news

Here's an out-of-this-world story with a bluegrass angle... Research into the melting points of diamonds has suggested that remote planets may indeed sport what Jimmy Martin sang about in the 1950s - an Ocean Of Diamonds. It seems that a mass

It seems everyone has a list of their favorite albums from 2009. It was a good year for bluegrass recordings. PopMatters, which bills itself as "an international magazine of cultural criticism" published their top 10 list, and it's not bad.

We got a note recently from Aaron Kilmer, sound tech with West Virginia's Stoney Creek. He shared a story about Darrell Sanders, the band's banjo picker, and his reunion earlier this month with Larry Stephenson with whom he had performed in

We just received this information from the publicists for Charlie Daniels, fiddler, country rocker and major friend to bluegrass music. Legendary recording artist Charlie Daniels suffered a mild stroke while snowmobiling in Colorado on Friday, Jan. 15th. He was treated

Last month, we published a post called Separated at birth? which highlighted the similarities between a number of bluegrass stars and other celebrities. We received a number of suggestions from you, our readers, for other bluegrass/celebrity look-a-likes. We've finally tracked

The Washington Post Clik Track blog had a piece last Friday (1/8) on bluegrass hair, and who better to discuss it than Ricky Skaggs. This was actually an offshoot of a more serious discussion about the future of country music, and

Lonesome River Band is one of bluegrass music's longest running touring acts. They recently completed 28 years recording and performing under that name, serving as a proving ground for some of today's most celebrated bluegrass artists in the process. Adam Steffey,

Why do banjo players spend so much time arguing about tone rings? At last, the truth comes out.

David McLaughlin sent along this poignant note in response to this morning's news that the necessary funds had been raised for him to purchase the new hearing aids that have restored much of his hearing. Multiple kudos to Claire Lynch

We just heard from Claire Lynch that her effort to raise $7,000 for a new hearing aid for former Johnson Mountain Boy David McLaughlin has succeeded. David lost his hearing quite suddenly back in late 2006 and has had to