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Category: Opinion / Humor
Listen up, sound guys
Last week, based on comments I received here and elsewhere, it seems that I suddenly became the best friend of sound engineers, simply by making an attempt to tell their side of the story. Now, could I get just a little more guitar in the [...]
Blue Yodel #28 – A Yellow Rose and Two Reese’s Cups
Every Saturday I take my mother two Reese’s cups. She lives in a residential care facility with four other ninety-somethings and a rotating cast of under-appreciated care providers. She often calls me by my father’s name, her father’s name, or her little brother’s name (who’s [...]
The sound man is your friend
There are plenty of tense and troubled relationships in professional bluegrass music. Minor scraps to major feuds can often develop between label and artist, artist and event producer, side musician and band leader, musician and landlord, but one of the most common and perennial struggles [...]
The Bluegrass Intelligencer returns
After a hiatus of more than two years, The Bluegrass Intelligencer has arisen like a phoenix from the ashes of a bad metaphor. This hilarious site, which features parody, satire and inside humor for fans of bluegrass and acoustic music, is the wok of Greg [...]
Blue Yodel #27 – Make the Web Go Away
Wanted: young band needed to take part in promotional experiment. Must be willing to risk loss of career and ridicule of peers. But if it works: You can become more famous than the Beatles! Okay, here’s the idea. Let’s say you’re an artist. That’s easy. [...]
They call him the Bluegrass Storyteller
My travels and adventures in bluegrass music have touched every thread of fabric in my life. At times this has been beautiful beyond comprehension. At other times, it’s been a horrific nightmare – but I would trade none of it. You grow as a person [...]
Seemed like a good idea at the time
The world of music is strewn with the decaying corpses of marketing ideas gone wrong, or ones that were just wrong to begin with. Many of them linger in our consciousness decades later, and not in a good way, providing proof once again that the [...]
Blue Yodel #26 – Ask Mr. Blue Grass Smarty Pants
Guest Questioner and Prize This month’s guest is a respected mover-and-shaker in bluegrass: the Yoda of Yellow Springs, the Doyen of Dayton, the Savonarola of Southern Ohio—Fred Bartenstein. Fred was the editor of Muleskinner News from 1969 to 1974, and has been a broadcaster, musician, [...]
Happy Songs of Sunshine and Light
A while back I was invited to bring my fiddle to a potluck party some friends of mine hosted in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina. I brought along my instrument in the hopes of finding some bluegrass musicians to jam with. When I arrived [...]
The Dogs of Bluegrass
With dog talk seemingly taking over the US Presidential race, it seems like a perfect time to highlight this clever piece of work from Zach White. Zach is a country/bluegrass musician currently studying commercial music at Belmont University, where he performs with the student bluegrass ensemble. [...]
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