• Russ Carson to Ricky Skaggs

    Ricky Skaggs has a new banjo player. Russ Carson, who had played with Audie Blaylock & Redline the past three years, is the newest member of Kentucky Thunder. Russ was quick to mention that he is technically on a three month

  • How To Write A Banjo Concerto – Béla Fleck

    During 2011 while Béla Fleck was writing his banjo concerto, The Imposter, he was closely tailed by filmmaker Sascha Paladino to capture the process. Entering the realm of the symphony orchestra was something completely new for Fleck, who doesn't read music,

  • ACMA opens Papa Joe Smiddy exhibit

    The Appalachian Cultural Music Association, located on the border between the cities of Bristol in Tennessee and Virginia, has prepared a new exhibit for its Mountain Music Museum to honor a regional music and education celebrity. Papa Joe Smiddy, now 93

  • Banjos in Baltimore

    On several occasions we've covered the history of bluegrass in Baltimore, MD. Prominent artists have lived and plied their trade there, from Earl Taylor and Walter Hensley through Del McCoury and Mike Munford, the reigning IBMA banjo player of the

  • Jim Smoak on Best of Bluegrass

    First generation bluegrass banjo picker Jim Smoak will be this weekend's guest on Best of Bluegrass with Bob Mitchell. Jim had recorded and toured with Bill Monroe, Hylo Brown, Little Jimmy Dickens and Arthur Smith in the 1950s and '60s.

  • Jim Mills interviews J.D. Crowe

    For fans of Scruggs style banjo playing, there aren't many pickers more esteemed than J.D. Crowe and Jim Mills. Of course, in a relationship between these two, Crowe would be the teacher and Jim the student, though their professional accomplishments

  • On Point with Tony Trischka

    Banjo players take note! Tony Trischka will be a guest on today's (3/5) On Point, syndicated on public radio stations from WBUR 90.9 at Boston University in Massachusetts. He'll be on the show to chat with host Tom Ashbrook about his

  • Janet Davis Music grand opening celebration

    Janet Davis Music has been among the top retailers of bluegrass instruments, accessories and music for almost four decades now, starting as a small family business run by banjo teacher Janet Davis and her husband, Jim. Last year, the Davis's