• Tristan Scroggins’ #QuarantuneChallenge

    One of the many projects that cropped up during this period of downtime was started by mandolinist Tristan Scroggins with major assistance from FiddleStar Megan Lynch. The #QuarantuneChallenge calls for pickers to write a new tune every day for thirty

  • Once For Sadie video from Velvet Blue

    Kentucky's Velvet Blue has released a debut music video from their new CD, Memories & Heartaches. It's for the song Once For Sadie, written by band members Brian Cooper, Carrie Johnson and Taylor Hampton. Cooper is on guitar and lead vocal,

  • Sing Me Home from Dawn Kenney

    The first time I heard Dawn Kenney sing, at an IBMA song circle two years ago, I so desperately wished I wasn’t next to perform. I don’t remember what I played or sang that night, but I guarantee I didn’t

  • From Song Circle to Carnegie Hall

    One of the best parts about IBMA’s World of Bluegrass conference is you never know who you’ll meet around the next corner, or who will show up playing in a throw-together band. Two years ago, I dropped by an after-hours showcase

  • Bartley Brothers in the studio as well

    Also in the studio this month are The Bartley Bothers - Shayne and Rick. They have just finished tracking for their debut album with Rural Rhythm Records and will soon begin the mixing process. Shayne Bartley tells us that most of

  • New fiddler for Doyle

    It turns out that the info we got from Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver last week about Alan Johnson returning to the band was only half right. Big Al is indeed taking over the fiddle spot from Brandon Godman, but only on

  • Big Al is back

    Just six months after announcing his retirement from the band this past spring, fiddler Alan Johnson is back with Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. I guess you can take the picker off the road, but you can't take the road out of

  • Brandon Godman to Quicksilver

    Young fiddler Brandon Godman has been announced as the newest member of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, replacing veteran sideman Alan Johnson who is taking work outside of music. Brandon has been busy this past few years working with Karl Shiflett, Wildfire