• New faces in Avery County

    Travers Chandler has announced the addition of two new members to his band, Avery County. John Bryan has joined the group playing guitar and singing high lead, as has banjo player Tom Isaacs, who will also contribute some fiddle. Chandler, who makes

  • Boxcars, Lawson do radio Wednesday

    Big doin's on the radio tomorrow (3/21) for bluegrass lovers. Wednesday morning at 11:00 a.m. marks the official premier of the highly-anticipated sophomore release from The Boxcars, All In, on Sirius-XM's Bluegrass Junction. All five members of the band sat recently

  • Bluegrass radio and PBS pledge week

    If you enjoy programming on public radio or television in the US, you will have noticed that both are currently in the middle of their annual campaign to attract donations from viewers. Well... at least the TV side is. Public radio

  • 2 for 1 from James Alan Shelton

    James Alan Shelton, stalwart guitarist with Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, has re-released a pair of his earlier instrumental Copper Creek albums on a single CD. Both Road To Coeburn (1997) and Guitar Tracks (2000) offer straight ahead bluegrass

  • Sierra Hull Live @ CMT

    CMT has released a live performance by Sierra Hull & Highway 111 as part of a new online concert program called Live @ CMT. If you've not caught the latest edition of Sierra's band, with newest member Jake Stargell on guitar,

  • Buddy Melton surgery a success

    Good news this weekend from Balsam Range. Their fiddler, Buddy Melton, who was injured last week, underwent major facial reconstruction surgery on Sunday in Asheville, NC. Mandolinist Darren Nicholson posted the following this morning on the band's web site. Buddy’s surgery today

  • Do you dream in bluegrass?

    Last week I published a list of topics for bluegrass music camp elective classes that, based on trial and unmistakable error, were deemed colossal failures. I didn’t, however, say that the topics couldn’t be discussed in this column. One of them