• Don’t fight… change the subject!

    Thanksgiving is upon us. It’s a time when bluegrass musicians, sound engineers, event producers, etc. are all taking a break from their routines, and they’re all heading to a place called “home” (remember that?) or perhaps to a relative’s house.

  • Dream a little dream of bluegrass

    This is week 2 of “National Post-election Can-we-all-take-a-break-from-fighting-each-other-on-social-media Month.” A good way to celebrate is to just go to sleep. That’s what I did, and for that reason, I don’t have a new column for you this week. I did

  • What breed of dog are you?

    I was trying to think of a good mindless escape from post-election analysis and the inevitable elation or depression you feel, depending on which horse you had money riding on. Even if you’re one of those who are happy with

  • Don’t forget to vote for Nellie!

    This will be my last column before the presidential race is all over, which means that one week from today, we in the bluegrass community can all go back to liking each other again. Back in the early days of this

  • Jones of Bavaria… or Mittwoch von Hasebutter

    Thanks to newly-acquired genetic information, I’ve discovered that I have Bavarian roots. Mark Stoffel, the Night Drivers’ mandolin player, who is half Bavarian, tells me he is half-pleased to hear this. In addition to being known for their outstanding pretzel and

  • We have a winner!!

    Well, that was fun. There were some outstanding entries in our IBMA World of Bluegrass Mad Libs contest, and it was hard to pick a winner, so in the end, I gave it to the first entry to use the

  • Bluegrass Mad Libs, IBMA edition

    I was always a fan of the Mad Libs game. It’s at least as good a time-killer on the road as eating sunflower seeds in the shell, or guessing how long various bluegrass side musicians will last in their respective

  • It’s Christmas in September at IBMA

    This will be a very brief report from your IBMA World of Bluegrass correspondent (or one of them, anyway). The reason this will be so brief will be obvious to anyone who’s ever attended this event. For those who haven’t, let