Author: David Morris

  • An Outbreak of Bluegrass

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    A funny thing happened during Wednesday night’s showcases at IBMA’s World of Bluegrass – some bluegrass broke out. Unfortunately, not a lot of folks witnessed it; the crowd was the smallest of the week. But those who stuck with the program

  • Livewire’s One-and-Done Reunion

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    Apparently, playing in a bluegrass band is a lot like riding a bicycle. Once you learn how to do it, you don’t forget how, even if years go by without doing it. You might wobble a bit, but the basics

  • Breaking the Rules with the Hillbenders

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    You have to give IBMA credit for listening to those who complained that new and tradition-breaking bands were locked out of prized official showcase slots in the past. But just in case anyone missed the association’s more open approach during

  • Pandolfi: Quit Fighting, Start Playing

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    Chris Pandolfi had some succinct advice for those on both sides of the “what is bluegrass” debate – stop picking fights and start picking. “We’re not trying to reposition old bluegrass fans,” the banjoman for the Infamous Stringdusters said in Tuesday’s

  • Ravens and Crows – Dehlia Low

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    Anya Hinkle didn’t set out to break the rules. She honed her edgy vocal style and expressive fiddling on old time music in Virginia and might never have strayed if she hadn’t moved to Asheville, N.C., in the middle of

  • Cutting Through the Fog

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    There might not be more aptly named pickers at IBMA’s World of Bluegrass this year than the Foghorn Stringband. At Monday night’s showcase performance, the quartet’s fiddle tunes on steroids cut through the haze of the Nashville Convention Center ballroom

  • John Hartford – Oh Yeah

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    The producers of a documentary about musical free spirit John Hartford are among the latest bluegrassers to raise money for their project through Kickstarter, which allows fans and supporters to make on-line donations in amounts large and small in return

  • Sounds of Home Blue Highway

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    Anyone who is new to bluegrass – listener, artist, writer, producer – and many who have been doing it for years, should be required to listen to Sounds of Home, the new release from Blue Highway on Rounder. Everything about this

  • Academy of Bluegrass – a review

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    Do you live in the middle of nowhere and can’t find a bluegrass teacher? Or work strange hours and need to take lessons at odd times? With the ArtistWorks Academy of Bluegrass, it’s now possible to improve as a picker,

  • Battle of the bands

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    This post is a contribution from David Morris, one of our 2010 IBMA correspondents. See his profile here. Those attending IBMA’s Fan Fest Friday night in Nashville got a sneak preview of the battle for bluegrass supremacy that is likely to