• The torch is passed

    Bill Evans describes this touching tribute to Earl Scruggs from yesterday's memorial service in Nashville. I had the honor and privilege of attending the memorial service for Earl, held at the Ryman Auditorium on Sunday, April 1. There was one incredibly

  • Remembering the Master

    Bluegrass Today's Terry Herd was in attendance for the Earl Scruggs memorial service at The Ryman yesterday afternoon, and sent along these photos of some of the leading lights of banjo outside the theater following the service.

  • Rhonda Vincent on Earl Scruggs

    Rhonda Vincent contributed this touching tribute to Earl Scruggs. The name Earl Scruggs is one I've known for as long as I can remember. As a little girl, he was just the man in the hat who played the banjo, with

  • Sammy Shelor on Earl Scruggs

    These ruminations on the passing of Earl Scruggs are a contribution from Sammy Shelor, banjo player and band leader with Lonesome River Band, and a hugely influential contemporary 5 string stylist. Earl Scruggs influenced American music as much as any one

  • Ron Stewart and Earl Scruggs

    This remembrance of Earl Scruggs comes from Ron Stewart, fiddler and banjo player with The Boxcars, who is widely-regarded as one of today's leading practitioners of  Scruggs-style banjo. My son McKinley and I had just return from getting some food, when

  • Kristin Scott Benson on Earl Scruggs

    This remembrance of Earl Scruggs comes from Kristin Scott Benson, banjo player with The Grascals, and a multiple winner of the IBMA Banjo Player of the Year award. Like everyone else that loves bluegrass music and the banjo, I was saddened

  • Bankesters Recording Blog – Day 6

    Phil Bankester, peré of the lovely and talented Bankester family, has agreed to provide a running blogumentary of their home recording sessions this week. In this final episode, we hear from two of the ladies. Melissa Triplett, here: We’re done! The past

  • Bankesters Recording Blog – Day 5

    Phil Bankester, peré of the lovely and talented Bankester family, has agreed to provide a running blogumentary of their home recording sessions this week. We're all exhausted after a very long but really great day. Last night we pushed as hard as

  • Bluegrass: An Irish Perspective

    This piece is a contribution from Niall Toner, a songwriter, mandolinist, and bandleader who lives in the Blackstairs Mountains in County Carlow. Niall will be recording a new album for Pinecastle Records in Nashville in May and touring the US. I believe it's