Author: John Curtis Goad

We often think of bluegrass music as an old genre, even though it “officially” didn’t begin until the mid-1940s. However, we’re fortunate it began to grow and flourish in a time when technology was booming, allowing our parents and grandparents

My favorite term to use when I’m talking about Chris Jones & the Night Drivers is “classy-grass.” The group’s music is smooth and tasteful, featuring some of the best, most thoughtful songwriting of almost any current bluegrass group. You’re not

Jimmie Rodgers and Ralph Peer with their wives, and Jimmie's daughter Anita, circa 1930 - Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum The O’Connor Band took home the big bluegrass award yesterday at the 2017 Grammy Awards, but two other people

While there are several current television shows featuring live bluegrass music, including Bluegrass Underground and a number of programs on RFD-TV, one of the most popular is surely Song of the Mountains, the monthly concert series at Marion, Virginia’s Lincoln

Four or five decades ago, bluegrass and country music could be found on television almost every night of the week. From Flatt and Scruggs’ Ballad of Jed Clampett to country music stars caught in Boss Hogg’s speed traps on The

One of the most famous instruments in the history of bluegrass music is, arguably, the “Banger,” the 1929 Gibson Mastertone played by J.D Crowe on everything from classic Jimmy Martin numbers to the seminal Rounder 0044. A quick Google search

A few months ago, I was fortunate enough to catch the last few songs of a Blue Mafia show at the Down Home in Johnson City, TN. Though I’d heard the band on the radio plenty of times (their 2015

In today’s music world, where the boundaries between genres are ever blurrier, many artists choose to step outside of their musical comfort zone and record an album in a different style. Sometimes they take a huge leap – Steven Tyler,

In November 2016 we reported that the boys in the Darrell Webb Band had experienced a serious auto crash in route to a number of performances in Florida. Unfortunately, the accident left reso player Tyler Collins hospitalized in Jacksonville for

The title of Eliza Mary Doyle’s latest recording, It Ain’t What It Seems, is somewhat accurate when it comes to the music featured on the album’s twelve tracks. It’s not fair to only describe the songs as old-time, even though