Author: John Curtis Goad

It had been over three years since I had the opportunity to see Larry Sparks live, when I attended his concert at Meadowgreen Music Park in Clay City, KY, last weekend. Let me tell you – that’s just too long.

Enduring 50 years as a professional bluegrass musician is an incredible accomplishment. Not many pickers or singers can say that they have truly made bluegrass their life's work, but among those who can is Terry Baucom. Baucom celebrated his golden

There's plenty to like on Starry Southern Nights, the debut album from New England-based group, Rock Hearts. Though the record comes in a little light at only eight tracks, the band packs lots of traditional-sounding bluegrass into those numbers, ranging from

Like many other music venues across the country, the COVID-19 pandemic left Meadowgreen Appalachian Music Park in limbo. The park, which generally runs a concert series throughout the winter in its barn-like music hall near Clay City, KY, had to

Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers is one of the most consistent bands in bluegrass music. Whenever they release an album, you know exactly what you're going to get – top-tier, traditional-leaning bluegrass, powered by Mullins's solid banjo and supported

When you're a legendary banjo player and have accumulated a whole room full of spare banjo parts over the years, what do you do? Well, if you're Sonny Osborne, you fool around and put them together until you have a

I'm always intrigued by an all-original bluegrass album. We have a strong tradition in bluegrass of recycling older material – lyrics, melody lines, whole songs, etc. – so it's interesting to see what fresh ideas today's songwriters are coming up

After spending a decade defunct, the "Mastertone" banjo is back, and it's no longer a Gibson. Wayne Rogers of Gold Tone Music Group has trademarked "Mastertone," and released a new line of offshore made instruments bearing the name.  This first came

Few new voices have been embraced by bluegrass radio in recent years like that of Amanda Cook, whose first two albums from Mountain Fever Records have garnered a number of top singles over the past few years. Cook has recently

It's a little early in the year to be making album of the year lists, but I can just about guarantee that once awards season rolls around, Industrial Strength Bluegrass will be a top contender. The Joe Mullins-produced effort from