Author: John Curtis Goad

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

The name Larry Cordle is synonymous with great songwriting. He's had numerous popular cuts in both bluegrass and country music, and is perhaps best known for the country hits he's penned, like Highway 40 Blues and Murder on Music Row.

The ETSU Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies community is mourning another staff member and graduate with the loss of Aaron "Frosty" Foster, 28, who passed away at his home in Elizabethon, TN, on February 10, 2021. Foster, a native

If you are looking to start 2021 off with an album packed full of bluegrass all-stars, Justin Moses's brand-new release from Mountain Fever Records, Fall Like Rain, would be an excellent place to look. Moses, a skilled multi-instrumentalist himself, calls