Jake Schepps and his Expedition Quartet have been making waves with their non-traditional approach to both classical and string band music. As a progressive banjoist, Schepps has the experience of annoying bluegrassers by recording and performing the music of Béla Bartok,
When The Grascals held their Life Finds A Way CD release party in Nashville last month, a couple of videos were shot to capture the festivities. Held at the Sirius XM studio downtown on March 27, the event featured a live
The Herschel Sizemore documentary film project to which we alluded back in February continues apace. With a working title of Herschel Sizemore: A Mandolin in B, producer/director Rick Bowman has created a crowd sourcing campaign at indiegogo to raise funds to
Those of us who study the history of string music in the United States are well aware of efforts to fashion the various instruments of the viol family into fretted counterparts. In the late 19th century, newly popular instruments like
Wayne Erbsen's two latest bluegrass instruction books begin his new Bluegrass Jamming series, with titles for both fiddlers and mandolinists. A similar book for banjo is expected later this year. Like his earlier series titled as being for "The Complete Ignoramus,"
Noted comedian and banjo picker Ed Helms, he of The Hangover and The Office fame, has created another clever video for Funny Or Die featuring his banjo pickin' persona. You may recall the hilarious spoof he did with Noam Pikelny when Noam's
CMT is now running an EPK from Steep Canyon Rangers online at CMT.com, and in the Pure 12-pack Countdown. The video features interviews with the band, producer Gary Paczosa and their sometime touring partner Steve Martin. The guys tell the story
Little Black Train is offering a free download of the first track on their second and newly-released album, Barn Dance. Based in California, the band calls themselves an oldternative acoustic trio, and consists of Kenny Blackwell on mandolin and guitar, John Weed on
Could it be all the auction shows gaining popularity on television? From the rough-and-tumble of Storage Wars to the more genteel Antiques Road Show, American TV watchers are catching the auction bug in a big way. So I suppose it should
Maro Kawabata is a bluegrass musician, born and raised in Japan, but who lives now in the United States. It was as a child in Japan that he first heard the music of Bill Monroe, the music that marked him forever
