Author: Richard Thompson

Michigan-area bluegrass musician Gary Adams passed away on Monday, January 23. He had very recently been diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour.  Gary Lee Adams was born Harts Creek (Logan County), West Virginia, on January 1, 1952. He began playing at

Illinois fiddler and bluegrass promoter George Portz passed away on January 9, 2023, from a heart attack, just two days after his last performance – at the Missouri Area Bluegrass Committee’s (MABC) Winter Festival, Eureka. He was 70 years old. Since

Vivian Williams, fiddler, composer, recording artist, and writer, passed away on January 6, 2023 at the age of 84. She had been suffering with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), aka Lou Gehrig's disease, for a few years.   Vivian Tomlinson Williams was

Co-founder of the California Bluegrass Association (CBA), Carl Pagter passed away on Tuesday, January 3, 2023, in Virginia. He was 89 years old. Carl Richard Pagter was born on February 13, 1934, in Baltimore, and helped to form the San

Stewartstown, PA native Dean Phillips has been announced as the new banjo player with Danny Paisley & the Southern Grass. The 27 year old banjo instructor at The Guitar Spot USA (in Red Lion) has rapidly been making a name for

The DC Bluegrass Union Hazel Dickens Song Contest celebrates the life and muse of one of bluegrass music's most beloved songwriters.  Each year since 2014, the DC Bluegrass Union (DCBU) has extended invitations to songwriters in recognition of the enduring influence

The Violin Shop on 8th Avenue, in the Berry Hill area of Nashville, was broken into on Sunday, December 18, at about 5:11-5:13 a.m. local time.  The intruder busted in the partly glazed front door with a sledgehammer, stole five violins,

Bluegrass gospel singer, musician and songwriter, Becky Isaacs Bowman, of The Isaacs, was involved in an serious auto accident on Friday near her home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.  She was in a head-on collision which left her with broken bones, requiring emergency

Banjo player Troy Brammer passed away on December 11, 2022, at the age of 90.  Troy Shirley Brammer was born on July 24, 1932, and raised in Patrick County, Virginia, but settled and lived the rest of his years in Collinsville,

Dudley Murphy, top-rated flatpick guitarist with Radio Flyer, passed away on Saturday, November 19, 2022. He was 82 years of age.   Born on April 16, 1940, in Danville, Kentucky, Murphy's interest in music began during his high school days in