Author: Richard Thompson

In October 1969, prompted by fiddle player Richard ‘Dick’ Dieterle, five students from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor decided to get together to form a band. At the time bluegrass music wasn’t very widely known in the upper

The classic banjo tune, Foggy Mountain Breakdown, has enchanted banjo players and bluegrass music audiences since it was first performed by its composer, the incomparable Earl Scruggs, about 70 years ago.  The breakneck banjo tune that has become a song for the

2019 Hall of Fame inductee Bill Emerson has been a bluegrass music icon for over 60 years. His youngest son Billy doesn’t have such a storied history – and that, until now, has been as the frontman of a hybrid

‘Renfro’ Proffitt, cross-picking guitar stylist and one-time member of Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys, passed away at the Community Hospice Care Center in Ashland, Kentucky, on Thursday, July 25, 2019. He was aged 69.  Troy Leen ‘Renfro’ Proffitt, born on July

After being dormant for a while, the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) has announced a new start, restructured its approach to bluegrass music in Europe, and consolidated its Board membership with the addition of two new members in February this

I Know This Road, Roger Williams' long-awaited solo album, is an eclectic collection of instrumental and vocal works, some of which he has composed and some which have caught his ear over the 40- plus years that he has been

Bill Grant passed away on Tuesday, July 09, 2019, after a brief confinement to hospital following a fall on May 18 that resulted in a fractured leg.  Billy Joe Grant was born in Hugo, Oklahoma on May 9, 1929; a Choctaw

Today, July 9, 2019, mandolin artist and long-term member of the venerable Grand Ole Opry cast, Jesse McReynolds, celebrates his 90th birthday.  Although he is a talented lead guitarist and fiddle player, he is best known for his innovative cross-picking and split-string

LeRoy E Mumma passed away peacefully at his home in Denver, Pennsylvania, on July 2, 2019, aged 82. He had been having health issues for several years.  Mumma (pronounced MOOmaw) was born in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, played with some famous names in

Musicians everywhere love to get together to play and if they are with long-term friends so much the better.  Japanese guitar player and vocalist Kazuhiro Inaba isn’t any exception and the same goes for Sōhei Itō (mandolin and vocals), Hajime Tsutakawa