Author: Richard Thompson

After well over 15 years of research, fact-checking, and writing, the publication date for the long-awaited Bill Monroe biography by Tom Ewing is now known - September 30, 2018.  Ewing was a Blue Grass Boy, playing guitar and singing the lead

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle  James Reams is celebrating his 25th anniversary as a bluegrass band leader in 2018. To mark the occasion, he has collaborated with MediaSmith in the

Today’s single release, the 9th in the 11 weeks of new singles program by Pinecastle Records, is Deanie Richardson’s Stoney Mae, a song written by Richardson and Bill Tennyson.  Richardson says this about how the song came to be and what

Since co-founding the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1966, John McEuen has played many times in all the states of the USA and in about 12 countries including USSR, Japan and across Europe – the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was

In 2005 when David Davis was looking for material for his then next album, Troubled Times (Rebel REB-CD 1817), a friend and confidante prompted Davis to record the Charlie Poole song Milwaukee Blues. It proved to be a good suggestion, as

In among the artists of the 1940s who performed in the string band, honky-tonk, western swing and bluegrass music styles, were brothers – more often than not – who sang in the duet style, accompanied by their own guitar and

Banjo player Wade Macey passed away peacefully on March 26, 2018 at the Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He was 82 years old. A Mount Airy resident, Dr. Wade Thomas Macey was born in the Surry

Woody Platt is the guitarist and lead vocalist in the Steep Canyon Rangers, founded in 2000; he handles most of the band’s business matters.   He grew up in the mountains of western North Carolina, where music was always around, and he

The host of the Rockingham County Radio’s Wednesday Bluegrass for Lunch program, Bob Webster, has contacted us to share the disappointing news that today's March 28 show would be the last. IBMA Board Member Webster started the program in May 2015,

Mandolin player Dewey D Murphy passed away on August 8, 2017. He was 88 years old and lived in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Dewey Dwight Murphy, with his brother, Fred (guitar), was part of the first generation of bluegrass musicians, making a