Author: Richard Thompson

The European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) Board is to recommend to the membership that EBMA should be dissolved. In a special notice issued on Sunday, March 5, 2023, the organization’s statement went on to say ..   This decision has come after

After a spell of declining health, prolific bluegrass song writer Bill Castle passed away at Maysville Nursing and Rehabilitation, in Maysville, KY on February 27, 2023. He was 89. William Lewis 'Bill' Castle was born on January 6, 1934, in Fleming

On this day … On February 13, 1973, Muleskinner - the first super group of bluegrass music - made its debut on what was the first nationally televised bluegrass music concert.  The program was intended as a showcase for Bill Monroe and

Prague-based banjo and mandolin builder, Rosťa Čapek, is having a double celebration in the spring -  his 55th birthday, and the fifth wedding anniversary of what his wife, Iva, describes as "our Big Bluegrass Wedding." To mark these occasions, he

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