Miscellaneous bluegrass news

The proposed merger between Gibson Guitar and TC Group which was announced in January '08 has been shelved. The two companies issued a joint press release late last week. Gibson Guitar, the world's premier musical instrument manufacturer and leader in music technology

On Monday (4/14) we will start a multi-part series of posts comparing recorded music sales within the bluegrass world with what has been reported in the larger music industry. We interviewed Dave Freeman of Rebel Records, Ken Irwin of Rounder Records,

Eugene Crabtree, who played banjo for many years with The James King Band, died suddenly yesterday (4/9) from a heart attack. He was 43 years old. We've not been able to find an obituary online, but understand that he died of

Wichita Rutherford, the duly elected Mayor of Bluegrass, presented the family band, Cherryholmes, with the key to the "City of Bluegrass" last week. This is the first time the key has been awarded in bluegrass history and Wichita was understandably excited

If you've done business with Huber Banjos in the last few years, chances are you had a conversation with Sam Calveard. Sam handled customer service at Huber from 2005 to 2007, and made a lot of friends during his time

In late February we posted the news that iTunes had moved into the number two position in the ranking of the top music retailers in the US. The same group (NPD) has just released a new report for the first

John Pennell, bass player with The Charlie Sizemore Band, asked us to post this remembrance of his friend, Wayne Fields, who died on March 21. Wayne played banjo with Sizemore, and is featured on his recent CD, Good News, released in

We posted last week with the happy news that John and Vickie Chapman were celebrating the birth of their daughter, Kylie, tempered with the sadder news that she was being treated for complications from Meconium Aspiration. We now hear that Kylie

The market giveth, and the market taketh away... We commented last week on somber news about CD sales at the wholesale level, mentioning the recent demise of long-time bluegrass and old time wholesale distributor, The Record Depot. Their closing has had

Wichita Rutherford is reporting this morning on the latest lawsuit to involve a bluegrass celebrity. Bobby Osborne has reportedly been sued for $16 million, in a suit claiming he caused irreparable hearing damage to a listener's ears, when hitting the high