Bluegrass Today Profiles

Pete Seeger once said of his friend John McCutcheon, “John is not only one of the best musicians in the USA, but also a great singer, songwriter, and song leader. And not just incidentally, he is committed to helping hard-working

Phil Salazar (on fiddle), with Phil Salazar & The Kin Folk This month we are thrilled to chat with Southern California bluegrass legend musician and instructor, Phil Salazar. Phil Salazar and the Kin Folk have been playing their unique mix of

2018 Jamie Johnson family Christmas portrait, with Santa Former Grascals’ frontman Jamie Johnson is using his music talents to help addicts on the road to recovery. It was just a few years ago that the lead singer was living the bluegrass

You can tell that Bluedust is committed to their cause simply based on their handle alone. As Josh Villa, the band’s singer and mandolin player expalins, they chose it for a specific purpose.  “We are called Bluedust,” Villa says. “Blue like

Billy Droze is a relatively young man with an old soul. You get that sense listening to his music. But the point is driven home with hammer-meets-nail certainty when you spend a few minutes on the phone with him. He’s humble,

To west coast grassers, Larry Cohea really needs no introduction. Larry is a California Bluegrass Association and Northern California Bluegrass Society Lifetime Achievement Honoree, and member of many seminal Bay Area bluegrass bands such as High Country, Blue and Lonesome, and

It’s no small achievement to forge a sound so essentially American in a place that’s so decidedly removed from its roots. So credit Sweden’s Downhill Bluegrass Band with not only succeeding on that score, but also making their mark both

Photo of Stephen Gilchrist © Alan Messer Stephen Gilchrist is widely recognized as among the very finest mandolin makers in the modern history of the instrument. Here he shares the story of how he went from a teenaged surf bum to

Just as bluegrass helps define an essential element of American music, when it’s translated internationally, it naturally takes in other additives that are indigenous to the countries where it’s performed. Matuto is an ideal example of a fusion that’s often

This month we talk with California Bluegrass Association member, bass player, teacher, and four-time winner of Northern California Bluegrass Society’s Bass Player of the Year award, Lisa Burns. DB: Hi Lisa, you’ve been in the middle of this CBA scene since