• Remembering McAlester

    As this year's festival season rolls along, one landmark festival is distinctly missing from the schedule. The Sanders Family Bluegrass Festival in McAlester, OK is no more. After running for the last 31 years, the family decided to no longer

  • Jimmy Bowen & Santa Fe in Europe

    Geez... It seems like everyone in bluegrass but me and Brance are heading for Europe this summer. Jimmy Bowen & Santa Fe are in Holland and Norway this week with five shows scheduled. Wednesday July 9 - Turfschip, Nieuwkoop Thursday July 10th -

  • Russell Moore reflects

    Last month we gave notice of the series of Bluegrass Nights concerts at The Ryman Auditorium during the summer months. Ahead of his appearance with IIIrd Tyme Out this coming Thursday (July 10) Russell Moore reflects on what the venue means

  • Grasstowne does Scandinavia

    Phil Leadbetter tells us that he and his Grasstowne compatriots are packing for a week performing in Northern Europe. The tour begins this weekend with a show at the Torsaker Bluegrass Festival in Sweden (7/5), followed by stops in Helsinki and

  • Tom T. Hall enters Country Music Hall of Fame

    This past Sunday evening, Tom T. Hall was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, along with the Statler Brothers. Tom T. has long been associated with bluegrass music. He got his start playing in a bluegrass band. He spent

  • Cracker Barrel’s Rural Roots Music Fest

    Bluegrass artists are having an increasingly difficult time finding retail outlets for their recorded works. Wal-mart is all but inaccessable, and the brick and morter record shops are closing faster than a lick from Johnny Butten's banjo. Could Cracker Barrel become

  • Fuel and Festival Attendance

    In mid April we ran a poll asking our readers if they anticipated attending fewer festivals this season due to rising fuel prices. We had just over 500 readers participate in that poll with 58% saying that they would attend

  • KET’s Jubilee attractions

    With gas prices making festival attendance more doubtful, for many, bluegrass on television perhaps becomes more attractive than hitherto. Recently, I was alerted to the appearance on Kentucky Educational Television's Jubilee stage of California's High Country, one of the West Coast's

  • Bluegrass Nights At The Ryman, Summer 2008

    The 2008 series of Bluegrass Nights At The Ryman begins this Thursday, June 26. The annual summer series of shows staged at the so-called mother church of country music, Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, will include appearances by Vince Gill, Earl Scruggs,

  • Ned and Cindy do the Awards Show

    The IBMA has announced that Cindy Baucom and Ned Luberecki will be the producers for the 2008 International Bluegrass Music Awards show. They will be tasked with coordinating the artists who will perform and the many presenters who will announce