A recent release from Homespun Video, Jens Kruger's Banjo Method For Beginners, subtitled An Easy and Joyful Way to Start Picking, is available on DVD for all regions. Kruger is a Swiss banjo virtuoso who has gained a considerable amount of
Bluegrass instructional resources
Straight-ahead Jazz For Banjo, from Pat Cloud
Playing jazz on the five string banjo is a daunting task. The instrument is not laid out well for the sort of long, linear passages common in jazz, and not many banjo players have done the homework necessary to really
Busy month for Jim VanCleve: studio, Scotland, workshop
Jim VanCleve, fiddler with Mountain Heart, has had quite a busy 2010 so far. As related in our recent communications, it appears that there is no rest in sight. But Jim wouldn't have it any other way. In addition to recording
Bluegrass at Harvard
Harvard University has scheduled an academic event on February 6 focused on bluegrass music. The one day seminar is entitled, Fire On The Mountain - A Bluegrass Symposium, and will feature a keynote address and panel discussions including a number
Jim Moratto to South Plains College
South Plains College in Levelland, TX has announced that Jim Moratto has joined their bluegrass faculty as an Instructor in Commercial Music. South Plains offers an associate degree in the Commercial Music program, which includes a specialty in bluegrass music. Bluegrass
New Pete Wernick DVD – Making up solos 2
Homespun Tapes has released a new banjo DVD from Pete Wernick, aka, Dr Banjo. Following up on his How to Make Up Your Own Banjo Solos video, the new project is How to Make Up Your Own Banjo Solos 2. The
Raymond McLain interview in Bristol Herald
The Bristol Herald Courier, which covers Bristol Tennessee and Virginia, plus the nearby cities of Johnson City and Jonesborough, TN, had a piece last Monday about the changing of the guard at East Tennessee State University's Bluegrass, Old Time &
Darol Anger joins Berklee faculty
Darol Anger, who first came to the attention of the bluegrass and acoustic music worlds through his work on fiddle with the original David Grisman Quintet, has been named as an associate professor at the Berklee School of Music. Since his
Mark O’Connor at Berklee – and with a new jazz trio
We've written previously about the new American Roots Music Program at The Berklee College of Music in Boston, which got its official kickoff earlier this month. Mark O'Connor spent a week on campus conducting workshops, master classes and interacting with
Don Rigsby in 2010
Don Rigsby will be starting off the new year with a new focus in his career. This award-winning singer and mandolinist had spent the past 8 years as the Director of the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music at Morehead State University