MerleFest has announced the finalists in their annual Chris Austin Songwriting Contest, which will occur later this month during the mega-fest in Wilkesboro, NC. A number of familiar bluegrass names pop up in the list. Lorraine Jordan of Carolina Road will compete
Bluegrass Songwriting News
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The Story behind the Song – Barabbas
The Gospel song Barabbas was written by Eldred Hill, the mandolin player with West Virginia-based group Patent Pending. He relates …… “My father had heard a sermon on the crucifixion delivered by his minister Steve Smallman. The theme was that Barabbas was
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The Story Behind The Song – Jacob’s Dream
Jacob’s Dream is based on a true story about two boys, Joseph, aged five, and George Cox , aged six, who were lost in the in the dense forest of Spruce Hollow, in the Allegheny Mountain region of Pennsylvania. Two
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Songwriter Profile – Bob Amos
Bob Amos is best known as the leader of the Front Range, a quartet formed in 1984 and based in the Denver and Fort Collins area, named after the eastern slopes of the Colorado Rockies. He was born the fourth of
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The Story Behind The Song – The Shape I’m In
The Shape I'm In was written by Dudley Connell, a founder member of the neo-traditional band the Johnson Mountain Boys and currently guitar player with the Seldom Scene. It was included in the band’s Dream Scene album (Sugar Hill SHDC-3858),
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Chris Austin Songwriting Contest deadline is Feb. 19
Attention songwriters... If you would like to have one of your songs considered for the 2013 Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at MerleFest, you'll need to get your application in by February 19. The competition is open to any songwriter whose income in
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The Story Behind The Song – Atlanta Is Burning
The song Atlanta Is Burning is based in part on an event during the American Civil War. It was written by Aubrey Holt of the Boys from Indiana, a band that Holt along with his uncle, Harley Gabbard formed in
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The Story Behind The Song – Silence Or Tears
Silence Or Tears was composed by a veteran of the North Carolina bluegrass scene, mandolin player Jerry Stuart, and the highly-esteemed bass player Tom Gray, of Country Gentlemen fame. However, its origins go back two centuries to the life-time of British
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Songwriter to Songwriter – Jesse Langlais
Oops... here's one of David Morris' Songwriter to Songwriter interviews we recorded last Fall at World of Bluegrass, that hadn't yet been posted. This one finds David in discussion with Jesse Langlais from Town Mountain.
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Pete Goble and Andy Ball – Back To Jubilee Road
I had a lovely chat recently with Pete Goble, one of the most prolific songwriters we have in bluegrass music, and a man who has "been there, done that" as far as most any aspect of bluegrass in the latter