Music

Pinecastle Records has announced the newest band to be signed to the label. Town Mountain hails from Asheville, NC, but has been touring other areas of the country since 2005, when they won the band competition at the Rockygrass festival

Travers Chandler has announced two new members of his touring band, Avery County. Tony Mabe is the new banjo player, stepping in for Adam Poindexter who departed owing to other work commitments. Mabe had worked previously with James King and Jeanette

Chicago grassers, The Henhouse Prowlers, are about to start a whirlwind tour of Europe. They will play 13 shows over the next 10 days in Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. Despite this busy schedule, the guys have promised to send along reports

The latest issue (March 2011) of  Acoustic Guitar magazine is out, and it includes a lengthy article by Tyler Grant entitled: Must-Know Bluegrass Vocabulary - A guide to practical licks every flatpicker should know. Grant draws an interesting analogy between learning to play a

The Berklee College of Music in Boston has just announced an exciting new program for banjo players enrolled in their Traditional String principal. Only in the past few years have banjo and mandolin players been accepted at Berklee, at least officially.

We've written many times about talented Swedish bluegrass bands like G2, Cold Mountain Band, Downtown Ramblers and others who perform and record at home and beyond. Now we have news about a new CD from The Rockridge Brothers, an old time

Alan Bibey checked in this morning from Grasstowne's ongoing tour of California. They have been on the west coast since last week, and have another week yet before heading back east. Their new CD, Kickin' Up Dust, is due from Rural

Photographer Milo Farineau and his journalist wife, Diane, caught The Carolina Chocolate Drops this past weekend in Charlottesville, VA. Here are Milo's photos, and Diane's interview with the group. The Carolina Chocolate Drops may have just won a Grammy for being

Mel Bay has released a new DVD for clawhammer banjo, Unfortunate Puppy and Other Fine Tunes, taught by Hunter Robertson. The tunes are arranged for intermediate to advanced players and each is taught piece-by-piece, and then show in a split-screen format.

David Hollender, professor at Berklee College of Music, is set to publish Beyond Bluegrass Banjo, a new book of exercises and improvisational explorations for banjo students at Berklee - or any other banjo player who wants to branch out from