Music

Long-time banjo picker Steve Sparkman has vacated his spot with Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys to accept a position in law enforcement with the Versailles, KY police department. Steve had been a fixture on tour with Dr. Ralph, coming

The singing Johnson sisters, i.e., England's Toy Hearts, have released the first single from their new Femme Fatale CD. It's the title track, in a special radio edit, offered for sale as a digital download through iTunes. Femme Fatale features Toy

Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out will be featured this weekend on Bluegrass Junction Live On Stage, airing on Sirius 65 and XM 14 on Saturday (11/27) at 9:00 p.m. (EST). The show was recorded before a live audience during IBMA

We told you last month about NewFound Road's plans to cut a live album on December 4 at The Down Home in Johnson City, TN. Now comes word that their live show that night will also be captured on video,

Things are moving ever more in a holiday direction here at Bluegrass Today. We'll all be celebrating Thanksgiving with our families this week, after which the official secular celebration of Christmas cranks into overdrive. And what a treat this year that

The folks at Mountain Home/Crossroads have a special digital release of Christmas music featuring three of their top bluegrass artists. These are all new recordings which can be purchased for download either individually, or as an album. A Mountain Home Christmas

It is sadly often the case that stellar recordings by "unknown" artists can languish in obscurity while good, but not spectacular, releases from headline acts receive fawning attention from the music press. On some level, a complaint like this is

With Pete Wernick's post-holiday banjo camps coming up, he tells us that there are two scholarships available for the Advanced Banjo Camp (1/17-22) in Boulder, CO. One is for $1000, which should cover tuition, airfare and part of the lodging

"Bluegrass. Not that hybrid, genre bending acoustic music, but authentic, hard-edged bluegrass. Real songs of heartache, pain and tragedy..." That's how Travers Chandler & Avery County describe their music. Ouch - sounds pretty hard core! But they mean what they say, and

This week saw the release of Untapped Routes from Sweden's G2, an occasion which led to them being offered the opportunity to perform on Bingolotto, the Kingdom's top game show on national television. Banjo picker Jens Koch tells us that the