Reviews

When new music arrives from Joe Mullins and The Radio Ramblers, you can pretty much guarantee hearing traditional bluegrass songs about love, regret and hope, with a bit of Gospel added for good measure. You’ll hear tight harmonies and clean

It’s time for my annual compilation of favorite recordings of 2017. It is decidedly subjective, not necessarily the best overall, but what caught my ear and imagination. There’s just one caveat: I don’t include recordings that include songs or liner notes

Just shy of celebrating thirty years as a band, bluegrass Gospel stalwarts The Churchmen continue to sound energetic and fresh on God Holds Tomorrow, their latest album for Mountain Fever Records. The album’s twelve all-new songs include four originals from

Most of today’s bands whose music falls into the “modern traditional” category can trace their sound back to a handful of groups from the 1970s and 1980s – most often J.D. Crowe & the New South and the Bluegrass Album

Santa Claus made his way into Bricktown (Oklahoma City) and the American Banjo Museum, Sunday, December 10. It was a very special occasion, as not only was it a Candy Cane Christmas but it had a special meaning, of the

The latest Mountain Home Music CD from Donna Ulisse is one of those “on the one hand, on the other hand” propositions. On the one hand, Ulisse’s Breakin’ Easy is a textbook example of top-notch traditional bluegrass songwriting. Every listen unveils

Over the years, bluegrass fans have developed expectations of what to expect from a banjo album, and likewise with a singer/songwriter project. The one is likely filled with rip-roaring instrumentals, and the other a collection of songs from a single,

You’ve heard of Lester Flatt, of course, and up-and-comers Flatt Lonesome, but what about No Time Flatt? The west Tennessee-based band recently released their debut album, a self-titled effort filled with a number of classics and more recent bluegrass favorites. The

Two of bluegrass music’s biggest voices joined forces Friday, November 3 for an evening of traditional grass at the Breaks Interstate Park, located on the Virginia/Kentucky border. The Russell Fork River Bluegrass Show, a first-time concert that both the park

This report on the Al Ras festival in Barcelona comes courtesy of Lluis Gomez. The 16th annual Al Ras Bluegrass and Old Time Festival, Spain’s oldest bluegrass festival, occurred this past November 9-11th. This year the festival expanded activities over three