Reviews

These days you never really know what a band is going to sound like when you hear them live, although you can usually bet they’re not going to sound exactly like the track you heard on your favorite bluegrass radio

Few people can get away with describing their music as an “experience.” But then again, few words come close to actually describing the music of Larry Keel. To see Larry Keel perform is to have just that: a unique, singular

North Carolina fiddler Tim Smith is back with a second album under the title, Fiddler Tim Smith & Friends - Volume 2. Like its namesake, this record combines Smith's clever original instrumentals with popular standards and a couple of Gospel

Once again the Boston Bluegrass Union has put on a great festival with top notch bands on stages, around 50 workshops offering folks chances to learn techniques, histories, and to interact in an intimate setting with great players. They also

When I see young children hailed as musical prodigies in the bluegrass world, I usually wonder if their early technical skill will translate into a true superstar career, with not just the knowledge to arrange notes in a complicated manner,

The Infamous Stringdusters have always done things their own way. Even in their pre-Dusters days, when they performed as Wheel Hoss, this accomplished group of young pickers had a knack for taking things in a different direction. When their sound began

We had the chance to catch a set from Mountain Faith in their new stage configuration this past weekend at SPBGMA. It was a fast-paced, high-energy show that ran through a combination of the songs from their various albums, the grassified

As a follow-up to 2014’s well-received Dancin’ Annie, Bill Emerson & Sweet Dixie has released a compilation album of the group’s favorite Gospel tracks from their previous albums. The Gospel Side of Bill Emerson & Sweet Dixie pulls from the

Can we really be talking about a major artistic shift by an established artist who is only 24 years old? I guess we can if the artist has been recording since she was 12, already has a pair of major label

Texas-born, Seattle-based banjo pioneer Danny Barnes is coming off a good year. Being the sixth person to win the prestigious Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass award—along with its $50,000 —brings the name Danny Barnes up from