Reviews

In the 1960’s, country star Hank Snow sang “I’ve been everywhere, man.” Although Bradford Lee Folk didn’t include that song on his recent album Somewhere Far Away, his background gives him a legitimate claim to it. Folk was born in

So much of Tim Stafford’s identity is wrapped up in Blue Highway, his musical home for the last two decades. He’s one terrific songwriter, singer and picker, but in that setting he’s surrounded by a bandful of them who share

Tom Travis is a long-standing and very well respected member of the British bluegrass music fraternity. He is also a practicing Christian who specializes in the traditional styles of the genre.  So, it is natural for Travis to sing and

I'm not sure if a bluegrass album has ever been more appropriately titled than Hard Core Bluegrass, the latest project from Al Jones & The Spruce Mountain Boys on the Patuxent Music label. Jones is the remaining portion of the famed duo,

New music from Alan Munde is always good news for followers of adventurous five string banjo playing, and his latest, Bright Munde, a set of banjo/mandolin duets with Billy Bright, is another cause for rejoicing. It's not likely that many readers

One of the latest sidemen to make a solo debut is bass player Matt Wallace. A Knoxville, TN native who has done stints with Newton & Thomas, Paul Williams & the Victory Trio, David Parmley & Continental Divide, and Audie

No Appalachian string band has ever reached the popularity of Old Crow Medicine Show (OCMS). Few artists can entertain thousands of young rockers at a Mumford & Sons concert and still preserve tradition on the Grand Ole Opry stage. Following in the

Missy Werner's new album, Turn This Heart Around, feels like two albums in one. Roughly half of the tracks feature the singer/mandolinist in a contemporary bluegrass setting with her road band, and the balance finds her singing modern acoustic country

Kentuckians are notoriously proud of their home state. The innumerable odes to the Bluegrass State sung by bluegrass musicians can testify to that. However, there are perhaps few prouder than Gary Brewer, a native of the Louisville area. On the

After performing together for the past several decades in and around their home base of southern Indiana, husband and wife duo Jim and Lynna Woolsey have released their first album together. The record, The Road That Brings You Home, is