• 2018 Armuchee Bluegrass Festival

    Bruce weeks performs at the 2018 Armuchee Bluegrass Festival - photo by Bobby Moore For 35 years now, the Memorial Day weekend edition of the Armuchee Bluegrass Festival has been like old home week for pickers making the trip from rural

  • 2018 Chantilly Farm Bluegrass report

    I had the great pleasure of spending some of my Memorial Day weekend at the Chantilly Farm Bluegrass & BBQ festival in Floyd, Virginia this past weekend. To say it was a good time is an understatement. A great line-up,

  • A Thousand Wishes – Backline

    It’s somewhat rare for a new band to release an album filled almost completely with original material. Most up-and-coming groups tend to rely on established songwriters and updated versions of old standards, with perhaps a few originals sprinkled throughout. Not

  • Dotze Contes – Lluis Gomez

    A Spanish musician and master of the 5 string banjo, Lluis Gomez could be considered something of a phenomenon, especially in a musical arena where there are few other ethnic artists quite like him. Nevertheless, he’s won considerable praise from

  • The Way These Things Go – FY5

    FY5 make a clear case for the fact that subtlety and finesse can go hand in hand, especially when it comes to making music that aims to make a lingering impression. It’s an instinct that’s clearly paid off well; named

  • Highland Travelers debut sizzles

    Let’s start with this: the Highland Travelers are not just a repackaged version of the Boxcars. Though they’ve retained the recently disbanded group’s three main vocalists and its firm grasp on the modern traditional sound, the Highland Travelers have a

  • Here To Distract You – Red Herring

    On their website, Rotterdam-based Red Herring describe their music as a mixture of “folk roots, Americana, murder ballads, love songs, and kickass tunes.” Although the lively mix of tuneful and tasteful melodies found on the group’s latest offering would seem to

  • Front and Center – Sideline

    In the past several years, Sideline has jumped from being a literal side project for some bluegrass A-listers to a fully-fledged band working its way to the top of the bluegrass world. With a few of those original “sidemen” on