Opinion / Humor

The IBMA World of Bluegrass is fast approaching, and there are lots of things to consider when preparing for this sometimes overwhelming event. Do you have enough business cards? Do you have any business cards at all? Do you have

This is the eve of Bill Monroe’s Birthday, more commonly known as “Billmas.” How does your family celebrate the holiday? Do you have a family? This time of year is so family-oriented that we tend to presume that we all

In another video column, Chris shares a difficult decision he has reached regarding the use of social media. We salute him for his courage.

This column may be shorter than some. This week I made an unplanned visit to see my uncle in Oregon, who recently managed to come back from the dead. He was on life support and when they went to take

Are you usually relegated to the status of opening act? Do you find yourself longing to be the closer? On the other side of the equation, are you a headlining act wishing you could go backwards in time and stature

During the past week, I received responses, both positive and negative, to last week’s column featuring Mr. Bluegrass Manners. Here are a few of the highlights, with the third one being my personal favorite, so make sure to read all

I’m pleased to announce the return of Mr. Bluegrass Manners. It had been my hope that he would be on hand to take questions more often, but he has spent all spring semester lecturing at the newly opened School of

The death of Pete Goble represents a huge loss in modern bluegrass songwriting. In fact, I’ll be paying tribute to him during my upcoming “Truegrass” show on Friday. Pete wrote countless great songs, mostly with various co-writers, often the late

Someone recently suggested to me that bluegrass music is every bit as violent as uncensored hip hop, especially towards women, and that bluegrass recordings should have parental warning stickers on them. I replied that I thought that was ridiculous. How

Sometimes late at night, in a fit of writer’s insecurity, I fear that almost no one reads this column, or if they do, they’re just skimming it without retaining any of its valuable information. This in turn leads me to