Funny stuff

The tribute band is nothing new to bluegrass music or to any other genre of music, for that matter. “Beatlemania” was the first one I was ever aware of, but I know the concept is much older than that. Sometimes there’s

As was mentioned last week, in my introduction to the rerun of my original column on bluegrass haiku, this is National Haiku Writing Month, as decreed by someone who likes writing haiku. The thinking is that during this, the shortest

This is an extremely busy week for me, as I travel from Alberta to Nashville for the official release of my newest CD. This would be a natural opportunity to mention its name (Made to Move), the record label (Mountain

I’m on tour in California and Arizona this week, so writing time has been scarce. We’re currently driving north up the coast (or I assume it’s north because that looks very much like the Pacific ocean out my left window)

One of the most popular annual features of this column, second only to every other annual feature, is our review of the year’s most boring stories. The end of December and January are all about recapping the previous year in chart

Veteran readers of this Wednesday column may recall that around New Year’s Day (that is to say sometime between December 26th and the first day of Spring), I present an annual bluegrass knowledge test, known officially as the “Bluegrass Knowledge

Peter Thompson, noted California bluegrass D.J. and former concert organizer, recently e-mailed out a copy of Woody Guthrie’s New Years resolutions from 1942, which Woody called “New Years Rulins.” It was a long list, with 33 items on it, and had

I’m away for the holidays in a remote northern cell phone and internet-free land, so the following is a rerun of an earlier column. The part you’re reading was sent to Bluegrass Today by brainwaves (they have tremendous telepathic powers

Bluegrass bands face an annual challenge at this festive time of the year. And no, I don’t mean the challenge of coming up with money to buy gifts when your band isn’t working at all. Though it is a traditional time

Sequels are so often disappointing, Santa Clause 2 being a notable exception. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol 2: The Next Verse wasn’t bad either. If you recall, Scrooge becomes the manager of the Cratchit family band and together—with a little