We're all well aware at this point of all we've been missing—in some cases starving for—during the year-long and counting COVID-19 pandemic. We miss bluegrass festivals, needless to say. Professional touring musicians miss at least some aspects of the road,
Opinion / Humor
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Ask Sonny Anything… how ’bout Billy Strings and his Grammy?
Good morning Chief! Well the bus is packed with all the usual suspects and we're ready to roll. Today it looks like we're heading back to 1996 and Bobby's River Bend Festival. Also, one of your fans is asking about
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From The Side of the Road… can you not be in two places at one time?
When COVID relief has been debated in the past year, there has been some concern in congress that the government might be creating an incentive not to work by paying people too much while they're idle. For now we’ll just
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Ask Sonny Anything… what made Merle Haggard laugh?
Hi Sonny: I think the year was 1995 or '96 and you were playing a carnival in Clear Springs, MD, and the rain interrupted your show for some time and you, Bobby, and the band went to your bus parked just
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From The Side of the Road: translations from purple publicist prose
If you've attended the IBMA World of Bluegrass and registered for the conference, the organization hereby thanks you for not being a freeloader. No, what I really started to say was that if you've registered for the conference and thereby
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Ask Sonny Anything… Jim Mills asks about Don Reno’s barbering
Howdy folks! Time for this week’s Question and Answer show! Hyar we go….. S =========== Sonny, A hundred years from now, a young person will be drawn to the sound of bluegrass music, and they will hear that inner voice that tells them "you
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From The Side of the Road… Bluegrass baby name derivation
Chris is stuck working a double shift this morning at SiriusXM, so we are running this encore presentation of one of his best columns. There's a whole industry built around baby names. There are numerous books out listing baby names, their
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Tenders of the Flame: Celebrating Women at the Heart of Bluegrass
This article is contribution from Theresa Seiders in celebration of International Women's Day on Match 8. It is part of the Monroe Mandolin Camp's commitment to the preservation and promotion of traditional bluegrass music, through building connection, understanding, and community among
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Ask Sonny Anything… Did Earl ever show you how he played something?
Good morning Chief, I hope you had a good week and either already have your COVID shot, or are on the list. I got mine late last week. Either way, fear not, we're all masked up out here in the
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From The Side of the Road… can you find the pop lyric in a bluegrass song?
If you've been reading these columns for any length of time, you know that I have periodically lamented the fact that a significant chunk of bluegrass music listeners aren't paying attention to lyrics, and may only be vaguely aware that