Opinion / Humor

Banjo NewsLetter was mentioned, and I did a column for them in the '70s. It had the ingenious, and thoughtful, title of Keep on the Sonny Side (very original). I want to thank Terry Herd and John Lawless for allowing me,

Several years ago I wrote a column about the ceremonial retirement of adjectives at the IBMA World of Bluegrass. This is now an annual event, usually scheduled on Tuesday, right before the event producers' craft fair and square dance, and

Sonny, you mentioned your tune, Banjo Boy Chimes (great tune, BTW). I'm curious to know what you think about Alan Munde's recording of it on his, Banjo Sandwich LP. David R. David, thank you for your time, and for joining us in

When it rains email scams, it pours. The same is true for bogus voice mails, fake text messages, and phony faxes (in the '90s).  Most of my current scammy voice mails are about expiring warranties. I'm a terrible target for this

Hey Sonny, I would love to know if you have any memories/recollections of bass player Ernie Newton who was featured on so many Nashville sessions in the 1940s and '50s, including many bluegrass recordings with Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, The

Last December, we took a look at some of the ways that bluegrass musicians' lofty pandemic goals had run smack into the brick wall of reality. For many of us, the last 18 months have at times felt like a

Sonny, I can't thank you enough for your insightful article that you both produce each week. I read a lot of music articles in various online publications on a daily basis, a few are pretty good, most are just fair,

Last week we discussed movie taglines, those one or two sentence teasers meant to entice us to rush out (or in) to see the film. As I said, they can range from the overly sparse: "An Event" (Earthquake), to the plot-spoiling

Bluegrass lovers enjoying live music at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival - photo by Frank Baker Last Friday night, in Kodak, TN, Darin & Brooke Aldridge were no more than a few measures into Tear Stained Letter when I scribbled in my

Hello Sonny. I seen the brothers many times in and around Burlington, NC at Bass Mountain festival and The Big O Jamboree. Do you remember the Big O and any stories? One time I remember seeing Glen Duncan was on