Ask Sonny Anything is a recurring feature where our readers pose questions to the great Sonny Osborne, one half of the iconic Osborne Brothers who redefined bluegrass music in the 1960s, and noted banjo maven and collector of fine prewar
Opinion / Humor
Mr. Bluegrass Manners – to whoop, or not to whoop
I’m excited to announce the return of Mr. Bluegrass Manners. He’s been out on the road, touring all 50 states in his well-mannered (but used) bluegrass bus, spreading the gospel of bluegrass etiquette, and building grassroots support for no particular
Ask Sonny Anything… were the Beatles influenced by Bill Monroe?
Ask Sonny Anything is a recurring feature where our readers pose questions to the great Sonny Osborne, one half of the iconic Osborne Brothers who redefined bluegrass music in the 1960s, and noted banjo maven and collector of fine prewar
Road Work Ahead, and other possible highway song title ideas
Aside from coal mining songs from songwriters who’ve never set foot in a mine, and moonshining songs from people who have only consumed the final product and know nothing about the actual production of the stuff, let alone outrunning or
Ask Sonny Anything… The Chief’s bucket list
Ask Sonny Anything is a recurring feature where our readers pose questions to the great Sonny Osborne, one half of the iconic Osborne Brothers who redefined bluegrass music in the 1960s, and noted banjo maven and collector of fine prewar
Excuse me, sir… I think you dropped a name back there
Jim Lauderdale (I call him “Jim”) does a characteristically hilarious name-dropping bit on stage, which often involves the names of semi-famous government officials, e.g.Madeline Albright. I paraphrase: “I was just talking to Mike Pompeo on the phone, and he agreed
Ask Sonny Anything… Is Bill Monroe the Father of Bluegrass?
Ask Sonny Anything is a recurring feature where our readers pose questions to the great Sonny Osborne, one half of the iconic Osborne Brothers who redefined bluegrass music in the 1960s, and noted banjo maven and collector of fine prewar
Just when you thought it was safe to reorder CDs
I’ve discussed the issue of CD sales here in the past. Disregard whatever I may have said before because there have been some important new developments on that front. Well, one, mainly: people really aren’t buying those things. I’m exaggerating a
Ask Sonny Anything… took the shoes right off their feet!
Ask Sonny Anything is a recurring feature where our readers pose questions to the great Sonny Osborne, one half of the iconic Osborne Brothers who redefined bluegrass music in the 1960s, and noted banjo maven and collector of fine prewar
Email scam ideas targeting bluegrass artists
In early December, Bluegrass Today ran a story about an email scam targeting bluegrass artists. This seemed an odd professional group for the scammers of the world to zero in on, but the story was true, not merely a hoax