Opinion / Humor

This was the column I was hoping to get someone else to write for me. It was the one that was supposed to deal with the issue of politics and/or religion in stage MC work. I called some pretty reliable friends

This is the third in a series on stage-show MC work. In the previous installment, I tried to  answer a few frequently asked questions (or FAQ, for those in a hurry), covering issues like who should do most of the

While working in the studio on their Classic History album, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver had the cameras rolling to capture footage for a promo video for Doyle's new Family of Friends fan club. The CD, only available to Family of

Last week I tried to break on-stage MC work down to basics to make the mission seem less daunting for anyone who may find speaking to an audience intimidating. To sum up and review: you’re just trying to make the audience

Something that you or your band must eventually face (besides a non-existent retirement plan), is that at some point, usually no more than three or four songs into a show, you will have to say something to your audience. With the

While attending the 40th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival I was struck by three bands in particular that caused my mind to race with an age old question.  For decades it’s been asked: “What is bluegrass music?” The question comes in

Somewhere deep in my file of road stories, I have an unpleasant recollection of spreading out a sleeping bag on the ground behind a truckstop in the former Yugoslavia (because there was no room at the inn), surrounded by empty

Greetings from the road. My family and I are en route from Alberta to Nashville before we head to Morganton, NC. For that reason, we're pulling one out of the archives about bluegrass conspiracy theories. Bear in mind that this

People have lately been asking me to explain the hierarchy of bluegrass music (and by “people,” I mean my cousin Jimmy). Other than knowing that Bill Monroe is “The Father of Bluegrass,” I had to admit that I hadn’t given

Recently we discussed bluegrass urban legends, but it has since come to my attention that we have a lot bigger things to worry about, and no, I’m not talking about the worrisome deflation of banjo strap prices due to cheap