Last Thursday, I had one of those experiences straight out of an anxiety nightmare. You know the kind, where where a bear is chasing you and you have to fumble with the handle of a gate in order to escape
Opinion / Humor
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Bluegrass Mad Libs – you know you want to play
It’s hard to believe that the first day of spring is already here. Now that we’ve turned that seasonal corner, it’s only natural to start thinking about bluegrass festivals, and/or mud, depending on where you live. For fans and professional musicians
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Time Changes Everything, or The Attack of the Circadian Rhythms
How are you adjusting to the time change? Or perhaps you haven’t even changed your clocks yet because you had nowhere you needed to be in the past few days. We all envy you, if that’s the case. Let me begin
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Marvelous fun with song title mashups
SiriusXM recently added a huge number of extra channels (officially called “Xtra Channels”) to its app and online service, which I thought was an exciting development. They didn’t so much add new genres, as themes and blends of genres. There
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Don’t blow your audition – follow these simple steps
If you’re playing bluegrass music professionally, or even semi-professionally, at some point you’re going to have to endure that dreaded pre-hiring ritual called the audition. Mind you I don’t mean to assume that everyone will go through the process of being
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What is The Nashville Number System?
I have recently been asked to address the issue of the number system, or as it’s sometimes called, “The Nashville Number System” (note that in Knoxville, it’s always referred to as “The Knoxville Number System”). I was a little reluctant to deal
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Concept album fun for you and me
The biggest recent news in my band has nothing to do with new CD releases, international tours, or our band “bus” failing an emissions test. It’s more in the realm of geological news: the youngest son of our mandolin player
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The great album cover dilemma
Are you putting together your first CD cover, or are you looking for ways to upgrade the quality of your newest one? Don’t feel any pressure; that’s pretty much a yes or no question, and there’s no right or wrong
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The power of positive bluegrass
In many parts of our society, we place a high value on being positive. “Just stay positive,” we’re often told, even if we’ve just received the news that we have three months to live. Some countries are more positive than others,
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Mr. Bluegrass Manners rides again
Mr. Bluegrass Manners has been away for awhile. First he was dealing with final exams at ETSU where he teaches a class in the bluegrass program there called “Bluegrass Etiquette in a Rude Rude Rude Time.” Then he took a