You can consider this a companion piece to John Lawless' recent article about artificial intelligence and Richard Melling's use of the technology in interviews about bluegrass music. This was just an odd coincidence since I was working on this AI-themed
You know how Christmas traditions get started: just do anything two years in a row, whether it's using a draw system for family gifts or poisoning yourself with expired egg nog, and you're forever obligated to repeat the procedure annually
Are you possibly old enough to remember cigarette advertising on TV and radio? If so you probably also still refer to David Grier as "Lamar Grier's boy," and you might remember who Gerald Ford's vice president was (also Lamar Grier,
Happy Thanksgiving! This week we celebrate something-or-other that happened on Plymouth Rock in such-and-such a year (and they say history isn't being taught well enough in our schools!), the existence of the domesticated turkey, and the growers of cranberries (also
We live in a time of wholesome claims being made about food products. We see words like "organic," "fair trade," and "sustainable," and we're meant to be impressed by these, even if we're not exactly sure what those terms actually
Occasionally in this column we've decided to do song title mashups, blending some of our bluegrass standards with titles of other well-known songs. When we did this with '70s and '80s pop hits, we came up with songs like "Rocket
We sometimes exaggerate in bluegrass music as a way of compensating for the fact that we aren't generally playing music for a mass market audience. And, even though most of us actually like that smaller-scale community feel of our music
Mr. Bluegrass Manners is back! I requested that he take some questions this week, while I’m still on a European tour, possibly writing from a Spanish jail (a nice one, though). As always, these questions came via my Facebook page and are
In this general feeling of turning a corner, seeing light at the end of the tunnel, and whatever other hopeful clichés, we can attach to the year 2022, we're all at least looking forward. Recently I advocated acquiring some self-awareness
The sun sets on the 2022 World of Bluegrass - photo © Frank Baker As the 2022 IBMA Awards and live performances kicked off, Hurricane Ian began its approach on the West Coast of Florida, eventually smashing into Fort Myers. The
