Opinion / Humor

This commentary is a contribution from Art Menius, who has been involved with the International Bluegrass Music Association since its inception. He delivered it to the IBMA Board last week, prior to their official meeting on November 19, and has

It’s time for Jon Weisberger to resign as the chairman of IBMA’s board of directors. I don’t say that lightly. As a lifetime member of the organization, I’ve put $1,000 where my mouth is because I believe in bluegrass music, earn

Those of us who are self-employed players of bluegrass music do something on a regular basis that Lester Flatt, Carter Stanley, and Ernest Granham never had to bother with (don’t feel bad if you don’t recognize that third name; I

Are you in the music business, bluegrass or otherwise? Is 2015 the year you plan to take your business to the next level by kicking it up a notch, thinking outside the box, marching to the beat of a different

You know not to throw things away that have gone out of style, don’t you? That skinny tie you wore in the ‘80s (or perhaps in the early ‘60s) is back. The 100% polyester/plastic “trucker hat” you had thrown away

I guess you can say I've had a love affair with words almost since before I learned to talk. Since moving to North Carolina from California in 1972, I've learned that a “minner dipper” is a mandolin, a “scratch box”

The Night Drivers and I have just completed what I believe is the world’s second shortest European tour. The world’s shortest European tour involved a band that just took their instruments out at the baggage claim of Amsterdam Schipol airport,

I’m in Scotland at the moment, and I’m taking a couple of Wednesdays off to clear my head and think of new jokes involving banjos, haggis, and curling. Meanwhile, though, during a recent seminar at the IBMA World of Bluegrass on

I addressed the issue of name-dropping early on in the life of this column. Bela said he was pretty happy with it, so I felt no need to follow up. Dan and Suzanne had also given it their stamp of

This is going to be brief, as I’m still in the throes of post-IBMA-World-of-Bluegrass/Wide-Open-Bluegrass fatigue syndrome (PIBMAWOBWOBFS, or “Pib-ma-wob-wob-fus”). I hid away for three days, eating nothing but buckwheat pancakes and ramen noodles (not together), watching baseball, and listening to