Reviews

Recent news of a release by Janie Fricke, titled Country Side of Bluegrass, intrigued me, as one of those who remember her star status as one of the premier female vocalists in country music in the early 1980's. Getting started doing vocals for national advertising

Besides being a regular correspondent for Bluegrass Today and a West Coast Bluegrass Ambassador, David Thom is also a performing artist who has released yet another fine album, That Old Familiar, on Swollen Records. Recorded at Lewietoons Studio in Berkeley, CA,

Proving that contemporary tunes sound great when played in a traditional style, the new release from central Virginia’s Shenandoah Drive is rock solid. Their album Old Dirt Road, a collection of twelve tunes both old and new, was recorded at

This CD is for the old timers—unapologetic “old school” traditionalists. My people… Us “old foggies” know the locomotive sound and feel of a Paul Warren fiddle breakdown with Lester Flatt, Cousin Jake, Uncle Josh, and Earl Scruggs - or one of

Having formed after four college friends got together and began playing bluegrass around Radford, VA, the Harwell Grice Band has graced stages from Maryland to Darlington, SC performing their Americana-tinged music over the past five years. Their latest project on

Dapple Patti is the title of a new CD release from the duo of Alan Munde and Adam Granger. Recorded during April 2011 in Minnesota where Granger lives, the two longtime friends tracked five songs in the studio, with the remaining

Since beginning to perform around 1947, Leon Morris has graced many stages throughout the United States and Canada, and with his latest release on Patuxent Music, Thinking Today of My Home, there is little reason to think that he’s going

Writing award-winning song lyrics instead of introspective books isn’t quite what a student might expect from their college philosophy professor. However, if you were enrolled in one of Gene Mills’s courses at Virginia Commonwealth University, you’d probably be surprised to

As bands often do, Butch Robins’ Imagicnation began as a mere jam session. The way they came about recording their recent project was even accidental. During regular band rehearsals at Tom Ohmsen’s studio in Salem, VA, they began tracking solely with

For week four of the Album of the Week series, I went a little more modern and snagged an album by one of my favorite new bluegrass groups: NewFound Road. Tim Shelton formed the band around 2002. After having performed with