Music Reviews

Young Cory Piatt is currently mandolinist with The Kenny & Amanda Smith Band. He has been playing almost half his 17 years, and has developed a stunning mastery of his instrument in this short time, as evidenced by his debut

Bluegrass musicians have always been known for drawing from other musical styles, particularly in the past several decades. Alabama-based band Delta Reign is no different, starting with a bluegrass standard – three-finger banjo – and building around it, adding swing,

Traditional musicians, particularly folk artists, have long been known for their tendency to write and record songs of protest. Most musicians today are not quite as outspoken and often choose to celebrate the things that make America great, rather than

Here's a real international bluegrass story, the tale of guitarist Rob Lifford, who grew up in New York, became passionate about bluegrass in South Korea, and ended up in Austin, TX jamming with the guys in Milkdrive. And like those Austin

We've written many times about the bluegrass music program at East Tennessee State University, and their fine work turning out educated, capable young artists for the bluegrass farm teams. They are among the very few institutions where a talented young

For a musician living in Texas, Geoff Union certainly spans the country in his newest release, Cold as Steel. This Austin-based guitarist and vocalist sings about North Carolina, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Colorado and yes, Texas, on his first solo project,

For most bluegrass musicians, jamming is an essential part of life. Pickers get together once or twice a week and simply enjoy being able to play music with friends. However, some jammers take their casual love of bluegrass music a

Straight-ahead bluegrassers may recall Richard Bennett’s Tony Rice-like work from his years spent with J.D. Crowe and the New South, where he was featured on the stellar Flashback record. Now, having recorded three solo projects with Rebel Records and performed

The newly formed band American Drive may currently be best known for being the most recent version of the “New South” portion of J.D. Crowe and the New South, but don’t let the fact that their fearless leader is retiring

Many of today’s bluegrass bands have somewhat unusual names. Previous Bluegrass Today columns by Chris Jones have even discussed this phenomenon, suggesting that bands sometime simply open the refrigerator to find inspiration for their band name. However, other bands use