Music Reviews

James Reams' reputation as an auteur devoted to bluegrass and other traditional American musical forms is well established. Known to many as the "Ambassador of Bluegrass," he's plied his skills for the better part of the past 35 years. He’s

Family bands have been a long standing tradition within bluegrass music. From acts such as the Cherryholmes and the Cox Family among scores of others, it's not uncommon for these family bands to possess tight vocal harmonies and strong musicianship.

Andrew Crawford bills himself as "a career guitarist, instructor, singer, songwriter, and producer from South Carolina." But in truth, he's more than that. In addition to the time he's spent  touring, teaching and recording, he's also shared stages and studios

Bluegrass, like any form of popular music, is at its best when it's lively, upbeat and given a populist perspective. That's the kind of music Chris Castino appears to revel in, as his new LP clearly indicates. His earlier efforts

Natalie Tomlinson is a young fiddler from southeastern Kentucky. For the last few years she has performed as a member of Sunrise Ridge, and just recently joined the cast of the Hatfield McCoy Dinner Feud in Pigeon Forge, TN. Her

Confronted by the problems and perils brought on by the pandemic and all the other issues that they and everyone else have been forced to deal with recently, Greensky Bluegrass' aptly named opus, Stress Dreams, manages to find hope in

Best known up until now as the banjo player and chief provocateur for the band Che Apalache, Joe Troop took heart with the arrival of 2021, thanks to the election of a new president and hope that a series of

 Country Faith Bluegrass, the tenth in the Country Faith music compilation series is a nice survey of bluegrass Gospel music. According to the liner notes by Deborah Evans Price, this is the first album in the series to feature all

Si Kahn's sadly overlooked 1997 bluegrass classic, Been a Long Time, gets a reboot nearly 25 years after it was originally issued, a belated attempt to make up for that fact that it languished in obscurity due to the lack of

It’s time for the annual challenge: Picking my "dozen" favorite bluegrass recordings for the previous year. First, the usual cautions. This list is obviously very subjective, just one guy's opinion. The list represents my favorites, not necessarily the best. And it's