Music Reviews

In recent years, country music fans who can’t stand today’s rap-infused “bro-country” sound have found a home in bluegrass. Many modern traditional groups sample from both the songs and sounds of '80s and '90s country, while many male and female

I’ve been grinning like a possum when I hear Stringbean’s Run Little Rabbit Run on Sirius/XM, from Jeff White’s Right Beside You. It’s a blistering traditional bluegrass treatment of one of String’s “big hits”. The CD arrived in the mailbox,

For every headlining, nationally touring, IBMA Award-winning group out there, there are a dozen local or regional bluegrass acts keeping the roads hot and the little clubs and community centers packed. In the northern Virginia area, one of those groups

If you don’t know the music of Ashleigh Caudill or know her mostly as an upright bass player with impeccable timing, her new CD Looney Bird will come as a pleasant surprise. If you already know the work of the Nashville

The Deer Creek Boys may appear to be 2016's overnight success story, based on the likely success of their Mountain Fever debut project, What Goes Up, but this energetic and youthful group has been together now going on 18 years.

Great songwriting teams are an alchemy of negotiated creativity. Regardless of how the team works, an agreement must be struck between the two as to what aspect of a song takes precedence: words or music. Sometimes the teams easily agree

I’m usually excited to see new groupings of my favorite musicians, if just for the chance to hear what artists who normally don’t play together sound like when they do. The Rice-Menzone Alliance, a new duo from Mountain Fever’s ever-growing

Back in 1995, an unexpected event triggered one of the most successful instrumental bluegrass series in history. Guitarist Clay Jones recorded an album of scorching fiddle tunes with a group of his friends for Pinecastle Records. But after it was completed, he slipped

So, is Josh Williams a bluegrass singer or a country crooner? People who have enjoyed his silky smooth voice this past twenty five years might well wonder. Williams has made his living in the bluegrass world, currently holding down the guitar

Asheville’s Town Mountain finds some Louisiana groove on their new release, Southern Crescent. It’s hard to find a list of “Best Places To Live” that does not have Asheville, NC on it. The people, the community, the arts, the Blue Ridge Mountains: