Music Reviews

New music from Alan Munde is always good news for followers of adventurous five string banjo playing, and his latest, Bright Munde, a set of banjo/mandolin duets with Billy Bright, is another cause for rejoicing. It's not likely that many readers

One of the latest sidemen to make a solo debut is bass player Matt Wallace. A Knoxville, TN native who has done stints with Newton & Thomas, Paul Williams & the Victory Trio, David Parmley & Continental Divide, and Audie

No Appalachian string band has ever reached the popularity of Old Crow Medicine Show (OCMS). Few artists can entertain thousands of young rockers at a Mumford & Sons concert and still preserve tradition on the Grand Ole Opry stage. Following in the

Missy Werner's new album, Turn This Heart Around, feels like two albums in one. Roughly half of the tracks feature the singer/mandolinist in a contemporary bluegrass setting with her road band, and the balance finds her singing modern acoustic country

Kentuckians are notoriously proud of their home state. The innumerable odes to the Bluegrass State sung by bluegrass musicians can testify to that. However, there are perhaps few prouder than Gary Brewer, a native of the Louisville area. On the

After performing together for the past several decades in and around their home base of southern Indiana, husband and wife duo Jim and Lynna Woolsey have released their first album together. The record, The Road That Brings You Home, is

Over the past few years, North Carolina’s Balsam Range has established itself as one of the most consistent hit-producing and award-winning bands in bluegrass music. Now, coming off of the success of 2012’s Papertown (last year’s IBMA Album of the

Story songs have a long history in bluegrass and other forms of traditional music. From murder ballads to train songs, from lost love to the Civil War, bluegrassers love to tell and hear a good story. On Kathy Kallick’s latest

Family bands are nothing new in bluegrass music, although in recent years it seems the focus has been on siblings who have shown musical prowess at a young age, rather than on the entire family unit. West Virginia’s The Stevens

If you get a good look at Darrell Webb, he doesn't appear to be old enough to have spent 20 years working professionally in bluegrass. In fact, he won't turn 40 until later this month, and got his start touring with