Kristin Scott Benson, the award-winning banjoist with The Grascals, has been announced as the 2018 recipient of the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass. The prize was originated and funded in 2010 by the Steve Martin Charitable Foundation
Ron Block has been an icon in the bluegrass banjo world for at least the last 25 years, the time he has been part of Alison Krauss & Union Station. Though he also plays guitar with Alison, the banjo world
It's been said many times of late that we are living through a golden age of banjos, a claim that seems easy to support. Even though the venerable Gibson Mastertone is no longer in production, there are a number of
Banjo virtuoso Tom McKinney passed away peacefully at the CarePartners Hospice Center, Asheville on Friday morning, August 31, 2018. He was 76 years old. Thomas Haynes (Tom) McKinney III was born on November 25, 1941, in Orange County, Florida, was a
Béla Fleck welcomes the class at the 2018 Blue Ridge Banjo Camp - photo by Brian Swenk “Immerse yourself.” If there was one consistent theme to the inaugural Béla Fleck Blue Ridge Banjo Camp, it wasn't necessarily the technical mechanics of banjo
Billy Ray Latham, the gregarious banjo player and showman with The Kentucky Colonels, died on Sunday in Nashville at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He was 80 years of age. Friends say that Billy had been in poor health of late,
Nobody outdoes bluegrass and old time lovers when it comes to remembering those who have gone before us. Countless festivals and events carry the names of artists and entertainers we have lost, many of them launched specifically to keep the
Dale Ann Bradley has announced the latest edition to her touring band. Steve Wilson from South Carolina has signed on as banjo player with the group. Many bluegrass fans know Steve as the chief luthier with Wilson Custom Banjos, or as
In a lot of ways, Greg Welty is fairly typical of young bluegrass artists on the rise. The banjo player was born in North Carolina, spent time in college touring with a number of popular bands, and is about to
Mention Little Nora to a banjo player, and they are likely to imagine an old time mountain ballad about a little girl who wanders away from her home and meets a frightful end. That was the function of these old story