• Butch Robins’ Imagicnation – Sketches

    As bands often do, Butch Robins’ Imagicnation began as a mere jam session. The way they came about recording their recent project was even accidental. During regular band rehearsals at Tom Ohmsen’s studio in Salem, VA, they began tracking solely with

  • Sketches – Butch Robins’ Imagicnation

    Butch Robins is surely among the most consistently interesting - and unpredictable - personages in bluegrass music. He spent four years with Bill Monroe in the late 1970s, as was as buttoned-down a young banjo picker as you might imagine. He

  • A pair of reissues from 1978

    Rounder Records has brought back a couple of classic recordings from 1978, capturing a moment when what we might call progressive bluegrass music was still in the process of defining itself. Both albums are brimming with innovative ideas, and should

  • Ed Dye passes

    Ed Dye passed away in the early hours of yesterday (3/18), he was 72 years old. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, he is noted as delivering newspapers to Hank Williams' mother. Dye was a renowned master of the world's oldest instrument,

  • New CD from Butch Robins

    I had a chance last week to hear some rough mixes from a new project Butch Robins is recording. The music and the arrangements are interesting and exceptionally well-played, and as per usual, Butch is breaking new ground. A great many

  • Smoky Mountain Banjo Academy 2007

    March 1, 2007 is the last date to take advantage of the early registration discount for the 2007 Smoky Mountain Banjo Academy. The event, held each spring near Gatlinburg, TN (hosted by Jack Hatfield), is scheduled this year from April