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International touring is something that most professional musicians will have an opportunity to do at some point in their careers, and last week I introduced you to some of the joys and hazards of this kind of work. I saved

Acoustic Blue has released a new recording, Bein' Country, their fifth album over a ten year history. The band consists of Shaun Batho on guitar, Corey Zink on mandolin, Lary Neu on banjo and Ray Evans on bass. Vocals are shared

Western Virginia fiddler Shannon Wheeler has released a debut EP album. It's called Growler, and features 4 fiddle tunes (2 of them originals), and a vocal. Wheeler is an active road and session player in the Virginia/North Carolina scene, and has

Béla Fleck has never been one to stick to stereotypes or common expectations for the banjo, or for banjo players in general. He has fans in the bluegrass, new acoustic, jazz, classical and modern funk worlds. Some follow him and

The latest edition of eBULLET, the official newsletter of the Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club, is a special issue remembering Doug Dillard both for his contributions to the show as part of the Darling Family, and for his larger

While finishing up his next album, a Ralph Stanley tribute project, Don Rigsby is working as a hired gun this summer. In addition to shows with Big Country Bluegrass, Don has signed on for a string of dates with The

The music video we referenced last week from Bill Evans' new album, In Good Company, has been released online. It's for the album's opening track, The Distance Between Two Points, a banjo instrumental Bill wrote with his daughter, Corey. The tune was

We are going to take a break this week from our IBMA poll questions to start a series of queries about the evolving landscape of recorded music sales. These days all kinds of numbers about album and CD sales are being

The Kenny & Amanda Smith Band have spent much of the past two weeks recording at Gat3 studio in North Carolina, completing a new album which will be released soon on the Gat3 label. They tracked 14 new songs with the

The latest album from the singing Bankesters, Looking Forward, hit on June 1. As always, it features Phil and Dorene Bankester and their trio of talented daughters, Melissa, Emily and Alysha. Or, I should say, this project features the trio. Their earlier