Occurring in tandem with the IBMA's Fan Fest last month in Nashville was the 2012 Grand Master Fiddle Championship, held in the hotel connected to the convention center. The venerable contest has been running since 1972, when it was first established
Held this past weekend was the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS, host of the 41st running of the National Flatpicking Championship. The festival is much more than a contest, though, with multiple stages of entertainment running simultaneously with full bands,
Rebel Records has three compilation CDs set for an October 16 release. One is a collection of songs from the two albums that Claire Lynch & Front Porch String Band did for the label back in the '80s, and the
We have learned that celebrated luthier John Sipe passed away on September 4 at his home in Charlotte, NC. He was 81 years old and had been battling cancer. In addition to a worldwide reputation as a violin builder, Sipe was
Well... we've had Banjo For Dummies, and Bluegrass Mandolin for the Complete Ignoramus. So I suppose that Mel Bay's new book, Dirt Simple Fiddle by Mary Ann Willis, is in good company. Available as both a 60-page book/CD and a downloadable ebook, this new
Friends of western North Carolina picker David Wiseman have set up a donations page at GiveForward.com to raise money for his medical treatment. David has a rare vascular disease, Wegener's Granulomatosis, which restricts the flow of blood due to inflammation in the
Judging from the mail I got this week, it seems that people like to read about practicing about as much as they like to practice. A full month of interviews of people who like to practice is pushing it, I know,
Pert Near Sandstone has a new music video, for the song Snake Charmer from their current Paradise Hop album. This contemporary string band from Minneapolis features Nate Sipe 0n mandolin and fiddle, Kevin Kniebel on banjo, J Lenz on guitar, Adam Kiesling on bass,
Our poll this week is bound to generate some sparks. We want to know which instrument in Bill Monroe's original bluegrass band most epitomizes bluegrass music. Is it the beloved, all-powerful, everybody-loves-it 5 string banjo, or one of those other supporting
Brian Vance with D'Addario spent a few minutes with us during the Summer NAMM show earlier this month. He gave a quick run-down of the various strings and accessories for the bluegrass market. http://vimeo.com/46123153
