• Life without Earl

    This tribute to Earl Scruggs on the anniversary of his passing is a contribution from Jim Mills, a life-long student of Scruggs-style banjo, and a serious collector of the sort of pre war Gibson banjos that Earl played. Jim also

  • Banjothon 2013

    At the early part of each year, prewar banjo enthusiasts of every stripe converge on the town of Maryville in east Tennesse for an annual celebration of all things banjo, known simply as Banjothon. The 2013 get together was held

  • Vince Gill Bluegrass Band in Richmond

    Richmond,VA photographer, and banjo pick aficionado, Dean Hoffmeyer captured a few images from Vince Gill's 2012 bluegrass tour when they stopped at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond last night. Joining Vince were Jim Mills on banjo, Stuart Duncan on

  • Jim Mills remembers Earl Scruggs

    This remembrance of the great Earl Scruggs comes from former Ricky Skaggs banjo player, celebrated recording artist and avid banjo collector, Jim Mills. First of all, let me say that Earl Scruggs was my all time hero on this earth. He

  • Smilin’ Jim Mills on TV

    Banjo master Jim Mills is the subject of a short documentary piece produced by UNC-TV, the public television service at the University of North Carolina. The video starts with a musical biography on Mills, covering his early discovery of the banjo

  • Jim Mills on the BBC

    In a piece broadcast today (7/18) on the BBC 4 Americana podcast, banjo player and collector Jim Mills offers British listeners some insight into the history and development of our beloved 5 string banjo. Jim takes the producers into his sanctum

  • Jim Mills in Garden & Gun

    We've posted a few times about Garden & Gun magazine. It's a glossy bi-monthly that merges content on southern lifestyle with hunting and outdoors features. They have been quite kind to bluegrass music, with recent features on Sam Bush, Punch Brothers,

  • Jim Mills to fill in for Crowe

    We have learned that power picker Jim Mills will be filling in this weekend for JD Crowe. As we reported last month, JD fell last month exiting his tour bus, and broke his left arm in two places. Jim has trimmed

  • Catching up with Jim Mills

    I had a chance to catch up last week with banjo monster Jim Mills, and was immediately curious about what he has been doing since leaving Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder last summer. Jim said that he has been enjoying the