Wayne Erbsen has dedicated his whole professional life to playing, teaching, broadcasting, and writing about traditional mountain music. As a professor at the University of North Carolina Asheville, he has taught and performed old time and bluegrass music, hosted Country
Wayne Erbsen and Native Ground Books & Music have released a new title for people just getting started in the wonderful world of mandolin. It's called Easy 2-Chord Songs for Mandolin, which perfectly describes the contents. One of the primary appeals
I guess you can say I've had a love affair with words almost since before I learned to talk. Since moving to North Carolina from California in 1972, I've learned that a “minner dipper” is a mandolin, a “scratch box”
Shindig. To people in western North Carolina where I live, Shindig is short for Shindig on the Green, which is an outdoor bluegrass music festival held on the courthouse steps in Asheville. Now in its forty-fifth year, the Shindig is
A while back I was invited to bring my fiddle to a potluck party some friends of mine hosted in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina. I brought along my instrument in the hopes of finding some bluegrass musicians to
In 1992, Bill Clinton grabbed headlines with the phrase “It's the economy, stupid," and used it to unseat George Bush as President. I’m not trying to stir up old political feuds or throw a hissy fit, but my point here should
