Author: Brance

It's Monday night at IBMA and John and I are sitting in the main ball room. We just finished a very fine dinner accompanied by some great conversation with Alan O'Bryant, our friends from Bristol Rhythm & Roots, and a

IBMA begins today, and the official Awards Show is only 3 days away. Here's an update on our reader poll, and some predictions of my own on how these results will compare with the actual awards. Voting has increased slightly since

Hailing from Selma, N.C., at Samantha Casey & The Bluegrass Jam is a two person band comprised of 11 year old Samantha Casey on fiddle, and her dad, Daniel, on guitar and banjo. The two have been performing together for

An upcoming episode of Kentucky Life will feature the young bluegrass group Kentucky Sassafras. The program was taped at My Old Kentucky Home State Park. The focus of the episode is Bardstown, KY, home of the Jim Beam distillery. A good

The US Navy Band, Country Current, has announced an opening for the position of pedal steel guitar player in the country line up of the band. More pertinent to bluegrass music though, is the news that Master Chief Musician Wayne

Weber Fine Acoustic Instruments recently introduced a new instrument to it's catalog, the Octar Mandolin. The Octar is an octave mandolin built on a guitar body with a carved top and f-hole style sound holes. It is being offered in both

Prodigal Son is the new release from Tim Graves & Cherokee. The CD takes its name from the fifth track on the disc, a tune penned by Daryl Mosley (who also wrote the liner notes). If you are a fan of

I've heard old-school musicians bemoan the use of electronic tuners. They feel a person should train their ear to hear the pitches and tune that way. Electronic tuning devices have become a part of the fabric of playing a stringed

BBC Four will be airing a new series of the Transatlantic Sessions beginning this month. The show brings together musicians from both sides of the Atlantic, from the US, Ireland and Scotland. The various musicians will perform both solo and

Our friends at MandolinCafe.com have teamed up with New Millennium Acoustic Design to give away a mandolin. The prize is a Mix A5 model carbon fiber mandolin. Starting this morning, September 15, 2007, visitors of MandolinCafe.com will be able to register