Author: Chris Stuart

One of the words people use in describing bluegrass is integrity. Even accounting for a few posers, let’s say on the integrity scale of 100, bluegrass is a 95. Before we start celebrating, let’s consider that on the income scale bluegrass

This week’s guest trivia master is Roland White, born Roland LeBlanc in Madawasca, Maine. The bluegrass Roland is not to be confused with the Roland LeBlanc who was captured at the Battle of Crécy in 1346 and later exchanged for

We’re two years into the sesquicentennial of the Civil War and, I don’t know about you, but it seems to me there hasn’t been a whole lot said about it. The anniversary of Antietam—the bloodiest day in American history—passed on

Once when asked how he managed to write three columns a week, the conservative commentator William F. Buckley replied that the world reliably annoyed him three times a week. The world of bluegrass reliably annoys, amuses, and astonishes me at least

Hello? Anybody out there who’s not in Nashville this week? Janet and I just left for World of Bluegrass 2013. We ran a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the trip this year, but only raised enough to buy a moped.

With less than a week to go before IBMA’s World of Bluegrass, I believe I have evidence of a conspiracy so pernicious and heinous it forced me to look up those words. This past Thursday I flew to Nashville to take

This week’s trivia master is Peter “Pete Wernick” Wernick, who as Dr. Banjo makes house calls from his Niwot, CO home. Originally from New York City, Pete began his professional career in 1971 by winning the title America’s Top Chef while

This is the last of a four-part series on practicing.  I hope you enjoyed the thoughts of Ron Block, Bryan Sutton, Matt Glazer, and Alan Munde. I like listening to people who are dedicated to their craft and who haven’t

I’ve had a few emails about this series on practicing from people saying they have started spending time with their instrument again rather than just practicing “liking” things on FaceBook. And I’ve had a few emails from people saying they are

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,