Author: Chris Stuart

Dear Santa, Before we get to this year’s list, I’d like to clean up a couple of loose ends from 2010. Last year you left me the wrong Homer & Jethro LP. I requested Cool Crazy Christmas; I got Old Crusty Minstrels.

I don’t know. Maybe I’ve been watching too much of the Brian Greene PBS series The Fabric of the Cosmos lately. It’s fascinating—things blow up and there’s talk about black holes and eleven dimensions. What I’ve learned is that somewhere there’s

Welcome to the new and smarter Mr. Blue Grass Smarty Pants! With this installment we introduce Guest Artist With a Clue, Reader Questions, You Can’t Make This Stuff Up, contests, prizes, and actual bluegrass facts. Guest Artist With A Clue Our first

Before reading this installment of Blue Yodel, you may want to (re)visit a recent reference by John Lawless to an article written by columnist Joe Queenan in the Wall Street Journal. Dear Joe Queenan, I'm writing from the year 2111—a full 100

Occasionally in this column I’d like to look at a specific song and, if possible, talk to the songwriter about it. First up is Herschel Sizemore’s Rebecca, a bluegrass instrumental standard. I just heard a story from the respected and beloved

Ask Mr. Blue Grass Smarty Pants appears at odd times in Blue Yodel. You can post questions or add comments below and we will make sure Mr. BGSP sees them and replies on what he calls the Wonderful World of Webs. This

I wish I could sell you something that would make you a better songwriter, but unfortunately, there’s no tablature for songwriters, no string gauges to change if the chorus isn't working, no pearl inlay that will make you look deep

While publicly I’m all for big tents that allow more people to be part of (or at least buy a ticket for) this thing we call bluegrass, personally I have a very narrow definition: Bluegrass is whatever Bill Monroe whistled in

    From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Date: Sep. 3, 2011 Hey Pal, Well, it’s finally happened. I was hired on by the Willett Family to play banjo. This morning we hit the road at O dark 30 and as soon as I got in the van

Ask Mr. Blue Grass Smarty Pants will appear at odd times in the Blue Yodel column. Please send questions and comments to [email protected] for possible use. Dear Mr. Blue Grass Smarty Pants, When was the Blue Grass music discovered and what was it doing