Author: John Lawless

Fiddler Casey Driessen has presented to the music world as something of a stylistic enigma. As a fiddler he is equally well trained in the bluegrass and old time traditions, and he has a music degree from The Berklee College

John Miller, who has most recently been playing mandolin and singing tenor with Junior Sisk & Rambler's Choice, tells us that he is leaving the group. No word yet about a replacement. John says that his future plans are in flux,

We heard this afternoon from Heidi Sullivan, granddaughter of Margie Sullivan, who we found out last week had been hospitalized on April 20. When she was admitted, it was thought that she had suffered a massive heart attack, though that diagnosis

The new bluegrass/acoustic CD from Marty Raybon, This That & The Other, is now available. It was recorded with his band, Full Circle, which features Daniel Grindstaff on banjo and guitar, Chris Davis on fiddle and mandolin, Glen Gibson on resophonic

Pop & Hiss, The Los Angeles Times' music blog has a piece posted this past Sunday (4/26) about our beloved Dr. Ralph Stanley. Written by Randy Lewis, it recalls a backstage encounter at Stagecoach 2009, held in Indio, CA. Mountain music patriarch

We found some more great Merlefest coverage online. Cindy Baucom has posted a number of photos she took during the festival on her Knee Deep In Bluegrass blog. She has shots from stage shows, from backstage and some in the vendors'

Our friend Ted Lehmann spent last week at Merlefest, and provides some excellent reporting on his web site - along with dozens of photos of the performers, the attendees and the overall vibe. The festival has reported that more than 70,000

The BBC has a terrific slide show with commentary online about Béla Fleck's Throw Down Your Heart project, which has resulted in both an audio CD release and a documentary film by that name. The CD and film serve as a

Berklee Today, the quarterly alumni magazine of The Berklee College Of Music, has a feature on the school's embrace of country, bluegrass and Americana music as part of their instructional program. Written by Christopher John Treacy, and entitled Out Of The

Bluegrass balladeer Cliff Waldron is scheduled for kidney transplant surgery on Monday (4/27) near his home in Northern Virginia. His wife Nancy will be the donor. Cliff has been a fixture on the DC-area bluegrass scene since the late 1960s, and