Author: John Lawless

Long time readers will remember a fun story from last December about a wedding proposal at a Steep Canyon Rangers concert in Roanoke, VA. Jacob Harbour, bass player with Rich In Tradition, had convinced the Steeps to let him come

The IBMA Foundation, the charitable and fundraising arm of the International Bluegrass Music Association, has announced a new scholarship opportunity to recognize developing academic scholars researching or studying bluegrass music. Named in honor of Neil Rosenberg, Ph.D., an early and preeminent historian

Backline, a young bluegrass group from Spartanburg, South Carolina, has released a music video for their second single from their debut album for Poor Mountain Records. Your Love was written by their guitarist, and primary songwriter, Katelyn Ingardia. She also sings this

There aren't many people in bluegrass with the level of credibility both on stage and behind the scenes that accrues to Clay Hess. As a guitarist and singer he has been part of Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Mountain Heart,

Attention fiddlers! A call for contestants has gone out for the 2nd annual “Tennessee Style” fiddle contest at the Hoedown On The Harpeth festival next weekend in Kingston Springs. The competition is open to fiddlers of any age and style, who will go

These days, most of the alt-bluegrass, or grassicana, bands come from the Pacific Northwest, Canada, or the big cities of the upper midwest. But The Wooks developed their unique contemporary sound in the Bluegrass State, and then took it to

Another trend we noticed at the World of Bluegrass, especially with IBMA expanding the boundaries of what they promote as bluegrass, is banjo players who feature both finger style and clawhammer picking in the same set. There were a number

Poor Mountain Records has released a new single from Nick Chandler & Delivered, a second from their debut album with the label, Groceries, Gas & Used Cars. This time, it's a grassified country song, a two step that was a hit

Kim Robins is proud to announce the return of banjo picker Josh Woods to her touring band, 40 Years Late. Josh had been her original banjo man when the band was formed back in 2013, but day job commitments made

Most everyone in the country has by now seen the dire and desperate images from eastern North Carolina, where flooding related to Hurricane Florence last month has caused literal devastation. Entire communities were underwater for days, and major highways and