Benny Birchfield and Jean Shepard pose with a friend Benny Birchfield, the singer of the third part in the Osborne Brothers’ band during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and 79-year-old widower of the recently-deceased country music singer Jean Shepard, was
Those who have an interest in classic country music, that of the traditional type of the 1940s and 1950s, will know that Arthur Q Smith is becoming less of a mystery. Known for his excellent and prolific song-writing and a fondness
In March 2015 we reported on the charitable work that the Ocotillo Rain and Thunder Bluegrass Band was doing. Recently we learned that they had collected over $10,000 in two years. That's a remarkable achievement. Members of the 11-piece southern Arizona bluegrass
December 1, 2016, marks the 50th anniversary of the passing of Carter Stanley, described as an Appalachian mountain musical legend. With the passage of five decades, fewer of us have been alive long enough to have seen Carter Stanley onstage, some
Ohio banjo player Jim Greer passed away on Tuesday, September 13, 2016, at Logan Acres Care Center, Bellefontaine, Ohio. He was 74 years old and he had been battling cancer. James Marvin ‘Jim’ Greer was born in West Liberty, Logan County,
In recognition of veterans world-wide, we recall one of the most evocative war songs in the bluegrass music cannon, Curly Seckler’s Purple Heart. As told by Penny Parsons …. Curly Seckler wrote Purple Heart in 1952 when he was based in Lexington,
Dale Franklin Sledd passed away on Sunday, August 21, 2016, at the Warsaw Health and Rehabilitation Center, Warsaw, Missouri. He was 79 years old. Sledd was born on April 23, 1937, in Benton County, Missouri, and according to the 1940 census
Late in October 1963, bluegrass singer Bill Clifton and his family moved to England for what was planned to be a six to nine month stay. He remained in Europe for four years. During that time, he played in western
Reams, actual and virtual, has been written about Grateful Dead icon Jerry Garcia’s bluegrass music roots. In his musically formative years, Garcia was a member of the Thunder Mountain Tub Thumpers and the Asphalt Jungle Boys, both consisting of a fluid
Melvin Glen Goins passed away on Friday, July 29, 2016, while at West Nipissing General Hospital in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, Canada. He was in North Bay to play at the River Valley Bluegrass Jamboree, at nearby North Bay. He came into
