Author: Richard Thompson

On This Day …. On 16 April, circa 1938, Delia Bell (nee Delia Nowell) was born in Bonham, Texas. As a child Bell relocated to Hugo, Oklahoma, and, inspired by the bluegrass music of the Stanley Brothers and Bill Monroe, she began

Born in Valdese, North Carolina, on April 11, 1925, George Saunders Shuffler was a very significant creative force in the bluegrass music world. Shuffler is best known for his association with the Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys, and later

Gladys Flatt (nee Stacey) passed away on Monday (March 31, 2014) at NHC Healthcare of Sparta, Tennessee. She was 98 years old. Gladys Lee Stacy Flatt was born July 29, 1915, in White County, Tennessee. 

She married Lester Flatt when she

On This Day ….  On February 27, 1967, Carolyn Routh, lead vocalist and bass player for Nu-Blu, was born in Siler City, North Carolina.  Ms Routh has loved music for as long as she can remember. She started singing at church and

On This Day ………… On February 6, 1961, Dale Reno was born in Roanoke, Virginia. The second son of banjo ace Don Reno, Dale Reno fell in love with musical instruments at the tender age of ten. Initially he built his first

North Carolina banjo player L.W. Lambert passed away on January 23, 2014, at his home in Olin. He was 87 years old and his health had been declining for a while. Luin Wilford Lambert, Jr  was born April 18, 1926, in

The High 48s, a Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, band formed in 2006, is working on an album of train songs with funding for the project coming from a successful Kickstarter campaign. This will be their fifth album project. They are a five-piece

William McCormick of the McCormick Brothers band passed away on Thursday, December 19, 2013, in Oak Grove, Tennessee. He was 74 years old. Born May 9, 1939, William Harold McCormick was the next to the youngest brother. From the mid-1950s to the

On This Day ……….. On January 7, 1987, Big Country Bluegrass, based in Troutdale, Virginia, was formed. The ultra-traditional band was named after the Jimmy Martin instrumental Big Country, a tune that he recorded with J. D. Crowe on November 22, 1966.

As I write this, bluegrass followers, and banjo pickers in particular, are acknowledging what would have been Earl Scruggs’ 90th birthday (January 6th). So, it seems fitting that the grand opening of the Earl Scruggs Center: Music & Stories from the