Author: Sandy Hatley

Even in the midst of a pandemic, Camp Springs Bluegrass Festival near Reidsville, NC, believes the show must go on. The site of the first bluegrass festival ever held in the Tarheel State reopened last year under new ownership, that

One positive side of quarantining is time to work on new projects, and that is what Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out’s Wayne Benson has been doing. He just introduced his own YouTube channel, Wayne’s World of Mandolin. “A few years

Established 45 years ago, Grass Strings, a central North Carolina-based bluegrass band, has released a new project entitled Lonesome Moon. Recorded at Greg Luck’s studio in Mt. Gilead, NC, the CD premieres on Luck's new label, Riverside Music Co. The

With a name like “Gibson,” one might guess that this West Virginia teenager was a musician. Well, that would be correct! Gibson, a fourth generation musician, hammers the five string. The rising 9th grader explained his name. “My dad is friends

It’s never easy to give up something that you enjoy and have done for the better part of your life, but sometimes you just know when it’s time to walk away. It has reached that point for Jim Fraley. This

Molly Tuttle, Jim Hurst, Louisa Branscomb, Sierra Hull, Ben Surratt, and Missy Raines The new Louisa Branscomb music video, Gonna Love Anyway, plays the tune of the times through a musical trail of troubles and triumph. The title song of her

The Coronavirus has affected everyone’s lives and livelihoods. One profession hit hard during the stay-at-home orders, of course, is entertainment. No one understands this more than Nu-Blu, a full-time touring bluegrass band based out of Siler City, NC. They have

We were all amazed and impressed the first time that we saw Barry Abernathy pick the banjo. Born with only a thumb and stub of an index finger on his left hand, he reached over the top of the banjo

North Carolina banjo picker, Clinton Joyner, 92, of Concord, NC, passed away on April 12. Joyner first started picking banjo two-finger style in the 1930s, learning on his daddy’s second hand banjo. Around a decade later, he heard Earl Scruggs play

The spring of 2020 will be remembered for the coronavirus and the stay at home orders. This pandemic has affected many of us in one of two ways: we are either an essential worker or we are out of a