Bluegrass At Large

Chicago neo-traditional ‘grass band The Henhouse Prowlers has run into some very bad luck indeed. While in Oakland, CA, on Tuesday night, March 26th, the band’s van was broken into and much of their road gear, including instruments, sound equipment

Here's another new product from CF Martin introduced earlier this year at the 2013 NAMM show in Anaheim, CA. After many years endorsing strings from other manufacturers, Tony Rice now has a signature set from Martin. He has long favored strings

Jim VanCleve, Mountain Heart fiddler and busy Nashville session player/producer, is set to return home today from his weekend stay at the Vanderbilt Medical Center. He had been hospitalized on Friday after his white blood count plunged to a dangerous level

Jim VanCleve, Mountain Heart fiddler and one of the busiest session players and producers in Nashville, is hospitalized today for a blood transfusion after contracting Dengue Fever during a visit St. Croix last week. The disease is spread by mosquito bites, and fortunately

Are there any bluegrass fans who don't know the story of Uncle Pen? Bill Monroe' uncle, James Pendleton Vandiver, has been immortalized in song, one written and first recorded by Monroe in 1950. Uncle Pen was later a hit for Porter Wagoner

The folks at Morgan Monroe have introduced a number of new instruments which may be of interest to the bluegrass/acoustic market. They are even giving away one of the new banjo models in July from their Facebook page to help

Banjos are big these days, as evidenced by Mumford and Sons’ Grammy for album of the year, and a recent flurry of activity for traditional bluegrass band The Grascals, including a Grammy nomination of their own, and an appearance on

While it would be nice if life could consist of all bluegrass, all the time, that's definitely not the reality for most musicians. In their off time, many bluegrass musicians have other careers, often somehow related to the music business.

Louisa Branscomb didn’t, as Stephen Foster might have put it, come from Alabama with a banjo on her knee. She couldn’t. Girls didn’t play banjo. “I heard that a million times when I was girl,” Louisa told me the other night.

Anyone who's toured as a performer knows that amid the joys of being on stage and the camaraderie with fellow musicians, there are the pangs of guilt and loneliness from missing loved ones. The birth of a child is often