At this past weekend's MerleFest, winners were chosen in the 22nd Annual Chris Austin Songwriting Contest. The invitational competition is held each year during the festival, with finalists chosen in advance. Congratulations to these 2014 winners: Bluegrass 1st Place - Paul Harrigill (Murfreesboro,
We banjo players have endured unkind banjo jokes for as long as we've been playing. Always derogatory, often at the expense of our intelligence, appearance or job prospects, these jabs sting the refined five stringer to the core. With Murphy and
Washington, DC area banjo player Joe Zauner has joined Patent Pending. Zauner, who has been playing banjo since 1973, is like several of his new bandmates in Patent Pending, in that he cut his bluegrass teeth playing in Washington, DC-area clubs
We have learned that Billy Hawks, fiddler with Junior Sisk & Rambler's Choice, will be leaving the band after today's performance at MerleFest. Junior says that Jamie Harper will be filling in with the band the rest of this weekend, and
Yonder Mountain String Band has announced the departure of mandolinist/vocalist Jeff Austin, who is leaving the group to pursue his solo career, and support his upcoming solo project which he discussed with us several months back. In a statement issued this
Just as focus has been on Seldom Scene this week with their first new project in seven years, here comes a live album from another DC-based group with roots in the Scene. Chesapeake got its start when Mike Auldridge, T. Michael
Joe Newberry was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and grew up in Boone County, Missouri. His songwriting has the same clean, elegant style that characterises his banjo playing. Musicians in the folk and bluegrass world often record his songs. The Gibson
Once again, Stephen Mougin at Dark Shadow Recording has prevailed on one of his artists to retail tninthheir recording experience for us in blog form. This time, it’s Becky Buller who is working on her first solo project with the label. Here
Danny Roberts, The Grascals' mando man, has a new CD set for a May release on Mountain Home Music. Nighthawk highlights Danny's creative side with ten new tunes for mandolin, and his extra talented family, wife Andrea and daughter Jaelee. Both are
Stop me if you've heard this one before... A pianist and a drummer walk into the studio to record an updated version of Foggy Mountain Banjo. But this one's no joke. Tyson Rogers and Bryon Larrance are celebrating how the five string has
