Opinion / Humor

It's the day of the IBMA Awards announcements, but I was writing this before the big reveal in Nashville, so I have nothing informed or even uninformed to say on the subject. I do know that one of the changes

I recently came across this column from several years ago about determining if and when to perform when sick. I quickly realized how much has changed since the COVID era. Cancellation due to the possibility of infecting other band members

As mentioned last week, our recent discussion of epitaphs leads us right to a topic we've never tackled here before: the afterlife. In this divided and argumentative time, this can devolve quickly into theological debates about "soul sleep," or what

The following is a rerun column from last year. Since last week's installment referred to an as-yet unwritten column about the bluegrass afterlife, I thought next week would be a good time to actually write it. I'm hoping this "encore

A number of weeks ago, we discussed bluegrass death, and if things followed along the expected timeline, we should be approaching the subject of the bluegrass afterlife. Instead, though, I'd like to back up to the part just before death:

No recording artist likes bad reviews. In fact, most recording artists are pretty unhappy with reviews that are even mediocre. When was the last time you heard an artist say, "Well, it was a pretty bad review, but it was

Some of our best-known bluegrass standards were most often written by one person or maybe two, like Carter Stanley or Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. Almost none were written by a committee of three-to-five writers, meeting for a 2:00 p.m.

I don't want to alarm you about the passage of time, or, if I'm honest, I do want to alarm you about the passage of time, because it's fun: The movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou came out over 20

It's been such an exciting development to see the growth of bluegrass music in higher education. Programs like those at ETSU, Berklee, and Morehead State are not just providing degrees to students who are pursuing their musical passion, they are

The Memorial Day weekend is sort of a milestone in the year. It's the unofficial start of summer. The fashion people also tell us it's now okay to wear white shoes (lime green leisure suit optional).  Canada celebrates a long weekend