Opinion / Humor

In many parts of our society, we place a high value on being positive. "Just stay positive," we're often told, even if we've just received the news that we have three months to live. Some countries are more positive than others,

We haven't done any bluegrass haiku in a while. I'm starting to get complaints about this from the Iowa Corndog Queen who is also president of the Bluegrass Haiku Appreciators of Iowa and Parts of Northern Missouri (or BHAOIPONM, pronounced

This is a column written the year the Night Drivers and I taught at the MBOTMA festival's Jam Camp in Minnesota. I thought it might be fitting here in the height of the outdoor jamming season (officially May 15 to

A friend of mine suggested once that this column is like the "Buzzfeed of bluegrass." He assured me it was a compliment, but I wasn't so sure. Concerned, I looked back through the archives and found a generous helping of

The International Bluegrass Music Association's World of Bluegrass (and I should inform you that that's the last time, possibly in my entire life, that I'm going to be writing that out in longhand) takes place annually in late September/early October.

Mr. Bluegrass Manners is offering an unprecedented "two-fer" (even though he advises me that the term "two-fer" is not considered ideal bluegrass manners, though preferable, he says, to "two-for"). The reason for this MBM encore is the flood of questions

We haven't checked in with Mr. Bluegrass Manners for a while. It turns out he's been out on the festival circuit, spreading the gospel of good bluegrass etiquette. He's been visiting jam sessions, politely asking second bass players to go

As you may have noticed we live in a world of evolving language. The prevalence of texting has certainly been a big influence, as we seek more and more concise ways to express ourselves (when an appropriate emoji isn't available

Are you usually relegated to the status of opening act? Do you find yourself longing to be the closer? On the other side of the equation, are you a headlining act wishing you could go backwards in time and stature

We live in a world full of superstition. Perhaps this is the time to cue the drums to kick off that Stevie Wonder song, unless you object to drums, in which case cue the drum mounted on the bass and