Opinion / Humor

Ask Sonny Anything is a recurring feature where our readers pose questions to the great Sonny Osborne, one half of the iconic Osborne Brothers who redefined bluegrass music in the 1960s, and noted banjo maven and collector of fine prewar

In these polarized political times (please hold your comments), a new acronym has sprung up to describe politicians who don’t quite tow the party line: RINO and DINO, short for Republican In Name Only, or Democrat In Name Only. This

Ask Sonny Anything is a recurring feature where our readers pose questions to the great Sonny Osborne, one half of the iconic Osborne Brothers who redefined bluegrass music in the 1960s, and noted banjo maven and collector of fine prewar

We discussed bluegrass death last week, and if things followed along the expected timeline, this week should be all about the bluegrass afterlife. Instead, though, I’d like to back up to the part  just before death: bluegrass retirement. I know what

Ask Sonny Anything is a recurring feature where our readers pose questions to the great Sonny Osborne, one half of the iconic Osborne Brothers who redefined bluegrass music in the 1960s, and noted banjo maven and collector of fine prewar

Well, it’s the heart of summer; it’s extremely hot in many places, and our thoughts turn naturally to death. This may seem a little morbid, but this is a column about bluegrass music, after all. Aside from the moment when

Ask Sonny Anything is a recurring feature where our readers pose questions to the great Sonny Osborne, one half of the iconic Osborne Brothers who redefined bluegrass music in the 1960s, and noted banjo maven and collector of fine prewar

The list of nominations for major awards that will be presented this fall at IBMA’s World Of Bluegrass in Raleigh won’t please everybody. That itself speaks volumes about the state of bluegrass in all its iterations. There is great talent

A while back (about as specific as I get now about past events), I wrote a column in which I substituted a line or two of current pop lyrics for the original lyrics of some bluegrass standards, just to see

Ask Sonny Anything is a recurring feature where our readers pose questions to the great Sonny Osborne, one half of the iconic Osborne Brothers who redefined bluegrass music in the 1960s, and noted banjo maven and collector of fine prewar