Opinion / Humor

‘Tis the summer festival and music camp season, and with that comes the workshop season. I thought of it because just today I was listing some of the potential workshops my band members and I might offer at a festival

This is a column normally devoted to tongue-in-cheek coverage of bluegrass topics, faux advice, and the occasional bluegrass haiku, but one day after the public funeral of Ralph Stanley, I’m not exactly feeling in that spirit. There’s been eloquent writing about

There are just a few days left in IBMA second round voting, and some things have surprised me this time around: One is how few “for your consideration” solicitation emails I’ve actually received. Perhaps I’ve dropped off of mailing lists, and

If you follow the bluegrass church calendar at all, you know this week is known as the Feast of the Second Ballot. It’s a time when believers are urged to shun many of their usual worldly activities and spend the

We’re all adjusting to a world in which recordings and other music projects are being funded in new ways. Even established artists recording for established record labels are now using fan-driven funding campaigns to finance their work. This can either

There’s a glaring omission at the Country Music Hall of Fame. The Stanley Brothers deserve to be there, and every year that goes by without their induction devalues those who are enshrined. “I’ve been angry about it. I’ve been perplexed about it.

I have to say, as objectively as I can, that one of the things I like best about satellite radio is the display that tells us what artist we’re listening to, and what the song title is. This technology has

Back in the days when I served on the IBMA Board, as I think I’d mentioned in a previous column, it was a simpler and less stressful time, a time before social media and the clip-on tuner. I also pointed

I’m over in Scotland for the next week or so on what is supposed to be an actual vacation (I’ve never taken one of those), so I’ve asked John Lawless if I could rerun the sound series I wrote a

I’m over in Scotland for the next week or so on what is supposed to be an actual vacation (I’ve never taken one of those), so I’ve asked John Lawless if I could rerun the sound series I wrote a