Halloween has definitely become a highly-commercialized holiday in most of the United States. Displays of lights and spooky characters grace most neighborhoods, and cards, party supplies, and orange-and-black yummies are in prominent places at most grocery stores. But where are the bluegrass Halloween songs? Radio hosts looking for scary-themed numbers for their shows this month [...]
The Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music program at East Tennessee State University is inviting graduates to join them during the IBMA's Wide Open Bluegrass celebration in Raleigh next month. Bluegrass bands that feature ETSU alumni will be presented in a special showcase held on Friday night of IBMA week. This includes more recent grads [...]
Share America officers award Owen Schinkel the the 2017 Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholarship: James Pelt, Randall Franks, Owen Schinkel, Gary Knowles and Jimmy Terrell. Photo by Ryan Stinson The Share America Foundation has chosen Owen Schinkel, a first year student in the Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music Studies program at East Tennessee State [...]
One of the longstanding traditions of artistic and literary publications is friendly - and at times, not-so-friendly - debates about matters that concern practitioners and connoisseurs of the arts. In the hey day of British literary magazines, it was quite common to see published poets and authors arguing with one another in letters to the [...]
Many of us in the United States often think of bluegrass as an American music, or even just a Southern music. However, as quite a few prominent bands, scholars, and even the name of our trade association will tell us, that’s not exactly true. One international hotspot for bluegrass music is the Czech Republic, which [...]
East Tennessee State University celebrated the successes of its newest graduates this past weekend during commencement ceremonies held on Saturday, May 6. Students from their Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies joined over 2,000 other university graduates in the celebration of their accomplishments. Students within Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies come [...]
On Top Of Old Smoky, an all-star musical collection created to note the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service, has picked up another major award. The Public Lands Alliance has named it as one of three winners of their Innovative Product Award for 2017. A non-profit network of 120 organizations dedicated to public lands [...]
Without fail, the worst part of our job here at Bluegrass Today entails sharing tragic news that befalls our bluegrass community. Such is this story from Thanksgiving Day. Hiroshi Arakawa, a Japanese student here in the states to study both English and bluegrass music, was involved in a serious auto accident on Thursday evening. He and [...]
On Top of Old Smoky: New Old-Time Smoky Mountain Music, a collection of new recordings of classic mountain music produced by the Great Smoky Mountains Association, has been named the Best Tribute Album at the 15th Annual Independent Music Awards. The album features versions of folk songs and tunes collected by Joseph Hall during the 1930s, and reinterpreted by the likes [...]
This evening at 8:00 p.m., East Tennessee State University and their bluegrass Pride Band are set to make history. At least in the bluegrass world. The Departments of Bluegrass, Old Time & Country Music Studies and Mass Communications will jointly present an online concert using the Facebook Live video broadcasting system. But unlike most such [...]
Halloween has definitely become a highly-commercialized holiday in most of the United States. Displays of lights and spooky characters grace most neighborhoods, and cards, party supplies, and orange-and-black yummies are in prominent places at most grocery stores. But where are the bluegrass Halloween songs? Radio hosts looking for scary-themed numbers for their shows this month [...] 
The Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music program at East Tennessee State University is inviting graduates to join them during the IBMA's Wide Open Bluegrass celebration in Raleigh next month. Bluegrass bands that feature ETSU alumni will be presented in a special showcase held on Friday night of IBMA week. This includes more recent grads [...] 
Share America officers award Owen Schinkel the the 2017 Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholarship: James Pelt, Randall Franks, Owen Schinkel, Gary Knowles and Jimmy Terrell. Photo by Ryan Stinson The Share America Foundation has chosen Owen Schinkel, a first year student in the Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music Studies program at East Tennessee State [...] 
One of the longstanding traditions of artistic and literary publications is friendly - and at times, not-so-friendly - debates about matters that concern practitioners and connoisseurs of the arts. In the hey day of British literary magazines, it was quite common to see published poets and authors arguing with one another in letters to the [...] 
Many of us in the United States often think of bluegrass as an American music, or even just a Southern music. However, as quite a few prominent bands, scholars, and even the name of our trade association will tell us, that’s not exactly true. One international hotspot for bluegrass music is the Czech Republic, which [...] 
East Tennessee State University celebrated the successes of its newest graduates this past weekend during commencement ceremonies held on Saturday, May 6. Students from their Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies joined over 2,000 other university graduates in the celebration of their accomplishments. Students within Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies come [...] 
On Top Of Old Smoky, an all-star musical collection created to note the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service, has picked up another major award. The Public Lands Alliance has named it as one of three winners of their Innovative Product Award for 2017. A non-profit network of 120 organizations dedicated to public lands [...] 
Without fail, the worst part of our job here at Bluegrass Today entails sharing tragic news that befalls our bluegrass community. Such is this story from Thanksgiving Day. Hiroshi Arakawa, a Japanese student here in the states to study both English and bluegrass music, was involved in a serious auto accident on Thursday evening. He and [...] 
On Top of Old Smoky: New Old-Time Smoky Mountain Music, a collection of new recordings of classic mountain music produced by the Great Smoky Mountains Association, has been named the Best Tribute Album at the 15th Annual Independent Music Awards. The album features versions of folk songs and tunes collected by Joseph Hall during the 1930s, and reinterpreted by the likes [...] 
This evening at 8:00 p.m., East Tennessee State University and their bluegrass Pride Band are set to make history. At least in the bluegrass world. The Departments of Bluegrass, Old Time & Country Music Studies and Mass Communications will jointly present an online concert using the Facebook Live video broadcasting system. But unlike most such [...] 