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The concept of bluegrass “success” is a subjective one, especially in a world where the majority of bluegrass professionals hold at least an off-season day job (for what it’s worth, this was once true of professional athletes, too). Last week, I suggested that you can consider yourself a success if you’re making enough money and [...]
In March 2015 we reported on the charitable work that the Ocotillo Rain and Thunder Bluegrass Band was doing. Recently we learned that they had collected over $10,000 in two years. That's a remarkable achievement. Members of the 11-piece southern Arizona bluegrass band have been playing for charities since the winter of 2014 with the [...]
For this reviewer, the most anticipated album of 2016 has been this self-titled, debut project from Heidi & Ryan on Mountain Fever Records. It's been on my mind since I first saw them perform live at the SPBGMA convention in Nashville this past winter, and was instantly smitten. At the time they were working as [...]
The nominees have been announced for the 59th Annual Grammy Awards this morning, and our eyes quickly jumped to the all-important Best Bluegrass Album category. We understand there are others as well. And the nominees for Best Bluegrass Album are... Original Traditional - Blue Highway, Label: Rounder Records Burden Bearer - Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Label: Mountain Home Music Company [...]
Jeremy Stephens has announced that he will give up his position as guitarist and bass singer with The Chuck Wagon Gang at the end of this month. He has spent the last six years touring with the venerable Gospel group who have been performing under that name since the mid-1930s. Stephens is also a long [...]
Moonstruck Management has announced the signing of bluegrass parody act, The Cleverlys, to their talent roster. The group takes on the pose of a family band, led by a Digger Cleverly, Sr. who plays guitar and sings lead. When the group first emerged a few years ago, he was accompanied by his two sons, Digger Jr, and [...]
The School of Music at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley will begin offering a new Folk and Bluegrass Studies program starting in the Fall of 2017. This will be an instrumental concentration in the common bluegrass instruments for any UNC students in the music department. This includes undergraduate music degree programs for Education, Performance, Composition, Jazz Studies, [...]
Redhead Express is sharing their Christmas spirit this season with a music video of their arrangement of the classic, Away In A Manger. Featuring the four Walker sisters from Alaska, redheads all, the video captures their blending of the bluegrass instruments with the familiar sound of this 19th century carol. Kendra Walker is on guitar [...]
One of the most enjoyable and relaxing festivals I ever attended back in the 1980s was the Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival near Brunswick in southern Maine. A perfectly bucolic setting, along a sandy beach on one of the area's many tidal inlets, the event had been run by Pati Crooker Mulligan since 1979 at her family's campground. When Pati [...]
Even if you get to see your favorite band multiple times a year, it’s still a treat when they release a live album. If done right, live albums capture bands at the top of their game. They’re filled with hits, fan favorites, and perhaps a new track or two, and they showcase all the best [...]
