Bluegrass in the Backwoods by Jason Carter and Michael Cleveland
Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland – photo © Emma McCoury Photography Fiddle heroes and close friends Jason Carter and Michael Cleveland have released another track from their upcoming twin fiddle project. This time they call on one of the finest fiddlers to ever draw a bow, Kenny Baker, for a tune that has challenged bowsters […]
Bobby Hicks inducted into the NC Music Hall of Fame
Thursday night, October 17, the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame inducted six new members in a special ceremony held in the Charles Mack Citizen Center in Mooresville, NC. Two of the inductees (Bobby Hicks and Tommy Faile), presented posthumously, had bluegrass ties to the Tarheel State. Hicks was born in Newton, NC in 1933 […]
Congratulations Bronwyn & Jason!
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes and Jason Carter fiddle their vows on the Opry – photo © Jay Strausser It was the highlight of the bluegrass society season in Nashville when Bronwyn Keith-Hynes married Jason Carter at the Grand Ole Opry House on Tuesday, October 15. The two fiddle phenoms exchanged their vows on the Opry stage in […]
Camping with Jana Jae… fiddle style
Jana Jae’s Fiddle Camp has been in operation this past 27 years. The former fiddle star of Hee-Haw fame has a passion for music education which shows in her annual camp offering tips and tricks for fiddler old and new. This year, more than 50 students from as far west as California converged on the […]
Arizona Wildflowers score big at the Grand Masters, and on the Opry
Ranelle Dietrich at the Artist Entrance to the Grand Ole Opry We’ve written several times about The Arizona Wildflowers, a young family band in Casa Grande, AZ, made up of the four unusually talented Dietrich siblings. The oldest is Ranelle, who at 15 years of age, won the Youth Division of the Grand Master Fiddler […]
2024 Grand Master Fiddler Championship results
This past weekend, the 53rd running of the Grand Master Fiddler Championship was hosted in Franklin, TN, bringing in fiddlers from all over the US to compete for that most cherished prize of Grand Master. Throughout the day, a number of awards were presented, and live music was provided between the competitions by Mark & […]
NY fiddler Kenny Kosek talks Twisted Sage, and a life long passion for bluegrass
Kenny Kosek now (photo © Geoffrey Wade), and in the 1970s Fiddler Kenny Kosek has always been drawn to authenticity. That was true when he was a young music enthusiast growing up in the Bronx, and it’s true now, well into a career that spans more than 50 years. The evidence also comes in the […]
Aced – new tune from Andy Leftwich
Fiddle and mandolin maestro Andy Leftwich has added another fiery fiddle tune to the repertoire with his latest single, Aced, recorded with Nashville superpickers Cody Kilby, Matt Menefee, and Byron House. It starts with Leftwich on mandolin, and picked up quickly by the fiddle, the instrument he played with Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder for […]
John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Volume 2 on the way
Following on the success of the John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project in 2020, a recording featuring top fiddlers playing tunes found in the massive collection of the late John Hartford, the family of the hugely influential musician has announced that work has commenced on a Volume 2. Hartford was like a force of nature during […]
Jimmy Mattingly to receive Distinguished Fiddler Award from the Grand Masters
With Labor Day coming up, it means that the Grand Master Fiddler Championship is just around the corner. Top fiddlers in bluegrass, old time, swing, Texas, and contest style will get together at the Turner Theater in Franklin, TN, just south of Nashville, on September 1. There are a great many fiddlers’ conventions all over […]
